An initial problem with the smartwatch concept that put-off many everyday consumers was the fact that smartwatches, for all their additional functionality, were not pretty to look at. The original Pebble was a good first step (I still have fond memories of my recently replaced one) but watches are, first and foremost, an item of fashion, and the Pebble was simply not pretty to look at to put it as politely as I can. Pebble's next entry, the Pebble Steel, took steps to remedy this problem, boasting a much sleeker, much prettier design while retaining the Pebble OS from the original which had faced little criticism by comparison, but it still wasn't going to win many beauty contests
Original Pebble on the right, Steel on the left
Then last year, Google announced "Android Wear", a variant of their Android OS optimized for wearable devices, giving rise to a new generation of smartwatches such as the Samsung Gear series and the LG G Watch. While boasting full colour touchscreens and greater functionality at the expense of Pebble's simplicity and much greater battery life, the new Android Wear watches were still hampered, albeit to a lesser extent, by their looks.
An LG "G Watch"
That all changed though, and in September of 2014, the world was finally given a device with the pretty face to match her great personality: Motorola's "Moto 360".
Moto 360s, with metal (left) and leather (right) bands
The Moto 360 was the first smartwatch to feature a round watch face (hence "360") and in comparison to it's rivals it looks simply beautiful. Sleek and minimalist, it wouldn't look at all out of place at a business meeting or a formal occasion and it just carries an air of class and premium feel that it's subsequently released round-faced rival the LG G Watch R simply doesn't (although the G Watch R has it beat hands down when it comes to raw power and durability)
My own Moto 360 runs Android Wear 5.0.1, (or Android "Lollipop" as it's known as) features a 1.56 inch, 320 x 290 LCD display with gorilla glass 3 (some vertical pixels are lost due to the presence of a small bezel that cuts off the bottom of the display which personally didn't bother me in the least), 512 MB of RAM and 4GB of on-board storage, an inbuilt pedometer and a heart-rate monitor, (neither of which I ever use because I'm a lazy git) one solitary hard button on the side of the device for turning it on, and a 320 mAh battery. Battery life is one very obvious area in which the Moto 360 and smartwatches in general fall and fall hard in comparison to traditional watches, with most smartwatches needing to be charged nightly or every other night if you're lucky (the Pebble being a notable exception, it's monochrome display meaning the battery routinely lasted me 4 or 5 days). The Moto 360 is no exception, but if you don't mind the nightly charging cycle (which is aided by the Moto 360's impressive wireless charging feature that turns the watch into a bedside clock while it charges, something which I'd like to see more smartwatches do in future), the Moto 360 will easily make it to the end of the day and still often leave me with around 30% charge left, even with "ambiant mode" (a feature that makes the display stay on, albeit dimmed and colourless where otherwise it would go to sleep) left on all day. It's also worth noting that if you are ever caught short, the small battery means that the Moto 360 can go from empty to almost full in about 90 minutes and if you are caught short and need to give to give it a quick charge, even just a few minutes on the charger before you go out can make all the difference, with my Moto 360 charging from 21% to 52% in just 20 minutes.
A Moto 360 on it's wireless charger
What about Android Wear it's self though? As mentioned earlier, the Moto 360 is now running Android 5.0.1 "lollipop" and while I can't speak for how it compares with older versions of Android Wear, I can say that in and of itself, the software creates a truly beautiful experience that make using the watch a joy to use simply for it's bright, vibrant colours. The Moto 360 uses an LCD display as opposed to the P-OLED technology used by the LG G Watch R, meaning that the Moto's blacks just aren't as deep nor are it's colours as well contrasted but this doesn't lower the experience it all and from a design and software perspective, the Moto 360 is a gorgeous piece of tech.
Android Wear however isn't quite there yet and while it has greater functionality than the Pebble (telling notifications to open on the phone, able to read entire emails rather than just snippets, music controls with tighter integration with music apps like Spotify etc.) the Pebble is more consistent and reliable in the tasks it does do. The Moto 360 does occasionally fail to tell me when notifications arrive, something the Pebble never did and considering the fact that from the standpoint of functionality the primary function of a smartwatch is delivering notifications to your wrist for quickness and convenience, this isn't something that can be totally overlooked until it's ironed out completely. 90% isn't good enough when Quasimodo is pulling 100%. In addition, while the touch screen is an obvious improvement over the Pebble's 3-button setup, it can be quite easy to accidentally mute your watch, turn on sunlight mode or cinema mode (which crank the brightness up to max or mute the watch and put the display to sleep respectively) and start playing a song with an errant tap or swipe. These moments weren't frequent though, and being able to skim through my notifications with a lazy, casual swipe of my finger, change what song I was listening to and navigate my way somewhere with my watch is the kind of experience that, as a tech fan, just puts a smile on your face. It is however a few software updates away from being perfect... for now it'll have to settle with being very good.
In addition to it's touchscreen, there is another way to interact with your watch: voice controls. One huge advantage of it being an Android device is it's integration with Google Now and being able to tell your watch to do everything from setting a timer or starting a stopwatch to telling it to navigate somewhere via google maps, asking it for information, or even replying to texts with what is admittedly fairly simplistic voice dictation, with texts sent in this manner lacking any kind of grammer, punctuation, or even capital letters, although I'd expect this feature to improve over time. Voice recognition was accurate and responsive, maybe even a little too much so. Google Now isn't very patient and I found that it had a habit of not recognizing something I said simply because it stopped listening too soon and cut off the end of my sentence. When it isn't being quite so impatient though, the speech recognition was accurate and it reliably picked up what I was saying. However, when it comes to voice controls, there is a very, very fine line being walked. When it works first time, yeah it's cool without a doubt. But if it doesn't work first time, if you have to repeat your instruction then it can often feel like having a bucket of ice thrown over you, especially if you're in public. This is a hurdle voice controls still need to jump before they become more mainstream (as they increasingly have been, to their credit).
Ultimately, smartwatches are still quite a niche market. The Pebble is too geeky and straight up not pretty enough for many people and Android Wear devices are getting better but the software isn't quite there yet. But if I'm confident of anything, it's that it will be eventually. Android Wear has some niggly issues but there are genuine flashes of brilliance to be seen as well and I can't wait to see how the platform will evolve from here. If you're happy enough with your traditional watch or your phone for timekeeping, or if you just don't think smartwatches add enough functionality to warrant dropping a few hundred pounds on them, honestly, you can probably live without one for now. However, if you're like me and convenience is the very air you breathe, if you like how they look, if you want to screw as much functionality as you possibly can out of your phone, or if you just want a watch but find the idea of dopping in some cases hundreds of pounds on a device that only tells the time totally abhorrent, then the Moto 360 is certainly the most stylish device you can buy that fits the bill.
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