Ever since my Moto 360 and Android Wear review, I’ve been hammering on my disappointment in Wear’s unfinished, unpolished state, and the many issues that plague the platform. Since I’ve been using my Moto 360 again over the past few weeks, I think it’s time to give a few short updates, because a seemingly minor release – from Wear 5.0.1 to 5.0.2 – has changed a few things for the better.
One of the biggest issues I encountered with Wear on the Moto 360 was laggy performance, stuttering, choppiness, that sort of stuff. After using 5.0.2 for a week or so, I’ve noted that this problem now seems resolved – at least for me. Touches are registered instantly, responsiveness is perfect again, and animations no longer lag and stutter. It’s a world of difference.
A short note on battery life: after a full day of use, my Moto 360 usually sites at around 65%-70% battery left. In other words, with some careful planning, I could squeeze a full weekend out of my Moto 360, without needing to carry my charger with me. Quite nice.
None of this changes my overall perception of current smartwatches, though: they are too much computer, and too little watch. Still, these few improvements do lessen the blow somewhat, and that’s always welcome.
It’s nice to hear this stuff is improving. When you think about how far tablets have come in the last 5 years hardware-wise (original iPad vs the Air 2), I expect things to improve dramatically.
Edited 2015-03-05 20:23 UTC
Bad example. Sure, there have been major improvements (speed, weight, screen-quality) but the basic idea of the iPad hasn’t changed at all. And as a result there is no reason to upgrade an iPad2 to an Ipad Air 2 because you would use it for exactly the same thing. (even worse for Ipad Mini)
The only worthwhile improvement is TouchID and that isn’t much in all that time. The thing still costs the same, doesn’t have user-accounts, no multi-window, cannot run OSX programs, no improvement in battery life.
Tablets were done right, right from the beginning and have been refined a bit but not fundamentally changed.
Smart-watches seem to follow the exact opposite path because there is currently no uptake. All they are used for is pre-screening notifications which means that if you get a useless notification you have used your watch for good, but if you get a useful notification you have to pull out your smartphone anyway so you have actually lost time. Let me rephrase that: The only times smart-watches are useful is when you receive lots of useless messages. They are manual SPAM-filters.
Well, maybe if you’re just doing some light web browsing. But there is a HUGE difference between the iPad 2 and the Air 2 for apps that take advantage of the extra horsepower. For example, with the Korg Gadget app, you can have many more tracks playing simultaneously.
Let us know when it’s back in the drawer, where smart watches belong.
I’d like for the Moto 360 to be as well crafted as the Moto X, G, and E are. I realize its early days in the smart watch world, so maybe their strategy makes sense. But it seems like everyone is iterating much faster through designs than they are. The next 360 can’t be slightly better than the current one, competition will be fierce. And in the US they’ll have to deal with the apple watch too.
Android wear or any wears that batteries will only last for a day or two are utterly useless to me in my opinion.
Until their battery will last for years, I don’t see them literally coming. It is useful only if your work flow is from Home -> Office, but even then, it is severely limited.