Android Wear |OT| 2nd Gen is Here

supposedly they will partner with fashion designers for bands, but i sure wouldnt buy one without seeing a better band for it.

For me personally, ZenWatch overall looks the best (considering the battery), lets see if they will disappoint us in something else.

Reading a bit more about it and they apparently do have some metal bands in the pipeline. Curious to see how that will look.
 
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LG G Watch battery test 2. From around 8AM to when arrived home at 12:45AM.

I would say I used it as I would any other watch to check the time, even extra to show friends what it does (voice commands, etc), use it as music controls and just constantly turning on the watch and rebooting it sometimes.

I'm surprised by how long it lasted, actually. My phone could have died at least twice (or even three times) before the watch died.
 
Black one is nice. I've read comments that it looks cheap compared to the silver, but I honestly don't see it that way.

I don't know if it's Android Wear being Beta-ish or if it's the Moto 360 chipset (would probably benefit if I had the money to try out the other Android Wear watches), but sometimes it's just doesn't plain respond. I'll lift my watch up two or three times and it won't do anything (this has happened only once in the 3 days that I've owned it). Don't know if it's because it's doing something. Google Now commands will also be opened up as stackexchange redirects rather than performing the requested action (play music does this a lot), and there's been quite a few times where I'll attempt to make a note or perform an action and I'll get cut off mid-phrase.

Does anyone else have issues like this on other AW smart watches?

Also, if anyone uses an OBD Link with Dash, you can have your phone connected to both by having Dash set the OBD Link as RFCOMM. Though, I've found that most the time, the watch will disconnect from the phone while the OBD Link is establishing a connection. The watch will then reconnect but it's rare that it doesn't disconnect when that happens.
 
sometimes it's just doesn't plain respond. I'll lift my watch up two or three times and it won't do anything (this has happened only once in the 3 days that I've owned it).

No that happened to my Gear Live as well. You have to lift the watch to a precise location for it to turn on. That's why i just press the button. Never had a problem with the other two things you mentioned.
 
No that happened to my Gear Live as well. You have to lift the watch to a precise location for it to turn on. That's why i just press the button. Never had a problem with the other two things you mentioned.

I don't think that's the issue with me. I've already tested the kind of motion out that activates the screen and (it's not super exact, so long as you raise and twist to your face), and for the most part this motion will activate it (except for the problem I'm mentioning). It's just sometimes this very same motion will result in nothing. And of course, every time it doesn't turn on, the next movement is more exaggerated than the last so as to compensate for the watch maybe not detecting movement. Too bad they're aren't any diagnostic apps for it yet.

For the 360, turning the watch on is as simple as raising and twisting your wrist at chest level, or raising it directly to your face. The times where it hasn't responded were where I raised it to my face, which is way more exaggerated than the chest-level movement and therefore should activate it.

I mean, it's comforting to hear that other watches are experiencing this but I still do want to know the source of the issue.
 
Same here. Thought I would immediately get a metal link strap for it, but decided to wait a bit. Now that I've had it for a few hours, I don't think I need to, I actually like the feel of the included strap. It really does charge pretty quickly.
 
I was at work today and realized my black 360 left me a gray mark on my arm haha is leather supposed to do that?

It really does charge pretty quickly.

It totally does. Way faster than the Gear Live. Every time i look at the charging progression i'm like "wtf"
 
The G Watch is on Ebay for $150 or less, a hundred less than the moto 360. It also has better battery life. I saw the G Watch at the at&t store and it looked fine. I know the 360 looks way better, but along with the weaker battery, is it at least $100 better? I figure you guys have better insight on this than I do.
 
So, should I go for the Moto360? I was extremely hyped when all its details were coming out and the $250 price is fine. However, reviews made me worry a bit so I've been holding out.
 
I'm returning my G Watch... for another G Watch but for almost 40$ cheaper. Now it should definitely worth the price ($150(old price) vs $110(new price)).

So, should I go for the Moto360? I was extremely hyped when all its details were coming out and the $250 price is fine. However, reviews made me worry a bit so I've been holding out.

Wait for the gen 2 360 because that should fix a lot of the problems with it hopefully. That's what I'm doing and sticking with a cheap Android Wear device for now
 
So, should I go for the Moto360? I was extremely hyped when all its details were coming out and the $250 price is fine. However, reviews made me worry a bit so I've been holding out.

Android Wear in general is just not where it should be. I've been experiencing a few bugs which make the "ease" of having a wearable component a little troublesome. When I'm making countdown timers at the gym, I'll run into two different countdown interfaces - one is just what seems to be the default counter and another I'll get additional options, like Pause, Delete, Refresh. It's very strange behavior. When those additional options occur, I can't remove the alarm and it constantly vibrates until the watch goes to sleep.

Also, Google Now commands for some reason don't work very well, and it seems to be both the watch and Android Wear. Sometimes, I'll be cut off midway through making a note or a command, as in I haven't even finished talking and it'll just try to execute an action. Other times it'll fully understand the command but it won't actually do what Google Now does on my phone (which is usually more accurate except in cases where I'm requesting to play specific songs). It will display that it's transcribed my request accurately, but then bring up a search result.

More times than not, Android Wear will actually just perform a google search of what I've said. When I'll ask it to play music, it'll send me to a Google Search about how to implement Google Now commands. The funny thing is, when I ask it to do a Google search, Iir sometimes doesn't get that right.

Also, I figured out why my 360 sometimes doesn't respond when I activate it via wrist twist: It's because it's disconnected from my phone. Seems it doesn't respond to gyroscope-activated gestures when it's disconnected but will respond to a press and hold. It's rather frustrating.

It's very much not ready for prime time but if you're an enthusiast or developer, you'll enjoy tinkering with it.
 
If I could get a Gear Live for like 100 bucks or less I may jump on it. Although that probably won't be the case till Gear Live 2.

Zen Watch looks nice too. Wonder when that is out.
 
I was hyped for the Moto360 as well but a few things like it for me:

Disaster launch, the wait was so long
Slow CPU and general roughness around the edges
Android wear OS still needs work
Battery life
Ugly straps, no easy swap

Apart from that I'm still stocked for smart watches, the Zen Watch looks great. I can't wait for moto 360 V2.
 
The G Watch is on Ebay for $150 or less, a hundred less than the moto 360. It also has better battery life. I saw the G Watch at the at&t store and it looked fine. I know the 360 looks way better, but along with the weaker battery, is it at least $100 better? I figure you guys have better insight on this than I do.

The G Watch and Gear Live screens look like shit compared to the 360. While the battery last longer on the square devices they take a while to charge. The 360 charges a lot quicker.
 
The G Watch and Gear Live screens look like shit compared to the 360. While the battery last longer on the square devices they take a while to charge. The 360 charges a lot quicker.

How does the screen look like shit compared to the 360? I'm curious because with the G Watch, you can see the large pixels but on the 360, it's actually a lower ppi than it. Wouldn't that make the 360 screen look a lot worse than the G Watch?

The battery isn't even that slow to charge. It can charge the watch from 0-100% in probably an hour or so but there's probably no way you can reach that unless you forget to charge it the previous night or somehow use it very heavily that you can drain it to 0%.
 
How does the screen look like shit compared to the 360? I'm curious because with the G Watch, you can see the large pixels but on the 360, it's actually a lower ppi than it. Wouldn't that make the 360 screen look a lot worse than the G Watch?

The battery isn't even that slow to charge. It can charge the watch from 0-100% in probably an hour or so but there's probably no way you can reach that unless you forget to charge it the previous night or somehow use it very heavily that you can drain it to 0%.

Who cares about specs. The 360 screen is more pleasant to look at since it's a bit bigger. Believe me dude i've owned both.
 
So far things are going well with me and my 360. Having this thing in my wrist just makes things so convenient. Wear has a LONG way to go though. One complaint I have is the tiring navigation. just going through the options screens when you have more than one app going on at once is laborious and disorienting. Another is that after you swipe away a card, there isn't another way to see it again unless you talk to the watch or wait for another update. They should have some "press and hold" function or maybe a double click of the button to open a simple apps menu.

Other than that my complaints go to the apps themselves. Things like volume control should be essential on music apps, and I don't want to have to swipe around menus while working out using fitness apps. But I imagine as things go on they'll fix these issues.

Things are great and I would never give up this watch, but it could be better
 
So far things are going well with me and my 360. Having this thing in my wrist just makes things so convenient. Wear has a LONG way to go though. One complaint I have is the tiring navigation. just going through the options screens when you have more than one app going on at once is laborious and disorienting. Another is that after you swipe away a card, there isn't another way to see it again unless you talk to the watch or wait for another update. They should have some "press and hold" function or maybe a double click of the button to open a simple apps menu.

Other than that my complaints go to the apps themselves. Things like volume control should be essential on music apps, and I don't want to have to swipe around menus while working out using fitness apps. But I imagine as things go on they'll fix these issues.

Things are great and I would never give up this watch, but it could be better

I'm assuming you haven't installed the Wear Mini Launcher from the OP yet?
 
I'm assuming you haven't installed the Wear Mini Launcher from the OP yet?
Wow, thanks to the mini launcher, I finally know what the hell Moto 360 HeartRate does. Prior to this, even though I have Google Fit defaulted to measure my heart rate, Moto 360's app would occasionally pop up. An ambiguous "30 minutes remaining" would appear and if I tapped it, it would show the days of the week on pie graphic and fill in the current day but it never actually did anything. I felt like I was lying to it because I wasn't sure how that action was fulfilled.

After installing the mini launcher, I noticed that there was another "Heart Rate" app that matched the "Heart Activity" graphic so I tapped on that, and lo and behold, it shows a heart-rate monitor that has a bouncing needle that tracks my heart rate.

Ugh, this thing is just so buggy.
 
Who cares about specs. The 360 screen is more pleasant to look at since it's a bit bigger. Believe me dude i've owned both.

I'm not really doubting you but wouldn't the lower ppi make a difference? I can see this being similar to 3DS vs 3DSXL (although I know the G Watch and the 360 are different screen resolutions)
 
Other than a couple things (mostly mitigated already by apps), I'm enjoying my 360 so far. I want to get through a day or two of work before I give any real impressions.
 
So for someone who won't be able to use their phone much during work for notifications and messages, would this be a good solution?
 
So for someone who won't be able to use their phone much during work for notifications and messages, would this be a good solution?
Yup. That's probably the best use for a smart watch. I love the fact that I can check my texts, emails, etc without my boss giving me shit for it.
 
I gotta say I'm surprised by the fact I'm OK with the battery life here so far, coming from a Pebble. Off the charger 8am Saturday morning back to the charger tonight at 9pm with 20% left, after getting more than a normal weekend amount of emails and texts, plus demonstrating a couple features. That's in addition to other notifications and playing with settings a bit. Software-wise there can stand to be some adjustments for sure, but it's surprisingly not a bad start.
 
Since Trust Agents don't work on the Android L beta yet i decided to use Pebble Locker to unlock my Nexus 5 when i'm wearing my watch. Super handy. i hate having to unlock manually.

I can't wait until the release version of L so that it works natively.
 
Seems my Moto 360 wants to update, but with 70% battery life left, I apparently have to charge it before I can do that.

If it's like the out of the box update you will need at least 80% battery life left.

Here's the change log:

Bluetooth connectivity: Improved Bluetooth connectivity between the watch and phone to reduce momentary disconnects experienced by some users.

Charging notification: Added a message to confirm that Moto 360 is charging in cases when its battery is fully depleted.

Bug fixes: Implemented bug fixes and other system optimizations.
 
If it's like the out of the box update you will need at least 80% battery life left.

I didn't realize it required 80%. I suppose for this small battery, it's necessary.

And, after the install is done, it's amazingly more responsive. I don't think it's placebo either, as using the mini launcher required me to swipe twice or three times to get it to activate. Or maybe I needed to reboot after installing these apps the first time. Let's hope I notice other improvements, like Bluetooth connectivity and a fix for that weird timer countdown GUI issue.
 
So is the 360 pretty much outta stock anywhere for retail price? Really tempted to pick one up but can't seem to find it available anywhere.
 

So I've been using my 360 all week and I'm really happy with it. Battery lasts me from about 7:40am to 12:30am every day with moderate to heavy usage. Does exactly what I need it to for my purposes. My only real issues right now are some things with AndroidWear that I think need tweaking in future updates:


  • The App menu needs to be in a much more accessible area. Burying it in the OK Google screen is too unintuitive. Luckily mini launcher pretty much moots this point. Personally, I think the apps should be accessible from the top screen. Instead of making that the mute screen, it should bring down the app menu and from that screen you could mute/check battery/etc with one more swipe the same way it is now.
  • Swiping away a card on your home screen should not full screen the next card. It should just clear it from the home screen and maybe bring up the next one in it's place. The only time it should do this is if I've already full screened the card before discarding it.
  • There needs to be an option to lock and save a card. Right now I don't think you have a recourse for a card you want off your screen, but want to view later. Maybe pressing and holding a card should give you an option to archive.
  • Replying to a text needs to be more intuitive from the watch. Unless I'm missing something, in order to reply to a text you have to go through the whole OK Google command "OK Google > Text SoAndSo > Message". Swiping right onyl gives you the option to open it up on your phone. There needs to be an option to swipe right and reply, or similar to Moto Assist, it should listen for a command when you get the notification. So basically when you get a text, you should be able to just say "Reply" and then it will automatically listen for your message.
  • On that note, I'm really hoping for a default on board keyboard. I shouldn't HAVE to reply with voice even if that's what I'm going to do the majority of the time. Luckily Minuum is working on one right now.
I'm not worried about most of these issues though since this is early days of the OS and 3rd party apps are already making them moot. Overall I'm very happy with the 360 and just the use of a smartwatch in general. Not everyone's circumstance is going to make it super useful or worth the current price, but for people in similar situations as I and plenty others (which I don't think are a niche) it makes my life noticeably more convenient.

Here are a few apps I'd recommend too:

Wear Mini Launcher: Probably the MOST essential app right now. It lets you access your app drawer from anywhere by swiping from the upper left.

Music Boss: Controls and prioritizes whatever audio app you have running on your phone. Basically gives you access to more controls than the default card (volume control/timeline selection/etc) with pretty intuitive swipe controls (swipe right to skip track/swipe down to lower volume/etc).

Facer: Pretty easy to use, yet extremely robust custom face tool. It goes as far as to let you replace watch hands with your own PNGs, has animated transparency controls, and all kinds of conditional tags (like you can set up a custom message/image/number to pop up whenever your battery gets below a certain percentage and stuff like that). There's a decent sized community putting out custom faces that you can import and edit to your hearts delight as well.
 
No I haven't, I just with android wear didn't need it I guess. But I'll try it out!

It's a must have until they figure out an alternative to getting to the app drawer. Only complaint is that it can be a little touchy grabbing the correct screen on the 360 since the round face gives you less corner to swipe from. I'm not sure if app devs have access to it, but if they can make it drop from the top the way I described in my post above instead, it would be perfect.
 
I was just reading on Reddit that the new Moto 360 software update has doubled battery life. People are reporting being at work for 10 hours and still having 70 to 80% left. Can anyone here confirm that?
 
I was just reading on Reddit that the new Moto 360 software update has doubled battery life. People are reporting being at work for 10 hours and still having 70 to 80% left. Can anyone here confirm that?

It has not doubled for me but it's noticeably better, yeah. Before I would have maybe 50-60% left after a 14 hour day but now I'm seeing 70-80% left. The bluetooth issues are also fixed and it seems to me the bluetooth range improved too.
 
So awesome to hear that rhe bartery got much better after the update. Can't wait to receive mine soon.

By the way, would any 22mm leather band work with the 360?
 
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