Motorola Moto 360 Review

The Moto 360 is a middle-of-the-road wearable device, but couples an attractive level of customization in terms of sizes and wristbands at a price that is substantially lower than the majority of its competitors. This was one of the only watches in our review that has two distinct styles, specifically tailored for men and women. If you are shopping on a budget, or put a higher value on style and customization over having every feature possible packed on your wrist, then this might be the watch for you!

Ease of Use

The Moto 360 sits securely in a charging cradle, making it one of the most reliable charging methods of the entire group and almost never accidentally disconnected. This model is water resistant, complying with the IP67 standard. This means it can stand immersion in up to 1 meter of freshwater for 30 minutes, but it is not recommended for swimming or to be used while submerged. It is also recommended to keep the leather band dry.

This model lacks a crown or bezel scroll, limiting you to using the touchscreen as your only interface. This screen is reasonably responsive, about on par with the Fossil Q watch. There was a noticeable delay for this watch to wake up, taking a half-second for the screen to light up, on par with the LG Watch Sport. It is also reasonably easy to swap wristbands, similar to the Gear S3 and the Huawei. Finally, like all Android Wear watches, it was exceptionally finicky to capture a screenshot of content on the watch face.

Smart Functions

The Moto 360 worked with Spotify, Strava, IFTTT, and Shazam, but failed to work with Uber, Facebook Messenger, Evernote, WhatsApp, Instagram, or Twitter. This may change when the update to Android Wear 2.0 is released, but for now, the Moto 360 doesn't have the widest range of app compatibility out there.

This watch lacks a speaker and therefore makes it impossible to take calls from your wrist, but it will notify you to answer your phone if you do receive a call. The Moto 360 is identical to the other Android models when it comes to music controls; they pop up automatically when applicable. The standard Moto 360 lacks a built-in GPS module in the standard version, but the Sport version does have one. It also lacks NFC technology, making it unusable as a payment method.

Display

Our rating panel determined that the 360x325 LED screen on the Moto 360 wasn't quite up on the same level as the award-winning models. This 42mm screen with 263 ppi just wasn't as crisp or clear as the Gear S3 or Apple Watch, but it was sharper than the Fossil Q. We liked that you can set the screen to be always on and to automatically adjust brightness, but that was about it. This model doesn't have a completely circular screen, having a clipped bottom reminiscent of a flat tire.

It wasn't the easiest to read display in bright light, about on par with the Huawei and the Asus ZenWatch.

Fitness Impact

This watch had the same set of workout profiles as the other Android Wear models, with all of these watches using the same Google Fit app to track your fitness. You can see duration, calories burned, average pace, and steps, as well as your track if you bring a GPS-equipped phone along with you for the different workout profiles, including walking, running, treadmill, cycling, and spinning, stair machine, or other, if your activity doesn't fall under any of those.

The heart rate monitor was usually within 5 bpm of the chest strap model we used as a control, though it did take a little while to settle in on the correct number. The step counter was alright, coming up about 33 steps shy of our manual count on a mile walk, or 3.1% off. This model does not track flights of stairs climbed throughout the day, neglecting that common fitness metric.

Battery Life

This wearable lasted for 34 hours of normal use in our test, where we sent a set schedule of calls and notifications to each watch and measured how long they lasted. It charges decently fast, making it to 50% in 42 minutes and finishing totally after 80 minutes.

Value

The Moto 360 is one of the more attractively priced models of the bunch and performed reasonably well, making it one of the better value options in the review.

Conclusion