Motorola is finally making a new Wear OS watch and it’s not called the Moto 360

Motorola is finally making a new Wear OS watch and it’s not called the Moto 360

It’s finally happening. Motorola is making a new Wear OS smartwatch, but it’s not a new Moto 360 – this is the Moto Watch Ultra. Rewinding the clock, the Moto 360 is perhaps still the most iconic Android smartwatch of all time. It was the poster child for the early days of “Android Wear,” but Motorola threw in the towel after a couple of generations. There was a brief revival of the Moto 360 name in 2020, but even that faded away – and the licensing deal behind it is likely why Motorola isn’t using that name now. Motorola hasn’t stopped making smartwatches in that time, but they’ve all been based on an RTOS, making them fall into the category of smartwatches that are focused on health tracking and battery life at the expense of more useful notifications and access to a proper app ecosystem. The most recent attempt ended up cloning Wear OS’ design, despite the limitations. Now, Motorola has a new smartwatch – the Moto Watch Ultra. The $349 smartwatch offers up a Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chipset, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage, all used to power Wear OS 6. We’ll have to wait and see if Motorola has made any customizations to the UI here, but re-entering the Wear OS ecosystem is a pretty big deal. Motorola does note that its Qira AI assistant is on board. The Ultra has a 1.5-inch pOLED display in a 46mm chassis that’s 12.1mm thick – though Motorola’s images make it seem a lot thicker. The display is covered in Gorilla Glass 3 and the body is stainless steel with a brushed finish in silver or gunmetal finishes. There are four strap options, including both silicone and leather, but you can use any 22mm band as there are no fancy connectors, just a traditional spring pin. There’s NFC support for Google Wallet, IP68 + 5ATM dust/water resistance, and LTE support too. Motorola claims 2 days of use from the 550 mAh battery inside – Pixel Watch 5 (45mm) has a 465 mAh battery, for comparison. Charging is handled by a magnetic dock that connects over USB-C. On the fitness side, Motorola is working with Polar – another brand that tried and has since left the Wear OS market – with features including activity goals, scores, and intensity zones, as well as inactivity alerts, energy sources, and wellness features around breathing and sleep. The Moto Watch Ultra will be available unlocked starting on September 10 for $349, with a debut on Verizon on September 24. Other carriers including T-Mobile, Metro, and AT&T will follow later on. Beyond the Watch Ultra, Motorola is today also launching a Swarovski version of the base Razr (2026). This special release has the same specs, but with a new dark grey case that has Crystals by Swarovski embedded in the back. It also costs $100 more at $899 and is also launching on September 10. More on Motorola: Motorola details Android 17 update that you might get eventually GrapheneOS support coming to Motorola Razr Fold & Ultra next year ‘Moto Snap’ magnetic wireless charger leaks, hopefully as a sign of more Qi2 to come [Gallery] Follow Ben: Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

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