Gadget Talk – Moto 360 – Telling My Story

Yes… more toys! After some debate, I decided to get the Moto 360 even though I personally own the new iPhone 6 Plus. However, for work, I used the HTC One M8 (play edition) and it hasn’t been a slouch either! The transition to Android wasn’t easy, but there are definitely clear benefits… but I might have had a different story if I wasn’t on one of the best android phones with the latest OS (KitKat)… well that is until today when the Nexus 6 and Lollipop was announced. Now onto the real meat and potatoes of this post. Sorry, no technical stuff, just a real world use review.

Day to Day – the main purpose that I bought this watch (other than being a gadget junky) was to streamline my day to day at work. Calendar notifications, quick email/chat reading and simple functions keep my phone in my pocket for most of the day. Below are some of the most used functions.

Google Now – some may see this as a forced function, but it’s nice to see the commute time to home, package deliveries, sports scores, weather and much more from Google Now Cards. Not to mention that I can now talk to Google and ask silly questions and get fast answers lol.

Notifications – After pruning the number of notifications that my watch receives, I’ve really gotten it down to the necessities to 1) not kill the battery and 2) replace the phone. A quick glance on my email, chat or text messages as well. Reply via voice if it’s quiet around.

Google Keep – personal note-taking. All of the functions pretty much work on the watch.

Spotify controller – don’t gotta take my phone out of my pocket to get to the next song.

Internet Browser – for simple sites, it’s great to browse straight on your phone. Comic’s are my go-to for this function.

Must Have Apps

Wear Mini Launcher – it’s a mini-dashboard for all the apps that work on your watch
Facer – tons of great watch faces like the Calvin and Hobbes one I have in the first picture
WIB – wear internet browser
Stuck Pixel Fixer – check if you have any dead pixels
Wear Camera – camera remote

Not everything is perfect… Battery life was the elephant in the room, but simply turn off ambient mode and the latest firmware update really makes it a useable daily watch. My average battery life is well over my work day (about 12-15 hours of life). Watch band options are limited if you want to change it out. It is a standard 22mm, but the thickness of the band must be pretty thin to fit in the unique slot size on the bottom. Processor speed, instead of using the newest and fastest chip, it uses an older Texas Instruments chip… while not noticeably slow, it’s not completely smooth when loading heavy watch faces or moving between Google Now cards. The screen isn’t crystal clear, but I won’t be picky about that since it is still in the first gen of smart watches.

The ambiguous “grey” is actually a suede grey or stone grey. I bought my watch from bestbuy.com and received the stone grey. At first, I really didn’t like it because of the purple tint. But I realized that maybe the watch designers chose the band because it gets better over time. As you wear the watch more, the leather starts to soak in oils and dirt and really starts to develop some character.