After four years away, Motorola has stepped back in the smartwatch ring with the third generation Moto 360, featuring a raft of current-gen features set to take on today's Wear OS, Tizen, and watchOS competitors.
Its design is also sleeker, and the new smartwatch sports a number of features inspired by the Apple Watch (which is no bad thing, in our minds).
First, let's look at the design – with a 42.8mm diameter face and a 390px screen, it's a similar size to the 42mm Samsung Galaxy Watch.
It's available in Steel Grey, Rose Gold and Phantom Black stainless steel cases, and each smartwatch is packaged with two straps – one leather, for smarter wear, and one silicone for more active use.
You'll also notice the display is fully circular here – that's a big improvement over the previous generation, which had a 'flat-tyre' bar at the bottom of the screen.
One cool design feature is the rotating crown, similar to the 'Digital Crown' of the Apple Watch. This can be used to scroll through menus without covering the small screen with your finger.
The battery life is said to last all day on a single charge and contains a 'time only mode' which lasts an additional three days.
The Moto 360 will automatically switch into the time-only mode when battery life is critical, which preserves the most basic look of your watch while ditching all the smart functionality. The battery itself is said to fully charge from 0-100% in 60 minutes, so you're good to go for another whole day after just one hour.
Wear OS support covers all the usual smartwatch functionalities, including support for over 1,000 apps like Spotify and Uber.
The watch is iOS compatible, so iPhone users are able to join in by downloading the Wear OS by Google app.
In terms of hardware, the Moto 360 uses the current-gen Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor, with 1GB of RAM and a hefty 8GB of internal memory – roughly double the capacity of the 2nd-gen model, so there's plenty of space to host all the apps and music you'll need day-to-day.
The watch is also clearly designed with fitness-tracker functionality in mind, from the heart rate monitor to the optional silicone strap. It's water-resistant to 3ATM, so it'll survive rainy runs, splashes and even the odd shower – however, we wouldn't advise swimming with it. 3ATM is standard for most high-end watches, but it's not recommended to completely submerge a watch rated under 5ATM.
The new Moto 360 is available to pre-order from 'mid-November', it's also set to retail at £339.
This puts it in a similar price bracket to the Samsung Galaxy Watch, which is currently on sale for around £279, and a touch below the Apple Watch Series 5, which starts at £399.
From the specs to the size to the price, it's clearly pitched as a direct rival to the biggest names in smartwatches right now. However, it remains to be seen whether the Moto 360's legacy can match today's wearables powerhouses.
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