Details of the recently announced Moto 360 have begun to emerge, following a Google Hangout session with Motorola’s lead designer, Jem Wicks, and an interview with him posted on The Verge. Motorola reportedly went through multiple rounds of designs and experimented with screen-friendly square shapes before settling on the round design that felt more familiar and natural to watch users.
The diameter of the device is 46mm, which should be able to accommodate a 1.8-inch diameter screen. The device can sense its orientation and flip the screen contents accordingly, which should make the Moto 360 ambidextrous.
Also confirmed during the hangout was the fact that the Moto 360 is made of stainless steel and is designed to be water resistant, though the extent of that is not known. Users will be able to use swipe gestures and voice input, but the Android Watch device is meant to interact with a smartphone, and does not have a camera or other such features of its own.
The Moto 360 will work with any smartphone running Android 4.3 or newer versions. Ars Technicanotes that Notification Access APIs were introduced in Android 4.3, and this functionality is what allows notifications to be read and dismissed via Bluetooth, along with relevant imagery and action commands such as replying to messages, retweeting tweets, and skipping tracks in music apps.
