Motorola unveiled the first round smartwatch, the Moto 360, in March 2014, but it took another six months before it was actually launched – early September in the US and the end of October in Canada. It went to TELUS and was also available online at Future Shop on October 31, in either black or gray. The Quebec-based Videotron is expecting the Moto 360 to be available on January 28 for $279 – the same price as TELUS.
The Motorola 360 bucked the system by bypassing the rectangle design and going for a round smartwatch. It was the first one that looked like a watch, but had the Android Wear insides of a smartwatch. Machined from stainless steel with a genuine leather band or optional (extra cost) stainless steel band, it looked like a fine timepiece – one you could wear to a black tie affair. Most all of the critics agreed that it was a beautiful looking device, but they were a little disappointed in the specs – especially the rather out of date TI OMAP 3 processor. The heart rate monitor’s accuracy was a little suspect and nobody was very thrilled with the ‘black patch’ on the bottom of the display, although many have gotten over it by now.
The Moto 360 sports a 1.56-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 320 x 290 pixels and 205 pixels-per-inch (PPI), and the LCD display makes it easy to see outside in the daylight. Moto chose to go with Texas Instruments for their processor, rather than the newer and faster Qualcomm Snapdragon series. They did use 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. For power, they chose a 320mAh battery, that can be charged with the Moto 360’s wireless charging cradle.
The Moto 360 has the usual Bluetooth 4.0, a Gyro, Accelerometer, Compass, is IP67 certified dust and water resistant, a heart rate monitor, pedometer, ambient light sensor and two microphones. Running Android Wear, the Moto 360 will work with ANY Android smartphone running Android 4.3 or higher.
Please hit us up on our Google+ Page and let us know if you own a Motorola Moto 360 smartwatch, if you plan on buying one and, if you already own one, how you like your Moto 360…as always, we would love to hear from you.