Motorola announced that a new firmware was on its way to the Moto 360 yesterday. The description that it provided about the update said nothing about Android 4.4W.2 and the new offline music playback support. But it turns out that the update does indeed come with the latest version of Android Wear.
Earlier today, we got the notification that the update was ready but it was only this evening that we were able to install it after recharging the battery to the 80% required to do the installation. Lo and behold, it turns out that it is indeed come with Android 4.4W.2 as build KNX01S.
As a quick reminder, here is what Motorola has included in this latest firmware update:
- Smart Battery Saving – When your battery hits 15%, your Moto 360 will turn off ambient mode, so you don’t have to remember to.
- Timely Time Checks – Moto 360 will synchronize the time with your phone more often to make sure it is up to the minute.
- User Interface Tweaks – We observed with consumers that there are many times where you want to use your Moto 360 as truly a classic watch—a beautiful way to see the time. A new gesture now lets you see the full watch face without permanently dismissing a notification. Just touch the top of a notification and swipe down. You’ll see the notification again when you have another high priority notification.
- Mood Lighting – Moto 360 will adjust to the lighting of the room while charging, so that it isn’t too bright or too dark.
- Readying the wires for Bluetooth – There are a couple of under-the-hood enhancements that will pave the way for connecting Bluetooth headsets to the watch.
- Bug Squashing – As usual, bugs are squashed to enhance the overall user experience.
Loading music onto your Moto 360 will require that you also have the latest version of Play Music on your smartphone and that you have enabled the setting “Download to Android Wear.”