Despite being one of the world's oldest smartwatch brands, Moto is not exactly viewed by a lot of people as a heavyweight contender for Apple's title. That's (in part) because Motorola the company actually quit the wearable industry after trying to make the Moto 360 happen back in 2014 and 2015.
Years later, the Moto 360 unexpectedly came back from the dead, but Motorola didn't technically have anything to do with that third edition of the decidedly elegant Wear OS (formerly Android Wear)-based timepiece.
The Moto Watch 100 could rival the Galaxy Watch 4 as well
Now there's another Moto-branded smartwatch on the horizon, and before you get too excited, this is not manufactured by Motorola either. The Moto Watch 100 will instead be distributed and marketed by a company called CE Brands, which wholly owns Motorola brand licensee for the smartwatch industry eBuyNow.
Of course, this convoluted situation shouldn't make you any less interested in what's looking like a solid contender for our list of the best budget smartwatches available today. With an arguably premium design and decent specs in tow, the Moto Watch 100 is expected to start at a lower price than the Moto 360 (Gen 3), which used to cost $350.
Ideally, this circular bad boy should aim to undercut the $250 and up Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 if it wants to achieve mainstream popularity. That might not be very easy, however, with a fairly large 1.3-inch LCD screen, a fitting 355mAh battery, and a somewhat bulky overall 42 x 46 x 11.9mm body.
In case you're wondering, that would make the Moto Watch 100 physically bigger and considerably thicker than the large 44mm variant of the non-Classic Galaxy Watch 4 while packing a slightly smaller cell and display with a lower resolution of 360 x 360 pixels.
Unfortunately (although not unsurprisingly), the generous bezel is unlikely to be able to rotate and thus greatly enhance the user experience, as is the case for Samsung's $350 and up Galaxy Watch 4 Classic.
The build quality could be somewhat of a mixed bag as well (literally), combining a robust aluminum case with a presumably more cheap-feeling plastic backplate and two good-looking metallic buttons on the side. The end result will be lighter than the 44mm Galaxy Watch 4, at just 29 grams, which is certainly a plus.
No ECG, and most likely, no modern software off the bat either
In terms of health and wellness tools, the Moto Watch 100 looks extremely feature-packed on paper... as long as you don't need super-advanced stuff like ECG, fall detection, or blood pressure technology. Pretty much everything else will probably be there to keep an eye on your well-being, including an obligatory heart rate sensor, sleep tracking, and blood oxygen monitoring.
The list of features will obviously include standalone GPS connectivity, Bluetooth 5.0 support, ambient light sensors, an accelerometer, and gyroscope too, so if the price is right (maybe $200 and up?), and you dig the unquestionably stylish but chunky design, the Moto Watch 100 could definitely be a winner.
Interestingly, we can't be 100 percent certain this thing will run Google's Wear OS on the software side just yet, but if that turns out to be the case, you'll probably have to settle for the old 2.3 version until sometime next year.
Then again, there are no guarantees at the moment that the Moto Watch 100 will even go on sale in 2021, although these freshly leaked renders do seem to suggest something might happen on December 25. Obviously, that would be a pretty uninspired release date, not to mention a fairly tardy one for a device likely to receive a Moto Watch 200 sequel and a lower-cost rectangular Watch 100s sibling as early as Q1 2022.
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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