Motorola is a company to watch, with a huge pun intended there. The company that has made phones and smartphones that rethink and force revaluations of consumer standards. The Moto X did it, proving a flagship just had to do what it was supposed to, really well. The Moto 360 did it too, with the first round face to embrace Android Wear. But the Moto 360 has done much more than be the first round Android Wear watch; it’s proven how Motorola adds value to the devices and hardware that it sells and proudly touts. Motorola’s Moto X, G, and E from various parts of the past year and a half as well as the Droid Turbo all have one thing in common: stock Android-like software. The software which has no customizations visible to the criticizing eye (we’ve got one or two of those) is made unique with Moto add-ons like Moto Display, Voice, and the like. And that’s what makes them stand out; not hardware that costs huge amounts or outstanding and revolutionary design, just really great software additions. The Moto 360 is very much the same story.
The Moto 360 had its time in the sun being the only round Android Wear watch, then LG showed us their G Watch R. The R resembles the now-popular larger-bodied watches, so it looks more normal in a daily passing glance than the 360, but that’s probably the point. The 360, however, has a feature or two that make it special, even when it might not have the most unnoticeable aesthetic: custom software. The 360 is one of a few devices that comes with the Qi (pronounced chee, for those who might not know) wireless charging standard, so you only have to put it in a stylish cradle, instead of plug in some position-reliant dock like other smartwatches. That gives it a watch as well as a desk clock functionality (all while still showing the battery bar in a batter-conscious color scheme of holo blue and black). Next, and this is new to the 360 as of last week, is custom watch faces. Wait what?
All Android Wear smartwatches let you choose from the pre-installed suite of watch faces, just like wallpapers on a phone or computer, but how often do you get offered the chance, from the manufacturer of the device itself, to design your own custom watch face for your wrist-baring pleasure? Now, if you have a Moto 360, that frequency is forever and as long as your battery lasts. Yes, Motorola has, with the unveiling of a nifty health app, put on offer the opportunity with your Moto 360 to design custom watch faces to your heart’s (and internal storage’s) content. You can either start from an absolute blank slate and go from there, choosing background image, tick-marks, dials, and such, or start with one of Motorola’s pre-made faces and customize it just the way you like.
Just because the Moto 360 isn’t the most realistic looking smartwatch doesn’t mean it won’t succeed, but these nifty new additions to the more futuristic round Wear watch certainly won’t hurt. The biggest complaint from users is battery life when using a custom watch face app (which is simply having an app running all the time, so hopefully you see the problem), but with this feature addition, it looks like a custom face no longer means carrying a charger with you. With all that in mind, do you think that Motorola can still garner the attention it needs (and deserves, too, really) for their smartwatch when the G Watch R is a viable option? Has this addition changed your thoughts any on the Moto 360? Of the two round Wear watches, which one has more to offer a general user like you and I? Which is more important on a smartwatch: software or hardware. Let us know down below.