We were touting “wearable tech” way before it was cool. But guess what? The coolness factor has finally caught up with our hype. We say that because we recently purchased the long-awaited Moto 360, Motorola’s entry into the Android Wear smartwatch swarm. We were sold on the technology behind smartwatches a couple of years ago, but now our non-tech friends don’t make fun of us when we wear our new Moto 360 to the annual office holiday soiree. The distinguishing characteristic of the Moto 360 is it’s stylish round-face, as opposed to the rectangular, geeky looking watch face of some of the other smartwatches we’ve acquired. The black leather band also helps mask the appearance of this smartwatch as just another layman’s watch.
But don’t let the stylish appearance of the Moto 360 trick you into thinking it’s just a timepiece. Indeed, you can customize how the current time displays, from a traditional long and short-hand dial to an ultra-sleek, modern numeric readout. But you can do so much more with the Moto. As with all Android Wear-based smartwatches, you can view this watch as an extension of your Android-based cell phone. (Alert: there’s no need to get this or any other Android Wear-based smartwatch if you don’t have the requisite Android-based smartphone). You get notifications of texts, e-mails, and phone calls on the watch without pulling your phone out of your pocket or purse. The integrated mic allows you to issue voice commands with the familiar “Okay Google” wake-up call. We’ve been able to “ask the watch” for navigational directions and then get the turn-by-turn steps on the watch. Of course, this is all powered by the nearby Android phone, but all of the interaction is on the watch. For the health conscious, there is a constant heart-rate monitor along with a step counter app integrated with the phone. There are other environmental monitoring notifications that you can receive on the watch, such as temperature and weather info. Of course, one can download other special apps that are being developed for the Android Wear platform for a myriad of functions.
The downside of the Moto 360 is that it, being electronic, requires a battery. With active use (defined as constantly accessing your watch for notifications, voice commands, etc.) the battery drains pretty quickly. There are ways to conserve battery life, like have the display on the watch face only illuminate when you tap the screen or bring the watch up to your face; but, we have found this particular feature to be annoying and prefer to have the watch face illuminated at all times (at the expense of battery life). The good news is that the charging cradle is incredibly easy to use and does not require you to plug anything into the watch. Just simply lay the watch into the charging cradle at the end of the day, and it doubles as a bedside alarm clock while charging.
Even though we have been on the smartwatch train for some time, this technology is still pretty new, and we expect future versions of these devices to get even better and more user friendly. Everyone in the industry is holding their breath waiting to see what the long awaited iWatch from Apple is going to look like. We hear that will appear on store shelves sometime in early 2015. We expect the iWatch to be a no-brainer choice for those who already have an iPhone. However, for those of us who use Android-based phones, we think the Moto 360 is one of the best and most stylish options available. We just wish people would like us for who we are not just what we wear.
Reprinted by permission from the Nashville Bar Association. Bill Ramsey is a partner at the law firm of Neal & Harwell (www.nealharwell.com). He may be contacted at ramseywt@nealharwell.com. Phil Hampton is the founder and CEO of legal technology firm LogicForce Consulting (www.logicforce.com).