Motorola might be headed for China and its new home at Lenovo after a brief stay in the Google plex, but it's clear that Moto is still in the loop when it comes to the future of Android. On Tuesday, Motorola announced its first smart watch, the Moto 360, in conjunction with Google's announcement of Android Wear, the company's new port of a modified form of Android and Google Now, which it hopes will serve as a platform for all sorts of wearable devices in the near future.
There's very few details available right now on the Moto 360 hardware itself, but Motorola is planning a Google+ Hangout to discuss the design on Wednesday. Most of the details of what to expect in the new smartwatch platform can be found in Google's Android Wear announcement.
The Moto 360 appears to be the smartwatch that Google used in its video introducing Android Wear. What sets Motorola's watch apart from existing intelligent wrist wear from the likes of Pebble or Samsung's Galaxy Gear is that it appears to be a lot less clunky and less square.
Motorola is a logical choice for a debut Android Wear device, not just because of its history with Google (although that helps), but because the "touchless control" feature of the Moto X is the closest thing in the wild right now to the voice or touch-controlled interface of the Moto 360.
Motorola also introduced the MotoACTV watch, which was more of a fitness tracker device, a few years ago.
LG has also announced its plans to introduce the G Watch as an Android Wear device in the coming months. Google says wristwatch makers like Fossil will also offer Android smartwatches in the future.
The Moto 360 will be available starting this summer in the US, according to a release from Motorola.
More in the video from Motorola below – keep an eye out for the Makerbot Replicator 3D printer that Moto used for prototyping.
Source: Motorola
