Moto Watch review: A chic smartwatch backed by Polar wellness features

Moto Watch, priced at Rs 5,999, brings wellness tracking features with a sophisticated look, but an issue stuck out like a sore thumb. Read below to find out more

Motorola has launched the Moto Watch, expanding its smartwatch portfolio in India. The Moto Watch marks the Lenovo-owned company’s new partnership with a Finnish company, Polar. Motorola positions the Moto Watch as one of the best wellness tracking devices in the segment. It is powered by Moto AI, which can bring a summary of notifications to users. But how well do these claims translate into daily life use? Let’s find out in the review below.

Design

The Moto Watch arrived with a shining silver chain design that aligned with my preference of steel chain watches. Though the Moto Watch is built from aluminium, but the look that it had and the feeling that it exuded was that of an actual steel chain watch. The silicone straps that normally smartwatches come with seem toy-like to me so this change with Moto Watch was welcome.

 

The Moto Watch sports a 47mm circular OLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The level of detailing was something that caught my attention. Essentially, the area where the display is about to meet with the metal casing has a particular flow and texture to it. It might be too small a detail for some, but I am a watch lover and when it comes to watches, such small detailing can be the make or break factor, and Motorola pulled off this level of detailing nicely. 

 

The crown button rests on the upper-right side of the casing with a green accent line, which broke the monotonous silver design and added a funky yet mature touch. The crown is not there just for the aesthetics but can be used to power the device on or off, open the menu, and scroll through a list. Overall, in terms of design, the Moto Watch exudes a mature analog-like feel and not the typical smartwatch vibe. 

Wellness, fitness and sleep tracking

The Moto Watch is the first smartwatch from the house of Motorola to introduce a partnership with Finnish company, Polar, which is best known for its heart rate monitoring technology and science-backed fitness training technology. The key areas for Moto Watch are heart rate monitoring and wellness tracking. With the Moto Watch, throughout the day, I was able to keep track of a range of things on the go including my heart rate, SPO2 level, mood stress, steps walked, and calories burnt. 

 

Fitness tracking is something that Moto Watch does a basic job with. It measures your steps and the amount of calories burnt. This is something that even some of the basic smartwatches can do but accuracy is something that changes the game. When I started walking normally without turning on the outdoor walking mode in Moto Watch, it measured my footsteps but not exactly in real-time. The Moto Watch took around half a minute to update the readings with the latest data. This seemed off to me because even basic fitness bands update the readings faster than this. 

 

When I turned on the outdoor walking mode, it did measure my footsteps in a close to accurate way but it failed to track my walking path accurately despite boasting dual frequency GPS. Another inaccuracy that I noted was that when I was riding my motorcycle or travelling in a metro, somehow there were a few instances where my footsteps increased after some time, despite me not walking. If someone plans to use this to keep a track of steps walked, then I would suggest to take the watch off on such instances to avoid getting an exaggerated reading at the end of the day.

 

Let’s talk about the sleep tracking feature now. The Polar integration brought some advanced sleep tracking features such as sleep score, sleep stages, interruptions during sleep, and more. The Moto Watch provided me with a timeline of my sleep in terms of when I was in a deep sleep, when it was a light sleep, when it was Rapid Eye Movement (REM), etc. While this was insightful, the issue here was that it provided the timeline in such a manner that readings of an hour were clubbed together. Whether I checked on the device or on my phone through the Moto Watch app, I had no option of zooming-in to see the details as in when exactly did I shift from deep sleep to light sleep. One of my colleagues reviewed the Google Pixel Watch 4 recently which is able to provide this detail at intervals of around 10 minutes each. 

 

While the Moto Watch does offer health and wellness insights but if some steps would have been added on how someone can use those statistics to actually improve their health or sleeping pattern then this would have been an overall satisfactory experience. 

Navigation

This is an aspect that Moto Watch missed completely. I can still overlook its inaccuracy in GPS tracking during outdoor walking but the absence of navigation support stuck out like a sore thumb. If I am wearing an accessary with advanced technology on my wrists, I expect it to help me replace my smartphone for certain things and navigation is one of that. 

 

The Moto Watch does not support navigation natively. If your smartwatch and smartphone are connected and you start a journey, you will need to open your phone continuously to check for directions in Maps. Even if you are riding on your motorcycle, you need to depend on your phone for directions. I expected the Moto Watch to act as an extension to my phone and help me with directions but it did not.

Audio

In terms of audio and alarms, the Moto Watch did offer a decent level of output. I was able to wake up with the alarms played by the watch on my wrist. It was able to play music at a decent level. Obviously, its loudness cannot compete with what you can find on a smartphone, but given its role, it does a decent job. 

 

For calling, the microphones positioned at the back of the dial conveyed my voice to the other party with clarity. The other person’s voice could have been a bit louder, though, but nonetheless, it is still manageable. There’s one thing though, if you are in a busy environment, then you will have to bring the smartwatch a bit closer to your mouth to be able to be heard clearly.

Battery

When it comes to battery, Moto Watch performed well. I have been using this smartwatch regularly for around nine to ten days now. When I started using it, the battery life was at around 80 per cent and till now, I haven’t had the need to charge it. At the time of writing, the Moto Watch’s battery life stood at 12 per cent. 

 

To give context, I did not turn always-on display but I have been using the device everyday. I was using it regularly to track my sleep pattern for the past nine to ten days and despite such high usage, the battery life dropped by around 70 per cent only.

 

To test the charging speed, I plugged-in the smartwatch into charging. For 10 minutes of charge, the Moto Watch’s battery life increased by 11 per cent. On an average, it can be said that the watch might complete a full charge cycle in around an hour and a half. 

Verdict

The Moto Watch gets a lot right on the fundamentals. It stands out with its premium, mature design that feels closer to a traditional wristwatch than a typical smartwatch, strong battery life that easily stretches beyond a week, clear calling performance, and Polar-backed wellness insights. The display size, detailing on the dial, and overall comfort further strengthen its appeal as a lifestyle-focused smartwatch rather than a flashy gadget.

 

That said, key gaps hold it back from being a complete package. Step tracking inconsistencies, unreliable GPS path tracking, limited depth in sleep data visualisation, and the complete absence of navigation support are hard to ignore. The Moto Watch is best suited for users who value design, long battery life, and basic-to-intermediate wellness tracking over hardcore fitness or navigation features. However, fitness enthusiasts, runners, or users who rely heavily on accurate GPS and on-watch navigation would be better served by alternatives that prioritise performance and software depth over aesthetics.