The Moto Watch Fit is a captivating case examine. Motorola left smartwatches behind for years, licensing out its watches to one other firm. Now Motorola appears to be stepping again into the fray with the Moto Watch Fit. But it needs greater than the Moto Watch name to make its price range squircle watch stand out in a crowded subject.
Long-time Android followers nonetheless assume fondly about the Moto 360, which was forward of its time with its cool gesture controls and seamless design in 2014. I wrote in March that Motorola ought to return to Wear OS with a non secular successor to the 360.
Instead, a month later, we bought the price range Moto Watch Fit, with its 1.9-inch squircle show, 16-day battery life, 100 sports activities modes, and “real-time health stats and clever sleep monitoring.”
It’s the fifth Moto Watch tracker after the Watch 40, 70, 100, and 120, a mixture of round and squircle watches with the similar primary health software program and Google Fit integration.
Two weeks in the past, I despatched Motorola a sequence of questions. I needed to know the way the Watch Fit’s “superior health and wellness help options,” how the companion app would work, and different primary questions. I’m nonetheless ready on solutions, and the extra I analysis the Moto Watch brand, the extra confused I get.
It’s unclear how concerned Motorola is in its personal watches
The Moto Watch Fit is not on sale but, however the Motorola UK website says this new mannequin is “designed and manufactured by/for Motorola Mobility LLC.”
Given the Moto branding, that needs to be apparent, proper? But the official Moto Watch website lists Calgary-based CE Brands, Inc. as an “official brand licensee of Motorola” that “ensures international gross sales and help for the merchandise discovered on this website,” like the Moto Watch 120, 70, and 40.
CE Brands, or Vitalist, says on its website that it “designs, manufactures, and sells” wearables, and lists Moto Watch as “our brand.” And this 2024 Vitalist press launch explicitly says the Moto Watch 120 is “the newest addition to [CE Brands’] line of Motorola smartwatches” as Motorola’s “strategic brand associate.”
If you have a look at the Moto Watch 100 app and Moto Watch 70 app on the Play Store, each are managed by CE Brands, Inc. These apps have some fairly brutal scores too, with many customers calling them “barely useful” as a result of they stopped syncing with Google Fit or permitting telephone notifications on the watch with out fixed resets.
After just a little digging, I noticed that CE Brands owned eBuyNow, the subsidiary that made the Moto 360 (third Gen) in 2020. CE Brands went bankrupt in 2023 earlier than rebranding eBuyNow as Vitalist in 2023, promising to “ship biometric and biomarker insights to customers.”
The Moto Watch Fit is not listed on the Moto Watch website, and Vitalist did not write a press launch about this mannequin, both. That suggests Motorola could have taken over the brand, whereas ditching the numbered names for a Moto Watch revamp.
But it is also doable that Motorola Mobility designed the previous Moto Watches, whereas CE Brands dealt with the well being and software program instruments. It’s laborious to say, as the licensing deal makes it nebulous. Maybe Vitalist will make the Watch Fit well being software program, too?
Regardless, that is actually all moreover the level. My primary level is that Motorola is greatest recognized for making flagship telephones from everybody else look overpriced by providing comparable perks in cheaper packages. However, the Moto Watch lineup has by no means actually stood out in opposition to Android watches or health watches, and Motorola has lots to show with the Watch Fit when it launches.
How will the Moto Watch reside up to the Moto name?
Look at the price range health trackers on the market: firms like Amazfit and Xiaomi have put intense effort into full-fledged well being suites, AI teaching, and devoted health instruments in an inexpensive bundle. And you have got greater names like the Galaxy Fit 3 and Fitbit Charge 6 that sync instantly with the largest well being apps, with their very own AI insights and (for Fitbit) Google apps.
Motorola telephone followers will see the Moto Watch branding and search for one thing inexpensive, long-lasting, and simple. However, the Watch Fit needs some sort of signature function to stand out and preserve these customers pleased.
CE Brands had an attention-grabbing Effort Points system that, like Fitbit Cardio Load, scored your all-day effort based mostly in your time in HR zones. But the Moto Watch Fit may use a completely completely different system, and it will have to compete with watch manufacturers that make investments enormous quantities of cash in well being & health R&D.
One signal of Motorola taking extra direct possession is how the Watch Fit can use Moto AI textual content prompts to generate watch faces. That’s a singular trick, one I’m hoping Google emulates on Wear OS 6 this yr. We’ll see if individuals see it as a spotlight or a five-minute gimmick; nevertheless, it will depend upon how good these AI-made faces are.
Otherwise, the press launch mentions “seamless smartphone integration,” however solely mentions notifications, music controls, and digicam controls. An RTOS watch can not often do rather more than that, though many individuals will purchase a Moto Watch hoping for actionable notifications and replies. The Amazfit Balance pulls this off with text-to-speech and a keyboard, however I do not count on it from the Moto Watch Fit.
Ultimately, other than the Moto AI gimmick, the Moto Watch Fit sounds fairly generic. The built-in GPS on an affordable tracker is a pleasant perk, but it surely’s not unusual lately — see the $99 Amazfit Active 2 — and most health trackers have 100+ sports activities modes and IP68 water resistance.
That stated, we have reached out to Motorola for extra details about the Watch Fit, and we’ll replace this text after we hear again.
Making a watch is not so simple as it used to be
The Moto Watch brand is sort of a time capsule to an early smartwatch period after they did not attempt to squeeze dozens of options and a full AI-backed well being suite into a tool. Some individuals will admire its simplicity, affordability, and longevity; others will probably be pissed off by the lack of Motorola aptitude they’ve come to count on from its foldable telephones like the Razr 2025.
It will in the end come down to whether or not this Motorola-made wearable delivers the next commonplace of high quality than previous Moto Watches.
I’m undecided why Motorola has been so hands-off with wearables up till this level, promoting price range trackers by means of its licensee for years whereas spending R&D on wearable telephone ideas like the one above.
Maybe Motorola was really so burned by its Android Wear expertise that it by no means needed to return; clearly, Lenovo telephone gross sales are robust sufficient regardless of not having a full “ecosystem” of units. Or perhaps it is not keen to spend the cash on well being & health essential to compete with Samsung Health and Fitbit.
Whatever the motive, the Moto Watch Fit needs to be a stepping stone to greater and higher issues if Motorola needs to make an influence in the wearable area.