
Moto 360 - uptown
http://moto360.motorola.com/
======
martythemaniak
I'm very impressed. When I saw the Google video, I thought the round watch was
a photoshopped concept we may see in the future, but it's actually shipping in
a few months.

Also, is this the first mass-market device with a round screen? I'd be
interested to see how the layouts work from a developer perspective. Whether
relative or fixed, desktop, mobile or web, we're all so used to rectangular,
grid based layouts.

~~~
radley
It's still "simulated" which means Photoshopped / After Effects. I"m actually
pretty nervous because there's no "simulated" disclaimer, yet these mock-ups
are terribly rough:

\- fake / inconsistent lighting accents & bevel

\- screens in the photos are pixelated (looks like a screen-res quality source
was rotated), yet the 3D model's screen is totally smooth suggesting 400 dpi
or better

\- clip rotation angles are off

\- the cropping is poor, has antialiasing problems

~~~
Domenic_S
In other words, you can tell by some of the pixels?

~~~
radley
An easy way to tell: look at the edges of the text area's white background.
See how they're kinda jaggy, almost like steps? That's due to low resolution.
Either the device is low res (which most smart phones are) or the source image
was.

Now look at the edges of the 3D watch's hands: they're all smooth at every
angle. That means either a 3D mock-up or an incredibly high res screen. Yet
look at the black watch face in the prior shot: all the hands are jagged.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Nice; though reading your explanation made me imagine how we're getting close
to [https://xkcd.com/331/](https://xkcd.com/331/) territory ;).

------
mikeryan
Am I the only one who doesn't wear a watch (even if I wanted to) because I
don't like the way it scratches against my MacBook Pro?

~~~
glomph
I find it hilarious that you name the exact model of laptop.

~~~
pavanky
This is anecdotal evidence but I've noticed people using idevices mention the
models rather than generic device names.

I wonder why that is.

~~~
w1ntermute
Apple is more a fashion company than a tech company. Those who buy and use its
products are primarily concerned with advertising the fact that they use Apple
products - conspicuous consumption. It's no different from how Gucci or Prada
owners make sure to prominently display the brand of their handbag when they
are in public. It's a simple form of signaling your identity, that you belong
to a particular group.

This is also why Apple's profit margins are sky high. Consumer electronics is
an industry with razor thin margins, but with fashion, the sky is the limit
(given that you can effectively manipulate the minds of consumers, which Apple
is excellent at). An iDevice cannot be commoditized, no matter how hard
Apple's competitors try.

~~~
psychometry
Either you're a troll or you're delusional. Which is it?

>Apple is more a fashion company than a tech company.

Not even remotely accurate for possible definitions of either of those terms.

>Those who buy and use its products are primarily concerned with advertising
the fact that they use Apple products - conspicuous consumption.

Oh really? You don't think it has anything to do with their excellent track
record of hardware design, software design, reliability and usability?

>It's no different from how Gucci or Prada owners make sure to prominently
display the brand of their handbag when they are in public.

Yes, because Dell and HP laptops are completely devoid of physical branding...

>It's a simple form of signaling your identity, that you belong to a
particular group.

Or it's because Apple products let productive people be productive.

~~~
tripzilch
> You don't think it has anything to do with their excellent track record of
> hardware design, software design, reliability and usability?

Of course. It has to do with Apple's _branding_ of "hardware design, software
design, reliability and usability".

Just like G-Star advertises their clothing as "raw", while their jeans are
actually quite flimsy and rip or tear easily.

Sure, they look pretty and well-fitted. Just like I would recommend my
grandmother an iPad because I know it's well-designed and she'd have less
trouble using it.

> >It's no different from how Gucci or Prada owners make sure to prominently
> display the brand of their handbag when they are in public.

> Yes, because Dell and HP laptops are completely devoid of physical
> branding...

You're proving his point here: It's not like other brands of handbags (or
shoes) are completely devoid of physical branding either. Yet it's not like
their owners are even _aware_ of its brand, half the time.

In this context I'd sooner compare Apple products to Nike shoes, rather than
the fashion "I have money to spend" signalling Gucci/Prada handbags.

Come on, the evolution of "brands as lifestyle + identity" has been around for
at least 30 years now. You should know a thing or two about how it works. It's
not really a disputed theory.

And you can't seriously deny that Apple isn't fighting along in the Big Brand
mindshare arena just as much as Coca-Cola, Nike, Red Bull and Calvin Klein, in
a sense that Dell, Asus or Lenovo are very much not. A quick litmus-test is
whether they have a significant brand-identity that can be separated from
their products (sometimes even more prominent than their actual core product,
especially in the case of Coca-Cola or Red Bull).

> >It's a simple form of signaling your identity, that you belong to a
> particular group.

> Or it's because Apple products let productive people be productive.

See what you just did? Put Apple product users in the group of "productive
people being productive"? :) Would you _ever_ say something as generic about a
Lenovo laptop? (which has excellent hardware and lets productive people be
_very_ productive) That's because Apple is a brand identity, over just being a
brand of laptops. As if they're charged with a kind of "soul".

You don't have to consider it a bad thing, but I think it's important to at
least be aware of these very real differences, because they do influence the
way people act, behave and feel about their stuff. And it's nothing new, and
it's nothing you can or should prevent, everyone is affected by these ideas to
some extent, which is again why it's so important to be aware of it. Just
don't deny it.

~~~
makomk
Exactly! Discussions on HN (and elsewhere) have been full of Apple users
bemoaning problems that, if they happened on Android, would be held up as
proof that it was inherently crap. Because Apple have successfully branded
themselves as the usable, well-designed option these issues get treated as a
temporary aberration - even though from what I can tell they've always been
the norm for Apple.

------
Yhippa
Really cool stuff! From what it looks like this is a big departure from the
previous Android smart watches that look like they jammed Android 1.0 on
there.

Two big concerns for me: 1) Battery life 2) Display visibility

They go hand-in-hand for me. Get that nice high-res display but will it last
me a day? For battery life it would be nice to have induction charging if it
were to last about 8 hours (my personal guess).

~~~
RyanZAG
If they price this to compete with typical mid-high watches, then you're
looking at about $4000 [1] which is more than enough to get some very
impressive display technology in there.

If they skimp and try to put in cheap hardware and go for a $500 price target
then this is going to fall flat. Hopefully they understand the watch market
and know to charge more and put in the best materiel, but knowing the tech
industry I doubt it a lot.

[1] [http://www.thewatchquote.com/List-Price-and-tariff-for-
Montb...](http://www.thewatchquote.com/List-Price-and-tariff-for-Montblanc-
TimeWalker-Chrono-Automatic-ref-09668-watch-No_5108.htm)

~~~
wffurr
$4000 is _insane_ for a piece of consumer electronics OR a watch. A watch that
expensive is purely status-indicating jewelry.

If all you want to do is tell the time quickly, a $10 quartz watch does the
job just fine.

I am sure Vertu or some other ridiculous company will sell you your insane
diamond-encrusted titanium penis size signifier with a touch screen and
Android Wear integration, but it won't be any more functional than the regular
version.

~~~
lewaldman
This was, by far the best cost/benefit watch that I found latelly:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004VR9HP2/ref=oh_details_o...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004VR9HP2/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

Also, Swatch have some very nice ones, with a VERY good price.

~~~
vxNsr
Don't take this the wrong way but: That thing doesn't even have a respectable
water-resistant rating, I was very exciting when I clicked on that link
because I'm in the market for a new watch, but I need something that can take
more than a couple drops of water...

For comparison: My first two watches lasted 2 years each and costed me ~$10 a
pop plus they had a WR rating of 300m. Sadly they looked kinda juvenile and I
needed something with a little more status, but I'm leaning on just going back
because they really worked!

~~~
mcintyre1994
Does 30m (99ft) not translate to approx 30 meters/99 foot underwater for
watches? If you want a watch to go diving in fair enough, but the way I read
that it seems a fair bit more than a couple drops of water?

~~~
vxNsr
so it's strange but that's not quite how it works, Here's a pretty good
explainantion of what those numbers actually mean:
[http://deloachwatchservice.com/other_stuff/water_resistancy....](http://deloachwatchservice.com/other_stuff/water_resistancy.htm)

~~~
mcintyre1994
Wow, thanks for that! I'm in the market too so I'll definitely bear that in
mind. Bizarre that they advertise them numbers without such an explanation.

------
egonschiele
I'm excited about this, and disappointed in Pebble. They were first to market
but totally squandered their opportunity. I got my Pebble last year, and
stopped wearing it after a week because all the promised apps were still a
work-in-progress. One year later, not much has changed :/

~~~
yawz
I'm using mine with RunKeeper and it works great. I'm pretty happy with my
Pebble's notifications as well. Having said that, I didn't have great
expectations to start with. I wasn't going to play games on a watch. I wasn't
going to type responses to my SMSs or e-mails. I'm happy because I don't miss
calls anymore. I see my notifications instantly. And when I'm outside running,
I can easily see my distance, pace etc. And I only recharge once a week or
longer.

~~~
egonschiele
Same here. My biggest use case was a nextbus app.

------
Dirlewanger
An aside: When does the deal of selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo close? I'm
assuming not for a while and this is why they're still branded as a Google
company?

~~~
ZoFreX
The sale hasn't gone through yet, so they're still a Google company for the
time being.

------
dangravell
Can I ask a dumb question? Is this a stand-alone device (requiring a SIM card)
or does it require pairing with a phone for data access?

Because if it's the latter it's no better on the key feature of portability
than the existing Samsung/Pebble devices (AIUI).

~~~
objclxt
I would be amazed and/or shocked if it had a 3G radio in. It surely _has_ to
be paired with a phone for data access. The power requirements alone would
result in a watch that had a 2 hour battery! I suppose it could use WiFi, but
that seems unlikely. I am guessing bluetooth pairing...

~~~
krzyk
Well, it doesn't have to be 3G, good old GSM, so I could leave my phone in the
locker and go to gym and have all the data available to me right there. It has
small screen, which most of the time should be turned off, without bluetooth
(which is battery hungry also) and without wifi, I think it should work for 1
day. That kind of smartwatch I would definitely buy.

~~~
ssmoot
I'd really hope the screen never goes to sleep. That would kinda defeat the
whole point of the idea IMO.

Make it bluetooth only. Try to give it a decent battery. Maybe a peltier could
help stretch it further (seen on some watches, though I suspect the space
would be better used for a larger battery since this watch would be much more
power hungry)?

Still. Pretty pumped about this.

------
misterbwong
Am I the only person hoping this comes through with some type of iOS
compatibility? It seems to be the only smart watch out there that looks like a
watch and not a futuristic-80's-era-digital-caluclator-watch

~~~
kcorbitt
Definitely second your point about the styling. This is the first smart watch
I've seen that I could see myself wearing (although it still looks a bit thick
for something I'd be wearing on my wrist -- but that's a hard problem to get
around with current-generation technology).

Current smart watches remind me of those Windows convertible tablets from
2006-2007. It was a good idea, and for certain use-cases it was the best thing
out there, but the technology just wasn't quite advanced enough to make them
practical for most people. I see smart watches catching on when they are sleek
enough to function as a no-compromises watch while also integrating all the
contextual information they promise to make available.

------
nlstitch
I have a full blow Android watch (Simvalley AW420) , but I wouldn't recommend
a Smartwatch to others.

Why?!

\- Gorilla arms; When your in bed or on the couch, keeping the watch turned
towards your face takes a toll on your wrists. It's tiring. See how the people
in the video look down towards their watch, try doing that 20+ times a day for
prolonged times.

\- Call quality; Calling with it sound like your wearing a skimask. A
bluetooth dongle is the only option for good voice quality, but its another
extra device on you.

\- Battery quality ; Battery lasts one day if your taking it easy.

\- Restricted Controls; The only thing you can do is swipe or touch. I can
manage the onscreen keyboard, but its tiny! The only things you can truly use
it for is a notification system.

~~~
ricardobeat
Call quality is a matter of using decent hardware, and
[http://minuum.com/](http://minuum.com/) solves the keyboard problem. I expect
to see amazing developments in the next couple years!

~~~
nlstitch
No matter how good your mic is, you still have too much ambient sound. A mic
near your mouth is the best solution so far.

------
Roritharr
I'm extremely curious to learn about how they build the display. I have been
to lots of component trade shows but have never Seen anyone able to produce
non rectangular screens or flexible screens that could be bent like they would
need to here, does anyone know more?

Meta: Why after so many comments am I the first to ask this?!?

~~~
awalton
Cutting an AMOLED screen in a circle isn't exactly rocket engineering. Driving
it will be a bit of a challenge, but not something that a team of electrical
engineers can't overcome. The biggest problem is that it's going to be
expensive, which is convenient because a smartwatch is a luxury item and
people will be willing to pay if it's even halfway decent.

The biggest problem is that they haven't demonstrated it will be even halfway
decent yet, and none of the existing comparables give any confidence to that.

~~~
Roritharr
Doesn't seem to be Amoled, the only screen so far that would atleast from the
the tech fit the bill: [http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/unique-small-
circular-...](http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/unique-small-circular-
screen-1-38_518740441.html)

~~~
awalton
How can it seem to be anything, it's not even real yet. It's a marketing
mockup.

AMOLED fits the bill easily because the technology allows you to place dots
however you need to place dots and doesn't restrict you to arrays or
rectangular shaped emitters or even planar geometry. The only challenge is
running wires to each LED to drive it.

------
zacharycohn
Someone should teach Motorola that "I would like to receive product
information from Motorola and confirm that I'm 16 years of age or older." is
NOT what "opt in" means...

~~~
yohui
The whole point of entering your email address on that page is to "receive
product information from Motorola". That's what signing up for updates on the
Moto 360 is: asking to receive info on a Moto product.

~~~
corin_
To be fair, I had a similar reaction (still went ahead and subscribed, though)
- I first had the impression I was signing up to receive information
specifically related to this one product, and now don't know if that's the
case or if I'm going to get a tonne of mails about stuff I don't care about
while waiting for an update on this.

------
andyjohnson0
My first impression is that the face looks slightly too big for the wrists it
is being modelled on. If the pictures are representative of the final product
then I can't see it being worn by many women, or men with slimmer wrists.

------
pearjuice
>Synchronizing your pulse with Google...

>Say "share now" to share your cardiovascular activity on Google+

>...

>Synchronization completed!

>5 minutes later

> _ping!_ One new message. Say "read" or "later"

>" _read_ "

>Enjoying the run? Try these Adidas XYZ shoes for only 99$, perfect for
athletic running!

Call me a tinfoil hatter, but I am not touching this tracking device with a
five foot pole.

~~~
gnopgnip
This device just connects to your phone.

~~~
saganus
And that will prevent Google from implementing libraries and functionality
specifically designed to enable what the GP proposes? I think more along the
lines of more and more integration to compel users to "get the full
experience" out of their phones and watches.

------
frade33
I am still failing to get the idea of enabling phone related services on a
tiny device like this, it’s unlikely it can run sms/phone calls at its own,
rather you would have to keep a smartphone with it. That said, I guess the
focus should be on doing something that phone can’t. Than indirectly using
your phone by this device, which barely makes any sense to me.

The device depicted in the images does not appeal me, it’s seems massive and
old fashioned. I don’t think a smartwatch should have this look. We do not
need a touch screen enabled watch, we are talking here about a ‘smart’ watch.

~~~
InclinedPlane
It's impossible it can run anything on its own, its an accessory, that's the
point.

The best use is typically just getting notifications. So you can see SMSes,
IMs, whatnot. The fact is that 90% of the time it's more important to have
read a message than to reply to it. It also saves you the trouble of having to
remember to read something when you notice you've gotten a message but you
can't check it just now 'cause you are busy with something else. That alone is
a huge use case. Sure, it doesn't apply to everyone, but it applies to enough
people that it justifies the product.

And ultimately it is just a product not a way of life being imposed on
humanity. If it doesn't work for you then don't use it. If you don't like
sailing you don't have to buy a sail boat, but you also don't have to decry
their existence either.

------
sunseb
Seriously... It looks like a toy comparing to a good old swiss watch :

[http://www.omegawatches.com/planet-
omega/bond](http://www.omegawatches.com/planet-omega/bond)

~~~
kitsune_
And Omega is to Swiss watches what Lindsey Lohan is to acting =)

* I'm Swiss and this comment was made in good humour

~~~
Zhenya
Let's be honest - a Tag Heuer is the Macaulay Culkin of watches and not
everyone can afford a Patek. Omega is ok. ;)

~~~
lewaldman
How about Tissot? (I'm by no means really understand about swiss watches, just
curious)

------
romanovcode
I wonder how can you call someone? You can speak to the phone but how do you
hear what is being said to you? Does it comes with some kind of wireless
earphones or something?

~~~
sliverstorm
Or how you text someone, for that matter.

~~~
ericd
I'd guess that it's like Google Glass - quick to read things like texts, and
you can respond with short transcribed messages.

~~~
mynameisvlad
Watch the Android Wear video, it uses Google's voice input to transcribe
messages.

------
mandeepj
how it is different from Moto Watch[1]? I guess they just changed the dial.

[1] -
[https://motoactv.com/home/page/features.html](https://motoactv.com/home/page/features.html)

~~~
mynameisvlad
Well, for starters, it's round, which is a big thing (round LCDs are hard to
pull off). Secondly, it runs Android Wear, not whatever custom baked thing was
running on the MotoActv watch. Thirdly, it does completely different things.
The MotoActv watch was a fitness watch. It's meant to track your runs, etc.
This is a smartwatch. It's meant to connect to your phone and give you
relevant information. Completely different use cases.

~~~
mandeepj
MotoActv is also a smart watch. Please refer to feature list below. Sales of
Moto 360 will see whether there more fans round dial or square screen.

The trend I see here is - if your shit does not sell in first attempt then
repackage it under a new name.

MotoActv Features - 1\. gps 2\. heart rate 3\. monitor 4\. music 5\.
challenges 6\. texts 7\. ant+ 8\. wi-fi 9\. clock 10\. weather 11\. display

~~~
mynameisvlad
Except not even slightly accurate. The MotoActv is not primarily a smartwatch,
it's a fitness device first. It's meant for active audiences who want a watch
while they excercise, hence the Actv part of the name.

The Moto360, which looks absolutely nothing like the MotoActv (seriously,
where the hell are you getting that they're repackaging an existing watch
under a new name? They're completely different) is meant for an entirely
different market, has completely different features, and probably features
none of the same internals as the MotoActv.

They are two watches, with completely different functions, with completely
different UIs, meant for completely different people. The only similarity is
that they're both made by Motorola but even that's a stretch because the
Motorola of today (I'm referring to Motorola, a Google company) is nothing
like Motorola of 2 years ago, when the MotoActv was released.

------
MWil
This has to be the smoothest scrolling image transition on that scale I've
seen.

Anybody care to enlighten an amateur how they did it?

~~~
maxmcd
Looks like it's mostly jquery. You can check out the scrolling stuff here:
[http://moto360.motorola.com/js/functions.js](http://moto360.motorola.com/js/functions.js)

~~~
robocat
That has the weirdest mobile detection code I have seen. Is is bad code, or is
this the best that can be done:

    
    
      window.mobilecheck = function() {
    		var check = false;
    		(function(a){if(/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows (ce|phone)|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i.test(a.substr(0,4)))check = true})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera);
    		return check; }		
    	var isMobile = mobilecheck();
    

Scroll right to see the code...

~~~
mappu
Not saying whether it's a good method or not, but it's the standard detection
script from
[http://detectmobilebrowsers.com/](http://detectmobilebrowsers.com/)

------
alexobenauer
If you're looking for a video like I was, there's one on their blog post:
[http://motorola-blog.blogspot.com/2014/03/moto-360-its-
time....](http://motorola-blog.blogspot.com/2014/03/moto-360-its-time.html)

It's light on product shots, however.

~~~
gilgoomesh
They clearly don't have a working model, yet. All of the physical devices they
showed in that clip were engineering prototypes (CNC or 3D printed plastics)
with no electronics.

------
Someone
My first thought: who would want to wear that? I think that watch is way too
unwieldy to have mass appeal.

But let's assume that I have no taste: assuming that the model shown is an
average western white male, the size of that watch cuts out 50% or more of the
population because it is too wide for their wrists.

And yes, they do mention "a selection of styles", but I doubt that will
include size differences. If you scale it down to the size of a ladies' watch,
chances are you will run into problems w.r.t. Battery volume.

Power usage may be the Achilles heel, anyways, but they may have tweaked that
through software (I think it might be possible to use motion and light sensors
to infer when the user might be looking at the watch and switch off the
display when he isn't)

------
wehadfun
It would be nice if the watch was the phone and the black 5 inch square was a
cheap secondary screen.

~~~
deong
It would be nice if I could fly too, but I'm fat and able to generate
shockingly small amounts of lift.

------
sytelus
Any idea how this works? I don't think we have reached technology level to
cram CPU+memory+battery+GPS to do all that in standalone watch. So my guess is
that the watch has bluetooth that connects to your phone and uses its
horsepower. It probably pings phone in your pocket every 1-5 seconds. This
then bags question if it is compatible with only Android phones and how far
can it be from phone.

It also appears that the watch has color LCD that would display analog
faceplate. It would be pretty expensive to run color LCD full time though.
Another alternative could be color E-Ink but unless there have been any recent
advancement that was still experimental.

------
viame
If you want a watch, you should buy a good Swiss watch, you don't need this
cheap crap on your hand, unless you are 15 years old (which btw is a market on
its own).

I don't know why people invest in these things. I don't know where this vision
is coming from, but this is not a tech breakthrough. These things will not be
used in the long run, period.

Do you think that Eric Migicovsky wears a freaking pebble watch? I hope not. I
hope he can afford a cheap Rolex or a little more expansive IWC.

There should be a disclaimer, product for 5-16, 16-18 if your mom still
changes your diapers, or for true tech lovers.

~~~
SeanA208
This is a pretty shallow, close minded perspective.

~~~
viame
"I don't know why people invest in these things. I don't know where this
vision is coming from, but this is not a tech breakthrough." < I don't like
the comment that I made here, it was a little harsh but written in the moment.
Thanks

------
argumentum
This looks great. I'm a little bit confused though by motorola calling itself
"a google company" .. wasn't motorola essentially sold to Lenovo?

Or did Google, in addition to the patents, keep the motorola brand?

~~~
Zhenya
I assume, until the sale is cleared by regulatory bodies, contracts signed,and
money exchanges hands, they are still 'A Google Company'

~~~
argumentum
Sure, but a major product release tied to the Google brand like this seems to
be coming at an odd time.

This watch, for better or worse, is now going to be seen as the Google watch.

~~~
Zhenya
So what where the options? Wait till the regulatory body approved the sale?
Nobody will think this is a google watch except the same people that follow
tech news - and therefore know about the sale.

~~~
argumentum
Just drop "a google company" from your website (which is where people are
buying your products). That seems like the most sensible option, unless
there's now some indication that the deal may not go through.

~~~
Touche
There are a lot of rules about what a sold company can do. IANAL but it
probably makes the most sense to just act as though you're not sold until the
deal is final.

~~~
mehuln
It's not sold until the deal is closed. Till then, it is a Google company.

------
aluhut
I guess I'm the only one here who sees no use in that. I have my smartphone
with me and my company phone. I don't need another display with less features.
Especially not on my arm where I have a real watch.

I somehow feel it as a step between a phone and an hand-free device like
google glass (or even implants). But because we have already google glass I
don't even see why we need to go a step back.

Edit: downvotes with no comments? I did not expect that here.

~~~
mr_spothawk
I'm right here with you. This is not a compelling piece of jewelry for me.
It's too thick, the battery is undoubtedly insufficient, my phone works better
(and isn't _always listening_ ), and I don't want another device that impairs
my attention.

------
ToastyMallows
Maybe it's only me, but I'm tired of big watches. I recently got a Jawbone UP
and it replaced my wrist watch. The only downside is that the UP doesn't have
a clock on it. I don't like having a lot of things on my wrist and I don't
like having anything on the arm that I use my mouse with.

What I want is the smallest possible watch out there, and so far I really
haven't found anything.

~~~
beaumartinez
Traditionally, female watches are small, and male ones are larger. I don't see
this changing any time soon.

Try a Nike Fuelband however, it's very thin. It's not always on, but it sure
is fancy when you click the button in public.

~~~
alexnking
Smartwatches are somehow male?

~~~
lmm
As a matter of fashion, male watches tend to be larger than female ones. As a
matter of practicality, current smartwatches are all large. So yes, yes they
are.

------
yathern
Very cool - hopefully '360' is not a reference to how many minutes of battery
life it will have. I hope for one that it uses an OLED screen, so the black-
background watches will use very little battery. Also, I found it interesting
that each of the pictures were of vascular men-forearms. I guess they don't
expect this to be well adopted by the female population.

~~~
ghotli
The Moto X uses the OLED screen to effectively support the active
notifications feature without burning battery. I've been very pleased with
this feature and taking that technology to a watch just seems to make sense in
my opinion.

~~~
ssmoot
Off Topic, but I had a MotoX and couldn't figure out for the life of me what
"Active Notifications" did that Apple's iOS Notifications didn't.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to pick up a Nexus5 soon, but it still bugs me that
I can't figure it out.

I mean, if the phone is face down it doesn't display anything on the screen. I
get that. It's kinda clever. But it's so minor I have a tough time calling it
a "feature" much less a compelling one.

Otherwise I was more annoyed with the MotoX notification system than anything.
When you get a notification your unlock slider changes position. If you get
more than one you can't jump to the specific one you want, only the latest.
iOS didn't have either of these issues but it seemed like everyone considered
Active Notifications somehow revolutionary. Or at least state-of-the-art. And
it felt like neither to me.

So I dunno. Going off on a tangent I guess. Just curious what I was missing is
all...

------
k3oni
I think this is the first real smart watch that i might buy depending on the
final price, battery lifetime and design/functionality.

------
ohblahitsme
Signed up to be a developer and told them I'd make a beer pong trainer app.
Here's to hoping they give me one for free!

------
hamxiaoz
Am I the only one who thinks it's ugly??

~~~
wehadfun
probaably

------
markolschesky
The double-twist to open the camera on the Moto X is probably my favorite
physical interaction with a device. It works perfectly 100% of the time and I
never accidentally open my camera in my pocket. I take more instantaneous
photos than ever before. If that precision is brought to the interactions on
this watch, sign me up.

~~~
rneill
I also use a Moto X and really like this functionality. However, it doesn't
work for me 100% of the time, more like 90%. And I have managed to take
several photos of my pocket, though usually while skiing or during other
active pursuits. Just another data-point.

------
rguldener
Although about Android wear in general, this video shows off some of the UI
and gives a glance at the builtin features (mostly notifications and something
that reminds me a lot of Google now):
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xQ3y902DEQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xQ3y902DEQ)

------
zavi
So now I have to charge 2 devices instead of 1 every day? This is my biggest
issue with smart watches.

~~~
malbs
Pretty much this. any smart watch with current battery tech is going to be on
the charger a lot. My gps/hrm watch needs to be charged at least once a week,
and that is annoying, I can only imagine what a "smart watch" is going to need
in terms of charge cycles.

------
wpietri
That stem is interesting. The Pebble has 4 buttons, which are generally mapped
to up, down, select, and back. That strikes me as the minimum for useful app
interface.

With the Moto 360's stem I can see getting up down and select, but now how
they'd do back. Maybe a long-press?

~~~
fluidcruft
Not really input related, but is it remotely plausible that winding could
charge the battery?

~~~
knodi123
Absolutely not.

    
    
      1. The dynamo would take up too much room
      2. Pinching a tiny metal shaft is ergonomically awful
      3. have you seen the tiny wind-up flashlights?  they're huge, and they require quite a lot of winding, and that's just to power an LED for a few minutes.
      4. groundbreaking features like a wind-up piece of personal electronics, are *flagship* features.  If this thing had a 1 week battery, or was windup, or whatever, that would be a *very high visibility* part of the ad campaign.

------
DEinspanjer
I wonder if they will let you flip the screen orientation so left handers can
wear it properly..

~~~
royprins
Is that a problem in any other watch? Left or right wrist, the 12 stays on
top. Only the button is on the other side.

Besides that: don't count on it. If you pay close attention, you see that the
bottom part of the round screen stays black. Most likely to accommodate the
controller for the screen. Upside down will not work for that reason.

In a square watch, it might.

~~~
DEinspanjer
Yeah, normally, you have two options, just wear the watch with the stem
pointing inward which means you have to reach over the watch face to use it,
or buy a special watch with a left handed stem. You can't just rotate the
watch 180 and wear it with the stem facing outward because the numbers would
be upside down.

With a completely digital display though, theoretically, it would be possible
to rotate the watch and have the display rotate as well. The clasp would still
potentially be upside down, but depending on the type of clasp, that doesn't
matter much.

As you said, if the controller face of the screen is dedicated and not able to
be rotated as well, that wouldn't work.

------
okeumeni
Impressive! this watch may mark the comeback of Motorola in the mobile arena.
Well done Google.

------
foocc
This form factor had already been invented by Microsoft more than five years
ago:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WazA77xcf0A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WazA77xcf0A)

------
nick_ok
Its a little strange that all of the promo pictures on the site are of male
arms. I wonder if it was on oversight or if they really are only going after a
male demographic.

~~~
JeremyNT
I assumed that they used only large arms to make the device appear smaller. On
a typically sized woman's arm, I suspect this thing would look quite hefty.

The fact that it seems to be relatively large may unavoidably limit its appeal
to smaller individuals of either gender.

~~~
nick_ok
Do you think that a smaller version might make the interface unusable? I
wonder if they are keeping it that large because they cant get the insides
smaller or because it would not be easy to use.

~~~
JeremyNT
I suspect it's the smallest they can do while still meeting the technical
requirements.

There is definitely a size below which usage would suffer too much for many
people, but such a device doesn't need a very large UI, since most of its
utility is in displaying small bits of information quickly, and extensive data
input is performed better on a phone anyway.

------
waylandsmithers
Now here's something that could actually work. Not sure why anyone thought
people would want a device that looked like one of those casio calculator
watches.

------
garretraziel
I hate it. It is selfish, but I hate it.

Problem is, I love real watches. More specificaly, I love mechanical watches.
You know, those little miracles with cogs and spring in it. And jewel
bearings. And balance wheel. See-through back, where you can watch movement
running.

And I love technology at the same time. I think that this is the future of
technology, everybody will now jump onto bandwagon of smartwatches. But I
don't want to replace my beatiful mechanical watches with something like this.
I hate that I love watches, because otherwise I would be thrilled to put
something like this on my wrist. But I'm not.

------
hert
As a stylish watch, this is right up my alley. Add that it will probably work
awesomely w/ my Moto X and I'm sold.

------
Jakehp
I'm really glad that it's a style significantly different from pebble. Should
be fun to develop on!

------
periferral
Love it! Price?

~~~
awalton
It's marketingware, which is worse than vaporware because it means they spent
money making mockups instead of, you know, the actual device.

------
suyash
The dial is just too big and too thick!

------
jkravitz61
did anyone else notice how there are no ports on this watch...hoping for
inductive charging!

------
sdegutis
That guy's clothes look so comfortable yet still professional! I wish I had
some.

~~~
OverlordXenu
A tweed jacket and polka dot chambray? Uniqlo and H&M got you.

------
nefasti
I wonder if pebble will react to this. BTW, is there any mention of sensors on
it?

------
Nux
I'd definitely use one, but two things need to happen:

\- make it smaller, it's bloody huge

\- better battery

~~~
ChikkaChiChi
You realize that those are in opposition of one another, right?

~~~
npizzolato
That doesn't make it an unreasonable request. There's always the option of not
purchasing one until the technology improves enough to make it smaller while
having an acceptable battery life.

Given the full color display and the current abysmal battery life for any
smart watch not using e-ink, I'm pessimistic about the battery life of this
product. I would be very happy to be surprised though.

------
czardoz
This is very, very interesting. I wonder how much it'll cost.

------
meowtaxi
Holy fuck is the "responsive" HTML broken on this page.

------
whiskeySix
Yes, but where can i get that guy's shirt?

------
ananth99
Google is taking Motorola to the next level!

~~~
duncans
They sure are:
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25956284](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25956284)

------
nickfox
2014 and the best we can do is a Dick Tracy watch.

[http://i.imgur.com/hpSgOcA.png](http://i.imgur.com/hpSgOcA.png)

------
aye
That underside is dope.

------
noel82
A kid could have done those mockups better.

------
Eleutheria
Is it possible to automatically rotate the UI 45 degrees if the watch detects
the arm perpendicular to the body?

Makes me wonder.

~~~
Eleutheria
I guess an NFC tag in your belt would do.

------
happyscrappy
Does anyone have any details? That page is amazingly non-informative.

------
aspensmonster
-__- IT'S. A. FUCKING. WATCH. -__-

------
MrAlmostWrong
Cool, a male only product.

I know more women that wear watches than men, but let's go with something that
is gigantic and only men would wear. Seems to be a sound strategy.

~~~
nivla
>Cool, a male only product.

Well you got to test the waters somehow. Its better to test it in one segment
and if it doesn't flop, expand it further. Else, complaints can also include
why they din't target children or the elderly.

Also gender specific products are established by society. You don't have
necessarily follow them. If a female wears a men's watch, it won't
automagically stop working.

~~~
VLM
> If a female wears a men's watch, it won't automagically stop working.

Its huge. I think the concern is more female upper body strength than
aesthetics. Or fear she will grow massive biceps if she wears it.

------
lsb
So I'm only seeing white male hands

~~~
zacinbusiness
Also how about trying to make a watch that women will want to buy? I just
don't see that happening for most women who won't really care about this kind
of gadget (maybe I'm wrong).

~~~
fournm
Honestly, making a watch that will fit comfortably for women would be a step
up. Wrist size differences and all.

