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Check out this early prototype of Google's Motorola-made smartwatch from 2013

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By Chris P.

Published: Feb 26, 2014, 8:01 AM

Check out this early prototype of Google's Motorola-made smartwatch from 2013

Yesterday, Motorola's senior vice president, Rick Osterloh, posted a pretty interesting tweet through the company's official Twitter handle: Motorola is looking at wearables, again. After the MotoACTV's failure to gain traction, the company will be revisiting the currently buzzing niche again, with the goal to improve on key consumer concerns: style & battery life.

Rick - We are working on a watch that will be available this year. We aim to address consumer issues like style & battery life #MotoMWC
— Motorola Mobility (@Motorola) February 25, 2014

Such statements rarely come before the company has internally coordinated a move, of course, and the folks over at Android Police have the proof in the form of several snaps of an early prototype smartwatch, that could end up being the product that Google is expected to announce later this year. The smartwatch, apparently assembled by Motorola itself, was apparently slated for a release under the Google Watch (shocker) name. The prototype's assembly is speculated to have taken place sometime in 2013.

The exact hardware specs of the smartwatch are obviously unknown, but as Android Police notes, the software behind it could be quite interesting. For example, the volume rocker appears to have a running person/microphone icons instead of the traditional plus and minus cues. Speculation has it that the former activates some sort of a fitness mode, while the later would allow you to use your voice to command the device. You can check it out in the gallery below, and also make sure to inspect the basic blueprint of the device created by the guys behind Android Police.

As to whether this prototype is still undergoing development, it remains unknown. In any case, Motorola has been a Google 'captive' long enough for the latter to seriously consider doing things in-house.

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Chris Panayotov is a former mobile tech reviewer of phones, tablets and wearables at PhoneArena. However, his contribution to PhoneArena content includes not just reviews, but all kinds of regular and experimental features, such as news stories, buying guides, and an exclusive column on the most notable phones out of Asia.