Alright, I found a Moto 360 and I’m enjoying it. The following is not my review. It is a list of bugs Motorola and Google need to fix on this device and across Android Wear. Note this is only what I’ve noticed after one day. I’ll post more as I explore.
- When you take the phone out of the box, it doesn’t turn on or has a low battery. That’s understandable. What’s not alright is no prompt about the battery level or what to do. It’s simply “Connect your device to Android Wear,” or something to that effect. That’s very un-user-friendly. Where were the UX guys with the setup process?
- Only one watch face shows the date. $250 and no date? Seriously?
- Update, thanks to Rich DeMuro: Drag down slightly to see the date.
- When asking the watch to make a call to a contact with more than one number, it asks "Which One?" However, it doesn’t give you a list. Saying "the first one" works, but I don’t know what I selected until it dials.
- There’s no confirmation request when sending a text… it just sends it.
- It sometimes stops listening or lists your options when listening.
- It sometimes starts listening when it shouldn’t.
- Carrier messaging apps break the ability to reply to texts. I had to disable Verizon Messaging entirely.
- Facebook support for displaying the new comments would be nice, like the email display feature.
- There’s no battery level meter anywhere on the device, or at least that’s obvious.
- Update, thanks to Rich DeMuro: Drag down slightly from the top to see battery level.
- The Android Wear app doesn’t show battery level, but Moto Connect does. Weird?
- Sometimes Google search results take precedence over actions. For example, saying "play ebay by weird al" brings up YouTube results. However, "play technologic by daft punk" plays the song. It’s hit or miss.
- So far, adding a calendar entry hasn’t worked.
- There needs to be a notification center to control which notifications are sent to the phone. Yes, you can do it via the App Manager, but it’s horrible.
- The accelerometer doesn’t always sense the wrist has been moved to a viewing angle.
- When driving, the accelerometer appears to trigger the display to turn on *a lot*. It’s not good when driving kills your battery.
- A speaker would be helpful for prompts.
Added 9/15 afternoon:
- The Motorola Feedback website doesn’t list the Moto360 as a product. So, how do I register it or get support?
- The device occasionally says its Offline when the phone is only three feet away. I’m thinking this is a bug in the Google Now integration and not an actual communications issue.
- Asking the device "What is the battery level" always causes the phone to report it’s offline
Added 9/17:
- Saying “Call <insert name here> on cell” doesn’t work most of the time, but saying the same “on mobile” is generally reliable.
- Calling “Send text to <insert name here>” sometimes asks “Which one?” but only shows the phone numbers. I wasn’t sure if I was sending to the right person because the name wasn’t listed.
- Most of the time, when the screen turns on when moving even the slightest, the watch starts listening, even if I don’t say “Ok, Google”. It’s very annoying.
- It would be nice if “Ok, Google” could be changed to something else. I feel like I’m advertising Google every time I use my watch.
- The pedometer seems inaccurate, rendering phantom steps as far as I can tell. The inaccuracy extends to the heart rate monitor. After a long workout, the monitor said I was at 74 bpm, then 90. I took my own pulse, and it was quite off the mark.
Added 9/30:
- The latest build, 4.4W.1 KGW42R, has greatly improved battery life. On an average day of use, unplugging the watch at around 7am, I was still at 20% at roughly 9:45pm. Great job, Motorola!
- Even with Messaging as the default app, I have no option to Reply to texts when the notification appears. This may be due to HTC overriding some default app, but I’m unsure.
A few tips:
To launch apps, go to the Google screen, then go to Start… and you can select an app.
You can say the following things and it’s really cool:
- Call <person’s name> on mobile
- Play the song <song name>
- Play the song <song name> by <artist name>
- What is the current stock price of <company name>
Auri's Blog 