Motorola was one of the first phone makers to jump on the smartwatch craze and was the first to dare to make a circular smartwatch when square was the only design available. Although it no longer makes smartwatches itself, its legacy lives on in eBuyNow’s wearables that try to target oft-neglected mainstream markets. With most smartwatches, both Apple and Wear OS, catering to more premium tiers, those with more restricted budgets are often left with cheap and unsatisfying knockoffs. With the moto watch 100, however, budget shoppers are finally given a chance to experience weeks of uptime and, more importantly, safety and critical health metrics they can share with their families and friends to make sure they’re hale and hearty.
Designer: eBuy Now
There are plenty of smartwatches today that have all these sensors that keep track of heart rates, blood oxygen levels, and more. Some, like the Apple Watch, even have fall detection that can call emergency services and contacts if the wearer seems unresponsive. These life-saving features may be staples in smartwatches, but these smartwatches are also often the ones that carry price tags upwards of $300.
In stark contrast, the $99.99 price tag on the moto watch 100 is immediately appealing, especially if you consider the Motorola branding it carries. Although the smartwatch looks quite chunky compared to more luxurious and more expensive brands, it’s not unattractive either. The aluminum body comes in two color options, Phantom Black and Glacier Silver, and while the default comes with a black silicone strap, there are other choices of colors and materials that can be easily swapped with a push of a spring bar.
The moto watch 100 has the staples of activity tracking and sensors, including a heart rate monitor and its own built-in GPS/GLONASS for phone-free location tracking. What makes these features really shine, however, is the smartwatch’s fall detection, something you’d usually find only in more expensive wearables. eBuyNow is also introducing a Family Sharing App that lets wearers share their health data with family members and friends, with their permission, of course. While this might sound intrusive for most folks, it’s actually a way for families to keep tabs on their young or elderly members.
The moto watch 100 boasts two weeks of battery life, which sounds astounding until you get to the fine print. It is able to achieve that figure thanks to a proprietary Moto Watch OS, not the Wear OS that you’d expect from a Motorola-branded smartwatch. Then again, for its price point, the moto watch 100 does offer a decent experience that revolves around monitoring your health or those of others, something you’d be hard-pressed to find in equally affordable smart timepieces.
