It's back: The mercifully normal-looking Moto 360 smartwatch Unlike the seeming majority of wearables (including those from Apple, Fitbit, and Huawei), the resurrected Moto 360 smartwatch isn't targeted at fitness enthusiasts. Rather, it sits in a niche that's been perversely neglected by most brands. Paraphrasing a company rep, this smartwatch is for those who want something that looks …
Most smart watches (and normal watches come to that) have easily replaceable straps, and most of those use the standard spring bar system, so you can swap the straps yourself in a couple of minutes.
New metal straps can be found really cheap on ebay, or I'm sure you can spend ridiculous sums on them instead.
Spot on. I've been tempted to ask for a smartwatch for my surprise birthday gift for a few years now.
But whenever I've looked at them they all seem to to be aimed at the pretend-to-be-getting-fit market. And at a price that can't be justified by function ( even if it could be justified by the technology). And they don't look great imo - except perhaps for the ithingy
The idea of a watch that is an extension of your phone, so that the actual phone can stay in a pocket when moving about, sounds reasonably useful. For a suitable cost. But that cost/value isn't several hundreds of pounds. At least not to me. To others? Can't think who, though.
(Saw John104's comment. I have a beautiful looking Citizen eco drive and a Seiko Solar. The latter must be near to 20 years old and is used on days when I'm doing messier jobs. Both work great and I would need a decent incentive to wear something different.)
Yes. My Seiko Solar is much older than the Kinetic that I also used to have. But it wasn't just the life of the cell - it's that they wanted an arm (or wrist) and a leg to replace it. Far more than it was worth.
Some bright bean counter must have seen it as a way to get an income stream. I didn't get a Seiko again. Once bitten....etc.
My beloved kickstarter Pebble died earlier this year. I replaced it with a Garmin Vivoactive 3 (courtesy of Amazon 50% off). It doesn't look *too* much like a wannabe fitness tracker and I get a solid 6-7 days on the battery. Took a while to sort out notifications like I wanted (the app s/w is nowhere near as good as the pebble) but it's a suitable replacement.
@eldel Good to get some real-life feedback on alternatives, thanks! I know that some day the Pebble will give up the ghost... I've got some replacement batteries on their way courtesy of Aliexpress for a dead PT a friend gave me (knowing I like to tinker). If that Christmas hol project goes well I might get a few more years out of it yet!
To be honest, I don't think there's one single thing that stands out as a must have. In my case I have an Apple Watch 3 paired with a iPhone XR and I can do stuff like read messages and send short replies, answer calls (think Dick Tracy), silence alarms, control music playback, log exercise sessions (usually brisk walking) check my pulse rate, pay for stuff (easier than by phone or card TBH) and probably some other stuff that hasn't occurred to me at the moment.
It's not really one thing though, just a multitude of little things that become easier and I bought mine fully intending to not really make much use of it but I'd miss it more than I expected if I went back to a non-smart watch. Odd.
Oh and I can tell the time, it runs easily for two days between charges and like the watch in the article. will go to time only mode for three days when the remaining power hits 10% or before if I want.
If you only want to know the time, a smartwatch offers no advantages. If you want very simple notifications and handy features like being able to page your phone if it's fallen between sofa cushions, then there are smart watches from Casio and Citizen that have very good battery lives - months. If you want a watch that is also a GPS tracker, means of payment, runs apps, maps and makes calls - then yeah, the downsides such as bulk and poor battery life may make themselves noticed.
All design and engineering is a process of compromise.
I like being able to quickly check my notifications without digging out my phone, and occasionally being able to control my music from my wrist is also useful too. My Pebble gets about 10-14 days on one charge, but I usually charge it once a week.
If that seems useful to you then it's worth it, if not, stick with a normal watch.
That said, a lot of people seem to like the fitness stuff some watches have. Can't see the point myself but fortunately there's a watch out there for everyone, smart or 'dumb'.
It's interesting that price rarely comes up as a factor, because it's hard to say if paying £80 for a Pebble is a good or bad deal. Sure, I could by a cheap Casio for less than a tenner, or I could buy a fancy Breitling for tens of thousands, and yet they both do the same job. I'm not sure where various smart watches fit into that.
I have a running dedicated watch. Sure it comes with a chest strap for accurate HR and a footpod for accurate non GPS distance/speed (GPS falls down in various ways around here).
What I want is a headsup display which works both in strong daylight and pitch darkness (I live in Dundee, winter approaches) so I don't have to peer at a watch while running to see HR/Speed. Ever since Google Glass I've been waiting for a practical system to do that. I wear glasses to run as a windshield and minor sunshield since polycarbonate lenses made them light enough.
Is that too much to ask?
Oh and a perfectly safe personal drone to fly just above me and autonomous to warn me of cyclists, young children and cars reversing out of blind driveways (common around here). If it could project a shadow me from the last run showing where I am in comparison that would be good. A bit like the projected laser which helped Eliud break 2hrs for the marathon.
No pressure technical folks but don't be too tardy.
Oh and a perfectly safe personal drone to fly just above me
..armed with a powerful laser and/or DU rounds to remove irritating carbon-based lifeforms that get in the way?
In my old motorbike days I used to wish for a laser based system to enable me to etch rude messages in the paintwork or windows of cars[1] that acted like dicks around motorbikes..
[1] Mostly (in those days) Audi or BMW drivers. Volvo drivers were also hazardous but that was mostly due to a complete lack of situational awareness from being safely ensconsed in the equivalent of an AFV rather than malice at the thought of someone able to get through traffic faster than you..
Several years ago I bought my Samsung Gear 2 Neo for CDN $250. Smartwatch, does notifications, texts, emails from my phone. Counts steps and will do pulse-rate. Lasts 3 days on a charge. A bit bulky. Talks Bluetooth to the phone, but has no other radios. Why can't someone produce an updated, slimmed-down version of this?
I have a 2nd gen 360, bought from new when Moto did a father's Day offer. Totally black with black metal strap. That pic in the article looks like the straps may be transferred from old units.
Moto were awesome and swapped my battery well outside warranty, as the various updates oiled the battery (Google that, it wasn't fun) and whilst I don't wear it much it still provides time functions by the bed. The main drawback is its a bit slow now.
If the new one has NFC, a speaker and wireless charging, I may be in.
I have a cheap Wear OS watch (Ticwatch E) and it's turned off sitting in my drawer.
- Battery life is garbage
- Even with the extra outlook watch app, outlook notifications never work
- Touchscreen always doing things by accident.
- No ambient light sensor WTF.
I got a deal on a Fitbit Versa 2
It's a much better watch for everyday use.
- 3 days always on display
- Outlook notifications work
- Better health tracking including sleep tracking
- Waterproof enough for swimming
- Ambient light sensor.
It is really amazing that we can have a watch shaped computer on our wrists. The RAM, CPU, and display were the things of childhood dreams for many, spanning decades from Dick Tracy to numerous Sci-Fi writings and shows. I'm truely impressed.
However, I just don't see the merit of one - yet. When they can pack a modem, BT WiFi, large amount of RAM, and a battery that lasts a month between charges,THEN these will be ubiquitous. Until then, they remain a gadget.
... and seemingly every device in my house got a clock display. Now they're everywhere when you're out in public; bill-boards, stations, shop windows...
I expect I'm too used to it to ever go back to wearing one. There would have to be some kind of ultra-compelling, as yet unheard of use case.
What's the time in Paris? -->
A few years back there were lots of people saying they didn't need a watch, because mobile phones.
But that levelled off. I've not heard it for ages.
And watch wearing seems to be still pretty much as common as it was.
Yes, it probably came up more frequently in conversation when folks actually made the transition. I may be a bad example since I wasn't fond of wearing watches before phones were common-place. They were always getting in the way when fossicking around in engine bays, etc.
It may be a generational thing, but I expect that folks who don't embrace the phone shift will stick with the watches. They're probably not in the market for a smart watch, though. It may also be location dependent; I mostly see health monitors on folks around here, if they're wearing anything on their wrists.
I'm ignoring the stupid economic darwinism factor where folks pay thousands for effectively the same function because it's some famous brand name, as with luggage and attire.
It may be round, but the bezel on that screen is humongous!
Motorola explained at the time why the "flat tire" cutout was needed at the bottom of the screen to achieve that beautiful edge screen.
This new fake (ie not a Moto) version is nowhere close to the original 360.
I really did wish Motorola released a proper successor to the moto360. I was hoping OLED tech has advanced enough to achieve that full edge to edge round screen...
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