Gadgetory

well I've been waiting for months for this we've seen countless different ideas about how a SmartWatch should look how it should work what it should do but we've gotten these teasers these glimpses of what seemed to me to be by far the best answers to all those questions a SmartWatch should be first and foremost a watch it should tell the time it should feel good on my wrist it should look awesome everything else is secondary I've been waiting for the SmartWatch that understood all of that and now I have it on my wrist this is the Moto 360 the 360 feels different from any other SmartWatch from the moment you put it on it feels later than it looks it's smaller than it looks I don't have big wrists by any means and I don't prefer large watches yet the 360 was comfortable right away of course this isn't just a watch it's all about the 1.6 five-inch screen the round Gorilla Glass display that's ringed only by a tiny bezel it has incredible viewing angles it's easy to see even outdoors and although it's an insane magnet for finger prints it's at least easy to keep clean it's round but it's not a perfect circle not really there's a tiny black cutout at the bottom where all the devices innards go it does take away from the appeal a little but Motorola's other option was to make the bezel bigger and it made the right decision it does stick out above the bezel though and the angled glass catches light and gives off this ugly Moorea pattern and honestly it's just not high-res enough to really look crisp and perfect the screen is good enough but it's not as good as the rest of the hardware here it comes in two colors at launch silver and black with a couple of different strap colors as well there are more straps coming though including two metal straps that cost an extra $50 I can't say it enough this is what a SmartWatch should look like there are small changes I would make aesthetically like to drop the screen flush with the case and maybe make it ever so slightly smaller for my own wrists but compared to the blocky rectangles that adorn every other SmartWatch on the market the 360 is in a class completely of its own but for all it can do to differentiate its hardware motorola can't escape the fact that the Android wear on the Moto 360 is the same as the Android wear on the Samsung gear live the LG G watch and countless other devices coming to market that means the Moto 360 is primarily an inbox for everything all the notifications and information on your phone Google now tells you when you have a calendar event coming up or that your package is being delivered you'll get notified about emails and calls and texts and you can do quick Google searches take notes and set reminders Android wear is still best used when you don't use it much when it's just an occasional add-on to your life the 360s heart rate monitor and padam or both work as well as any other device and I've grown to love Android where's integration with apps like runtastic apps are getting smarter about using your location to deliver handy quick useful information and it giving you easy ways to find information or control basic things on your phone in most ways using the 360 is identical to other Android wear devices in a couple it's much better Motorola's watch faces are the best classiest options i've seen by far even if I would like a few more choices it also has really impressive range it stayed connected even as I walked down a floor in our hotel and down a hallway in one key way though the 360 is much worse Android wear might technically work on round or square devices but it's clearly designed for rectangles you're basically getting a rectangular interface with the corners cut off sometimes that's fine others it's a huge pain all that I can live with though but the 360s worst feature is almost a deal-breaker its battery life is rough motorola says it'll last a day and is fairly explicit about the fact that you have to charge it every night and at least the charger a black wireless dock you drop the 360 into sideways works well and looks good on my bedside table but I got battery life more like 12 hours even less with heavy use getting a day or a day and a night if you forget to charge it seems basically impossible I don't need weeks or years for my SmartWatch but I don't think 2 days is too much to ask and the 360 doesn't deliver right now if you're buying a SmartWatch buy this one this appears to be the best a manufacturer can do with Android wear the best thing available on the market for $249 the Moto 360 is definitely the best of its kind but right now that's still faint praise I'm still waiting for a manufacturer whether it's Apple or Samsung or HTC or Motorola itself to come along and make us dream a little bit bigger about the devices we can wear on our wrists pretty is a good start it's a really good start but it can't be the finish line you