Gadgetory

we've already shown you the second generation of the moto 360 smartwatch here at Aoife 2015 in Berlin now it's time to take a look at exactly what's changed from first wave to sequel i'm michael fisher with pocket now with high auto huesemann behind the camera this is a show floor comparison of moto 360 versus moto 360 second gen Motorola broke the mold with the original 360 developing a simple SmartWatch with a circular display and the cleaner casing than most of the competition with the second generation the company's goal was to make the 360 better resemble a traditional wristwatch than an accessory for tech fans this is something we've seen from other companies this year as well the result is the added lugs at top and bottom which initially I was quite opposed to since almost every SmartWatch has lugs of a similar design I thought adding them took away some of the 360s unique look and I still think that to a degree but they also bring benefits instead of having to use a tool to swap out the bands as with the original moto 360 these can easily be changed with the flip of a switch and without the weak points at the corners in the new back casing the glass should be less likely to crack as it often did on the older generation the design has also been refined on the back cover overall which is nice even if you don't see it all that often as you may have already noticed there's an even more major Hardware change here the new Moto 360 is offered in two sizes both the traditional 46 millimeter diameter and a minimized 42 millimeter variant it doesn't sound like much of a difference but in person the 42 millimeter offering is substantially smaller and it also accommodates narrower bands the bands are newer colors of the existing Horine leather and metallic offerings with a wider style selection that you can browse in moto maker each size offers new color options and allows you to localize those colorization x' to different areas of the casing and you can apply a textured finish to the bezel now as well the varying sizes also mean varying battery capacities over the larger version of the second gen watch and you'll be getting 25% more battery you go over the smaller one and you're taking a 6% reduction this is compared to the first gen but then you're also getting a smaller display so it might even out speaking of display is we're only talking to modest increase in pixel density 13% going from the first large watch to the second it's a 28 percent jump if you choose the smaller watch and yeah the flat tire is still here if you care about that kind of thing and it's still IPS a little disappointing if you wanted emmalin-- but look at the difference in available brightness here and part of what made the old Moto 360s display look a little grainy and inferior I realize now is it's dimness and the new hardware corrects for that while also allowing for an always-on ambient display mode to turn it on and off you use the crown button as before and it's been relocated to the two o'clock position from 3 o'clock are there other differences here totally we could talk about little software tweaks like the fact that the UI changes color every time you charge it or the performance improvements the new Snapdragon 400 processor brings over the old Texas Instruments OMAP but that's a level of detail we'll save for the full comparison later on in the meantime what's new here on the show floor since we first went hands-on with the new 360 is that I've warmed up to it quite a bit it's not a ground-shaking reimagine ation of the Moto 360 and to be honest it might not be worth it's a $300 price tag if what you're looking for is the cheaper 150 dollar first gen model but at this point it sure does look like a pretty nice refresh and it does feel better on the wrist we're on our last day of coverage city for 2015 in Berlin be sure to stay tuned here on YouTube and at pocketnow.com for much more til next time this has been michael fisher with high auto Houston behind the camera thanks for watching everyone we'll see you next time