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Moto 360 Android watch officially announced

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moto 360 time piece android wear watch

Hot on the heels of Google’s announcement of the Android Wear smart watch platform, Motorola has announced the first product that will use the Android-based software. It’s named the Moto 360, and this thing seriously has us salivating.

The Moto 360 features very elegant design and, if they’re to be believed, exceptional build quality that could rival any premium watch on the market. Motorola’s calling it “a truly modern timepiece,” one that can deliver the information you need, only when you need it.

The aforementioned Android Wear will enable the Moto 360 to deliver updates from the important areas of your life right to your wrist, including social networking notifications and messages, information about local places, giving you the ability to place calls and control your music, getting directions and seeing notifications from all your various apps and more.

Near the top of Motorola’s list of goals with the Moto 360 was to make a watch that was equally as beautiful as it is geeky. You’ll get the best of both worlds with its combination of a circular, trendy design, and premium interchangeable wrist straps. There are just a couple that we know of so far (seen in the gallery above), though Motorola did say there would be a nice variety of them once they’re available.

You can watch some of the engineers involved in the project speak about the device in the video above. They all seem most proud of their attention to detail and their commitment to quality materials, something that hasn’t always been guaranteed in the early batch of smart watches currently available.

As for when they will be available, the only word they’re giving us is summer 2014, and that the device will most certainly be rolling out on a global scale. We also don’t have word on pricing yet, but we imagine all the relevant details will make their way to the forefront before too long. Let us know how you feel about the Moto 360 below!

[via Motorola]

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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105 Comments

  1. Wow! I like!

  2. Much want

      1. Dollars take!

        1. Product give!

          1. Summer come!!

          2. Very much want. Give product, take dollars. Summer time come!

          3. Such moto.

  3. I was not prepared for the amount of sexiness to be unleashed upon the world today. Words cannot describe…

    1. Indeed this totally took me by surpirse! the Moto360 has me in line agian for Moto X but i wait for the next Moto X as my Nexus 4 is still plenty capable

  4. Me likes. Me wants.

  5. Moto 360 looks pretty awesome. Love the metal band. I think I know what my next gadget is… as long as it works with my LG g2

    Moto’s video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnerqDWwVgg

    1. …it doesn’t actually show it doing anything ‘smart’

      1. the video.. no. But look at the pictures above. Nav, notifications, reminders, pretty much google now on your wrist. It’s going to be based on the newly released software.

        1. I realize what it’s supposed to do. The video doesn’t make a very good impression as a smartwatch though. If you showed this to some random passerby, they’d think it was just a regular watch…

          1. Its not supposed to be an ad. It’s a “behind the scenes” look into how they planned this device. “Hear the design story of Moto 360, a modern timepiece, from the people who made it.” It’s not really meant for general public, just for all of us who drool over tech like this. Either way, I just want Moto to take my money now.

          2. That’s kind of the point. Smart when I need it , stylish when you don’t. Think Google glass without the “I am a raging fanboy dork” factor

  6. a round smart watch – looks very pretty.

  7. Summer?! :(

  8. Thank you!! Moto!!

  9. Hope they dont limit it to people with only moto phones

    1. ditto. Especially since Samsung went full retard with Tizen instead of waiting for Google’s platform. They can’t GIVE Galaxy Gears away.

      1. Oh man.. not full retard!!!!

      2. l Kinda wish this watch had a built in pedometer and heart rate monitor like the gear though. I was thinking of buying the gear 2 but after seeing this, I have seen the light Lol.

        1. Well given that Android Wear is open to Devs, presumably Fitbit, Samsung’s S Health, and Jawbone, could build widgets for Android Wear that show you steps, but I would assume pedometer function would kill battery pretty hard, given the full color screen, mic, vibrations, etc. Of course full features not even out, we’ve seen the software and 2 company’s takes on it (LG and MOTO)

    2. This isn’t the Samsung 360. I think we’ll be fine.

      1. ZING!

      2. Just watched the Motorola hangout and the guy said it will be compatible with anything running Android 4.3 and above :)

  10. I wasn’t interested in smart watches until I saw the Moto 360 video. I’ll take one with the metal band. :o

  11. Lol. Where is the watch? I’d like to get excited as well.

  12. My real question is will Moto 360 be compatible with non-moto devices, given that Samsung users are left with the Gear or nothing, since Samsung is having their own idiotic Tizen Party.

    I’d love a Moto360 or a Google Official (if that anouncement comes at I/O) but if Moto360 is cross device capable it’s definitely what I’d want having seen these two options from LG and Moto

  13. I wonder if Moto will have a build your own “Moto 360” site, kind of like the Moto X. I would like that. Hopefully the price is right.

  14. I’m eating crow fellas. I wan’t this watch.

  15. Wow! Finally a smartwatch that is doesn’t look like a plastic toy. I wonder what the screen will be and how much it will be.

    1. Agreed. I have to say this is the first smartwatch I’ve seen that sparks any interest.

      1. Agreed agreed. I found other smartwatches vaguely interesting (but not interesting enough to buy one), but I can totally see myself buying one of these.

  16. Are any of these smart watches waterproof? Seems like a must have for a watch.

    1. Yes, yes they are.

      1. Oh yeah? Where’s the source for that? I do agree that they should be, but we haven’t heard that yet as far as I know. Maybe during the HoA tomorrow.

        1. Ok, I can’t vouch for the validity of the source, but I thought I heard it from several places during the announcement. “The Gear2’s battery life is now at 3 days, which is triple the previous Gear1 rating of…gulp…one day. Like the S5 phone and the activity tracker, the Gear2 and Neo have waterproofing ratings of IP67.”

          http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/02/waterproof-activity-watcheswith.html

          Edit to clarify: The original question was “are any of these… waterproof” I wasn’t stating that the Motorola 360 specifically is, but I hope so.

  17. I’ll give credit where credit is due lol. Certainty looks better than the gear and isn’t too flashy to attract criminals

  18. OMG!!!!!

  19. I’ve never thought that a smartwatch will be useful. I thought of it as a novelty item, but this has changed my mind! Definitely going to buy this. Motorola has improved a crazy amount!

  20. X watch 360.

    no thanks, but apparently people still wear watches.

    1. I don’t wear watches, but I definitely would if I had a Moto 360.

  21. Sexiest smart watch **Yet** – this should set the tone for design if it sells like hotcakes. Assuming that Moto makes it available on all mobile platforms (IOS, WInders and Android)

  22. I’d hit that

  23. Any chance the Moto X2 will be this sexy?

  24. So amazing, I just really hope they don’t have issues getting circular screens manufactured in time and they can keep the cost down.

  25. Some smart design coming to Android.

  26. Lets hope that the display is an IPS-TFT that is daylight readable like the one in the Sony Smartwatch 2 (which I have on my wrist now – stupid Pebble’s kept breaking).

    Honestly, the circular display isnt that hard. Sharp (maker of the e-paper displays in many smartwatches) has a circular E-paper display just for this purpose. They may have to make the display Pentile for rendering purposes or put the pixels at an angle as it is circular which is much harder to do right with rectangular pixels.

    I will guess that this will be xhdpi as the Sony Smartwatch 2 is hdpi and xxhdpi support is still not 100% in 4.4.2.

    Now, make it have Qi wireless charging and we are in business. I will get one regardless…. I have a tendancy to buy almost every new smartwatch on the market (except the Samsung ones as they are just stupid and ridiculous Engineering challenges rather than thought-out products).

  27. But my current watch already tells time and is round.

  28. Direct link to sign up for availability info:
    http://moto360.motorola.com/

  29. These designers are so caught up with “watch” idea in their mind. This is a failure for sure. It’s a smart wearable device, and it happens to have “watch” feature to see time, it’s much more than just check out the time. They need to get out of the box, start thinking more innovative, more than a watch looking device. Make something futuristic than just around or rectangular shape device. I would be really disappoint to see Apple come out ahead when they announce their own version of “smartwatch”. So many Android device manufactures, but innovation is so lacking.

    1. You can’t be serious

    2. Cocaine is a hell of a drug.

    3. So you want them to make a watch but not a watch? I think I get it…………

    4. What other possible thing can they make that goes on your wrist? If you are referring to Apples patent for a bendable display bracelet then you’re like 5 -6 years off, due to price and manufacturing restrictions of such technology at the moment. When such tech does become available though Apple will be dead last since company’s like Samsung and LG actually develop these displays and apple doesn’t actually manufacture anything.

      1. It’s the same pattern as “smartphone”. It’s not a phone in any form that anyone from 10 years ago would recognize. The old Palm folks called their devices “communicators”, because really they were (and our devices are) pocketable communication devices; they just happened to be capable of voice communication over the legacy circuit-switched network as an add-on. But for marketing reasons they got called “smart phones” because that was the closest analog the tech press could think of, and it stuck.

        Same thing here. A properly-designed wearable won’t be a watch as we know it. It will be an easy-access quick-data-retrieval device worn on the wrist that, oh yeah, can show the time if you’re not doing anything else with it. But we’ll still all call it a watch because the tech press needs a common buzzword that everyone can relate to, even if it’s not accurate.

        1. Exactly but just like those old “communicators” this tech is in its infancy. I would love to see one of those bendable display bracelets (which look nothing like a watch) but the resources and technology just isn’t their yet. This is the best they can do at this time. As I said before Apple is even more restricted to future tech like bendable displays/battery’s because the only two major manufacturers developing them are also Apple rivals(Samsung/LG). The only possible thing Apple can do at this moment in time is make a square/circular watch that looks better than any other option at the time of its release. With that said I’m sure 5-10 years from now smart watches will look nothing like those today.

        2. The Palm Treo was a smartphone and Palm actually held the patent for the smartphone.

          1. Palm called the Treo a communicator. I was an IT journalist at the time and spoke with their marketing folks regularly. They were really pushing the “communicator” term to differentiate from the Symbian non-touchscreen “smartphones” of the day. They lost that marketing battle.

            I have no idea what “patent for the smartphone” you’re talking about. There is no one single patent for smartphones, other than our patent system being fundamentally broken.

          2. That could have very well been the case at some point. However, the manual for my Palm Treo 650, from 2004, calls the phone a “Smart Device.” Palm never fell victim to corporate patent trolls like Apple, or any others, because it held the patent for: “Integrated Handheld Computing and Telephony System and Services,” i.e. smartphone.

    5. Disagree. People wear watches. People like watches. People want watches. Sure other things can be made (like Samsung’s Gear Fit), but they are just that: OTHER things. There’s no reason the watch, which many people wear, has to be ignored to create other form factors. They all can exist.

  30. Now this is what I am talking about, form meets function. Now this is one smartwatch I will purchase for sure.

  31. I’m not particularly interested in a smart watch myself, but I would be interested just to see what the specs are. I’m curious to see what they did with the screen to make it circular, and what type of screen it will be.

  32. until you can do video calls I don’t think it’s worth getting one of these watches IMHO. While all of the other features do have a nice cool factor to them, they’re just not enough to get me excited enough to buy one.

    1. To me, someone who already wears a watch, this is the perfect intersection of the watch and the smartphone. I don’t need or want a watch that makes phone calls, but it would be nice if my watch would tell me more than just the time of day. Particularly, it would be nice if my watch was contextually aware and would make my notifications manageable at a glance. To me, this does that all perfectly and intuitively.

      The form factor is still a pretty limited form factor and I think there is a clear limit to how much a smartwatch can actually do well. Android Wear takes this into account perfectly and doesn’t push the smartwatch to places it doesn’t belong. Google has essentially made widgets and notifications available on your wrist. Watches are already about glanceability, and this extends that beautifully.

      And perhaps even calling it a smartwatch is disingenuous. How about contextually-aware watch?

      1. Well said.

  33. Smart Watches are still in the 3D-esque fad phase; that said, they have a chance to break through but unfortunately, Smart Watches just don’t provide anything worthwhile at this time. Technology still needs time to grow.

  34. That is a fuggin nice watch !!! I want !!

  35. Please add sapphire crystal. Just when I thought I would give up on Moto, they reel me back in

  36. Yuck, if i want a watch shaped watch ill just buy a regular watch. The fact that its made my Motorolla and theyre still using the lame “MOTO” makes it a pass. Ill wait for Googles offering in the smartwatch arena, im sure it will put all others to shame.

    1. I don’t think you understand… This is Google’s smartwatch

      1. Think ya missed a few press releases. Google doesnt own Motorolla anymore. Google wouldnt make an ugly POS like this. They have multiple partners in this so this is just Motorollas iteration, a bad one.

        1. This has just as much chance as coming from Google influence as it does from Lenovo. Product development cycles usually run longer than the less than 2 months that have gone by since the sale.

        2. Actually that’s not true at all. The sale hasn’t closed yet, and even if it had, any products for at least the next few months would have been designed under Google ownership even if they were/are released under Lenovo ownership.

          However, I truly do believe that Google forced Motorola to work mostly independently to keep other OEM partners happy. Even so, this Moto 360 and LG’s G Watch are going to be the closest thing you’re going to get to a Google watch for the foreseeable future. They aren’t currently pursuing an in-house hardware push for smartwatches and are instead providing a platform for Android partners to utilize.

          And lastly, I think you’re mostly alone in thinking that this design is ugly, but you’re entitled to your opinion.

        3. Not to mention, Google is using the Moto 360 in ALL of it’s own promotional videos and photos for Android Wear, so sorry, no one, not even Google thinks this is “an ugly POS,” but you.

        4. Lenovo does not own Motorola…yet. Only the announcement of its acquisition has taken place. It could take months to complete the sale. Go to the Motorola homepage, scroll down to the bottom and see who owns Motorola. Lenovo currently has no influence on Motorola design or technologies.

    2. Yeah the way i see it moto has at least another year of pumping out Google’s r&d stuff before lenovo has its turn

    3. Well maybe they’re rolling with the Moto name because some people can’t properly spell the full name (hint: it’s Motorola not Motorolla).

      And I don’t foresee Google venturing into this area on their own, or at least not anytime soon. That’s why they announced a whole list of OEM and chipset partners today, Motorola and LG among them. These are essentially like Nexus or Google Play devices; software provided and designed by Google, hardware provided and designed by third party OEMs. These ARE Google’s offerings.

  37. Will this work with most current phones or just Moto ones?!?!?!

    1. As it uses Android Wear, it’ll pair with any Android device (I assume 4.3+, but couldn’t see a min version mentioned). It won’t work with iOS or other platforms at launch – that could add some heat to the platform wars if this thing takes off.

  38. Already bought it

  39. Although, it looks more like technology for the sake of technology!

  40. not really a smart watch if your phone has to be nearby,but what are dem specs !!

  41. looks freakin amazing! might be my first smartwatch

    1. Same here.

  42. Sploosh

  43. Wonder what the battery life on it will be and if it will support wireless charging.

  44. Smartwatch gods.. if you can hear me, please give us a large and efficient battery :) cheers.

    1. Motorola always does.

      1. haha yes you are right- on smartphones; I’m just hoping they keep this faith going in this new product category :)

  45. It’s vaporware at this point. Cool looking concept however.

  46. For the people who are having a hard time understanding this or smartwatches in general, you need to first understand why people wear watches in the first place. Generally speaking there are two main reasons I can think of why people wear watches:

    1. They put information (specifically time) at a glance.
    2. They’re stylish.

    Putting information at a glance is key, and is why implementations like Android Wear have a chance at success. Watches are first and foremost about putting important information at a glance. No need to pull anything from your pocket or push any buttons, just quick, accessible information. It’s exactly why Mototola’s Active Display has been so critically acclaimed; it made important information easily accessible and actionable. Android takes the natural function of a watch of informing the user and extends it greatly. Anyone who already appreciates the information a watch can provide will certainly appreciate this extension, so long as other important qualities such as aesthetics and battery life aren’t greatly affected.

    And that brings me to the second point: watches are often worn as a fashion statement. They look nice and the act of checking time on your watch is certainly more formal than pulling out your phone. In order for any smartwatch to truly be successful, it can’t violate this requirement. Watches, even smartwatches, have to be stylish, because the people willing to spend money on one (likely the people who already spend tens to hundreds of dollars on watches) are going to require them to be. This has obviously not been lost on Motorola. The Moto 360 is the kind of smartwatch that people who aren’t geeks would be willing to use.

    And no, just like how watches most certainly aren’t for everyone, smartwatches will not be for everyone. Some people just won’t see the benefit in owning one, and that’s okay. But for those of us who appreciate the qualities that watches already have, this is a great leap forward!

    1. Exactly.

  47. Heavy breathing…

  48. I hope I can change the background on the watch face. How cool would it be to take a picture of your wrist and set it as the background so it looks like you can see through it?

  49. I’m a bit of a horologist, this watch doesn’t appeal to that person. The craftsmanship of a nice watch is what makes special watches special. Sure some people wear them because they know they are status symbols but those people sometimes don’t appreciate the artistic form of the watch. Its a lot like Cars or any other luxury item that isn’t really needed. I will say Moto made a very nice looking watch, but there are plenty of mass produced watches that work well and look nice. seiko5 for example is a nice looking watch for 120 bucks.

    As a tech lover I will be getting one of these bad boys- twitter on my wrist MFER!!!

    Also here is a nice youtube channel for luxury watches, the guy spends all his money on luxury items but has nothing else. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wfhT3YZAFs

  50. Well, that’s a nice retro design.
    I love it.
    It’s too bad it’s a chinese company now.
    I don’t mind my gadgets being made in china. In fact, I’d rather take advantage of as many low cost labors as possible to drive my cost down. But I do mind the rest of the profits going to a chinese owned company. So, I’ll just admire from afar.

  51. why did google sell moto again?

  52. I think Im in love. This is exactly what I wanted my smart watch to look like

  53. It may be sexy as hell, but I need my watch to be waterproof (or at least resistant). There is no way around it.

    1. Is there any reason to expect that this isn’t? The only port I see is for the microphone on the left side of the watch. The back looks sealed. And considering Motorola already makes the Moto X and G “splash resistant”, I’m thinking they’ll understand the importance of waterproofing, or at least splash proofing, a watch.

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