Initial thoughts on the Moto 360 Gen 2 Ladies Edition Smartwatch

Update:

The 3rd generation version of this watch is now available. It looks just as good as it’s older sibling which is reviewed below. You can find it here on Amazon. (Affiliate link)

I have been waiting a long time for a smartwatch that looks and feels like a ladies watch rather than the clunky masculine devices that have been out there in the past. My hope that the Moto 360 Gen 2 was that device were not in vain.

As soon as I saw the press pictures I knew it was

n’t going to be as masculine as the other devices out there. The only slightly feminine watch before this one was the Apple Watch and even then with it’s square face it just didn’t feel like a proper watch to me. (Unless you went for the premium finish ones at £10,000 – at which point why bother – Just get a proper watch!) I pre-ordered my watch however my first choice colours weren’t available they had already sold out. Initially I was going to go with the silver face with a leather grey strap. I was a little disappointed at first but then I thought you know what, this smartwatch doesn’t need to look like my every day watch. It can be different so I went all out and went rose gold all round.

Not being a pink and girly girl I was a little concerned that maybe I had gone a bit too far but when the watch turned up it was just enough feminine and still geeky and very stylish. Only once I had the watch did I realize that rose gold is this seasons in color for accessories. (For once I am on trend!)

I did a short unboxing over on Periscope for fun and since then charged it and have used it every day since. I even bought a matching bracelet to go with the rose gold watch. So what do I think of it? Well I was initially concerned that with the bigger face I would end up bashing it on things and smashing the screen. So far that just hasn’t happened. Not a mark on it despite taking it to messy play and parent toddler groups and having my 20 month old jumping all over me.

When I went bracelet shopping I popped into a few jewelers to try a few things on and it was interesting to see their response to the smartwatch. They didn’t notice it until it flashed up with an email notification. Shocked the female assistant said “Oooh, is that a smart watch. That one actually looks nice and like a real watch.” At which point I smiled. Clearly the jewelers aren’t quite catching on to this new phenomenon and it is definitely eye catching.

To add a bit of geek to this watch I did download and try out the binary watch face and it did bring me back to 2005 when I had my old binary watch. It is definitely a lot more geek chic than that one was!

At parent toddler groups it has been the topic of a few conversations. Is it useful – Yes – I can leave my phone in my bag and go and play with my son and still know what is going on without being one of those parents who constantly has their head in their phone. I’ve answered texts whilst shopping using the voice commands and every message has been picked up without a single spelling mistake. I can see what the weather is like first thing when I get up and put my watch on so I know whether to put the washing on to hang outside or whether I need to tumble dry it instead.

I’m actually really surprised how useful the watch has been. The Firefly app has come in handy a couple of times as the light bulb by our front door has failed so I have used my watch to light up the key hole. I even started looking at door locks that can be opened by either the watch or my phone as I see it becoming an every day item of jewellery.

I do think that maybe Lenovo/ Motorola could have included a few tips and tricks in the box with the watch rather than just the instructions on how to connect and charge it. In the end I did a few searches online so that I could get the most out of my watch. I think to many non technical people this watch may be a little daunting to set up and understand initially and the touch UI on the watch Vs the Android phone OS is a little inconsistent. I do find myself trying to use watch gestures on my phone and then having to remind myself that it’s a phone and it doesn’t work like that.

Is this watch feminine enough? The face is a little large still but I think if it were any smaller it would probably be too small to be useful. It would be great if they could get it a bit thinner but saying that it is actually marginally thinner than the Apple Watch which surprised my husband who was adamant that his watch was slimmer. (And yes we did have a can your watch do this evening… Mine won btw! It beat his hands down when it came to directions and maps!)

As far as battery life goes I use it every day from about 8:30am until about 11pm and it usually has about 47-56% battery life left in it. I like how it displays a clock (if you want it to) whilst it’s charging. It negates the need for a bedside clock. The charger is a little bulky but does have the benefit over the Apple Watch of being able to use it like a bedside clock as it charges on it’s side rather than flat.

Overall I am very happy with my watch and I think it will be hard for any of the other brands to beat it. This would make an ideal gift for you to buy yourself or if you are after gift ideas for your girlfriend, sister or mom.

If you want to catch my first look periscopes just search for GirlyGeekdom or follow me on Twitter or Facebook.

Whilst I am a Lenovo Insider and do get given some devices to try out from Lenovo for free this watch was bought by me with my own hard earned money. There was no discount and no free demo device.