Motorola was one of the first companies to commit to Google’s Wear OS (then known as Android Wear) with the original Moto 360 smartwatch. It was also one of the first manufacturers to quietly step back from Google’s wearable platform. Now, Motorola has decided to release a new Moto 360 smartwatch, but it’s a Motorola product in name only.
Motorola pre-announced the Moto 360 in 2014 months before Android Wear launched, but the hardware was a bit lacking thanks to its ancient TI OMAP ARM chip. Still, it was the first round smartwatch, despite the “flat tire” at the bottom. It followed that device up with a refined second-gen 360 in 2015. That was the last we heard of the Moto 360 until today.
The new Moto 360 is launching more than four years after the last one. Wearable hardware has changed since 2015, but perhaps not as much as it should have. The new 360 has a fully round 1.2-inch OLED display, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, and a Snapdragon Wear 3100 ARM chip. It also has NFC for Google Pay and a stainless steel case.
The specs and design are both a bit better than other Wear OS devices currently on the market, but the price is also high at $350. However, it lacks the customization options that were available the last time Motorola sold a smartwatch (it has since retired the “Moto Maker” storefront). The new 360 is only available in a 42.8mm case and in silver, rose gold, and black colors.
The original Moto 360 had a great design, but the specs were lacking even for the time.
While the hardware looks good on paper, it’s unclear if the new 360 will even be as good as other Wear OS smartwatches. This might be called the “Moto 360,” but Motorola’s only involvement is licensing the brand to the manufacturer. The smartwatch will be produced and sold by the relatively unknown eBuyNow. It’s similar to the arrangement BlackBerry and Nokia have with TCL and HMD, respectively.
According to eBuyNow’s website, it has been working with companies as an ODM for more than 15 years. This seems like the highest-profile project it’s taken on, though. We’ll find out if eBuyNow’s apparent inexperience in wearables affects the Moto 360’s comeback this December when it launches in the US, UK, and Canada.
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