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There's a new Motorola smartwatch coming in 'early 2022,' but bigger questions remain
Strugglin' like the supply chain is
Motorola's next smartwatch is coming early next year. And if you happen to appreciate it like we did the Moto 360 (2019), there's more of that where it came from.
The new Moto 360 smartwatch is back down to $130
One of the lowest prices we've ever seen for a Wear OS watch
A new Moto 360 smartwatch powered by Wear OS was released last year, manufactured by eBuyNow instead of Motorola. It was a decent watch, but the original price of $350 was absolutely too much money. Now you can get it for a significantly better price: $129.99.
The third-generation Moto 360 was released at the end of last year, notably developed by eBuyNow and not Motorola. It was a good-looking watch that generally worked well, but the original $350 asking price was ridiculous. Now the Moto 360 is available for just $179.99, almost $100 cheaper than the Fossil Gen 5 currently costs.The new Moto 360 is equipped with a Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset, a 1.2-inch fully-circular AMOLED screen, 8GB of internal storage, 1GB of RAM, 3ATM water/dust resistance, built-in GPS, and NFC for contactless payments. It functions almost identically to the Fossil Gen 5, except that you don't get the proprietary software features that Fossil has developed, like enhanced fitness tracking and custom battery modes.
The new Moto 360 smartwatch (which isn't made by Motorola) with Google's Wear OS was nearly impossible to recommend when it was first released, mostly because it was priced at $350. That was an absurd cost, especially when Fossil's Gen 5 watches are around $250, but now the 360 has dropped to a much more reasonable $199.99 at multiple retailers.The third-generation Moto 360 has nearly identical hardware to Fossil's Gen 5 smartwatches, including a Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, 3ATM water resistance, NFC support for Google Pay, and built-in Wi-Fi. The steel model looks very similar to the original Huawei Watch, though the Moto 360 has a black bezel around the screen, while the Huawei Watch did not.
The original Moto 360 was the first mainstream smartwatch with a round screen (ignoring the 'flat tire' at the bottom), which meant that despite its terrible internal hardware, it was definitely unique among a sea of ugly square smartwatches. Motorola followed it up with a sequel in 2015, and then in 2016, the company said it was done making wearables.The new Moto 360 is almost entirely disconnected from its predecessor (it's manufactured by eBuyNow, not Motorola) and lacks the technological and design innovation that made the original watch so special. Much like a direct-to-video Disney sequel, there's not much to complain about, but there's also nothing unique or interesting to speak of. It's the Jungle Book 2 of smartwatches — not bad, but hardly comparable to the original.
Wearable fans have something to be happy about today. After getting a glimpse of the new Moto 360 back in October, the smartwatches are now open for preorder and set to start shipping early next year. For better or worse, though, the watch isn't being produced by Motorola this time around. Instead, it's made by a company called eBuyNow who has licensed the Moto 360 branding.
Of all the things we expected to come out of Lenovo's Motorola this year — mediocre modular phones, a flank of mid-rangers, and a foldable to behold — we did not think a new Wear OS smartwatch would be one. That said, we do have a 3rd-gen Moto360 (no space, as styled) to wait for, but it doesn't look to have been manufactured by Motorola.
The first Huawei Watch has long been held up as a prime example of a Wear OS device, while its successor, the Huawei Watch 2, didn't fare so well with critics. Both, however, benefit from a surprisingly active joint community of fans that are eager for all the latest updates. Android Police's tips inbox lit up with a flurry of activity when new UI changes courtesy of Wear OS v2.17 began to roll out over the past day, with users reporting that their devices now felt much smoother and faster.
Android Wear 2.0 hasn't been as fast of a rollout as everyone had hoped, to put it mildly. The first watches to ship with the update were LG's Watch Style and Watch Sport, but existing watches have had to wait anywhere from a few weeks to several months for the update.
The price of new Android Wear devices is still quite high, but many of the watches released a year or two ago are almost as capable as the new ones. Plus, they're cheap now. Case in point, you can get the Moto 360 v2 from B&H for as little as $190, and that's for the super-fancy gold metal version.
We're impatiently waiting for Android Wear 2.0 to roll to some of the most popular watches released: the second generation Moto 360 and the Huawei Watch. There are also other watches that still haven't received the update and weeks are passing by quickly without a hint of when exactly we should expect the new firmware to hit.
If you are rocking an Android Wear device that won't be getting the 2.0 update, then chances are that you're in the market for a new smartwatch (that is, if you still are digging Android Wear). One of the sharpest looking options in the current crop of devices is the second gen Moto 360. If you can forgive the flat-tire, there is a lot to like in this watch, including its price today. Right now, over at B&H, there are three different styles of the 360 on sale at some of the lowest prices we have ever seen.
It's not the first time it's been on sale, and it surely won't be the last, but the Moto 360 Sport is on sale at Amazon today for $99. The watch has its faults, but for just under a hundred bucks, it's one of the best values out there for someone looking for a new AW device.One important stipulation you need to be aware of is that only the white banded watch is currently on sale. The orange variety will run you $30 more and the black one is not even worth mentioning as it's almost twice as much.As I type this I'm wearing a beat up Sony SW3 with a torn band, which I have loved for its transflective display that has great outdoor visibility. This might be the best successor to that watch, and while white isn't my favorite color for a watch band, I might just pick one up anyways. I never would have paid $300 for it, but at $99 it's actually a pretty compelling offer.Want it? Follow the link below to pick one up for yourself. Hate it? Feel free to complain in the comments below.Source: Amazon
The original Moto 360 was the smartwatch to have - the first with a round display (barring the 'flat tire'), and one of the first powered by Android Wear. Unfortunately, the lack of an always-on display, the ancient TI OMAP 3 processor, and small battery were sources of frustration for early adopters. The second-generation model fixed many of the original's shortcomings, but it did arrive with a hefty price tag of $300.
The Moto 360 Sport first showed up in stores in January, at the high price of $299.99 USD. Just four months later, it was removed from the Google Store, and the price has continued to drop since then. Now you can grab the Flame orange model for just $89.99 and the White model for $99.99, a massive $110 and $100 drop respectively from the later $199 MSRP.
The second-generation Moto 360 is still a solid Android Wear offering, even if it's getting a bit long in the tooth. However, this 15-month old device will remain as the most recent Moto smartwatch for the foreseeable future, as a Moto exec confirmed today that no new smartwatch has been planned for Android Wear 2.0's release.
The Moto 360 Sport has plummeted in price since it was released in January. The original $299 asking price was just a bit too high for most consumers, and just four months later, it was removed from the Google Store. The price has only dropped since then, with the watch currently going for $119 at DailySteals.
Even though it's over a year old now, the second-gen Moto 360 is still a competitive Android Wear smartwatch, especially since Moto announced it won't be releasing any new smartwatches this year. We've seen a few deals for various models of the 360 in the past few weeks, but none that were new in box have been this cheap before. Now, you can get a new, 42mm Moto 360 2nd Gen in black for just $199.99 on Amazon.In case you've forgotten, this Moto 360 packs a 1.37-inch 325p display (with a flat tire), a Snapdragon 400, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, and IP67 water resistance. It's also equipped with Qi wireless charging, which is a lot better than the Huawei Watch's charging cradle (man, I hate that thing).This deal only applies to the smaller Moto 360 with the basic black body and black leather band combination, so if you want a metal band, you'll have to put one on yourself. Since the watch is shipped and sold by Amazon, you'll get free 2-day shipping if you're a Prime member. We don't know how long this deal will last for, so if you're interested, you may want to jump on it. Check the source link for the listing.Source: Amazon
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- Amazon has the same price right now, but their shipping estimate is 1-2 months.
The Moto 360 Sport is a bit of an odd product. It's essentially a second-generation Moto 360 with a silicone band, slightly different design, a transflective LCD for better outdoor viewing, and GPS functionality. Whereas most Android Wear watches are attempting to look as close to classic watches as possible, the 360 Sport stands out (for better or for worse). The $299 MSRP was a tough sell, but thankfully, it has gone far down in price since introduction.Right now, Best Buy is selling the Black model, pictured above, for only $139.99. What's the catch, you ask? Neither Google nor Motorola has confirmed if it will receive the Android Wear 2.0 update coming in 2017. Besides that, there really isn't anything bad about this watch. It easily lasts a day (or a bit more) on a single charge, something I often couldn't reach with my original Moto 360.If you're looking to buy it, I recommend checking out our quick review of the 360 Sport.Source: Best Buy