Image: Mashable, Pete Pachal
The Moto 360 is what smartwatches should be. It's beautiful, it's big and â€" most importantly â€" it matches the expectations of a wristwatch.
Unconsciously or not, everyone has a pre-existing idea of what a watch should look like. If you ask someone to draw you a picture of a watch, chances are they'll start by drawing a circle. That's why the Moto 360 is such a winning design: When you see it, you see something familiar with intriguing qualities, not some gadget that happens to fit on your wrist.
With the default watchface â€" white hands on a black background â€" the Moto 360's round display might make you do a double-take if you don't already know it's a smartwatch. The prominent "OK Google" on the screen is a dead giveaway, though, and it's hopefully something you can turn off.
Notifications for the Moto 360 adapt to the round screen, and although they generally feel friendlier, they sometimes come close to the edge.
Image: Mashable, Pete Pachal
The Moto 360 won't go on sale until later this summer, and Motorola hasn't announced a price. The unit I tried out at Google I/O was locked in retail mode, basically showing only sample cards but still interactive. I could swipe and tap on the notification cards, but they weren't "real."
The circular notifications worked just like the ones on the near-identical LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live except they're, you know, circles. It turns out that works just fine, although I did notice the text of some notifications came dangerously close to the edge. But danger's part of the game when you're fashion-forward.
And it's fashion that makes the Moto 360 such a sensation. While the Android Wear smartwatches from Samsung and LG are cute gadgets, Motorola's smartwatch is a piece of technology you covet. In that way it reminding me of what I felt when I first touched an iPad: It may do some useful things, but the feeling of desire went beyond having a convenience. What I wanted was a trophy.
The design of the Moto 360 is what all smartwatches should aspire to. If Apple's iWatch is half as sexy, the future of wearable technology looks bright indeed.
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