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Once I discovered that Motorola was making a brand new smartwatch, I used to be cautiously optimistic. The Moto Watch is not working Put on OS, that means we nonetheless haven’t got a real Moto 360 successor, however the firm’s partnership with Polar appeared promising, as Polar makes some spectacular health smartwatches. Absolutely Motorola would make the most effective use of this to show this comparatively inexpensive smartwatch into one thing price choosing up?
Sadly, my time with the Moto Watch proved that Motorola nonetheless has a approach to go. There are some good concepts, however nothing feels absolutely baked, and I can not assist however really feel Motorola would have been higher off with Put on OS, even when it means battery life takes a success.
Specs | Moto Watch |
|---|---|
Show | 1.43-inch OLED |
Supplies | Sandblasted aluminum body, stainless-steel crown, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
Water resistance | IP68, 1ATM |
Sensors | Accelerometer, gyroscope, PPG sensor, ambient gentle sensor, e-compass |
GPS monitoring | GPS (L1 + L5 Twin Frequency) |
Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.3 + BLE |
Music storage | 512MB |
Battery life | 13 days; 7 days w/AOD |
Watch band dimension | 22mm |
Dimensions/weight | 47 x 47 x 12mm, 35g |
Colours | PANTONE Volcanic Ash |
At first look, the Moto Watch is definitely a reasonably stable smartwatch. The design type of jogs my memory of one thing between the Galaxy Watch 7 and the OnePlus Watch 3. The aluminum body provides it a premium look, and whereas the watch is pretty thick, it would not really feel notably heavy. I haven’t got the largest wrists, however I do not thoughts that it solely is available in a 47mm case dimension. This may not be for everybody, although.
On the plus aspect, the scale provides the massive 1.43-inch OLED show extra time to shine, and whereas I do not know the way brilliant it’s, I by no means had a lot bother viewing it exterior.
Organising the Moto Watch is pretty easy and simply requires downloading the Moto Watch app and pairing the gadgets. The method walks you thru the navigation, which may be very harking back to Put on OS. A swipe down from the highest opens the short settings menu; swiping up exhibits notifications; and swiping from both aspect cycles by means of the panels, that are just like Put on OS tiles.
The truth is, a lot of the software program expertise is fairly clean and jogs my memory of Put on OS, which is nice as a result of I discover that another smartwatch UIs could be too complicated and convoluted ( you, Garmin), or simply clunky. Urgent the crown opens the app grid, which is laid out equally to the one on Galaxy Watches, and the crown rotates to allow you to simply scroll by means of menus. Sadly, it feels awfully flimsy and low cost, regardless of being fabricated from stainless-steel.
The button beneath the crown is a shortcut key that you would be able to additionally customise to open any watch app.
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Sadly, the similarities to Put on OS largely finish there, and it turns into clear in a short time simply how minimal the Moto Watch is. For instance, there are solely a handful of obtainable apps, that are largely watch features like clocks, timers, and climate, or tied to well being and wellness options. You’ll be able to’t obtain anymore.
There are additionally only a few customization choices for the Moto Watch, and you will not discover too some ways to alter how the watch behaves. Fortuitously, you can change and customise the watch face, lots of which can be found on the Moto Watch app. You may also use Moto AI on the companion app to generate your personal watch face, which is fairly neat.
Talking of Moto AI, its major perform on the watch is to summarize notifications, which you’ll be able to entry by way of the Summarize button on the prime of the notification view. It is solely obtainable on choose Motorola telephones, probably people who have Moto AI obtainable, and whereas it is a useful approach to compensate for notifications if you happen to’re dangerous at checking your telephone, that is the place its comfort ends.
The truth is, the complete notification expertise on the Moto Watch is missing. Positive, you’ll be able to view notifications out of your telephone, however you’ll be able to’t truly work together with them. As somebody who primarily makes use of Put on OS watches, which allow you to kind messages or choose from pre-written responses, that is considered one of my largest gripes with the Moto Watch. It type of defeats the aim of a smartwatch if I nonetheless have to drag out my telephone to do basic items like reply to a message.
The complicated software program choices do not finish there. With out entry to streaming apps, you’ll be able to solely switch music recordsdata out of your telephone by way of the Moto Watch app. Whereas I do not thoughts this in any respect, the method is kind of cumbersome, with the watch exhibiting a lot much less storage than it truly has obtainable (merely 512MB, thoughts you). It solely lets me switch a handful of songs at a time, then forces me to return by means of my in depth record of music recordsdata to pick and switch extra, a course of that has crashed on me a number of occasions.
That solely highlights a puzzling speaker placement on the watch. It sits on the backside of the watch, and whereas it may possibly get decently loud, it’s incessantly muffled by my wrist. On the plus aspect, you’ll be able to nonetheless join wi-fi earbuds to the watch.
Then there is a distant digicam perform on the Moto Watch, which sounds extra thrilling than it truly is. It solely serves as a distant shutter button, not as a distant viewfinder; you’ll be able to solely set a timer and seize the picture with out a approach to see your self on the watch. On the plus aspect, the Razr Extremely 2025 I have been utilizing makes use of the quilt display as a viewfinder, so it isn’t an enormous deal for me, however not everybody could have this performance on their telephones.
I additionally discover it odd that there isn’t any battery save mode. Fortuitously, the Moto Watch has nice battery life and has lasted me a full week on a cost, with at the very least one exercise tracked every day, sleep monitoring every night time, and tilt-to-wake enabled. Charging takes some time, although, and I bought from 0-50% in 40 minutes and a full cost in about an hour and a half.
Motorola says you’ll be able to stand up to 13 days on a full cost, which feels about proper, although it is determined by your settings and the way lively you’re.
Relating to well being and health monitoring, the Polar partnership sounds extra promising than it truly is. The Moto Watch comes with all the standard smartwatch health-tracking options, together with coronary heart fee, blood oxygen, sleep, and even stress. You’ll be able to view the main points of those metrics on the watch or use the companion app for a greater view.
The companion app has three sections, with one devoted to Well being. This exhibits you the exercise ring and 7 metrics beneath. Whereas the data is straightforward sufficient to comply with, there’s not a lot in the best way of insights into how these metrics can have an effect on you, which I’ve come to anticipate after utilizing different apps from Fitbit and Oura that inject AI insights to assist information customers towards higher habits.
The closest factor I’ve discovered is the Nighly recharge, which takes your “sleep cost” and autonomic nervous system (ANS) cost — a mixture of coronary heart fee, HRV, and respiratory fee — into consideration to offer you suggestions, if any, for the day on train, sleep, and power regulation. Nonetheless, these aren’t very detailed, and I discover myself searching for a bit extra steering than “Go for it!” or “Exercising as we speak will profit you, so long as you hearken to your physique.”
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Sadly, exercise monitoring leaves quite a bit to be desired. I’ve tracked a number of exercises with the Moto Watch, from Pilates and HIIT to energy coaching, and through every exercise, I discover my coronary heart fee is commonly 10-40 bpm decrease than on my Pixel Watch 3 or Garmin Venu 4. There are occasions when the center fee would extra intently match the opposite watches, however these moments are few and much between.
I’ve additionally had the watch fully cease recording an influence yoga session with out me noticing. It is laborious to inform whether or not this was because of the crown, which protrudes fairly a bit from the watch, or to the auto-pause recording.
Both means, it was slightly irritating, and frustration solely grew once I went to trace a 2,500-step stroll with the watch. The auto-pause function saved triggering whereas I used to be actively transferring, so the watch missed fairly a number of steps when testing it in opposition to the Pixel Watch 3. Nonetheless, after turning it off, it carried out nicely in opposition to the Garmin Venu 4, which was truly fairly shocking.
Moto Watch | Pixel Watch 3 | Venu 4 |
|---|---|---|
2,326 | 2,499 | — |
2,501 | — | 2,502 |
Finally, the Moto Watch would not really feel very dependable, and that extends past health monitoring. Positive, battery life is nice, and the Put on OS-like UI makes it very acquainted, however I really feel like Motorola would’ve been higher simply going with precise Put on OS. At the very least then, the software program would really feel extra mature, giving Motorola a greater likelihood in opposition to opponents like Samsung, Google, and even OnePlus, which make nice Put on OS smartwatches.
The Moto Watch is on the market now for $150, which is an effective worth for a seemingly mid-range smartwatch. That mentioned, the expertise leaves quite a bit to be desired, and also you could be higher off with one thing just like the Galaxy Watch FE, which you’ll be able to in all probability discover for even much less.
