Scroll with Gestures
Instant Emoji Masterpieces
Admit it, life is more fun with emojis. Now you can simply draw something - a burger, a clock with time, a smiley face - and Moto 360 will transform it into an emoji to send to your friends and family.
Stay Connected with Wi-Fi
With Wi-Fi, you’ll be able to use your Moto 360 when you are out of Bluetooth range from your phone.
Always-on Mode
Long running apps like fitness, lists and navigation will stay front and center. If they become inactive, though, this feature will keep displaying the app information in ambient mode.
Quick Access to Apps and Contacts

Just tap or swipe left for your app list and your favorites will float to the top. Two swipes left and your contacts can be reached with a quick tap of a finger for a call, text or e-mail.
Your Notifications
Notifications will no longer be exclusive to your home screen. Even if you're interacting with another app, you’ll see notifications appear at the bottom of the display. And they’ll be stored in your notifications stream for later use.

Moto Body

Moto Body has more choices and more ways to help you set and achieve your fitness goals. Options include an opt-in weekly e-mail summary to stay on top of your goals and the ability to set new calorie goals so you track.

Here’s more on what you can do with your Moto 360. And if you don’t have one of your own, head over to Moto Maker to customize and create your very own.

So we turned to an expert to learn more—Nick Horween, CEO of Horween Leathers, whose family has worked in leather for generations and provides the leather for our products. 

Though many different types of material patina, leather has a particular beauty when it ages.

“Horween leathers are vegetable-tanned leathers,” he said. “That means they are cured by tree barks. Because of that, the leather is very accepting of the environment: sunlight, oils, waters. Since all our leathers have an aniline finish - which means there are no pigments - nothing gets in the way of it interacting with the environment. That lets the leather patina pretty quickly.” 

Just as important is how you handle the leather. The way you touch and hold your phone, how it rubs against your pocket or when you expose it to light - all these things affect the patina. A tobacco-colored piece of leather might develop a caramel shine while black leather takes on highlights that give the leather visual depth.

To treat your leather well, be careful not to overexpose your leather. Too much sunlight can actually be harmful so leaving your Moto X baking in the sun at the beach or on the dashboard is definitely not a good idea. And moisture can lead to issues like mold so be very careful to dry your back and front if moisture does get on the phone. No need to worry about special cleaners, just wipe down with damp cloth when needed.

This is good news for people looking to develop a patina on their phone in short order. But, as Horween is quick to add, there are no short cuts. “The best you can do is just to use it.”

Another 40% of Horween leather is used for footwear. Then 20% is used for small leather goods. One interesting fact is that all of the boots for troops in North Africa during World War II were made using Horween Leather.

Why did you decide to partner with Motorola?
When Motorola approached us, it was a new market segment for Horween, which got us really excited. Motorola has been very good at taking something like Horween leather and making it functional. It’s been a great partnership
What is the production timeline for Moto X and Moto 360 leathers?
Our leather is made completely by hand, as my family has done for generations. For Moto X and Moto 360, the leather takes a total of five to six weeks to make. This includes tanning the hides, splitting the hides to weight, and dying the hides.

What is the best way to care for Moto X and Moto 360 leathers?
Really just continue to use them regularly. If you want to clean the leather, you can simply use a damp, soft cloth to wipe it down. The natural oils in your skin and hands help take care of the rest and make your leather more beautiful and distinctive over time.

Posted by Dickon Isaacs, Design for Wearables.

The game airs on NBC this year. And while you’ll certainly want to watch the network feed to see the amazing ads, you’ll also need to check out NBC’s stream of the game, which is available on the web or the NBC Sports app. It promises to be an incredible multimedia experience, including multiple camera angles, live stats, instant replays, and more.

With Google Chromecast, it’s easy to stream the game to your living room. In fact, if you have a second TV, stream it there as well to give you and your guests another way to check out the action. Or look at how well the puppies are playing in their annual match up.

Phone 

Before the kickoff, make sure your audio/video system is a well-oiled machine. Use the THX tune-up app on your Moto X to properly calibrate your TV and surround sound system.

Once the ball is in play, keep one eye on the TV and the other on your phone to follow all of the hashtag action on Twitter. If you don’t have it already, get the NFL Mobile app for your phone. It’s the best way for you and your friends to keep up with all of the gritty gridiron news, stats, videos, and more.

Make sure you're ready with Shazam. If this year’s game is anything like last year, some ads will feature exclusive content for Shazam users. If not, you can always use the app to find out what song is playing in that catchy car commercial.

Watch

Style. Functionality. Smack talk. And what better way to use your Moto 360 than to instantly talk some good-natured smack with your friends. Use your voice to send Hangouts to your friends. We’re pretty sure the intensity will translate. You can also get Twitter feed to your Moto 360 via the Twitter app.

With all of that excitement in the air, you’ll want to keep close tabs on your vital signs. With Moto Body, you can see your pulse jump with every heart-racing play. Also, if you’re feeling stuffed with nachos, walk it off at halftime, tracking your distance and calories burned as you do. You can even listen to music while you stroll and keep the party vibe going (without even taking your phone). 

When the final whistle blows and you’re sufficiently partied out, use Moto 360 to get a Lyft home safely.

Speaker

Turn the party up with some music. Moto Stream lets you turn any speaker wireless, so it’s easy to stream music from your phone, tablet, computer, or Moto 360. Diehard fans may even consider switching over to some additional online game commentary. If you don’t mind sharing control, set Moto Stream to Heist Mode and let others stream tunes from their phones.

Food

Your friends are arriving at your big party. They’ve brought their friends. And their friends’ friends. And you have two pizzas. Don’t worry about running to the store for more food and missing any of the game. Use the Eat24 app to order from select local restaurants from your Motorola device. Even better? You can do it from your Moto 360. Find out more at the Eat24 blog.

The field is set and so are you. Enjoy the game!

Posted by Lally Narwal, Product Marketing

Starting next Monday, February 2 at 11am CT, we’re offering a promo code* worth $140 off your purchase of $499.99 OR $50 off your purchase of $249.99 on Motorola.com. Pick your favorite Motorola devices and accessories, such as a new Moto X (2nd Gen.) and Moto 360, add them to your cart, and purchase before February 14.

If you miss that offer, you can still get a great deal. Spend $499.99 and get $100 off, or get $35 off a purchase of $249.99 — no promotion code needed. The same exclusions below apply and you’ll still need to complete purchase by 10:59 p.m. CT on Saturday, February 14.

How do you get in on it? Simply register here. Once you enter your contact information, we’ll email you a unique, one-time-use promotion code that can be redeemed no later than Saturday, February 14th at 10:59pm CST.

Step It Up

Keep track of how many steps you take each day with Moto Body on Moto 360. You can also compare those numbers at the end of each week, as well as track your progress against your weekly goal. The better you do, the harder Moto 360 will push you to take more steps by increasing your goals.

Wrist and Shout

With Moto 360 you can respond to a Google Hangout just by using your voice. Just swipe left when a message comes in, select “Reply,” and say what’s on your mind.

Say Cheese

When you open the camera on your Motorola phone, a “Take a Photo” card will appear on your Moto 360. You can set your phone up away from you and use your watch as a remote control trigger to shoot photos on your phone.

Make a Face

Moto 360 has amazing watch faces to choose from right out of the box. That said, you can make your own by using Motorola Connect on your phone and choosing the “My Design” watch face. You can choose a pic from your phone's photo gallery and customize the clock’s hands, accents, and tick marks. When you’re done, the new face will automatically sync to your Moto 360.

Block Party

If your phone is bursting at the seams with tons of cool apps, don’t worry—your Moto 360 doesn’t have to receive a notification for each one. You can choose which apps you want to see and which you’d like to hide. Simply open the Android Wear app on your phone, select “Settings,” then select “Block app notifications.” The apps you select won’t sync to your Moto 360. For some app notifications, you can even use your watch to swipe all the way to the left to block further notifications.

Posted by Lally Narwal, Product Marketing

Choose to be You
Sometimes the right thing is to zig when everyone else is zagging. Don’t be afraid to strut who you really are with the dozens of colors, materials, and other personal customizations with your phone, Play around with Moto Maker and create a Moto X unique to you.

At work, we spend a lot of time thinking about who or why someone might use or consume a piece of content, and this really drives design and development decisions. This principle greatly applied here, and I spent a lot of time considering what makes for a successful watch. One of my conclusions was it needed to retain the ability to be usable at a glance above all else. Everything on the face is designed to be simple enough to read within a few seconds.

What nuances are there to your watch face that might not be immediately apparent?
Probably the calendar ring. It is actually two rings sandwiched together. There’s an inside and outside ring for AM and PM event indicators. If the inside ring has a filled region from 4-5, this means you have a 4am-5am appointment. Conversely, if there were an outside ring shaded from 4-5, it would mean you have a 4pm-5pm appointment.

You're a Moto 360 user and also a designer of a watch face interface. What do you think are important considerations when creating watch faces that people can choose from?

I think it’s really important to consider what the objective is before starting the actual design. Why is it people would want to use your face? I’ve always found it’s easier to create a successful design—whether it be a web page, app, design face, etc.—if you can clearly state what the definition of success is.

Do you feel there was anything different about creating a round design instead of a rectangular one?
Actually designing a round face felt natural since I’ve only ever owned watches with round faces. It was a nice departure from rectangles, which is the shape of virtually everything else I work on.

Did you learn anything from working with Motorola to bring the watch face to life?

The Motorola team did all the real work to take my design concept to an executable face [Editor’s note: We really just helped!]. I included a few things that weren’t yet possible in Android Wear, so they helped iron those issues out. They also helped add some finishing so the display would be optimized for the number of pixels on the Moto 360. It was awesome seeing their expertise help translate a concept into a finalized face.

Any advice for other designers and developers creating app experiences for Moto 360?

I think the best piece of advice is to get a Moto 360 and really see how and when you use the watch. It will help clarify both face design and app opportunities. One of my favorite apps, for example, is a tip calculator. It’s perfect in the moment application because the result is immediate and inputs are minimal. I’m sure many other situations exist where having a ready display on your wrist can remove the need for getting out and using your phone to complete a task.

Now that you've used the watch for a while is there anything you would have designed differently? Any plans for future designs?

I’m pretty happy with how the designed turned out. I do have a better understanding of what’s possible, so future designs would be slightly different with those parameters in mind. I’ve already started working on a few additional faces actually. Free time is a bit short at the moment so I’m hoping to finish them up in December after the school term ends. In the meantime I’ll keep downloading every face I can get my hands on. It’s been a lot of fun to see what others come up with. I’d like to thank everyone again who voted for my design. It was fun to create and submit to the contest and overwhelming to see the support it received. Thank you!

Posted by Noelle Chun, Social Media

Let us know what you think. And keep checking our official Moto 360 Google+ community for more news and fun.

Posted by Lally Narwal, Product Marketing

Hear Rick share more about what it’s like creating experiences in a round space, instead of a square one.


What else is new in software this week?

• Hot off the presses is an update to Motorola Camera that brings you a remote shutter for Android Wear watches, so you can trigger a shot from your wrist. It also brings numerous performance improvements and bug fixes across Motorola products. We’ve now had over 1 billion shots captured by Moto G users and will continue to bring improvements to our customers!
• Motorola Assist was updated with important bug fixes for Talk to Me and Drive Mode. FM Radio has been updated on Moto E and Moto G to provide lockscreen controls and to support playback to Bluetooth speakers.
• Motorola Connect and the Motorola Connect Chrome extension have been updated to improve stability and support emoji (Chrome extension).

Hope you enjoy. Let us know what you think.

Posted by Lior Ron, Product

Choose the color or materials that grace the back of your phone. Choose to design your own software experience starting from pure Android. Choose to get the information you want most, either at a glance on your phone or on your wrist, or discreetly to your ear, without ever using your hands. And choose not to pay premium prices for premium experiences.

Introducing…

The new Moto X: Pure style. Pure performance. 
The new Moto X is designed with a sense of style and balance, featuring a curved metal frame, vivid 5.2” Full HD display, and authentic materials such as FSC® certified woods and genuine Horween® leather that feel great in your hand. Moto X gives you fast performance with the latest, unadulterated version of Android along with the quickest updates. Enhanced voice control lets you select a custom prompt, and use your voice to do just about anything. Plus, Moto X learns your preferences and adapts to you, making everyday interactions easier. Creating your standout style is simple through our online customization studio, Moto Maker, available in the United States and select international markets. Learn more about the new Moto X.




The new Moto G: Exceptional phone. Exceptional price.
Moto G now comes with a brilliant 5” HD display plus stereo sound to fully enjoy your videos and photos. With its all-day battery, quad-core speed, the latest Android OS, plus the ability to customize your phone with Motorola Shells, Moto G keeps up with everything you do. And all of this starting at just $179.99. Learn more about the new Moto G.



Moto 360: It’s time.
Moto 360 is a classically-designed, modern timepiece powered by Android Wear™. Comfortable, familiar, and crafted with the finest materials, Moto 360 keeps you up to date without taking you away from the moment. Glance at your wrist to see updates or just speak to get the info you need. Keep track of your steps and know your heart rate thanks to a built-in pedometer and heart rate monitor. Enjoy battery life that lasts all day, then just place Moto 360 on its wireless charging dock at night. Learn more about Moto 360.




Moto Hint: In control. Out of sight. [link to full product web page]
Moto Hint is a discreet wireless earbud designed to look good and feel great. It gives you complete control of your phone and allows you to access everything you need by just using your voice. When paired with your Moto X, you can ask questions like “What’s today’s forecast?” or get turn by turn navigation directions, all without touching or even looking at your phone. Learn more about Moto Hint.




Plus…

Power Pack Micro: Power in a Pinch.
Motorola Power Pack Micro is a portable battery that provides instant access to back-up power when you need it. Attach it to your keys or slip it into your pocket or bag. More than just a portable battery, Power Pack Micro also includes Motorola Keylink™, a phone and key finder which helps locate your phone or keys when they’ve been misplaced. Learn more about Power Pack Micro.




Global Availability and Pricing
The new Moto X will be coming to countries in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia starting later this month. Moto X will be available for as low as $99.99 with a new two-year customer agreement on select carriers in the US. It will be available off-contract and unlocked in the US from $499.99 on motorola.com.

The new Moto G is available starting today unlocked and off-contract for $179.99 USD on motorola.com, as well as retailers in the US. Moto G also goes on sale today in India, France, UK, Brazil, Spain, and on motorola.de in Germany. By end of year, the new Moto G will be available in more than a dozen countries and through several carrier partners around the world.

Moto 360 will be available in black leather and a limited edition gray leather with suede finish in the US today starting at noon EST for $249.99 USD on motorola.com, Google Play, and through Best Buy stores and BestBuy.com. Additionally, Moto 360 will be available in two metal options later this fall for $299.99 USD. For those who buy a Moto 360 today, there will be an option to purchase a metal band later this fall for $79.99 USD. Leather bands will also be available independently for $29.99 USD at that time.

Moto Hint will be available on motorola.com and select retailers in the US for $149.99 USD later this fall and will expand to other regions in time for the holidays.

Power Pack Micro will be available on motorola.com in the US for $39.99 starting today.


Trade In Your Phone for a New One
Our Trade In program makes it easier than ever to purchase a Moto G or customized Moto X using Moto Maker. Just send in your old device, and we'll mail you a Motorola Visa Prepaid Card worth up to $300 depending upon the phone you send in. Visit our Trade In site to learn more.

IMAGES and BROLL: Images can be found here (you agree to our license terms when downloading images or video)

After 1300 submissions, the people have spoken!

Putting you in the design seat, the Moto 360 Design Face-Off competition invited consumers, designers and developers alike to dream up their own unique face for our new watch, Moto 360. 

Ten finalists were selected by an experienced judging panel, who combed through every single entry to find the best-of-the-best, taking design aesthetic, originality and feasibility into consideration. Our panel was impressed by how beautiful, intricate and original all 1300 designs were.

Congratulations to our top 10 finalists: Tyler Allicock, Jose Azua, Layton Diament, Pawel Hanusowski, Dave McCarthy, Aramis Negron, David Pascual, Will Rodriguez, Paul Stringer, and Jason Wang.

From the top 10, we put the fate of the design in your hands, and as determined by the most +1’s, we are excited to announce David Pascual as the winner of the Moto 360 Design Face-Off! 

He wins one of the very first Moto 360s and the chance for his design to be featured on the watch. 

Well done, David, and thank you to each one of the participants - you inspired us with your creativity, insights and zeal.

For other Moto 360 designs, visit the G+ community. To learn more about Moto 360, sign-up for updates.

Posted by Motorola