Moto Watch Ultra hands-on: yup, I want one

Well, it happened, folks. Motorola also launched… a Moto Watch Ultra. But hold on, hold on. This one is actually not a blatant copy of an Apple Watch Ultra with orange accents in all the right places.

No, it’s in fact… a Motorola watch through and through. Circular shape, a nice arched display glass to show some craftsmanship, and a partnership with Polar for some serious fitness-tracking muscle behind it all.

I got to have a good amount of hands-on time with the Motorola Watch Ultra and I have to say… that may be one smartwatch that I actually wear. Here’s all I learned so far:

Design

The Moto Watch Ultra comes in one size — a 46 mm stainless-steel case. I feel it’s nicely tucked and tidy, it feels more like a "medium-sized" watch instead of a bulky monstrosity.

You can choose between either Black or Silver finishes. And each color comes with its own pair of straps.

The Silver variant has a green silicone and classic brown leather strap. The Black one comes with black silicone band and a black leather with red stitchings band — this one is my jam for sure.



Otherwise, you are free to customize your watch with any standard 22 mm watchband on the market.

Display

The circular screen on the front is a 1.5-inch pOLED panel with a 2,700-nit peak brightness. Of course, it supports always-on mode, and will wake when you raise your wrist by default.

That bubble-shaped glass on top is Gorilla Glass 3.

Is the watch durable? Well, it’s rated IP68 and 5 ATM. So, it should survive submersion at about 50 meters, is dust-tight, and fairly scratch-resistant. Gorilla Glass 3 is popular for its surface hardness, but is also more likely to shatter from strong (emphasis on strong) impacts, so you know… try not smashing it into a wall.

Hardware, software, new AI assistant

At the core of the Moto Watch Ultra is a Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 processor. Not the newest chip out there, but the Plus version has the benefit of an always-on co-processor that assists with smalltime tasks, voice processing, and other things to keep the big chip unoccupied.

The chip also makes it possible to have fluid 3D animations and watchfaces on-screen.

So, to get the most obvious question out of the way — yes, it runs on Wear OS 6.0. I’ve got mixed feelings about Wear OS, but Motorola took a couple of steps that will make me want to dive deeper with the Moto Watch Ultra.



Firstly, there are plenty of good-looking and usable watchfaces, thank Chronos. Second, Motorola didn’t just shove standard health features in there, or try their hand at it for the first time. They partnered with Polar — a well-regarded name in the fitness tracking industry. They literally invented the wireless HR tracker in the 70s.

So, with their insights and expertise, you will get your own Stamina Coach on the Moto Watch Ultra to let you know when you can push it more and when you should chill out. Other features include heart rate monitor, stress tracking, SpO2, recovery, and sleep tracking.

Dual-band GPS, autonomous Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connectivity are on board to let you bring the watch for a jog without a phone, if you wish.



Also, Motorola is now introducing its own AI assistant across its products — Motorola Qira.

So, a few months ago, I was a bit harsh on the whole Motorola AI suite, because it was basically just a hub that forwards your queries to Perplexity, Gemini, or Copilot.

That criticism still stands, but apparently Motorola and Lenovo have been working on developing Qira. A cross-device AI assistant for your Lenovo/Motorola device ecosystem.

It’s a proactive assistant that will read what’s on your screen and suggest actions, generative AI features, mixed mode where you can use your camera to show Qira things while giving verbal questions, and the good old “Catch me up” that basically sums up all your notifications for the day.

Eh, yes, sign me up for the tracking from Polar and the cool watch faces, I’ll see about the AI stuff.

When is the Moto Watch Ultra coming?

So, good news, you will be able to grab it in the USA from Motorola.com or the Moto store on Amazon.com starting September 10th. If you prefer to do your shopping from a carrier, you will find it at Verizon on the 24th of September. Later down the line — on T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, AT&T, Xfinity Mobile, and Consumer Cellular. Pricing will vary by channel.

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