Eclectic Bytes: August 2016

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Motorola Moto 360 (1st gen): Smartwatch with a blend of style, functionality and price

The Moto 360 is an Android Wear-based smartwatch made by Motorola Mobility. The appearance of the watch stands out with a round watch face in a solid-built stainless-steel case which is IP67 dust/water resistant. It doesn't support SIM-based mobile communication but has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi options to pair and synchronize with a smartphone. As one of the first Android Wear products to hit the market, it was first announced in March 2014 and subsequently released in September that year in the US and elsewhere.

Moto 360 (1st gen)

I ordered the Moto 360 in light chrome in June 2015 when it was retailing in Flipkart for Rs. 14,999 inclusive of all taxes. The delivery was fairly quick, and I had the device in my hands in three days. In comes in a cylindrical box which includes the smartwatch with the battery built in, a charging cradle, a power adapter with micro-USB output. and a quick start guide.

The watch is available in various colors like black, cognac leather, stone grey, champagne metal, natural metal, champagne, dark metal, and light metal.

Setup

Setting up the device is simple. Before powering up the device for the first time, charge it till 100% using the provided Qi charging dock or cradle and the wall charger. Install the Android Wear app on your smartphone and pair it with the watch using Bluetooth and / or Wi-Fi.

Display

The touch screen display consists of a 1.56-inch IPS LCD screen with a resolution of 320 x 290 pixels (~205 ppi density). The 16M color screen displays pretty crisp and vivid colors and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

Calling

As the smartwatch doesn't include a built-in speaker, it doesn't allow to speak over the device itself. It, however, does show notifications for incoming calls and let you receive or reject calls directly from the display. To carry on the conversation, you have to use your phone. This is useful though when you are driving with your phone connected to the vehicle's infotainment system.

Messaging

The messaging application displays Short Messaging Service (SMS) messages on-screen. If you have other messaging apps installed, like WhatsApp, the messages can also be displayed.

Performance

The watch runs Android Wear OS on a 1.0 GHz Cortex A8 CPU over a Texas Instruments OMAP 3 SoC (system-on-chip) with 512 MB LPDDR RAM and 4 GB of internal storage. It handles most tasks smoothly, sometimes with a little lag and seldom the system hangs with auto or hard restarts.

Audio Quality

The device doesn't have an in-built speaker.

Microphone

An in-built microphone allows you to use voice commands to perform a variety of tasks - including doing a web search.

Camera

The device does not feature a camera.

Internal Storage

The internal memory of 4GB provides storage for installing a fair number of apps from the Google Play Store.

Expandable Storage

There is no option for additional storage.

Battery

One major component of a wearable device is the battery as that is what keeps it going. The smartwatch is powered by a non-removable 3.8V Motorola WX30 SNN5951A 300 mAh Li-ion battery packed into the casing. This is in contrast to Motorola's claim of a 320 mAh capacity battery as revealed by a teardown by iFixit. The watch charges inductively by resting it on the included charging Qi charging cradle. The charging cradle accepts a micro-USB which is also included in the box. The battery charge lasts just about a day with a conservative amount of use. The battery life could be better.

Connectivity

The Moto 360 smartwatch allows synchronization with a smartphone via Bluetooth 4.0 LE with aptX codec support. It also synchronizes with the smartphone via Wi-Fi. There is no option for cellular connectivity through a SIM card.

SAR (Specific Absorption Rate)

The highest SAR value for this smartwatch is 0.44 W/kg. The SAR limit for a wrist-worn mobile device set by the FCC is 4.0 W/kg.

FCC ID

The FCC ID for the device is IHDT6QC1 and the reports are available here.

Warranty

The product comes with a 1-year manufacturer warranty on the device and 6 months of warranty on the accessories.

Conclusion

The smartwatch has been performing well over the last 12 months and still got the looks. Sometimes the apps do hang, and the system abruptly reboots. I have seen the battery life deteriorate pretty fast over this period. The look and feel are still attractive. The connectivity to the smartphone is frequently lost and I have had to reset the watch and pair all over again several times. The 2nd generation of Moto 360 is already available which I have not tested.

January 28, 2022 Update: I have owned the Moto 360 (1st gen) for over 6 years now. Over the last 3 years many apps on the device have stopped working and synchronizing with Android phones. Lately, the phone has stopped completing the startup process and is unusable. So, I let it go.