Motorola Launches The New Moto 360 Collection

Today Motorola has officially announced the long rumored second generation of the Moto 360. While details are still unknown about the display resolution or some aspects of the internal hardware, there are still a number of things that can be identified based on Motorola’s press release and the Moto Maker studio.

The first thing to note is that the Moto 360 will actually come in two versions. The first is the standard Moto 360 which has a similar design to the first generation. It now comes in two sizes, with the smaller size having a 42mm watch case and the larger being 46mm. Users who find a 42mm watch to be too large appear to be left out in the cold again, and it’ll be interesting to see how the user demographics are split between different heights, genders, etc. From Motorola’s images we can also see that the display still has the gap at the bottom where the display driver is stored.

The normal Moto 360 can be completely customized with Moto Maker. The 42mm model comes with default color and band settings for both men and women, which I kind of understand but I feel is misguided when your entire platform is allowing users to make it however they wish. Both of the 42mm models allow you to customize the case color, the band, the bezel color, and the default watch face. Depending on what size and band you choose, the price will range from $299 to $429 in the US. Motorola is allowing users in the US to customize and pre-order their watches right now, and even if you’re not in the US it provides a way to check out the different options Motorola provides.

Ignoring the size segmentation, the second device in the Moto 360 Collection is the new Moto 360 Sport, which is is more rugged and has some unique features of its own to distinguish it from the normal edition. The band is made of silicone, which also surrounds the watch case and resists moisture, fading, or staining. It’s important to note that this strap is fixed in place, so you won’t be able to switch it with other colors or completely other straps. The Moto 360 Sport also comes with integrated GPS, which allows for accurate position and distance tracking when jogging or cycling without a smartphone. As for the display, Motorola is calling it an AnyLight display, which they say acts as a typical LCD when indoors but reflects natural light when outdoors to maintain readability.

Both versions of the Moto 360 are now powered by a Snapdragon 400 SoC, which is a change from the TI OMAP platform in the previous version. Motorola hasn’t said anything about the display resolution other than that it’s “higher” than the previous generation model. The battery capacity of both is unknown, but Motorola claims that the 46mm model will last two days between charges, while the 42mm model will last 1.5 days.

As I mentioned earlier, customers in the US can pre-order the Moto 360 now from Moto Maker. Availability in other countries will be announced in the future, as well as availability of the Moto 360 Sport which is currently not available even in the US.

ASUS Details The ZenWatch 2: Coming In October

At this year’s Computex Taipei ASUS released some teaser information about the upcoming ZenWatch 2. At the time we knew what the ZenWatch 2 would look like, but there weren’t any details about the display size, case size, battery, display, or any other aspects of the hardware. Three months later, we’re much closer to ASUS’s planned launch of the ZenWatch 2, and they’ve decided to release essentially all the information one would need to know about the watch.

For starters, the ZenWatch 2 comes in two sizes. the first has a 1.45″ AMOLED display with a resolution of 280×280, while the second has 1.63″ AMOLED display with a resolution of 320×320. The case dimensions of the smaller and larger model are 45.2 x 37.2mm and 49.6 x 40.7mm respectively. While I appreciate that ASUS has put in the effort to try and accommodate users with smaller wrists, I think it’s still going to leave out a very large segment of the market in the same way that all previous Android Wear devices have done. Let me explain why.

Consider that the smaller ZenWatch W1502Q has a square display with a 1.45″ diagonal, which equates to a screen area of roughly 1.05 square inches. As a point of comparison, the 42mm Apple Watch, which is the larger of the two models, has a 5:4 display with a 1.5″ diagonal. This means that it has a slightly larger area of 1.1 square inches. Despite the 42mm Apple Watch having a larger display, the dimensions of the watch case are significantly smaller in both the vertical and horizontal dimensions. If a user finds the 42mm Apple Watch to be too big, they’ll certainly feel that more strongly about even the smaller model of the ZenWatch 2. I happen to fall into that group of users with smaller wrists, and when I originally heard that the ZenWatch 2 would come in two sizes I was hoping for something even smaller than this as I haven’t been able to find an Android Wear watch that I can wear comfortably yet.

If you are a user that finds one of the ZenWatch 2 models to be a comfortable fit then your watch will come with 4GB of internal NAND, 512MB of LPDDR2 memory, and Qualcomm’s APQ 8026 SoC which has four Cortex A7 cores with a max frequency of 1.2GHz, although no Android Wear devices ramp up the SoC like they would do so in a smartphone. The ZenWatch 2 also includes a 6-axis gyroscope, an accelerometer, and a sensor for tracking the user’s heart rate.

As for the battery life, the smaller W1502Q has a 300mAh battery, while the larger W1501Q increases that to 400mAh. ASUS rates the larger model for over 2.5 days of use in ambient mode, and the smaller one for more than 2 days of use in ambient mode. Battery life will obviously vary greatly depending on a user’s workload.

The ASUS ZenWatch 2 will be available sometime in October. The larger model will be priced at 149 euros, while the smaller will surprisingly cost more at 169 euros. It will launch with three different straps, with one being a fabric strap, one being leather, and one being metal. Each strap will have a choice of three different colors, and it’s a safe bet that the metal band will come with a price premium.

Samsung Announces The Gear S2 Smartwatch

Today Samsung announced the Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic, the newest products in their line of smartwatches. The Gear S2 has what Samsung describes as a more minimal and modern design, while the Gear S2 classic uses leather and a black finish in an attempt to appeal to fans of traditional mechanical watches.

In addition to WiFi versions, there’s also the Gear S2 3G which includes cellular capabilities to allow the user to make phone calls from their watch. All three models of the Gear S2 are similar, but there are some differences to accommodate visual changes between the Gear S2 and Gear S2 classic, as well as to fit a larger battery in the 3G edition. I’ve laid out all the known specifications of the Gear S2 in the chart below.

The Gear S2 is powered by an unnamed dual core SoC with a peak frequency of 1GHz. The circular display has a maximum horizontal and vertical resolution of 360 pixels, which equates to 302 pixels per inch. With Tizen being Samsung’s own operating system they can tune the interface to work best with their AMOLED displays to minimize power consumption. Both WiFi versions of the Gear S2 include a 250mAh battery, while the 3G edition increases this to 300mAh, with a corresponding increase in case thickness. According to Samsung, the WiFi only version of the Gear S2 will last between two and three days of typical usage, while the 3G model will last around two days.

The Gear S2 also includes a number of sensors in order to track information pertaining to exercise and fitness. It includes an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a heart rate tracker, an ambient light sensor, and interestingly, a barometer which can be used for tracking elevation by measuring atmospheric pressure. A barometer is a sensor that was notably absent from the Apple Watch, and it could help give Samsung an edge when it comes to the accuracy of their health tracking.

Notably absent from the 3G model is a SIM slot. This is because the Gear S2 makes use of an e-SIM card, an embedded version of the SIM chip current devices use to register and work on mobile networks. It’s not clear what implications this will have for carrier compatibility, but it would make sense that support from a carrier would be required in order to use the Gear S2 3G on their network.

Something that differentiates the Gear S2 from Samsung’s previous watches are the methods of input that Samsung has included. The bezel around the circular display acts as a rotating input, which the user can use to zoom, scroll, etc. There are also two buttons located next to each other on the right side of the case, which function as home and back buttons respectively. This is again an advantage of Samsung using their own operating system, as they can implement controls that may not work within the control scheme of another operating system like Android Wear.

Naturally, Samsung’s Tizen smartwatches don’t have access to the application library or functionality that comes with Android Wear. However, a look at Samsung’s history with smartwatches makes it clear that they are pushing Tizen as their major wearable platform for their devices rather than Android Wear. It will be interesting to see how this turns out for them. On one hand, they can tune the OS to work seamlessly alongside the hardware. On the other hand, they’re limited in terms of third party support from app developers.

The Gear S2, Gear S2 Classic, and Gear S2 3G will be launching in the near future. There’s currently no word on pricing, but there is already a commitment from AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile USA to sell the 3G version of the watch.