Motorola rolled out an update to its Moto 360 smartwatch on Tuesday that promises to improve battery life. The watch runs Android Wear, Google's operating system for wearable devices.
That news should please early adopters of Moto 360 who have reported that battery life on the attractive (if large) smartwatch lasts for less than a full day. To conserve battery, the 360 will now automatically shut down its ambient light mode when battery life hits 15%.
When users charge the device, it will now offer mood lighting that Motorola says is neither "too bright [nor] too dark." However, the device will also more consistently synchronize with a user's smartphone to keep its time updated — so it's unclear how that will impact battery life.
The update also features other software improvements, such as the ability to dismiss a notification with a gesture while keeping a different notification available (a sweep down on the round screen brings back the watch face). Motorola described the updates in a blog post.
While the Moto 360 boasted many impressive features, it was ultimately too quirky and finicky to recommend; the watch often lost its connection to the phone, which was always in my pocket, and was unhappy if I didn’t connect to a Moto phone. I couldn’t always tell when the device was connected, so I’d gesture repeatedly without any indication as to what was going on. Plus, wherever I had to install Android Wear (including on the new Moto X), additional software updates were needed for Google Services and Google Search.
Motorola said it is rolling the latest update out in phases.
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