Moto Watch Fit and Moto Buds Loop hands-on: clone wars

The Verge

Motorola also launched the Moto Watch Fit and the Moto Buds Loop, and we’ve got major deja vu. The watch is basically an Android-only Apple Watch clone that focuses on basic fitness tracking, while the Moto Buds Loop are similar to the Bose Ultra Open. Motorola’s leaning on design — and some Swarovski bling — to set it apart.

Transcript

00:00I still have to do this.

00:04Alright, phones weren't the only gadgets Motorola had in store today.

00:08It also launched two new MotoThings accessories, the Moto Watch Fit and the Moto Buds Loop.

00:14Smartwatches aren't new for Motorola.

00:16If you think back to the early days of Android Wear, the Moto 360 was actually one of the

00:21most popular smartwatches thanks to its circular face and sleek design.

00:26And then they quit smartwatches in 2016 and another weird company called eBuyNow licensed

00:32the Motorola brand and launched a zombie Moto 360 in 2019.

00:38Spoiler alert, it wasn't that good.

00:40So the Moto Watch Fit is actually the first Motorola smartwatch actually made by Motorola

00:46in almost a decade.

00:48But if you were hoping for the 360's grand revival, I got some bad news.

00:54The Moto Watch Fit is essentially an Android Apple Watch clone that does less.

00:59It's got a 1.9 inch OLED display with a thousand nits of brightness and Corning Gorilla Glass

01:043.

01:05It uses a 22mm strap, it's got customizable watch faces, and all the basic fitness tracking

01:11features you'd expect like heart rate, blood oxygen, built-in GPS, sleep tracking, and

01:16roughly 100 sport modes.

01:18It handles push notifications, media controls, and syncs with the Moto Watch app.

01:24Hardware-wise, you get an IP68 rating and 5ATM of water resistance, so you can take it in

01:29the shower or pool, whatever you're good to go.

01:32On the wrist, it's pretty light, but as you can see, it's basically an Apple Watch clone

01:37with some bezels.

01:39One interesting thing is that it's not compatible with iOS and doesn't run Wear OS.

01:44Instead, it's got a proprietary RTOS or real-time operating system, and if there's one thing

01:50you can count on from an RTOS smartwatch, it's better battery life.

01:55Case in point, this one gets an estimated 16 days on a single charge.

02:00On paper, this isn't bad at all.

02:02It's just sort of disappointing when you think about the history of Motorola smartwatches.

02:07Now, let's talk about the Moto Buds loop.

02:15If you're thinking these look a lot like the Bose Ultra Open earbuds, you'd be correct.

02:20It's a very similar design, though the feel isn't quite as premium.

02:25The middle bit is basically a flexible silicone.

02:27Motorola says that the sound is by Bose, and open earbuds basically let you hear audio while

02:33staying clued into your surroundings.

02:35They've been having a moment in the earbud world over the last few years.

02:38The buds have 12mm RNless drivers.

02:41They connect over Bluetooth.

02:42And I guess if you have a Motorola phone, you can use them to trigger Moto AI functions.

02:48Cool.

02:49You can also switch between Motorola and Lenovo devices using Smart Connect.

02:53There's also microphones to help you sound clearer on calls and dampen background noise.

02:58As for battery life, Motorola says you should get up to 8 hours on a single charge and 37

03:03hours with the case.

03:07The thing about these is that Motorola is definitely trying to make a fashion statement.

03:11I mean, the beige color literally has Swarovski crystals in it.

03:15They are blingin'.

03:17The idea is to make them look like techno jewelry.

03:21This isn't a new concept, literally, I got smart rings.

03:24But we've seen this with other hearable devices as well.

03:27This is just Motorola's take on that.

03:30Now I really wish I could tell you how much the watch or these Swarovski crusted buds cost,

03:36and when they'll be available.

03:38I got nothing for you.

03:40All Motorola told us was that the buds will be available in the coming months and that we'll

03:44find out prices sooner to launch.

03:46I asked Motorola if this was because of the uncertainty caused by tariffs, and I got crickets

03:52in response.

03:53Though, I think it's a fair guess since this ambiguity is pretty atypical for a product

03:59launch.

04:00I guess it's also fair to assume that the Swarovski buds will cost more than the version

04:04without, and the Moto Watch Fit shouldn't cost as much as a Wear OS watch because that's

04:10just not how RTOS watches work.

04:14But I guess we'll have to find out later.

04:16Tariffs are making gadget pricing just really complicated right now.

04:19Once we find out from Motorola how much these will cost, you'll be able to find it on theverge.com.

04:24Tariffs!

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