The Moto 360 was one of the biggest hits on the wearable market this year and Motorola has been proud to have introduced a round smartwatch that can cater to watch and tech fans at the same time. The Apple Watch has been teased at the iPhone 6 unveiling event by Tim Cook, but its release hasn’t been disclosed yet. An Apple Watch release date is rumored for February or March 2015, but Apple has encountered some manufacturing issues with the sapphire glass provider since. In any case, once the Apple Watch is released, one of its biggest rivals will be the popular Moto 360 round smartwatch.
Even though the Apple Watch release date is still controversial, we already know a great deal about the wearable. At the iPhone 6 release event, Tim Cook and co. talked about how the Apple Watch would be something that would change everybody’s life, but we are wondering how the company plans to release a smartwatch that will be different from what we have today. The Moto 360 release was successful and the watch sold out in a matter of days. While Moto 360 reviews were split in opinion at first, most of them are positive since the Motorola rolled out an update to fix Moto 360 battery life issues cause by Ambient Light.
The round watch vs the rectangular watch: the staple vs the upcoming
Apple has been updating its Apple Watch microsite recently, adding in new feature descriptions and details. Even though we don’t know for sure when the Apple Watch release date is set, at least we’re sure that the timepiece will be hitting shelves next year. The Moto 360, on the other hand, has been around for quite some time now, and the company has also put out two new versions of the wearable, encased in metal and with stainless steel bands, which actually look really stylish. The Asus ZenWatch has been called the most stylish rectangular smartwatch on the market, but the Moto 360 design and the new accessories make this round smartwatch incredibly fashionable, in my opinion. Of course there are people who are put off by the black bar at the bottom of the Moto 360, housing important hardware and Ambient Light. To me, that black bar doesn’t seem disturbing after a few days, even though the first time I noticed it it was quite an eye-sore. Nonetheless, customers seem to understand that the black bar is a better option than the large bezels LG opted for in the LG G Watch R – another round smartwatch.
Motorola puts a lot of emphasis on the design of the Moto 360, but it also advertises the great functionality of the timepiece’s hardware combined with Android Wear can offer. Even though the Moto 360 size is a bit big and ladies might not want to wear such a massive watch, it still looks and feels great on the average wrists. I’m a person with extremely thin and small hands and wrists, so the round smartwatch looks and feels a bit awkward on me and it actually slides off my wrist sometimes, so I wouldn’t recommend it for mignonettes. Nonetheless, if you’re not so frail and skinny, the Moto 360 should be as comfortable as any other watch for you.
The two Apple Watch sizes compared to the Moto 360 size
The round watch face of the Moto 360 is 46 mm in diameter and has a 1.56 inch backlit LCD display with a 320*290 resolution at 205 ppi pixel density, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The crown on the side of the device works as a power button. The watch runs on Android Wear, and receives updates constantly, improving performance and battery life. Android Wear is a comprehensive OS for smartwatches and you can already benefit from hundreds of apps and games designed specifically for the round face of the Moto 360. The latest Android Wear update brought optimization for round watches, which means that text and pics won’t get cut off like they did before on certain apps and websites. Even though many of you don’t think that you could use a small device like the Moto 360 to write messages, browse the internet or play games, the level of optimization of specific apps is surprising and voice-to-text really comes in handy.
Moto 360 specs include Bluetooth 4.0, a Texas Instrument OMAP 3 CPU backed by 512 MP BAM and 4 GB internal storage. You get a 300 mAH battery with the device, which last about two days if you choose not to use the Ambient Light function which tends to drain the battery, even with subsequent batteries. If you do want to use that function, your battery life on the Moto 360 will be cut in about half, which is not bad for a smartwatch, but it’s definitely not ideal. Qi wireless charging is also available on the timepiece and the Moto 360 comes with a stylish docking station out of the box. You get a 9 axis sensor and a heart rate monitor in the watch, too, so health monitoring with Android Wear apps will be a breeze.
The two sizes the Apple Watch will be available in
The Apple Watch will be available in two different sizes once it is launched, to cater to different body types and people. You’ll have six different chassis to choose from, namely silver aluminium, stainless steel, space black stainless steel, space gray aluminium, 18 karat rose gold and 18 karat gold, each having its own price and its own watchband. The Apple Watch display and design are rectangular, so it might cater to those into rectangular timepieces instead of round watches. It has a sapphire Retina HD display, which should provide for great protection and resolution. The 42mm bigger model will pack a screen with a 390*312 pixel resolution, while the smaller 38mm model’s screen will boast a pixel resolution of 340*272. That’s definitely higher res than on the Moto 360, which puts the Apple Watch specs ahead of the Moto 360.
The Apple Watch OS will be an unnamed OS created by the company especially for the watch, making use of the crown as a zooming, panning and scrolling device. You will be able to tweak watch faces and create your own design that suits you best. On the watch face, you will be able to view the time (naturally), weather, world clock, stocks, alarms, moon phases, calendars and more of your choosing. NFC and Apple Pay were highlights at the unveiling event so it should be clear by now that you will be able to pay with your watch at registered retailers and shops. Handoff, a handy feature present in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite will be ported to the Apple Watch, so that you can transfer tasks between your Apple devices. HealthKit and HomeKit are also integrated into the timepiece, allowing you to monitor health metrics and control home automation directly from your wrists.
Moto 360 vs Apple Watch from the side
GPS and Wi-Fi will also be welcome Apple Watch features and will allow you to monitor your fitness activity without having your iPhone on hand at all times. A heart rate monitor, gyroscope and calorie counter are also present. You will be able to experience haptic feedback and use “force-touch” to select things on the screen. Siri, naturally, will be a part of the watch and will help you interact with the interface. A messaging app will also be available, but it won’t require typing, rather ask you to select from suggested responses and use voice-to-text to “type” things. Wireless charging was also mentioned by Tim Cook at the unveiling event, as well as an all day battery life. We don’t know much about internals when it comes to the Apple Watch, so we don’t know what an “all day battery life” means in the vision of the company.
Even though we know much more about the Moto 360 than we do about the Apple Watch, most are confident that the latter will be among the best smartwatches on the market. While that remains to be seen, our vote goes to the Moto 360. That’s because the Apple Watch price starts at $350 and goes up to over $1000 depending on the chassis and size, while the Moto 360 is around $250 with great Black Friday deals setting it even lower. While the Apple Watch is controversial and only few specs and software features have been confirmed, we are already accustomed to the Moto 360 and its pretty admirable features and specs. Alas, all will be revealed next year, when we will be back with an in-depth comparison between the Apple Watch and the rest of the smartwatches we are already seeing on the market.