The Moto 360 watch is the circular wonder that runsAndroid Wear, Google's software designed to work on all sorts of wearables starting with smartwatches.
It's not another wearable with a square-shaped display like the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live. No, this Google watch ditches the computerized boxy design seen in thePebble Steel and Samsung Gear 2.
It does have two sharp downsides, though: it's not out yet and the price hasn't been officially confirmed. The release date was rumored to be July but, curiously, it wasn't demoed at Google IO.
In fact, despite Motorola's vague "summer" release date in the US, it hasn't even been shown working in video. It's been turned off and at a distance in developer videos and turned on in still photos.
Paired with customizable leather and metal straps that fit variety-seeking 21 century wrists, the ambitious Moto 360 is shaping up to be Google's answer to the inevitable Apple iWatch. It just has to get here on time.
Moto 360 watch face and battery life
The computerized Moto 360 watch screen is rumored to be a custom-madeOLED display, which would make sense given its circular shape and need to conserve battery life.
OLEDs consume as much as 40% less power when displaying black images vs LCDs because they can turn off individual pixels. The opposite is true for battery-draining white backgrounds.
Moto 360 release date
Moto 360 is scheduled to be the third Android Wear watch in the US this summer, trailing behind the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live that are up for pre-orders.
Its global plans are even more of a mystery. Motorola has promised to launch the Moto 360 outside of its home territory, saying that it's a global company. But it hasn't said much more than that.
The worldwide launch details could be revealed at Google's first post-Google IO press event, and we're likely to hear new details about the device's battery life and price then too.
Moto 360 price
Motorola has inadvertently clued us on the Moto 360 price through the official rules of a contest this week, suggesting that its "average retail value" is $249 (about £148, AU$270).
That's far cheaper than the previously leak that pegged the smartwatch's cost at a steeper $341 (about £203, AU$367), an estimate based on conversions from this report.
For comparison, the LG G Watch is going on sale for $229 (about £135, AU$244), the same price as the Pebble Steel. Samsung's Gear Live is even cheaper at $199 (about £117, AU$213).
Price isn't so far-fetched, though the Moto 360 doesn't need to price match. Its wireless charging, circular screen and sapphire glass could easily fetch a premium.
Even if the Moto 360 does cost more than a smartphone on-contract, early adopters are likely to pay for the convenience of offloading notifications from the phone to their wrist.
Every time we dig our phone out of our pockets or rush to our device charging in another room and see a friends' SMS that just says something irrelevant "Cool" or "K," our love of technology dies a little inside.
Android Wear promises to do much more than yet, but solving that one pet peeve with easy-to-dismiss notifications on the wrist could make the sleek-looking Moto 360 the must-have wearable of 2014.
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