The Moto 360 Sport reviewed: Good, but not enough fitness to be worth it

(credit: Valentina Palladino)

When Motorola launched new Moto 360 models earlier this year, it also announced the Moto 360 Sport as an Android Wear watch for the more active among us. The Sport will be available for purchase on January 7 (it's already on sale in the UK and France). With a built-in GPS and heart rate monitor, the watch has the hardware chops to compete with dedicated workout devices, and it works with the Moto Body fitness app to track just as much information as the hardcore Fitbits and Garmins of the world.

The $299 Moto 360 Sport is the only Android Wear watch to really sell itself as an advanced activity tracking device in addition to a Google-powered smartwatch, and in many ways it combines the best of both. But it's not as much a general sport watch as it is a dedicated running watch, and since it is powered by Android Wear, you'll have to deal with those limitations as well.

Design: toy-like, but not necessarily immature

The Moto 360 Sport was designed to be the more durable version of the new Moto 360, resulting in a watch you'd see drawn on the wrist of Charlie Brown. It's round, friendly, and simple, with a silver bezel surrounding the 1.37-inch, 360×325-pixel display and a strong silicone band. The display is always on, like most other Android Wear watches, and it has "any light" technology that uses sunlight instead of the watch's backlight to illuminate the display. This makes it easier to read in direct sunlight for those who often jog outside.