Motorola President Rick Osterloh confirmed the obvious earlier this month when he revealed that Motorola would launch new wearables later this year. He also confirmed that the company would continue to use Android Wear. None other than Lenovo’s CEO Yang Yuanqing may have given us our first glimpse at the second generation Moto 360.
An image posted by Chinese Facebook community HelloMotoHK shows what appears to be a padded case holding both fully assembled Moto 360 smartwatches as well as straps, cases and other components. What makes the image so interesting is the claim that it was taken by Lenovo’s own CEO.
At first glance, the watches in the case can easily be confused with the current Moto 360. But two small details suggest that these are different. First is the lugs, the part where the strap attaches to the case. Whereas the Moto 360 sports lugs tucked away in the case itself, these cases show the lugs extending out like most traditional watches do. It also appears that the crown has been moved from its position at 3 o’clock to closer to 2 o’clock.
The image also shows some fully assembled watches with their displays turned on. Those show the same small black bar at the bottom of the display, making it a not quite completely round display.
Assuming for a moment that this image is indeed legitimate, we could be looking at older prototypes or prototypes for the next generation Moto 360. If the latter, it is possible that Motorola will once again use a display assembly with a black bar at the bottom. Given that competitors have eliminated this with more recent devices, Motorola would be doing itself a disservice with this move. It is also possible that it is testing the new cases with current displays while it works on ones without the black strip.
It all makes for one very interesting picture. It raises some interesting questions but it must also stay squarely in the rumours category until we get more info.
Sources : Facebook (HelloMotoHK) // Android Police