Sony Smartwatch 3 was the first device touting GPS capabilities in the smart watch category. It was ingenious  in terms of features and heralded the coming of the fitness tracker and smart watch union era.  Come 7th Jan 2016, the differentiation between dedicated fitness trackers and smart watches will be further blurred when Motorola releases the Moto 360 Sport, a sport rendition of the popular Moto 360 smartwatch series.




The provision of GPS capability and heart rate sensors in a single device pretty much put the Moto 360 Sports on a collision course with heart rate GPS fitness trackers such as the Garmin’s Forerunner 225, 235 and Tomtom’s Spark Cardio + Music GPS watch.

While the Moto 360 Sport pales in comparison in terms of fitness tracking prowess, it trumps the heart rate GPS fitness trackers in terms of smart watch functions; read Gmail, communicate on Whatsapp, view traffic and weather updates, voice activated control and many more.

Throw in adequate storage that allows music to be streamed from the Moto 360 Sports to compatible Bluetooth ear phones and things are starting to look really impressive for Motorola’s fitness GPS smartwatch. Surely something’s got to give you might ask. Moto 360 Sport’s paltry battery capacity of 300mAh gives it enough juice to last only a single day.

The new Anylight hybrid display ensures visibility both indoors and outdoors are taken care of by adapting to the level of natural light. The availability of on board WiFi also means there’s some form of connectivity even if the phone is not within Bluetooth range. As to how encompassing this feature might be, it remains to be seen.

List of features:

• Activity tracking with Moto Body mobile app
• Measure heart rate with optical heart rate sensors
• GPS enabled
• Android Wear apps and Voice control with dual digital mics
• 4GB storage for music (Available space may be less due to pre-loaded software and OS)
• Anylight Hybrid display
• Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• Barometric Altimeter, Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor, Gyroscope, Vibration/Haptics engine
• IP67 rated. Dust and water resistant, not waterproof
• 1 day usage with 300mAh battery. Wireless charging dock
• Compatible with 3rd party apps such as Fitbit, Under Armour Record, Mapmyrun and Strava

While Smartwatch makers are eager to peddle their ware at the expense of full completion, it often leaves a less than stellar impression. But I’m genuinely looking forward to having a go at the Moto 360 Sport when it’s released. It sounds like Motorola has got things figured out right but we’ll just have to wait and see.

The Moto 360 Sport is available in Black, White and Flame Orange and will go on sale on from 7th January 2016 onwards at the recommended retail price of $299.