The
smartwatch craze is still officially on the rise and it seems that every
techie-tuned company wants to cash-in on the newfangled futuristic stylings of
wristwatches that do more than the run-of-the-mill tick-tocking. It wasn’t too
long ago that the Galaxy Gear and the new Pebble Steel smartwatches were
released, ingratiating some generally positive reviews in their own right. But
the ever evolving, ever creatively steadfast Motorola Company is anteing-up with
a new glamorous gizmo, a revisit from its previous foray into the smartwatch
game (i.e., the Moto 360’s less charming older brother, the Moto Actv) that may
help to take smartwatch dynamics to a new level. Let’s take a look at the
details!
Moto 360 Functionality
One
of the coolest aspects of the Moto 360 is that it will be completely compatible
with hosting all Android Wear featuring, supporting everything that Android
Wear does on top of additional customized notifications, voice action commands
and stacked cards. That being said, the 360 will be synergistic with Android
devices running 4.3 or higher. It’s battery-life is apparently very solid as
well, and although the word isn’t completely out yet, there seem to be some
interesting developments concerning the 360’s method of battery charging.
Motorola isn’t saying how the 360 will charge itself just yet, but it can be
assumed that the smartwatch will utilize something along the lines of inductive
charging, void of needing a USB port. Plus, when one physically observes the
Moto 360, no trace of external charging points can be found. This will definitely
add a lot of extra hype and a few bonus points on the chic, fashionable factor
scale.
It’s
worth noting that there is no camera function on the Moto 360. But don’t be too
surprised. Every gizmo nowadays has a camera, but apparently when it comes to
smartwatches, users just aren’t interested in a photo-taking functionality
being present. People just want the watch to give them their desired
information at a quick glance, nothing more. Keeping in step with this concept,
the Moto 360 scrolls its notifications vertically versus horizontally like most
others like the Sony SmartWatch 2. Its believed that a vertical scroll will
offer more ease and fluidity to visualization and reading.
The Moto 360’s Design
Motorola
designers wanted to achieve some specific upgrades with the 360 that just
aren’t present or up to par in other smartwatches. Firstly, there’s the actual
rounded shape of the watch-face. This is more than just a fashion choice as it
allows for a more spacious viewing surface area and offers more wrist comfort
than the pointed boxy watch-faces. The attributed Android Wear notifications
are specifically better-suited for a rounded watch-face than a squared one as
it pointed attracts the users eyes to the center of its screen. Plus, it really
does look cool.
The
watch bands themselves will be interchangeable, and having learned from
previous smartwatch models it has been observed that this is a more important
issue than one might immediately assume. Personalization and comfort are
crucial, and Motorola designers have given that a bright spotlight and allowed
for easily swapped-out wrist-bands made from premium quality materials.
Granted
this dedication to comfort and upper-tier quality, one shouldn’t expect that
the Moto 360 will be a moderately priced item. This techie titan was pieced
together from the bottom up with carefully crafted concepts of customization,
including special screens, various parts and internal chips. High quality
leather and metals are incorporated to allow for not only a highly functional,
but fashionable piece of merchandise. But not just so for a specific target
audience of potential buyers, but everyone. One of the failings of the overall
smartwatch push is that these products tend to lean toward the bulkier side,
making them a bit more cumbersome for the female wrist. The Moto 360 seeks to
achieve the proper balance of fit to accommodate a wider demographic.
Release Date and Other Specifics
No
official release date has been made available just yet aside from the vague ‘summer
of 2014 or beyond’ timeframe. As for the price of the Moto 360, this remains to
be a mystery as well, but it’s easily assumed it’ll cost a pretty shiny penny
given the materials and design put into it creation. Also, surprisingly there
is not much to be said about the internal workings of the device either. No
details concerning processors or memory have been outlined just yet. Some
things remain yet to be seen, but it’s certainly something to set your timer
for while we look at the clock and wait patiently.
About Author: - Ezra
Melino is an all-around-geek turned serious blogger out of North Carolina who not-so-secretly
relishes an in-print love affair with everything from technology and multimedia
entertainment to film and thehopper. He has written for and managed multiple tech blogs that are devoted
to exploring new technological developments all around the world.