The $299 Motorola Moto 360 Sport is an athletic-minded version of the Motorola Moto 360 , but the name is a bit of a misnomer; Moto 360 Run would be more accurate. Besides calories, distance, and steps, the Moto 360 Sport can only track running, so cyclists and swimmers need not apply. Still, it's certainly the best fitness-focused Android Wear smartwatch we've seen to date, with built-in GPS and a heart rate monitor to track stats from calories burned per minute to heart rate zone times. It's a useful tool for runners, but if you're more of a triathlete, you'll be better served by a dedicated fitness tracker like the Fitbit Charge HR ($79.95 at Amazon) .
Design and Display
True to its name, the Moto 360 Sport looks sportier than its more traditional counterpart. There are no customization options via Motorola's Moto Maker, so you can't choose different cases and you can't swap out bands. You can, however, select from black, orange, or white bands.
I reviewed the surprisingly subdued orange version—no Day-Glo hues here. The band, rounded at both ends, is comfortable to wear, thanks to soft, flexible material and wide air vents in the middle that help keep your wrist cool. It will attract some dust, but it's nothing a quick wipe can't fix. I barely felt the watch on my wrist during testing.
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Motorola Moto 360 (2015)
The case measures 1.8 inches across and 0.45 inches thick, and weighs a fairly light 1.9 ounces. Inside the silver bezel is an always-on, 1.37-inch, 360-by-325-pixel (which works out to 263 pixels per inch) LCD. The display is readable in any lighting situation, even when out running in the sun, but it has a "flat-tire" effect that cuts the screen off in a horizontal line at the bottom. That's where the adaptive light sensor is located, and while I appreciate the sensor, I don't appreciate the design implementation. And if you look closely, you can see a prismatic effect along the edges of the display because of the way the Gorilla Glass is cut. This is also an issue with the standard Moto 360, though it's not as noticeable here. You can adjust the brightness of the display to extend battery life, but with the ambient light sensor on, I had to recharge the watch daily.
There's a physical crown located at the two o'clock position on the watch case. You can press it to activate the watch face if it's set to turn off, or hold it down to access the Settings menu. It makes navigating Android Wear a little faster.
Rated IP67, the Moto 360 Sport will survive submersion in fresh water up to three feet. That means it isn't fully waterproof, so you can wear it in the shower, but you need to take it off before you go for a dip in the pool. Swimmers will need to look for a waterproof tracker.
Features and Setup
Like the regular Moto 360, the Sport is packing 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, and a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor. There's also an accelerometer, an ambient light sensor, GPS, a gyroscope, and a heart rate sensor.
The watch uses Android Wear, so you're stuck swiping through vertical lists to get to even basic actions like powering down. I'm not a huge fan of the operating system, but it's way more advanced than what you find on any dedicated fitness tracker. It lets you download apps, play games, and read and respond to text messages or emails through your phone.
The Moto 360 Sport can be paired via Bluetooth 4.0 with devices running Android 4.3 or later, and Apple devices running iOS 8.2 or later. You need to download the free Android Wear app from the Apple App Store or Google Play, then follow the simple on-screen instructions. I paired the Moto 360 Sport with a Samsung Galaxy S6 ($249.00 at Amazon) in a matter of seconds with no problem. You can also connect the watch over Wi-Fi, though this feature is unavailable for iPhone users.
Moto Body and Performance
Once it's all set up, the Moto 360 Sport's default watch face displays the time in the center, flanked by meters that indicate calories burned, heart rate, steps, and a gauge that counts down seconds. An on-screen Start button sits below the time. Motorola's Live Dials return from the standard Moto 360, and lets you customize your watch face with shortcuts to commonly used apps or widgets.
Tapping Start opens the Moto Body Running app on the watch, which means there's no need to take your smartphone with you on a run. It will ask if you're starting an indoor or outdoor run, and if you want to focus on a calorie, distance, or time goal, or just run freestyle. Choose an outdoor run and the watch will look for a GPS signal, as indicated by a progress bar and a countdown timer. It typically took two to three minutes to lock onto a signal during testing, which is a little long for my tastes, especially in the winter. The TomTom Spark Cardio + Music takes about as long.
While on a run, you can swipe between four pages on the watch's touch screen. The first displays the time, your distance, and your pace. The second shows your heart rate zone with real-time pulse. The third has your lap times, and the fourth is a control screen that pauses or stops the workout. The ambient light sensor always keeps the display at an appropriate brightness, and the watch remains on the screen you swipe to, which is very convenient. It saves your workout to its on-board memory when you're done, and syncs that data with the Moto Body app on your phone later.
I tested the Moto 360 Sport against the Fitbit Charge HR and found the results to be almost equal. Distance was practically identical between the two, although the heart rate results were a bit erratic. Sometimes the Moto 360 counted 5 beats per minute off from the Fitbit and my own pulse checks. Other times it would be as far as 20 beats away. That's not too bad if you're not a serious marathon runner, but it's something to keep in mind. Little encouragement slides show up on the watch as you're running. While it's not as substantial as the Smart Coach feature in the Jawbone UP3 ($0.01 at Amazon) , it's appreciated.
After a run, you get comprehensive graphics and stats to review. The watch also checks your heart rate intermittently throughout the day and displays your average rate, which you can view on the Moto Body app along with breakdowns of your average pace, calories burned per minute, heart rate zone times, maximum heart rate, and a map of your run pulled from the GPS. You can share Moto Body data with Fitbit, Google Fit, MapMyFitness, Strava, and Under Armour Record.
From left to right: Apple Watch, Motorola Moto 360 Sport, Motorola Moto 360
Conclusion
The Moto 360 Sport is one of the better Android Wear options available, thanks to its GPS and heart rate sensor. Some Android Wear watches have one or the other, but the Moto 360 Sport is the only one with both. If you're not a runner, though, this is clearly not the smartwatch for you. Cyclists, swimmers, and other athletes will want to sacrifice most of the smartwatch abilities for a more robust fitness tracker like the Fitbit Charge HR or the GPS-enabled Fitbit Surge ($249.95 at Fitbit) . And if you simply want a smartwatch, and don't need all the fitness features, the Pebble Time ($78.99 at Amazon) is our Editors' Choice for its long battery life, good app selection, and simple operating system.
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