By 
It’s clear that, after the popularity of the Moto 360, a good portion of consumers shopping around for their next smartwatch were eying a more round form factor. Shortly after the first crop of Android Wear watches, we watched as LG tossed their circular hat into the ring with the release of the LG G Watch R, a round, more sporty version of their LG G Watch.
Never one to be overshadowed by the competition, Samsung has been rumored to be working on a round smartwatch of their own, and it could be taking another cue from the Moto 360 other than just its circular design. The folks at SamMobile have it on good authority that the Orbis (model number SM-R720) will ditch that awful proprietary charging dock in favor of wireless charging. No word on the type of tech being used (Qi, Powermat, or something else), but we’ll let you know if we learn more.
Samsung’s new smartwatch is expected to be unveiled at this year’s Mobile World Congress in March alongside their next flagship smartphone: the Samsung Galaxy S6. MWC 2015 is gearing up to be one helluva show this year, and of course we’ll be on hand for the event bringing you guys the latest.
“a good portion of consumers shopping around for their next smartwatch were eying a more round form factor” I would love to see the proof on this. These watches are not mostly round due to any data collection or polls from manufacturers I have ever seen before or after they started hitting the market. In fact, they are just what the manufacturers fed everyone. That does not mean in any way people wanted round, it’s what they were given. I think more than anything, round is an homage to original classic watches, not 1 bit due to it being the form factor people wanted.
I, for one, think round is a terrible idea and have said so since day 1. The circle means that essentially you put a square or rectangle of data screen inside that circle cutting off useful space. A square or rectangle means you get more useful space.
ps – not that I am an Apple fan, but their watches are not appearing to be round at all. Hmm… That should say something to a certain degree.
Completely disagree. While a circle does cut off corners, it’s by no means “useful space.” It’s usually just empty space or a very small portion of text (as was the case on the Moto 360).
Also, I still stand behind my statement that there’s a “good portion” of people who want round smartwatches based solely on our poll when Android Wear watches first became available: http://phandroid.com/2014/06/25/android-wear-smartwatch-poll/
Back then, it seemed everyone was waiting for the Moto 360 purely because of its design.
I have Moto360 and am fine with round for readability.
Are you kidding? The round watch face single handedly made me and others actually take smart watches seriously.
Why? Simple. If I’m going to wear something it has to look good. And simply put, every other smart watch looks horrible.
A phone can get away with not looking that good… I don’t care about that. But a WATCH? Yeah, no…
Now, the tech just needs to convince me. It isn’t.
I like round watches. Simple as that. Yes square is easier for digital info but round is better for my arm. The problem I see from the design drawing for this watch is the band. I will not buy that. Give me a standard replaceable watch band 22mm or whatever that I can remove and replace with a band of my choice should I not like the one it comes with. This one size fits all mentality doesn’t work for me.
See my prior post. Really.
Moto needs to get moving on a 2nd gen watch. It’s on an older fat CPU and older screen. There is a new watch CPU by Mediatek that is thinner, lower power and faster. It could make 360 much thinner and potentially last a few days.
you mean leveno lol
The strap is ugly as sin
You’re criticizing a drawing of a concept of a rumor? Seriously?