One of the things that excites us about round watches is not only the iconic, beautiful design. It’s also unleashed cool, new opportunities for software development and new experiences. So for today’s Download, our regular spotlight on software, we wanted to get a little deeper into the benefits of designing for round watches.

Though for decades designers have created software experiences for squares and rectangles (LCD monitors, mobile phones, tablets, and even TVs, to name a few), a round watch provides a new canvas. Rick Hoobler, a user interface designer for Moto 360, and I have talked about how it provides fresh experiences in a few ways:

• A smooth, sweeping experience for your eye. Rectangular form factors typically require left alignment to look good according to traditional design principles. But circular screens create a smooth, race-track like behavior that is soothing to the eye. There is no starting or stopping point. It’s fluid and elegant.
• It’s a delight to experience new technology in a classic form factor. The blend of old and new create a deeply satisfying aesthetic. The classic round shape meets brand new technology to create a design duality that feels original without trying too hard. Tableware, plates, glasses, handles—these are all classic round shapes. When we bring this to the watch, you can see things like someone’s photo that fills up the beautiful, locket-like round shape or maps with solid fields of color in a round compass shape.
• The circle is a natural shape for tracking progress. From a design perspective, it is a very compelling experience for users to be able to use sleek progress meters that track all around the edge. You can see all-day progress, instead of a tiny standard-looking chart. The heart rate monitor, for instance, easily curves in a circular shape to show how fast your heart is beating.

Mark Rose is stretchin’ his fingers. He’ll be typing fast and furious in a Google+ Ask Me Anything (AMA). Join Mark one week from today at 2 pm CT for a 30-minute chat where he’ll answer your questions live in a Google+ event.

Mark is our product manager focused on making your phone useful to you wherever you are. Specifically, he leads product management for Quick Capture and Motorola Assist, the app that knows when you shouldn’t be bothered and that can read messages aloud when you’re driving or at home. In a meeting? The app can silence your phone. Driving to work? It can tell you who’s calling or read your texts out loud. Want to take a quick photo? Pull out your camera and twist it to pull up the camera app in a flash.

Mark has been in product management for 15 years and is eager to take your questions! Ask him anything about Assist, share your suggestions, delve into his experience, or even chat about his love of coding, building apps, and the beach.

Join us next Thursday, 7/17, at 2pm-2:30pm CT. Check out the Google+ event page and take part in the conversation by commenting.

In other software news, here’s the latest Download:

Connect Gets a New Look and a New Ring Feature - Our latest update to Motorola Connect brings a sleeker more beautiful interface (and new icon!) to the app that allows you to see text messages and calls coming into your Connect-enabled phone on your computer’s Chrome browser. As always, you can read and respond to texts using your computer’s keyboard and know who’s calling before you decide to reach for your phone. But now you can call your phone right from your desktop—for all those times you lose your phone in the couch cushions. We’ve also moved the app to your app drawer to make Connect easier to find.

Android™ 4.4.4, KitKat® Begins Rolling Out - We’ve begun rolling out Android™ 4.4.4, KitKat® to our phones! This latest update includes all of the goodies of 4.4.3—such a new dialer, the ability to pause during video recording, and enhanced camera image quality—and includes enhanced security for OpenSSL. We just started rolling out in Brazil and India for Moto G; in Brazil, France, Canada, and Asia Pacific for Moto E; in the U.S. for DROID Ultra. We are always working to deploy the latest software as fast as possible and expect the update to come to many more phones soon. Check out the software updates page to see if your phone has been upgraded yet.

Posted by Steve Sinclair, Product Marketing

At Motorola, we are here to bring people together by connecting them to each other wherever they are. And for one summer every four years, the world comes together for the game of soccer (football, for some)—and what better reason to celebrate?

So when you’re not busy at home watching soccer (perhaps even using our new home mode in Motorola Assist, which we launched last week), check out our new soccer startup animation, which we rolled out Tuesday to Moto X, Moto G, and Moto E globally.

We wanted users everywhere to connect with our animation, so we decided to spotlight the different types of fields where people can play soccer across the world. After all, unlike other sports, you don’t need specific wood courts or tennis stadiums or 100 yards of grass. You just need yourself, a ball, and a wide open space, whether grass, concrete, asphalt, or packed dirt.

Taking our users to the various soccer fields—from dirt lots, to school practice fields, to concrete back alleys, to official turf in Brazil—meant creating four different globes in addition to the ball in a 3D computer environment—which we manually rotated to capture the finished story.

And thus our final animation was born:



The animation started rolling out Tuesday, but if you haven’t received it yet on your Moto X, Moto G, or Moto E, be sure to download the latest Motorola Boot Services and restart your phone. We hope you like it.

Posted by Meet Jariwala, Motorola Boot Services Product Manager