Motorola's loyal fans may just have had their first glimpse of the hotly anticipated second-generation Moto 360 through a video posted by the company on Twitter.
At first, the video appears to be just another promotional clip intended to showcase Android Wear's voice activation feature tweaked for the Moto 360. However, a closer look at the smartwatch render being used for the clip reveals we are not looking at the current Moto 360 at all.
The video shows a new Moto 360 featuring the same circular watch face as its predecessor. However, there are a couple of differences in design that suggest this is a different device.
One can see there are lugs at the top and bottom of the watch face that are larger than those found on the original Moto 360, which are barely noticeable. These are quite similar to the lugs found in more traditional analog "dumb" watches, and are most likely there to make changing watch bands easier. Moreover, the mechanical crown is placed above the 3 o'clock position, where the crown on the first-gen smartwatch is placed.
However, if there is one similarity with the original Moto 360 that we wouldn't have wanted to see in the video, it is the flat tire design that includes a practically useless black bar at the bottom of the watch face, where Motorola incorporated the ambient light sensor. It's still not clear, however, if the new Moto 360 will still get the abhorred black bar, as earlier Weibo leaks of the round display show no flat tire at all.
Not surprisingly, Motorola has taken down its video and the tweet sharing the link to it, but not before the good folks over at Droid-Life were able to place the clip on YouTube.
Of course, it is worth noting that this is not an official announcement about the new Moto 360, and for all we know, it may just have been the work of a shaky-handed intern with not-so-good Photoshop skills. Still, evidence of a new Moto 360 in the works abounds, the most notable of which comes from none other than Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing himself, who posted on Weibo images of what appears to be prototypes of the new Moto 360, showcasing the larger lugs, a new crown position and a variety of leather and metal watch bands.
FCC documents also reveal that the new Moto 360 may have undergone testing for approval by the regulatory commission in July. The filings show an application for a "smart watch" equipped with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities.
