Either by design or just due to sheer ineptitude, it’s becoming more and more common to see a hotly anticipated new gadget get leaked through official channels before they launch. The Moto 360 sequel may have just joined the club thanks to a tweet sent out from Motorola this evening.
The smartwatch pictured above appeared in a tweet by Motorola’s official channel, and its differences with Motorola’s first Android Wear watch have led some to believe that it’s an inadvertent leak of the company’s much anticipated successor to the 360. The tweet has been swiftly taken down now, but savvy internet users have already captured it for posterity. The internet never forgets, Motorola.
The basic takeaway -and the saddest part for many of us – is that Motorola is still sticking with the “flat tire” design from last year that drove some people mad. Keen eyes will also spot that the side button has been moved from the 3 o’clock position to the 2 o’clock position and that the integrated lug system for the watch bands has been abandoned in favor of an external lug system typical of most modern wristwatches.
Back when Motorola unveiled the Moto 360 back in September 2014, the company said that the blank portion below the display was required in order to fit in the touch sensor. Since then, other Android Wear smartwatch makers such as LG and Huawei proved that fully circular smartwatch displays are possible, leading many to think that the second-coming of the Moto 360 smartwatch will integrate a fully circular display as well. Unfortunately, it looks like that will not be the case. As previously mentioned, a tiny glimmer of hope still exists that this is not the actual Moto 360 successor, but color us skeptical at this point. But the fact that Motorola was so quick to pull down the tweet might lead some credence to this slip-up being legit, for better or worse.
Which begs the question, if LG and Samsung can make reasonably slim circular smartwatches, why can’t Motorola?
