We don’t have details on when yet, but Motorola have confirmed the new 2nd generation Moto 360 smartwatches are coming to Australia. This is great news because they offer a wide – almost limitless – choice of design combinations, with compatibility for both Android and iOS phones.
I sat and chatted today to Motorola Marketing director Marcus Frost who took me through the Moto 360 range released here in Berlin at IFA.
Rather than just being a single smartwatch, the 2nd generation Moto 360 is a “collection”. There are four different watch faces, which themselves are available in a range of colours.
The men’s version of the 360 comes in two sizes, the 46mm watch face and 42mm, while the women’s version is a single size (42mm) with a more narrow watch band.
Adding to those three is the Moto 360 Sport, this is a very different watch with a display made to be viewed outdoors, built-in GPS as well as the heart-rate sensor which is standard on all models.
Critically, each “size” variant is also available in a range of colours. Men’s 360’s are Silver, Black and Gold, while the Women’s are Silver, Gold and Rose Gold.
Add to that the bezel which also comes in a range of colours and also comes in different “treatments” and you start to see how mixing and matching here will create a unique watch for each owner.
The latest updates to Android Wear with these new watches also makes iOS compatibility available, so Motorola and others now have a much larger market to attack for smartphone owners looking for a smartwatch.
These new Moto 360 watches look sensational, have a premium feel but will come at a price, with US pricing starting at $299. Aussie pricing will be higher of course, and hopefully with Moto Maker – the service allowing you to fully customise your watch order from the factory – coming to Australia, though yet to be formally announced, we’ll have a wider range of possibilities available.
Oh, and Motorola claims a two day battery life on the new 360. We’ll test that.
Trevor Long traveled to IFA in Berlin as a guest of Sony
