Moto 360 Reviews Arrive

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Posted by Soulskill on Friday September 5, 2014 @03:37AM from the internet-of-wrists dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Reviews for the Moto 360 smartwatch have started to roll in. David Pierce at The Verge praises the design: the circular display is framed by an unadorned, stainless steel shell, and fastened to your wrist with a simple leather strap. At the same time, he criticized the battery life, saying the device averaged around 12 hours of use before it needed to be charged. Pierce adds, "The Moto 360's most impressive feature is that I stopped noticing it almost immediately. Whenever I wear the LG G Watch or the Samsung Gear Live, I'm constantly compelled to fidget with it; there's this unexplainable feeling of having something alien on my wrist that is there because I need to use it. The 360, on the other hand, just vanished into the spot left on my wrist by the Seiko watch that conveniently died this week." AnandTech takes a deeper dive into the device's hardware, noting that the TI OMAP 3 processor is built on a somewhat old 45nm process, which necessitates higher power consumption than newer, smaller processes. The Wall Street Journal says it's easy to get used to speaking into your watch for basic functions, but the software — and thus, the Moto 360 as a whole — still isn't quite ready for prime time. However, almost all the reviews agree that the smartwatch's time is coming.

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not ready for prime time by turkeydance · 2014-09-05 03:40 · Score: 5, Funny

i saw what you did there
1. Re:not ready for prime time by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-05 04:02 · Score: 1
  
  Unless you hold it wrong.
2. Re:not ready for prime time by Drethon · 2014-09-05 04:10 · Score: 1
  
  Well that's your fault.
Re:Google by Anonymous+Psychopath · 2014-09-05 03:59 · Score: 5, Funny

Is the moto 360 a google product? If so I won't wear it.
Why don't you use Bing to find the answer?

--
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software not ready? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-05 04:01 · Score: 3, Insightful

You say the software isn't ready? I say the hardware isn't ready. How in the world is a watch with a battery life of 12 hours even close to usable?
Ooh, nice watch you have there? What time is it?
I don't know, the battery died around dinner time.
That sounds annoying. Does it happen often?
Yes, every frickin day!
1. Re:software not ready? by SternisheFan · 2014-09-05 04:20 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.
  -- Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2. Re:software not ready? by Jane+Q.+Public · 2014-09-05 06:42 · Score: 1
  
  Besides: despite what "the reviewers" say, I don't think "the age of the smartwatch" is quite here yet.
  
  And it won't be, until it does something really useful on its own, rather than being a smartphone accessory.
3. Re:software not ready? by rogoshen1 · 2014-09-05 11:13 · Score: 1
  
  The Moto Equinoxer 360: Revolutionary new ability to accurately time hours of daylight, OR night -- on BOTH equinoxes.
What's next after the smart watch? by QuietLagoon · 2014-09-05 04:02 · Score: 2

Let's see, we've had smart phones for a while. Now we seem to be entering the fad of smart watches. When the smart watch fad dies down, what will replace it?
.
Smart rings?
1. Re:What's next after the smart watch? by kuhnto · 2014-09-05 04:10 · Score: 2
  
  Smart Belt Buckles...
  
  --
  "A 'person' is smart. 'People' are dumb, panicky animals and you know that."
2. Re:What's next after the smart watch? by LodCrappo · 2014-09-05 04:17 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  definitely won't be people
  
  --
  -Lod
3. Re:What's next after the smart watch? by Schaffner · 2014-09-05 04:41 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I think it will be smart pants. We can call them smarty pants.
4. Re:What's next after the smart watch? by Triv · 2014-09-05 07:57 · Score: 2
  
  So close. SO close.
  "Smart iPants" is what you were reaching for.
5. Re:What's next after the smart watch? by pepty · 2014-09-05 16:07 · Score: 1
  
  Smart watch buckle + smart ring = phone. Wear whatever nice looking watch you like: the buckle will have a microphone added to it. The ring has a speaker. Hold your hand up to your ear and you have a phone. That or glue-on beauty marks will become the fad when they become the microphone.
A watch? by oldmac31310 · 2014-09-05 04:05 · Score: 1

Is it just me or are these things redundant? Why would I want my wrist encumbered with anything, let alone a watch? Wherefore art thou oh smart ring?

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1. Re:A watch? by tlhIngan · 2014-09-05 04:17 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Is it just me or are these things redundant? Why would I want my wrist encumbered with anything, let alone a watch? Wherefore art thou oh smart ring?
  In the quest for choosing bigger numbers, Android manufacturers have been increasing average screen size to the point where the phones themselves are too big to hold in one hand or put in a pocket.
  This makes the phones great for watching movies and Netflix, and gaming, but positively lousy if you want to communicate with people. I mean, you can't put it in your pocket (at least the small tight formfitting ones), and it's too big and tiresome to keep digging it out every 30 seconds to see if you have a new text or email or Facebook post.
  So they invent a smartwatch that lets you keep the phone in your bag or purse (because you can't carrying it anywhere else due to size), but you can still get texts and remain "connected" without having to dig out the monstrosity.
  Of course, you may argue there are plenty of small screen phones, and yes, you're right, however, the flagships have been getting bigger and bigger. And people who have flagship phones generally are more interested in smart watches (more $$$), than someone who just gets whatever phone is free today.
  That's why smartwatches are around - phones have been getting bigger and bigger, and soon we'll be hauling around bricks like 80s style cellphones. (Ironically, the move to smaller and smaller phones in the late 90s and early 00s lead to more people using Bluetooth because they were too small to talk to comfortably).
2. Re:A watch? by jeffmflanagan · 2014-09-05 04:25 · Score: 1
  
  >Why would I want my wrist encumbered with anything, let alone a watch? Wherefore art thou oh smart ring?
  
  Why would you want your fingers encumbered with anything, and why wold you want to switch to a device that needs to be charged every 5 minutes when a smart-watch can run for 12 hours.
3. Re:A watch? by oldmac31310 · 2014-09-05 06:20 · Score: 1
  
  I suspect that the use of bluetooth headsets was a deliberate attempt by users to look like douchebags. Maybe I'm wrong about that.
  
  --
  http://www.acetonestudio.com
4. Re:A watch? by oldmac31310 · 2014-09-05 06:22 · Score: 1
  
  My point was that I wouldn't.
  
  --
  http://www.acetonestudio.com
5. Re:A watch? by Ralph+Wiggam · 2014-09-05 08:51 · Score: 1
  
  to the point where the phones themselves are too big to hold in one hand or put in a pocket.
  You must have really small hands and pockets. The Galaxy S5 is a big phone and I don't have either problem.
6. Re:A watch? by Just+Some+Guy · 2014-09-05 08:58 · Score: 1
  
  According to the rumors (so you know it must be true!), Apple's watch is likely to have a built in step counter and pulse meter. That would instantly let it replace all the Fitbits, UP bands, Nike FuelBands, etc. that people are wearing with something attractive that has more functionality. I'd wear a watch if it did sufficiently interesting things that normal watches don't.
  
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Battery life seems to be a killer by wile_e8 · 2014-09-05 04:07 · Score: 2

I've seen a lot of people on this site bash smartwatches if they have less than a week of battery life, and that always seemed like overkill to me. I suspect a lot of people (most?) are like me and take off their watches at night anyways. As such, placing it on a wireless charger dock at night doesn't seem like a problem - as long as the watch has enough battery life to get through the day until I take it off at night. Which is doesn't, according to these reviews. I don't know if I like the look of one enough to buy one anyways, but that would keep me from buying one even if it was better looking.
1. Re:Battery life seems to be a killer by LodCrappo · 2014-09-05 04:25 · Score: 2
  
  I've been messing around with an LG G watch for several weeks now (part time android dev, just getting to know the platform). It lasts over 24 hours on a charge, often approaching 48 hours if I don't fool with it a whole lot and turn off the "always on" display. To me, this is quite reasonable. Set it on the charger when you take it off each night, but if you do forget, it will still work for a good part of the next day. FWIW the battery life on the Moto X is similar, about 36 hours, and being able to use the phone all morning even when i fail to charge the night before has been very, very handy. I suspect if you're a heavy watch user you would appreciate the "day and a half" range of battery life in a similar manner.
  As for the 360.. Initial reports from early users said they were getting "almost two days", which would correlate with what I've seen on the LG G, and make it perfectly reasonable in the battery life department IMHO. However, as the official reviews come out today it seems they are reporting ~25% of the LG G lifespan, which is insanely awful... If true, that puts the 360 firmly into the useless category.
  
  --
  -Lod
2. Re:Battery life seems to be a killer by jeffmflanagan · 2014-09-05 04:34 · Score: 1
  
  >I've seen a lot of people on this site bash smartwatches if they have less than a week of battery life, and that always seemed like overkill to me.
  
  Yes, that would be an insane requirement. People with that kind of attitude are just a waste of time since they're in the market for a product that does not exist.
  
  >I suspect a lot of people (most?) are like me and take off their watches at night anyways
  
  That means you can't have any sleep-monitoring functionality in the watch, and health tracking is the only thing that will get many of us to strap something to our wrists, since watches have been made obsolete by our phones. A 24 hour charge, with a very fast charger or easily replaceable battery is the only way to make this work. Charging one battery while you're using the other, and making a quick swap is probably the best solution with current technology.
  
  Btw, "anyways" isn't a word.
3. Re:Battery life seems to be a killer by LodCrappo · 2014-09-05 04:38 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  I gave up on the Pebble long ago (found it mostly useless), but one thing I do remember is that I was constantly running out of battery while out and about. I've been using an LG G watch for quite a while now, and running out of battery has never been an issue.
  It is counter intuitive, but the LG's ~36 hours better life actually works much more reliably for me than the Pebble's two days (when it goes all buggy) to 7-8 days (when it doesn't, and you mostly ignore it), The reason is that I *know* I charge the LG every night, just like my cell phone. I quickly got into the habit of setting the watch down on it's charger thing as I put my wallet, phone, whatever on the nightstand etc. The LG is forgiving enough if you do forget to charge that you'll probably make it at least till noon the next day, but I almost never forget for the simple reason that it's a short, consistent pattern.
  With the Pebble, I didn't want to wear out the battery by partially discharging each day then charging back to full each night (TBH I don't know if it's battery works that way, I just figure less charge cycles is probably "good" somehow.. shrug). So I tried to remember to check, pay attention to the low battery alert, whatever. It just didn't work. It was much more tedious and failure prone then just knowing I set something in a certain place each night. Sure, I could have just said screw it and charged it every night regardless, but then it's only equivalent to the Android options at best.
  
  --
  -Lod
4. Re:Battery life seems to be a killer by Andy+Dodd · 2014-09-05 05:03 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  The whole "partial discharges are bad" thing dates way back to the old days of timer-based NiCd chargers. Back then, chargers were dumb - they terminated the charge cycle based solely on a timer, and not based on detecting a full charge. The infamous "memory effect" wasn't actually the thing at play in most cases there - it's actually extremely difficult to reproduce outside of a lab. The problem was simple overcharging due to dumb timed chargers. As far as users were concerned, the symptoms were the same as "memory effect" so the myth stuck.
  In general, partial discharges/recharges of a lithium-ion are far less stressful to it than a full discharge/recharge. However - li-ion/li-po batteries tend to lose capacity more rapidly if they are routinely kept at a high state of charge. Lithium batteries are "happiest" when they hover around 50% state of charge. (This is one of the reasons Teslas default to only charging up to around 80% unless you specifically "top it off")
  Lead-acids like most non-EV car batteries are quite different beasts - they are happiest when fully charged, and will lose capacity RAPIDLY to sulfation if let to sit when partially discharged.
  
  --
  retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
5. Re:Battery life seems to be a killer by wile_e8 · 2014-09-05 05:07 · Score: 1
  
  That means you can't have any sleep-monitoring functionality in the watch, and health tracking is the only thing that will get many of us to strap something to our wrists, since watches have been made obsolete by our phones. A 24 hour charge, with a very fast charger or easily replaceable battery is the only way to make this work. Charging one battery while you're using the other, and making a quick swap is probably the best solution with current technology.
  I suspect the number of people wanting to strap a device to their wrists for sleep monitoring are a very small subset of the potential smartwatch market. The changes you suggest would hurt the already struggling battery life of this thing, and make it bigger to boot. Given the small number of people that would take advantage of those things for sleep monitoring and the number of sales that would be lost due to the battery and size changes, it wouldn't be worth it.
6. Re:Battery life seems to be a killer by the_B0fh · 2014-09-05 06:04 · Score: 1
  
  This is useful information. Thanks.
7. Re:Battery life seems to be a killer by alvinrod · 2014-09-05 08:40 · Score: 1
  
  That's not a problem if you're at home every night but if you're on vacation or travel a lot, having to lug the charging station around with you is just one more damned thing to carry around. That creates enough inconvenience for some that they won't want to bother, because if you forget just once, you have a useless hunk of metal strapped to your wrist or have to leave it somewhere to charge when it should be with you.
8. Re:Battery life seems to be a killer by wile_e8 · 2014-09-05 09:06 · Score: 1
  
  That's true, but that's a smartwatch problem, not a Moto 360 problem. And a smartphone problem. And a tablet problem. If you're already traveling with electronic devices (and the Moto 360 is useless without at least one), it's just one more charger to pack.
Re:Circular LCDs by Tukz · 2014-09-05 04:12 · Score: 3, Interesting

It's a new thing called "fashion".
I'd much rather have a round watch than the current trend of recangular smartwatches.

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Re:Circular LCDs by Andrio · 2014-09-05 04:16 · Score: 2

Android Wear supports both round and rectangular screens. The reason for this is fashion, and fashion will always beat out pure function.

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Re:Circular LCDs by jareth-0205 · 2014-09-05 04:17 · Score: 1

It's a new thing called "fashion".
I'd much rather have a round watch than the current trend of recangular smartwatches.
Agreed... though using the word 'fashion' was perhaps a mistake...
Also, when the primary use of the watch is to tell the time then a round display is justified. They're not for heavy data display anyway.
Re:Enjoy the spotlight Moto 360 by Andrio · 2014-09-05 04:19 · Score: 1, Offtopic

Several lucky Apple fans have already gotten to see the iWatch in person, and they loved it!

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Circular LCDs by flux · 2014-09-05 04:21 · Score: 1

The addressing of LCDs is inherently cartesian, but I don't see why it means the display itself must be as well. The space not on the display is not wasted, there are not physical pixels being hidden here. Instead, the device provides the user with more free physical space compared to one with square screen, not to mention nicer look.
Re:Google by Anonymous Coward · 2014-09-05 04:22 · Score: 1

No one cares about your personal issues.
Battery consumption due to CPU? by flux · 2014-09-05 04:26 · Score: 2

Everyone keeps saying how this doesn't have the latest most powersaving CPU but how much CPU does this device even need? Once a second to update the hand? Or could even be a few times a minute for a smooth minute hand.
I would be surprised if the overwhelming majority of the amperage doesn't go to the display and the BLE radio (in that order), the CPU coming last.
1. Re:Battery consumption due to CPU? by AmiMoJo · 2014-09-05 07:12 · Score: 1
  
  The display is off most of the time. The power goes to the Bluetooth radio and the accelerometer that notices when you raise the watch up to look at the time.
  
  --
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  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
2. Re:Battery consumption due to CPU? by flux · 2014-09-05 07:56 · Score: 1
  
  Meh, I was hoping some kind of dim OLED MIP display that would display always, like in N9 (though I did notice it was not mentioned in the specs) - it would have explained why most of the clock displays had dark background.
  There are accelerometers that can queue many samples and then pass them to the CPU in one go (ie. 100 samples) and in addition they can have thresholds for interrupts. If your CPU is going to be woken once a second - assuming 100 Hz sampling rate, which is quite nice - then it doesn't really sound that bad, unless you have bad power saving functionality either in the CPU or in the operating system.
  I suppose BLE doesn't need to take that much energy either if you grant a few seconds latency from notifications to actually displaying them.
  There's always hoping they can improve the battery usage with firmware upgrades..
Re:Screen FAIL by LodCrappo · 2014-09-05 04:27 · Score: 2, Insightful

yeah, except for the part where it actually works fine in sunlight.

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-Lod
Not terrible by meta-monkey · 2014-09-05 04:32 · Score: 1

This is the first smart watch I've seen that doesn't look terrible. For me, a watch is primarily a piece of jewelry. I'll stick with my Ebel, thank you.

--
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
1. Re:Not terrible by future+assassin · 2014-09-05 05:37 · Score: 1
  
  I just stick to some classic seikos. Wear this bad boy http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iIzv...
  
  --
  by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Re:Issues with smartwatches by JStyle · 2014-09-05 06:33 · Score: 1

I agree with your points. I think what would work a bit more seamlessly is the Motorola Hint (also announced today). It's a tiny bluetooth device that sits in your ear. Much more discreet than a traditional bluetooth, with a fair bit more functionality. http://www.motorola.com/us/acc...
I think this is (currently) a better solution than a smartwatch.
Lucky for you it's not round then by SuperKendall · 2014-09-05 07:28 · Score: 1

the 360 is 270, if you look at where the LCD actually goes...

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"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Pass... by belgianpainter · 2014-09-05 08:03 · Score: 1

Taking bets on when Motorola discontinues this and therefore stops supporting it. I fell for their previous version of this, the Motoactv, which is meant to be a sports device. But oops I made the mistake of sweating on it, so they won't honor their warranty.
Re:Google by Noah+Haders · 2014-09-05 08:13 · Score: 1

I do, for one. So do millions of other people.
We dont really need them in this avatar.. by freshlimesoda · 2014-09-05 08:44 · Score: 1

How difficult is it to take out phone and check time anyway. Other use cases like checking for the caller while driving can be handled by voice apps..or phone holders etc.. Unless however, they are completely eliminating the need to carry a cell phone. And that will require a lot more thought than just . May be pair the watch with Google Glass say. A fundamental shift is required. Something tells me I need another pot...

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Re:Google by ArcadeMan · 2014-09-05 08:46 · Score: 1

Ned? Ned Ryerson?

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Re:Circular LCDs by ArcadeMan · 2014-09-05 08:50 · Score: 1

Why the fuck shoud we design a wearable computer with a round screen ? It simply makes no sense at all.
Would you prefer triangular or hexagonal screens?

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Yeah, Tuesday by Huge_UID · 2014-09-05 10:22 · Score: 1

However, almost all the reviews agree that the smartwatch's time is coming.
Distance from Phone by brunes69 · 2014-09-05 10:26 · Score: 1

The people posting these reviews have had the watch for a few days, but I wonder how much education they got on it from Motorola, or if they were going in blind?
The reason I ask is that it has been well advertised today that the battery life of the watch will be HEAVILY INFLUENCED by it's distance from your phone. If the watch is seperated by the phone often, then it will constantly be using more power to communicate with it and/or be probing for the phone. This will significantly impact it's battery life, according to Motorola - and it makes sense. I know that for myself, the watch wold always be close to the phone so this would never be an issue.
iPocket Watch by marciot · 2014-09-05 11:12 · Score: 1

Why encumber your wrists? What we really need is a device that you keep in your pocket and you can pull out when you need to check the time.
It can be called the iPocket Watch.