Hands on with the Motorola Moto 360 and Moto 360 Sport Smartwatches

Hands on with the Motorola Moto 360 and Moto 360 Sport Smartwatches·Consumer Reports

We recently got our hands on Motorola’s next-generation Moto 360 smartwatch at a preview event in New York City. Actually, the brand has branched out to four models aimed at fashion- and fitness-minded men and women.

While all retain the distinctively round shape of the first Moto 360, these come with a few new features and a myriad of customization options. You can even create your own vision at Motorola’s motomaker.com storefront.

New features include a model with built-in GPS for fitness tracking independent of a smartphone, wireless NFC for unlocking doors without a key, and an impressive range of wristband materials, colors, and patterns.

All support the ip67 standard, which should allow them to survive a 30-minute dunk in about 3 feet of water. Their display crystals are made from Gorilla-glass, a watch-face material that often performs very will in our scratch-resistance tests.

These new Motos, which will run the latest version of Android Wear, are also the first to work with the iPhone 5 and newer Apple smartphones.

His and Hers Styles

The men's Moto 360 smartwatch is made of 316L stainless steel, a tough, lustrous metal used in many fine watches. It comes in 42mm- and 46mm-diameter cases that support conventional 22mm watch bands. For women, there's a Moto 360 that's nearly identical to the 42mm version except that its lug is narrower to accommodate the thinner, 16mm watch bands popular in female fashion.

Bands purchased from Motorola have a sliding bolt to make swapping them much easier than wrestling with the tiny, spring-loaded pins used to hold conventional watch straps in place.

In addition to onboard GPS for tracking your progress on the fitness trail, the Moto 360 has an LCD display that can switch into a battery-saving, always-on “transmissive” mode, Motorola says. The mode, made possible by the watches’ Android Wear OS, significantly dims the watch face.

Motola says you should be able to see under both bright and dark environments, but on the demo pedestal at the press event, I could barely make out what was on the watches’ screens.

Power at Your Wrist—for a Price

The new Moto 360 smartwatches have several on-board micro apps that will give your wrist some intriguing powers.

For instance, if you have a Ford electric vehicle, you can lock and unlock doors, start the engine, and get status updates on battery charge, condition of the tires, and more. (Similar apps are expected for other Ford models and cars from other makers.)

The Kevo (pronounced "key-vo") app can be used to unlock your hotel-room door—or home door, if it's equipped with a Kwikset Kevo Bluetooth Electronic Lock—with just a bump of your wrist.

The new Moto 360 smartwatches can be pre-ordered on Motorola.com, Google Play, and Best Buy today. In late September, you’ll also be able to pick them up at Nordstom and Verizon.

Prices range from $300 to $430, depending on options. Details on the Moto 360 Sport’s availability will be announced soon.

We’ll have a more-detailed review of the Moto 360 smartwatches in the weeks ahead when our test samples arrive. In the meantime, check out some of the other hot smartwatches in our Ratings.



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