
Moto 360 review - Doubleguitars
http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/5/6108947/moto-360-review
======
tfinniga
So, here's something I've been wondering about smart watches, maybe someone
here can answer.

It seems like the big dealbreaker for these is battery life. But a cheap watch
with quartz timekeeping and digital lcd display can last a year or more on a
single small battery.

Would it be possible to sandwich two lcd displays into the face of the watch,
one that is cheap and one that is high-res full-color? Always display the time
in the common janky digits, and then when touched, hand off to the nice
display? You could even get them to quickly crossfade as the backlight turns
on.

That way your $300 watch is at least as good as a $10 watch. Would that be
possible?

~~~
rabino
It also depends what features do you expect from the watch. I have a Pebble.
It does everything I want on a "smart" watch, and the battery lasts from 7 to
10 days. Which is obviously worst than a year, but it's good enough that it
doesn't become a PITA for me.

~~~
dwild
I don't have one but I remember with my last smartphone (years ago), the
battery lasted at least 3 days and I was able to make it last more than a week
without any issue. I found out that if I didn't charge it everyday, I would
often forget to do it. I had a cable to charge it at work because I forgot too
often at first. I started charging it everyday and when I bought the Galaxy
Nexus, I had no issue with the awful battery life. I would still like if it
lasted more than 2 days, just in case.

If the reviews on the Moto 360 aren't too bad and the battery last at least 2
days, I will probably buy it.

------
k-mcgrady
For me smart watches currently seem like tablets before the iPad. There's
something not quite right about them but it's hard to pinpoint. I'm hoping
that Apple is going to come along and fix that next week. Being their first
new product category in 4 years I'm guessing than they've spent a lot longer
working on it that LG/Motorola have. Of course I could be completely wrong.

~~~
liotier
> smart watches currently seem like tablets before the iPad. There's something
> not quite right about them but it's hard to pinpoint. I'm hoping that Apple
> is going to come along and fix that next week.

Paste an Apple logo sticker on it if that makes you feel better...

~~~
k-mcgrady
Ah, a troll. Nice to meet you.

In case you aren't a troll (in which case I'm sorry, my mistake) and are just
ignorant let me remind you about tablets before the iPad. They were big,
bulky, plastic. Ran Windows (not touch optimised). Required a stylus. There
was little to no custom software for them. They were expensive. And nobody
bought them because they sucked. Then the iPad came along - good software,
good hardware, affordable price.

Smart watches seem the same to me so far. For something you wear - a fashion
accessory - they all look terrible. Even the Moto 360 (which is by far the
best looking) doesn't look great. Apart from the Moto 360 all of them have
managed to have horrible watch face designs. Moto are the only ones that look
decent. The functionality is ok but not great. Not $250 great. Not enough to
make me want to strap something ugly to my body.

Apple could screw up and produce a piece of crap nobody wants. But my guess is
that they will come out with something vastly better and every single smart
watch manufacturer will have copied them within 6-12 months.

------
TarpitCarnivore
Am I the only one who felt like he refused to acknowledge this might be a bad
product? The Verge has been gushing over this watch for months now and when
they finally get it they have the same faults with it as other Android Wear
devices. Yet for some reason because it's round and stylish (I beg to differ)
it's immediately a better product?

~~~
threeseed
It wasn't just because it was round and stylish. It was because for the first
time the reviewer believed that it felt like an actual watch. That is:
discreet and unobtrusive. Those come from a device "feeling" different than
another. Not just because of specs on a page.

~~~
TarpitCarnivore
That's enough to warrant a 2 point bump over the other Android Wear devices?
They gave the G Watch and Gear a 6.8, and a 8.1 to the Moto 360, yet they have
very similar flaws. The focus, as evident by their wrap up, is all about
design.

~~~
threeseed
You do understand that watches are for a significant amount of people a
fashion accessory ? Design is at least if not more important than
functionality.

And as someone who cares about how they look design is the only reason I pick
which watch to buy.

~~~
TarpitCarnivore
I completely get that, but we're talking about something that is $250 and
supposed to bring a benefit to your life. If it's offering no additional
benefit beyond the other devices other than looking nice, does it warrant such
high praise? I personally don't think so. You're letting a poor product slide
just because of it looking nice.

~~~
Someone1234
We're letting a poor product slide because it is groundbreaking. The Moto 360
has pushed the whole Smartwatch world forward by it simply existing, we now
have circular watches which are barely bigger than a traditional clockwork
watch, that's a big freaking deal (running Android with an LCD screen no
less).

Will I buy the Moto 360? No. The battery issues are not something I am willing
to put up with, and frankly I think eInk is a better watch technology than LCD
displays for that reason. But I cannot ignore how big this product is. It is
HUGE, it is the iPhone of the Smartwatch world.

~~~
TarpitCarnivore
> It is HUGE, it is the iPhone of the Smartwatch world.

Can you please elaborate further here because I'm just not getting this
comparison. The difference between the iPhone and other smartphones at the
time had everything to do with how well Apple pulled off the display and touch
abilities. The literally only thing different with this over other devices
right now is that it is round, and LG has one coming very soon that is also
round.

------
illumen
Pebble lasts 5 days. I like the look better too. Plus it seems simple, and I
like the screen in sunlight better.

Plus it works with iOS AND Android - which is good, since I'm a multiplatform
kind of person.

~~~
Aissen
My pebble lasts between 7 and 10 days. You must be getting a lot of
notifications; do you enable accelerometer-triggered backlight? Do you listen
to music often (with the music controls) ?

~~~
jscheel
I get a pretty good number of notifications per day, and my pebble only lasts
about 3-4 days.

~~~
notjustanymike
A lot of it depends on the watchface. One that updates every second (like a
ticker) is going to drain a lot faster than one that only displays minutes.

------
tillipa
I have a Pebble and I'm quite ready to upgrade to a 360. Google Now is the
secret killer feature that reviewers don't take into account — probably
because they've only had the device for a day and are in plugged into Apple
services instead anyway.

My two caveats are battery life and wrist straps. The early reviews suggest
about 12 hrs battery life which is the bare minimum I'm willing to accept. I
don't mind charging it every night for the increased functionality over my
Pebble. The one disappointment is the lack of steel bands at launch. I'd
prefer to get that now from Moto instead of paying extra when it's released
later this fall. Despite those issues, I'm buying one today.

~~~
k-mcgrady
>> "Google Now is the secret killer feature that reviewers don't take into
account"

I love the promise of Google Now and it's the reason I switch to my Android
phone every now and then to see how it's going. But it isn't as good as
advertised. The only thing that it is very good with is sports (upcoming
games, results, live scores). Everything else is hit or miss and when you're
supposed to forget everything else and rely on it that's just not good enough.
I wish it was everything it promised because I love the idea but I've found it
lacking.

~~~
tillipa
>> "I switch to my Android phone every now and then"

Do you use Google's services? If you don't, Google Now won't be as 'good as
advertised' because it relies on that data which may not seem obvious at first
(by the way, Windows Phone's Cortana is much better at requesting and
displaying the background data it needs; Microsoft has leap frogged Google and
Apple already).

I use Google Mail, Maps and, most importantly, Calendar. I've opted to share
the information from those services with Google Now. I've found it's very
reliable and useful.

~~~
k-mcgrady
I do.

------
sgarman
Not even a day of battery life - that's such a deal breaker for me :(

~~~
awjr
Form over function? They made something that looks elegant without considering
how people use watches. As the reviewer mentioned, you forget about it, it
just becomes something you use adhoc during the day. Adhoc has to last 24+
hours.

Could they not have made it thicker just to increase the battery size and make
that a selling point?

From a design point of view, you could then have made a chunky watch component
that could then sit inside a chunky colourful wrist strap and housing.

I really cannot see the point in a watch with a 12 hour battery life.

~~~
DCKing
> Form over function? They made something that looks elegant without
> considering how people use watches.

But _people use watches as a fashion item_. Form is very important in a
smartwatch - the previously released Wear devices were criticized for looking
geeky and non-watchlike. Having a smartwatch look like a regular watch is a
big deal, and the very reason why this one gets praised and the others
received mixed responses.

------
nwh
The square interface on the round watch is pretty weird. I didn't expect to
see square interface elements being lopped off the sides. The software seems
to be almost a complete afterthought, I would have expected at least some
innovative ways of making rounder interfaces.

~~~
k-mcgrady
True. I thought Google made a big deal about Android Wear working on round
watch faces too.

------
cromwellian
12 hours is the reported life, but I bet that's with constantly fiddling with
it. The device's battery life is probably proportional to how often the screen
is kept on and CPU fully awake.

In real world usage, after the initial geek factor expires, the device will
probably last longer. I've certainly had that experience with the other
Android Wear watches and Google Glass.

I'd also expect the upgrade to Android L to improve battery life.

~~~
masklinn
> The device's battery life is probably proportional to how often the screen
> is kept on

I would expect a smartwatch's display to always be "on", displaying a watch
face.

~~~
gambiting
It won't be. You have to tap it to display the watch face.

Edit: Nope, I am wrong - the screen does indeed stay on all the time, sorry.

~~~
maggit
From what I gather, it is always on. Do you have a citation to the contrary?

"Like both already-released Android Wear watches, Moto 360 will feature an
always-on screen, which is a power-saving dimmed display that still tells the
time like a traditional watch." \- [http://www.techradar.com/news/portable-
devices/moto-360-rele...](http://www.techradar.com/news/portable-
devices/moto-360-release-date-news-and-features-1244426)

~~~
maggit
Maybe it is not always on after all:

"One of the cool things about Android Wear smartwatches so far has been the
always-on dimmed mode, so you can always flip up and see what time it is. The
Moto 360, however, doesn't roll that way. When the screen's not on, the
screen's not on. The one exception is when it's on the dock, charging." \-
[http://www.androidcentral.com/moto-360-hands-
redux](http://www.androidcentral.com/moto-360-hands-redux)

------
igravious
I don't care. I am never wearing a watch again. The only stuff I want on me
are clothes and jewellery. Clothes to keep the cold and wet and dirt off;
jewellery as non-functional art pieces that speak to me in some way and say
something about myself to others.

I don't want to have any piece of electronic technology tethered to any part
of my body unless one day (God forbid) I'm forced to wear a pace-maker. I was
never as happy as when I lost my last watch years and years ago and realised I
didn't have to actually get another.

~~~
paulojreis
Aren't watches (also) amazing pieces of jewellery?

~~~
igravious
I see what you're saying and I'm not trying to come across like some kind of
luddite (I likes me tech I tells ya) but I only want the jewellery I have on
me to have aesthetic function only. Even the incredibly handy function of
telling the time is one function too many.

And smartwatches? I don't get them. Don't you need your smartphone nearby,
don't they work over bluetooth? So if your phone is in your pocket or
somewhere nearby then aren't you paying an awful lot of money for a few
seconds of convenience? If they work over wifi or cellular data that's another
story of course.

~~~
paulojreis
But you can pretty much ignore the time-telling functionality (I guess that's
what most people do, anyway) and still retain the aesthetical value. Of
course, watches might not be _your thing_ , but it just sounded a little
strange - do you value jewellery and its aesthetical value only _until_ they
have some sort of functionality?

P.S. I don't get smartwatches, too. At least, in their current incarnation(s).

------
allegory
A colleague of mine purchased a Samsung Gear 2. I think it took about 2 days
before it was discarded. He said it was awkward doing business in a display
like that when the phone was in your pocket anyway. I suspect the same is true
with this: it has initial appeal but lacks practicality and genuine use cases.

I myself, after owning everything from a Timex DataLink, Fossil Wrist PDA,
through a TI EZ430 to an expensive Omega, settled on watch perfection: £7
Casio F-91W.

~~~
izacus
Why would you do business on your WATCH? The purpose is to propagate
notification in a non-intrusive manner, not being a phone replacement.

~~~
allegory
Sorry: "doing business" means accepting calls, changing music, getting a
glance at the state of things etc.

It's supposed to augment the phone but fails to do so according to him.

------
fidotron
Seriously, I can just about see Apple doing something with such impractical
battery life, but that software?

This thing looks like a complete failure of integrated design, with the
hardware being considered in isolation from what the software on it actually
does. That it is supposedly the best smartwatch is really quite damning.

------
uptown
Is there a way to charge this thing without the dock, or are you expected to
carry that around with you?

~~~
joshboles
This Android Central article says that it can use a standard Qi charger:
[http://www.androidcentral.com/moto-360-hands-
redux](http://www.androidcentral.com/moto-360-hands-redux)

------
laichzeit0
I really hope Apple decides to call the iWatch something, anything really,
that doesn't have the word "watch" in it. It's going to typecast it as
something it's not, which is a time-telling device. That's really the most
uninteresting and elementary functionality that these watches are going to
provide. I really want to wear something that tracks heart rate, blood
pressure, room temperature, sleeping habbits, etc. Telling time is the last on
the list of shit I care that these things can do.

~~~
iaskwhy
Did you say the same about the iPhone?

------
allard
Is NTP handled differently when Android is wearable? If not, I can imagine
some will find the accuracy of the time lacking.

~~~
izacus
What exactly would be wrong with Android time accuracy?

~~~
allard
I've seen it drift more than 30 seconds over a few weeks. (Not sure if this is
true of 4.4, say.)

~~~
izacus
I've seen it not drift for any seconds on 20+ devices we have for development
testing.

I have seen networks send wrong time to the phones which caused wrong time
issues on phones with "sync time with network" enabled.

------
mahmoudi
comment hackerweb

