By 
Although beauty is often said to lay in the eye of the beholder, there’s no denying the raw sex appeal of the Motorola Moto 360. Motorola did a great job at making their first Android Wear entry as svelte as possible. In fact, according to your own votes, many of you find the 360 the best looking smartwatch to date, even when compared against upcoming wearables like the Apple Watch or ASUS ZenWatch.
When the Moto 360 launched late last week, many of you were ready to throw your money at the screen as soon as stock became available. But early reports of less than stellar battery life may have tarnished the smartwatch’s desirability for some of you (our own Joe Fedewa can attest to this). Thanks to an all around smaller 320mAh battery, we didn’t expect the Moto 360 to last quite as long as rival offerings from LG or Samsung, both of which feature larger 400mAh batteries. We knew this going in. But because of the 360’s unique ambient light sensor which allows the watch to automatically control the brightness of the display according to its surroundings, we were willing to give the 360 the benefit of the doubt.
Of course, we wanted to settle this once and for all and after putting the device through our own 2-day battery life test, we’re now ready to share those results with all of you. For some, the results may be surprising and for others, some relief.
How we performed our tests
Before we start let’s cover a little background information on exactly how we performed our test. For the first day, we connected our Moto 360 to our Moto X (2nd Gen), while the LG G Watch was connected to our HTC One M8. Both handsets are running the same apps and since both have active cellular service, push the same amount of notifications to their connected watches. Both devices were running the same 4.4W firmware on day 1, then updated to 4.4W.1 on day 2.
Since this was more or less an endurance test, we didn’t perform any voice searches or interact with the watches much more than viewing notifications and checking the time every so often. Since both watches were attached to the same arm, both would activate their displays simultaneously when viewing the time or peeking at notifications To keep everything fair, on the second day, we simply swapped the connected devices and started over. This, we hope, helped keep things fair and the margin of error to a minimum.
Here’s what we found:
Results
As you can see, concerns with the Moto 360 not lasting a full day are, for the most part (at least in our test) completely unwarranted. The watch has consistently taken us through an entire work day (8 hours), with more than a little juice left over when we laid our heads to sleep at night (17 hours). Since there was plenty of juice left in both devices, both tests saw each watch left unplugged overnight. Although essentially in standby mode with no movement, they continued to receive notifications throughout the night.
We will note that despite their low power state, the Moto 360 saw the same discharge rate as during the day, a full 20% decrease over 9 hours. The LG G Watch? Barely 11%. Upon seeing this, we have strong suspicions the dramatic difference in battery life between the two devices has more to do with the processors employed in each than actual battery capacity.
As a refresher, the LG G Watch uses a newer Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor manufactured using a low power 28nm process. We’re not sure exactly why, but for whatever reason Motorola sought fit to go with a single-core TI OMAP 3 processor — similar to the one used in 2010’s Motorola Droid X — using a far more power hungry 45 nm process.
So, what of those reports of “10-hour battery life?” We will note that although ambient display mode — which keeps the display always powered on and dimly lit — taxes the battery on both devices, the Moto 360 saw an incredibly huge dip to about 10 hours of battery life when active (the G Watch, not nearly as much). It’s a good thing Motorola keeps ambient display mode turned off out of the box — different from the LG G Watch or Samsung Gear Live where ambient mode is on by default — and if you have a Moto 360, you’re going to want to keep it off. Always.
Conclusion
Nobody wants to have to charge yet another device every night, but with a solid average of 20+ hours of battery life, you shouldn’t be all too concerned with charging the device at any point during waking hours (only while you sleep). In the event you should forget to charge your watch before bed, the good news is that because of the teensy, tiny little batteries in these smartwatches, charging the Moto 360 is super quick. It’s possible to have a fully charged watch in less than an hour and you can do that during your morning rituals.
All-in-all, we’d still consider the Moto 360 the absolute bare minimum of smartwatch battery life. Keep in mind that as Android Wear progresses and more features are rolled into the OS, there’s a pretty good chance battery life could be further impacted by future updates. Google already said music streaming over Bluetooth was coming in the near future, along with custom watch faces and more. But in its current state, the Moto 360 will do you just fine and looks great too.
I got my Moto 360 yesterday and updated the firmware. I unplugged at 7am and by 10am it dropped to 80%. It is now 4:45pm and I’m at 36%. I’ve done nothing drastic, just using it to check notifications and stuff. I don’t think I’ll make it to 10pm so well see how day 1 goes.
Sounds like ambient display mode is turned on? That’s some pretty insane drainage…
I made sure to turn off the ambient display so I don’t know what’s causing the drain. Hopefully the watch just needs a few power cycles and it gets better. I had the original Moto actv watch and battery life was horrible until a firmware update and it changed dramatically. I like the watch so I’ll test it out some more.
Good luck!
I unplugged my Moto 360 at 7am. I used it to send 2 messages and checked my heart rate 2 times. The rest was normal notification swiping away. Very, very light use. It’s now 8pm and I’m at 30%. My G Watch would be at at a minimum of 50% right now. Tomorrow I’m going to use it a bit more and see how it goes. This watch is beyond sexy but just won’t last if you actually use it. It’s sad.
Not exactly sure what time you go to bed but after 13 hours and a 70% drop, at this rate it sounds like another 30% should take you well into you tuck in for the night (5 or 6 more hours?).
I’ll be headed to be in a few hours. Today was a light usage day. Let me put it through a bit more use tomorrow, back to normal use for me, and see how far I get. I might be a little hasty with my “sad” comment.
Sometimes after firmware updates I like to factory reset, just to get all the data/caches cleared.
Anyways, battery life should improve. At the end of the first day my watch was at 25%, the second day 40%ish, third day about 50%.
I had hard time squeezing 12 hours out of mine ambient off. I sold it as result.
No thanks. I wear a watch 24/7, literally, and no have to charge it, can take it in any depth of water, ride in it, run in it, sleep in it, sexy in it, work in it, hammer the crap out of it… it’s called a Timex and it is $75 and a battery lasts for years. No babysitting required.
I have a phone that does phone stuff, I don’t need a watch to do my phone stuff.
That’s the beauty of Android Wear, it really doesn’t do too much (like the Apple Watch), keeping the focus on simple notifications. Comparing a $75 Timex to a Moto 360 is like comparing an old Nokia 3310. Sure it lasts longer, but it doesn’t do nearly as much.
While I see your point, at the same time, Android Wear really isn’t doing much more either. It’s an extension of the most basic parts/notifications of your phone, along with a heart monitor. While helpful from a convenience standpoint, all it’s really doing is saving you the hassle of looking at your phone instead of your watch. I’m not saying that’s not worth something, either. But the trade-offs simply aren’t worth it IMHO right now, especially for the cost. If the technology doesn’t greatly improve the pragmatic side of simply having a watch, in a couple of years these will end up being a fad that fades back into the small niches of the tech enthusiast world.
Can someone say beepers?
That’s funny… completely forgot about those… yes it is kinda similar, in principle anyway. :)
I only remember them because my mom told me to call (would you say “call a beeper?”) when I got home from school when I was like 10. The one time I didn’t, I got a whooping. So I didn’t do it again. =.P
“sexy in it” hahaha
Thanks for taking the time to tell everyone how little you’re interested in these devices, the world was dying to know.
If you’re going to compare the two then they both need to be using the same ‘always on’ setting. Turn ‘always on’ off on the g watch and there will be a huge difference.
Wow… I’ve said before that a round screen is just for looks and serves no real benefit. But how well is that fashion working out when people see you wearing a watch that’s not showing anything? I thought ambient display was pretty much expected in any serious smartwatch these days, and I’m really surprised that the Moto 360 only lasts 10 hours with it on.
I’m glad I went ahead and got my LG G Watch when they were released rather than waiting for the 360. I’ve been really happy with it. And apparently if I were buying a smartwatch today I’d still go with the G Watch.
I found myself turning off ambient mode on my LG G Watch because it was distracting to have it on while driving. Plus, it’s not horribly inconvenient to have it off, there’s no physical contact involved. Just twist your wrist. More than often, I’d have to do that anyway with ambient mode.
But as you said, the LG G Watch is a beast and I’m sure some value battery life more than looks.
How well does the twist of the wrist work for the 360 & G WATCH?
It works quite well w/a normal motion w/the GEAR2,the GEAR FIT is another story,it requires quite an unnatural strong wrist flick to activate the display.
Hopefully the G Watch R can give me the looks of the 360 with the performance of the G Watch. I’m really tempted to pick up a G Watch now just to try it out and then return or sell it when the G Watch R drops though, I’m still on the fence about smart watches.
Well I just glance down to see the time, and I would guess the majority of times I read it is while the screen is in ambient mode. That’s how I’ve always used watches, and how I expect to continue.
That depends on the watch face and watch used. My gear live with the standard analog watch face is visible from any angle when ambient mode is on and the screen is dimmed. So there is no need to touch the screen or do a wrist gesture to see the time and I still get 20 – 24h battery life. Ambient mode on oled screens is better than on lcd screens
Unless there’s some miraculous update that improves battery life,don’t count on it getting any better,it never does.
Normal usage will result in degradation of battery life/albeit gradual.
At least w/the other ANDROID WEAR devices,you have quite a bit of cushion before this even becomes an issue.
Not so w/the 360,you’re already there………….
Yup. It’s the bare minimum and will likely only get worse. Although, I’d be happy with even a 5 hour dip. I work 9-5 (8 hours) and am usually in bed by 12. All I really need is a little more than 18 hours of battery life and I’m good.
18 hours is more than enough.I usually wear mine (GEAR2) for 13 hrs a day & have about 35-50% left,dependent upon usage.
As soon as I’m home,any watch I’m wearing comes off & gets turned off anyway.
Same here. Watch. Pants. Bra. It all comes off. Ha
Make-up & wig stays on though,ya never know who may drop by unexpectedly………………..
xD
I’m done with y’all.
What’s funny is, the battery life is no different than my Gear 1!…So, it definitely won’t be a complain of mine. Just need it to last me 12-14 hours and I’ll be good. I’d usually end up with around 50-60% on the Gear 1, after getting home, but that was with the bunches of emails coming through to me during the workday. I was completely content with that and completely content with charging it every night. And, if I somehow forget, I’ve got my Qi wireless charger at work that will at least give me some trickle charge during the day, until I get home. Now, if only Moto can just get the damn thing in stock at Best Buy, then I can finally buy one…LOL.
The GEAR/GEAR2 got raked over the coals for supposed horrible battery life.
Turned out to be total B.S.& I hope,for everyone’s sake that is getting the 360,the same holds true.
So, after one year and the equivalent of 250 or so full recharge cycles, won’t the battery on the Moto 360 be unable to even take much of a charge?
It seems to me all these smartwatches need a re-engineered band packed with 800-2000 mAh of Li-Poly batteries (a segmented bracelet in my imagination). In three years time, when they’ve gone through the 200 or so full recharge equivalency, then you just buy a new watch band. And you can even have a second one concurrently and extend the battery life another week anytime and have six years of full battery life.
Got It Yesterday, Late Afternoon… so today was My real First Use Of It Started at 100% Charge At 4:41AM And By 3:30PM (Shy of 11 Hours) it was down To 5% Remaining Battery, My Settings:
Ambient Display: OFF
Screen Brightness : 3 (Not Auto)
Usage: Moderate I Consider, Only looking at notifications, responding to maybe 3 Text Messages, and some minimum interaction with heart monitor and steps.
So Tomorrow will be another day… Testing….
Hmm, I guess I’ll wait to see how Asus does with theirs.
I got the firmware update during the initial charge, but I did have to do a factory reset because it got stuck trying to download it and was draining faster than it could charge.
I have had 2 full days of usage twice (Sunday 7 am to Monday 9pm, then Tuesday 6am to Wednesday 11pm), with 20% left when putting it on the charger. This is pretty light usage – texts, emails, a couple of timers/reminders, around 20 minutes of navigation on Tuesday morning, not wearing it but left unplugged while I sleep. Ambient screen off, of course.
I charged it last night and it was at 100% before I went to sleep so I took it off the charger at 1am and let it sit over night. By 8am it was at 91%, so 9% in 7 hours. I’ve had it on my wrist since then, received some emails and texts today and it’s currently at 71% at 8:30.
Also, after the first day I went into the settings in the Fit app and turned off the ‘show step cards’ and ‘save fitness data’ options.
I have read a few ideas about what’s causing the wildly different results. You have tested different phone and new firmware so here are a few more:
– custom watch faces (I haven’t tried any yet, was planning on waiting until they are officially supported)
– the phone OS (some people say Cyanogenmod is a problem with Android Wear in general, with frequent disconnects, but I have a OnePlus One and it’s working for me)
– some sort of bluetooth interference (some have said that when they connected to the bluetooth in their car the battery drained faster)
– the heart rate app may be constantly monitoring when the Moto heart rate app is the default heart rate app in the Android Wear app (not sure about this one because I thought that app just sets the default voice commands?)
Two days in a row now with my Moto 360 I’ve gotten 20+ hours of battery life. Yesterday I put it on at 7am took it off around 10pm and had 33% left.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-C-2YOgwXQ10/VBFl8IBr5ZI/AAAAAAAAxRk/OQEU9iAdrxA/w487-h865-no/20140910_221620.jpg
Today I put it on at 7am, and around 4pm I just checked it and it was at 72% Battery life is beyond ok with the 360. Just keep ambient mode off.
good lord man that dirty screen!
“Nobody wants to have to charge yet another device every night,”
Who *cares* ? Is it that much of an inconvenience to put your watch on a charging dock when you hit the sack for the night?
Apparently for some, it is. *shrugs*
It is a convenient way to keep from misplacing it as well. If you always put it in the same spot… on a wireless charger where no cords are involved with the day to day charging then not only do you keep up with your device, but it is also charging.
For the love of me I can’t understand why people who buy any electronic device don’t expect to charge it everyday.
I own a fitbit and only have to charge it 5-7 days. Its refreshing actually.
My job gave us one of these to participate in a health challenge. It does nothing compared to the devices we’re talking about here. Fitbit vs android wear is like comparing tiger handhelds back in the day to a 3ds.
But Pebbles are smartwatches too.
I guess. The e ink reader from amazon is also a tablet. Doesn’t do the same as a nexus 7 outside of reading something, but a tablet nonetheless. OK I get where you’re going.
Does this mean we have smart tablets and dumb tablets? Or would you call dumb tablets E-Readers? Would you put E-Readers in the same category as tablet? Would it be a tablet device? Also, would you consider a tablet a mobile device or is that only for cell phones? I guess if you’d call a laptop a mobile device, then tablets fall in that category as well.
I’d love to have this all sorted out one day. LoL!!
In my opinion, E-Readers are tablet devices, and can be considered tablets. However, E-Readers are like the dumb tablets and then you have Nexus tablets. There isn’t a term to describe these. I call them tablets, and would specify E-Reader instead of saying “tablet”.
I’d call dumb watches, watches and specify smart watch when I’m referring to a watch that can do more than just tell the time, date, alarm, and stop watch.
IDK… I just think some things HAVE to be specified… I may have spoken too much. =.S
#BoredAtMidnight
because batteries big enough exist so that we shouldnt have to charge it everyday. Not everyone has the same routine daily sometimes people people are crash at a friends and dont have a charger with them and it would be nice if their device wasnt completely on 0% when they wake up in the morning.
Well cut it off to conserve battery if. There’s always that convenience.
but what if i need the alarm to wake me up? And even if i cut it off at 4am, and then have to wake up in the morning, i’d like it to last my entire commute back home/to work.
My old prepaid nextel used to last me 2 days, it was great not having ot charge it every night.
I’m not exactly familiar with what nextel device you’re reffering to, but it that’s one of those sprint push to talk phones. The old “dumb” phones don’t do half of what today’s budget smart phones do, with the exception of making calls. That’s like comparing an old rotary phone to a nexus, any nexus.
i never said it did half of what our phones do now, i was saying how lovely it was not having to charge it every night. Besides, don’t knock how much battery drain snake used to put on your battery. graphically intensive game for its time.
Buying a bigger battery isn’t fixing the problem. It’s just delaying the inevitable. Nothing wrong with that. I mean that’s why we eat healthy. To prolong our life.
But I’ve learned to just bring my charger with me, and invested in a power bank. All too often do my friend’s have like the cheapest USB that charges your phone like 10% an hour, or they only have one USB and of course it’s for their phone.
Sure carrying around a power bank or charger ir 3 batteries at all times is an option. But thats not my ideal. My ideal is to be able to lug around only my phone and for it to last 2 days. If i. Paying $600 for something that technically is capable of lasting that long then why wouldnt i ask for it.
Yea… Hopefully we get there. Ever since my GS1 days, my average battery life has been about 12-16 hours with about 2-3 hours of screen time. And that hasn’t changed since then. I do the same thing. Games and social networking. I don’t think we’re going to see batteries lasting, but charging more quickly. I mean look at the tech that’s coming out. These Quick Chargers? Able to charge your phones in like less than an hour and stuff?
The battery doesn’t seem to be getting better. And from the latest tech decreasing charge times and software decreasing battery usage, it doesn’t look like we’ll be having that battery that can last 2 days with 6-8 hours of screen time any time soon. =.[
My battery life has been improving, although i dont game, i mostly watch videos and social network. My old palm pre and Evo 4g could barely last me from 7am till 8pm, My Evo LTE would last me until about midnight and my G3 can last me until the next morning with 4 hours of screen time. but that’s just my personal usage of course.
just get a portable USB charger like the Anker ones…..problem solved…
I have a phone that lasts two days, why would I want a watch that only lasts one? It’s great being able to go away for a weekend and not need to take a charger.
idk, maybe if you get blacked out drunk it might be a negative? /s
For the negative trade-offs and what little it’s adding, yes… IMHO obviously. :)
I would complain about this because there’s enough things connected to my surge protector, and some outlets are just placed in stupid areas (or my furniture is).
But ever since I bought that 5-port USB to wall outlet thingy, I no longer have to worry about that. I can hook my tablet, phone, 3DS and (smart watch) all to this device that connects to one plug.
I actually suggest people get it. Everyone in my IT Department at works uses the mess out of it when we’re charging our devices and stuff. Our surges are most definitely being used there. LoL!!
Theirs that and the fact you have to worry about not overusing it or it will die within 5-6 hours.
2 days should be the minimum acceptable life for us, as consumers. I can think of plenty of reasons why I would need my watch to last more than 24 hours at a time.
I work twelve hours a day when I’m scheduled. As long as this can make it that long and until I get home I’d be pleased. When your at home the likelihood you’ll use this more than your phone or tablet is low. And if you’re a traveler an investment in a second wireless charger would be a necessity. We all gotta sleep at some point.
And what about the days where you work 12 hours and then go out? I’ve gotten to a place where I need to have my Nexus 5 on a charger all day at work to make sure it doesn’t die when I leave the office and go out at night. Watches aren’t supposed to work like that. You should be able to slap it on your wrist and not think about it.
Watches aren’t supposed to work like that, you’re right. Smartwatches are something new altogether. For that kind of expectancy you should wait till the second or third generation models come out. For any brand.
I’m fine with sticking with my Pebble until one of the next gen watches gets it right.
Why? My Samsung Gear 2 (and original Gear) can do it fine. This is just poor by Google and is a show stopper for many of us, me included.
I just want one wireless charging standard and one table cloth type wireless charger where all phones tablet watches bluetooth goes overnight and get charged.
We can take this even further. A wireless night stand charger, that’s water resistant. Doesn’t plug in because it’s solar powered. It powers from the ambient light. They come in different designs. Pretty much the shelves are the chargers. You just place your device however you want. Doesn’t matter. However, if it’s not flat it charges slower. Perfect for night life.
And you can have any case, but it charges slower. Because even though it’s the future there is still something causing trouble with our batteries. LoL!!
There already is a standard, which is called Qi. This watch has been proven to work on other wireless charging pads from nokia, samsung, LG, etc.
Yes I know I do charge my N4 on it. But the problem is we still have to one device and put another which is same pain as plugging in. Hopefully there will be something like 12×12 inch area where I put everything and it gets charged.
Tks for the comparo… taking into account the battery size and the less power efficient SoC, this is the expected result of the Moto 360.
But don’t forget the Moto 360 has around 30-40% (cmiiw) more display area to power than the LG G, so it’s not doing too badly…
Too bad Moto didn’t put in a newer processor though. Would’ve knocked it out of the park and we wouldn’t have to be doing these power saving techniques. Even though it may have cost a tad more, it would’ve been worth it. Oh well, there’s always v.2…
You confirmed in ambient mode the Moto-360 does not work, yes it is hard on the LG but the LG gets you through a 17 hour day.
Why do all fans Moto-360 tell us we do not need to read the time when the display is dim? It is idiotic to flip a wrist or press a button just to get the time. If I wanted this behavior I would of stuck with the Galaxy Gear. If the Moto-360 will not last in Ambient mode my Gear live does and I will not but the Moto-360. Me I think just because Motorola was an American company, people in the States will put up with anything.
regardless of the battery life, I’d opt to have ambient mode off either way. You don’t have to press anything to get the screen to turn on. You just look at your watch and the time will show nearly 100% of the time. Moto should have gone with the snapdragon, for no other reason, than battery life. It’s not laggy at all and seems to work pretty good otherwise.
I’m pretty happy with mine, though I haven’t had it a full 24hrs yet. I also went in knowing that version two probably will be out sooner than later and I’m okay with that.
You are wrong, you take me you an idiot. I own a Gear Live, I owned a Galaxy Gear I know what you need to do. You need to move your wrist to tell time. With ambient mode on always like on my Gear Live I just glance a my watch. Fanboys are always saying a round watch is the normal shape, you have your Rolex do you flip your wrist to read time? I wish future ROMs allow me to turn the flip wrist gesture to wake, off. Nothing better that being in a dark room picking my nose and turn the watch on.
Chill dude! Nobody’s taking you to be an idiot!
When an average person wears a watch on their wrist, for them to look at it, they have to lift their hands up and flip it towards them. So when UniBroW said that you just look at your watch, that’s what he meant.
If the watch it kept on the table and you look at it, of course it is not going to turn on.
Disclaimer: I own none of these watches – yet. Waiting for something that looks like the moto360, with features/battery life from the others.
Oh, and stop picking boogers :)
Picking boogers is so much fun though ….. lol
I for one want to wear my smartwatch at night so it can track my sleep. They should (all) have a rapid charge feature similar to the new Moto X so I can charge my watch in ~15 minutes while getting ready in the AM. The rest of the day (and night) I want to be wearing it and tracking things, etc.
My thoughts after using the watch for a few days are that battery life is BARELY adequate, which means I have to think about how I’m using the watch. I’m fine with charging every night but if I have to be cognizant of it dying if I perhaps use it just a little too much that is unacceptable. I don’t know about the other watches but I have seen some noticeable lag and jank when scrolling around and switching between cards. All that with the fact that android wear is only going to become more intensive as they add features and the fact that I want to keep a watch for a couple years means the battery just won’t make it through a day at all later in it’s life and that this watch is going back to Best Buy today. Very disappointed…
Moto wins the design game by miles. Still getting it.
The question is what do you have to give up to get 20 hours of use??? Day one for me, with the out of the box settings:
Out of the box:
6am: Took Moto 360 off the charger battery 100% I haven’t changed any of the factory settings yet. 40 minutes driving to work and getting ready to start my day.
6:40am: Starting my day-Checking notifications (texts, calendar, emails)
7:50am: still configuring/playing with the watch (and working)
08:00am: Battery 78%
08:33am: Battery 72% (haven’t touched it since 0800) watch is receiving notifications.
09:12am: Battery 66% (haven’t touched it since 0833) watch is receiving notifications.
10:54am: Battery 52% (haven’t touched it since 0912) watch is receiving notifications.
12:13pm: Battery 39% (haven’t touched it since 1054) watch is receiving notifications.
1:47pm: Battery 23%
3:15pm: moto 360 has gone dark. It shutdown the battery is done.
I’m on day 2. I disabled the always on setting.
If today isn’t better, I’m returning this thing. It is insane that you can’t use the watch the way it was meant to be used because of the battery. It would have made more sense to build the watch so it would last a FULL day without having to change settings, such as “always on”, which should not even be an option on this watch. People will buy it anyway. I did, and I was hopeful after reading some reviews like this one. No disrespect meant, but from my hands on experience so far, this review is “rubbish”.
more to come when day 2 is over.
Really disappointed Moto went cheap w/ the SOC. I’m guessing they got the OMAP’s for pennies from TI. Guess they had to cut costs somewhere to make up for the expensive R&D & manufacturing. Hopefully, they switch to the Snap 400 in a few months, while keeping the cost the same. Otherwise, it looks like the G Watch R or some other yet to be released watch will end up on my wrist.
I agree. I was super stoked about the 360 but some design decisions have really ruined it for me.
No AMOLED screen so no disabling of individual pixels to save power. I also find amoled is easier to see in the sun. And of course those nice inky blacks
TI OMAP 3630 seriously? What the hell were you thinking moto! This single handedly kills it for me. This chip is four years old! It is an obvious fact that snapdragon 400 is better on power.
Tiny battery. You would think they would have tried to fit a little more in there.
The question is what do you have to give up to get 20 hours of use??? Day one for me, with the out of the box settings:
Out of the box:
6am: Took Moto 360 off the charger battery 100% I haven’t changed any of the factory settings yet. 40 minutes driving to work and getting ready to start my day.
6:40am: Starting my day-Checking notifications (texts, calendar, emails)
7:50am: still configuring/playing with the watch (and working)
08:00am: Battery 78%
08:33am: Battery 72% (haven’t touched it since 0800) watch is receiving notifications.
09:12am: Battery 66% (haven’t touched it since 0833) watch is receiving notifications.
10:54am: Battery 52% (haven’t touched it since 0912) watch is receiving notifications.
12:13pm: Battery 39% (haven’t touched it since 1054) watch is receiving notifications.
1:47pm: Battery 23%
3:15pm: moto 360 has gone dark. It shutdown the battery is done.
I’m on day 2. I disabled the always on setting.
If today isn’t better, I’m returning this thing. It is insane that you can’t use the watch the way it was meant to be used because of the battery. It would have made more sense to build the watch so it would last a FULL day without having to change settings, such as “always on”, which should not even be an option on this watch. People will buy it anyway. I did, and I was hopeful after reading some reviews like this one. No disrespect meant, but from my hands on experience so far, this review is “rubbish”.
I agree with your sentiments, my day 1 lasted 4 hours of configuring and playing around and it went dark. Day 2, i took it off the charger before i left home, drove 30 mins to work (no navigation, only alerts) and it was at 78% with ambient off.
I’m just holding out for the 1 week burn-in. If after that week it doesn’t get any better, I’ll be returning it.
Caveat emptor my friend. Especially with 1st gen products. That said, my pebble lasts for 7 days between charges!
Yep. I returned it this evening. The battery is not the only shortfall. The HRM is ridiculous. The watch is advertised being useful to runners and such. You can’t get a decent reading unless you keep your arm still. That means, you can’t get a continuous reading if you are moving. It is an attractive time piece, but for me that ended up being the limit of it’s usefulness.
I have a pebble as well, but it doesn’t have an hrm. I also have the garmin tactix, it recieves notifications and can receive the hr signal from a ant+ chest strap.
I,m looking for the watch that does it all in one unit. If pebble had a hrm, that would be awesome. There are some upcoming possibilities, we’ll see.
The search continues…
Personally im waiting for HTC. Hopefully theyll take all the errors these 1st gen watches have and improve on them…. Next year seems so far away ,,,,,,
U know I would have thought a minimum batt capacity of 600-800mah is great….they have inventions of very thin batteries running at 2000mah and we are still using batts that are thick…PowerStream has thin batts wrapped in soft aluminum…discharge rates are pretty low but if you can tailor these thin batts for different on board components and leave a 320 mah battery for the very power hungry stuff we could pull more hours out of phones and smartwatches. God knows who else is on cutting edge battery research nowadays and could do better then Powerstream.
Thus far day 2 with “always on” setting disabled. 52% by 07:46am. This is unacceptable… I put on charger to get an update. we’ll see what happens throughout the rest of the day.
when did your day start if you had 52% by 7:46 am?
So this article is about a battery test of two watches, and one of them completely destroys the other in that area. But for some reason, the winner hardly gets mentioned in the article?
I’m calling bias.
Totally ! Too many writers here are on Motos metaphorical genitals so to speak. Sad. Mediocre phones, mediocre watch.
im so confused,people results are all over the place…
I had the Samsung which has a slightly smaller battery than the Moto 360 (300 mAh vs 360’s 320 mAh, and was coming home from work (7-5:30) with more than 50-60% depending on how heavy my notifications were that day. I had a few days where I was out from 7am-10pm and still had enough juice to make it through the night.
It’s all about user choice. Arguing how people got this and that battery life doesn’t help because everyone’s results vary based on usage.
Keep the screen off, the battery last all day. Leave ambient on, and you will have to charge it at some point. Either way, it’s 1 day. No other color-display smartwatch gets better than 1-2 days (Said color cause I have a pebble and know it lasts, but it’s different). If you don’t want to expect that, don’t buy it. Simple as that.
I’d love to see the Samsung Gear Live tested against these guys. It seems like I’ve been getting great battery life with mine even though it ONLY HAS A 300mAh BATTERY (despite what this article says about it having a 400mAh battery). I believe the AMOLED screen makes a huge difference.
The LG has the 400 mAh battery. But I agree, the Samsung I had was really good battery. I returned it since I was able to order the 360, but we will see. If I get my 360 and can’t get a full day, I’ll be back on the Samsung Live.
I’m interested in the phrase “as svelte as possible”. Why couldn’t it be thinner? What’s in there that requires it to be thick? We have flexible Li-ion batteries, so why couldn’t that be put in the strap to make it thinner? Curious minds are eager to know what you know.
That would ruin the beautiful leather. Interesting idea, though.
Also, I’m not sure we actually have the technology to properly implement this yet, nor do I trust a lithium-ion battery wrapped around my wrist.
Qualcomm tog, somewhat does this.
I am totally satisfied w my black Moto360 w pebble black steel band and getting 14-16 hours of daily battery life, period.
Ian B
Its been 5 days I have Moto 360 and I came to a conclusion that with Ambient Mode Off and the watch is on my wrist, the battery drain is approximately 4.6%/Hr with moderate use. Not that bad. Love it when people ask about it and get surprised.
I would really want my smartwatch to replace my fitness band, especially since it is also marketed as a fitness accessory.
The one thing my Jawbone UP band does well is track sleep and it’s a feature that you don’t want to lose once you have experienced it. How am I supposed to track sleep with this thing if it is on the charger all night….? I certainly don’t want to wear 2 things on my wrist to have it all…
To each his own, to me the MOTO looks like an average oversized watch i already see being worn. If i wanted a smartwatch to look like a watch i might as well just buy a watch. I like the rectangular LG though, thats sexy. However im going to wait to see how HTC does sexy, im sure ill be impressed enough to pair it up with my M9 next year.
Same, here. LG got it right with their watch. No, Hype. A smartwatch that lasts two days, With a lot of activity. I dont care that I have to charge a device at night. Hell, I charge my phone. I’m not interested in the Moto360 anymore. Don’t get me wrong I was before it came out. I’m happy with LG’s G Watch. No problems, great battery life. Simple as that. I don’t need “tests” to convince me the smart watch works the way it should…
What about an optional “battery strap?” Might look a little less stylish, but like a battery case, could either charge the watch, or power could be drawn from it first? Great for those “didn’t make it home” times, extra long/heavy use days, or for power users/fitness folks/sleep tracking folks.
I’m also in the 2 day minimum camp. I’ve NEVER had a smartphone that lasted 24 hours with any use at all (even my Note 2) but that’s how I’ve come to think about smartphones. That said, I just think about watches differently. There couldn’t be ANY chance that it would die within 24 hours.
It’s obvious that SoC manufacturers like Qualcomm will need to make a dedicated chip for smartwatches. The S400 has 3 cores out of the 4 disabled, either in hardware (physically cut) or by firmware. The integrated modem is also cut. Everything that isn’t used on a smartwatch needs to be thrown out of a smartwatch SoC design.
I guess you’ll all have to wait for 14nm FinFET for better battery life, and a true single core processor that isn’t 45nm.
Wow science has made a watch that can last a WHOLE (waking) DAY. Is there no end to man’s ingenuity?
How about, “Wow, science has made a computer the size of a watch.”
It was meant to be a sarcastic comment in case it wasn’t obvious. Watches that last years on a tiny button battery have been around for decades.
Can someone explain to me why we cant use a Mirasol display technology????
Regarding why they went with the OMAP, potentially because of the MotoActv, which I believe had the exact same processor as the 360?
Thanks, just the info I was looking for. Will wait for version 2 of whomever’s round watch.