Motorola Unveils Moto 360 Smartwatch with Sleek Circular Design
Motorola has unveiled the Moto 360, one of the first smartwatches powered by Google's new Android Wear platform. Due out this summer, the Moto 360 will respond to Google voice commands, show Google Now alerts and provide notifications from your phone.
The most surprising thing about the Moto 360 is a round face and simple yet stylish band that makes it look more like a classic analog timepiece with a color touch screen where the traditional watchface would be. Unlike other smartwatches we've seen, the device has a single button that looks a lot like the crown on an analog watch. Motorola has posted a video on its site, where its designers talk about the look and feel of the watch.
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While details about both the Moto 360 and the Android Wear platform are still a bit scarce, we know that software will provide the same type of card alerts as Google Now, letting you know what you have an appointment, what the score is in your favorite team's game or how long it will take you to get to work.
We also know that Android Wear will pop up alerts for incoming messages, as a Google Hangout message is shown in Google's Android Wear video. Users will also be able to send voice commands or questions to the watch by saying "Ok, Google" just as they do now with Android phones.
While the watches must have microphones and speakers in order to do the voice commands, we don't know whether or not they will be able to make calls. We also don't know how much the UI will resemble stock Android and how you will navigate through it. Right now it seems very swipe heavey, and we haven't yet seen a homescreen per se.
Since the UI is circular to match the shape of the watch, presumably all apps would have to be optimized for this shape. Like other smartwatches, the 360 will have a watchface, but we don't know if it will be on at all times or only when the watch is awake.
There's no word yet on pricing or the exact release date for the Moto 360, but interested users can sign up for alerts directly from Motorola at moto360.motorola.com.
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