Motorola MotoActv Review

The MotoActv is one of those accessories you might be interested to look into if you’re heavily invested in Android smartphones and is a fitness buff. Consider it an extension of your Android phone that comes with a GPS monitor, a Life Tracker and remote monitor to your phone. And, it doesn’t have to be a Motorola.

If you’re familiar with the Sony-Ericsson LiveView or the Sony SmartWatch, then this MotoActv from Motorola is pretty much similar and maybe even more.

The MotoActv connects to most Android smartphones via Bluetooth. The MotoActv comes with its own GPS tracker so it monitor coordinates on its own without the aide of a phone.

Initially, you’d think this little piece of watch always needs a smartphone to operate. However, if you look more closely, you will notice it comes with a number of built-in features — FM radio tuner, WiFi, Accelerometer, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. It also comes with an internal storage (8GB and 16GB) to store information and data.

The device comes with a rubber wrist strap which is pretty good, very comfortable to use and looks really nice you’d end up using it all the time and not just during a run or work-out. It also comes with a belt-clip so you can just clip it on your sleeve or bag if you’re not fond of the wrist strap (works just well with the ladies).

The MotoActv has a 3.5mm jack where you can hook in the work-out earphones that came with it and use the device as an MP player. The 8GB/16GB internal storage is enough to store hundreds of music into the watch for instant playback. Music playback is pretty good, not the best around but it does the job just fine. It’s just a bit awkward sometimes when the earphone cables would tangle around when you’re using it during work-outs.

The design of the interface is very simple but elegant (the company, 80/20, that designed this was recently bought by Squared). The UI defaults into the watch that lights up whenever you shake your wrists (so there’s no need to manually push the power button if you want to check the time).

The touchscreen display is very responsive and the even the implementation of the text input was so intuitive that it’s pretty easy to use when you want to input info into the screen.

The MotoActiv tracks a lot of information — calorie count and other health-related measurements, steps (pedometer), route (GPS), and even the type of music you play.

The screen is just a little bigger than the iPod Nano with a display size of 1.6-inches (172×220 pixels). The display is scratch-proof, thanks to the Gorilla Glass coating (I’ve bumped and bruised the screen against many surfaces without any damage).

The devices has a built-in 258mAh Li-Ion battery and on normal use, I’m able to get around 10 hours of battery life on a single full charge (via a microUSB port). If not in active use, the device can lasts around 2 days on a full charge (mainly using it as a watch).

The MotoActv retails for Php7,300USD 124INR 10,546EUR 118CNY 906 for the 8GB model and Php9,300USD 158INR 13,435EUR 151CNY 1,154 for the 16GB over at Widget City {see listing here}.