We caught our first glimpse of the Moto 360 (pictured above) a year ago. While it did not go on sale until the fall, it was easily the (deservedly) most anticipated and talked-about Android Wear smartwatch of 2014. But competitors have caught up and the Moto 360 is no longer the only round-faced Android Wear smartwatch on the market. Recent entries such as the Huawei Watch show how quickly the smartwatch market is evolving. Motorola has all but confirmed that a Moto 360 successor is on its way and we may now know its codename: Smelt.
A tip received by Phandroid by a popular app developer suggests that the Motorola Smelt is already undergoing testing. According to this tipster, a mysterious Motorola device powered by Android Wear and codenamed “Smelt” has pinged his Android developer console. The pings come from Mundelein, a city not far from Chicago where Motorola Mobility headquarters are located.
As for details about the Motorola Smelt itself, the device appears to be powered by Android 5.1 and a processor identified only as “armeabi-v7a.” The display shows a resolution of 360 by 360 pixels, suggesting a modest bump in display resolution from the Moto 360’s 320 by 290 display. It also suggests a fully round display (or a square one).
The Moto 360 was codenamed Minnow during development. It’s logical that Motorola would stick with small fish names for its Moto 360 successor.
It remains to be seen if the Motorola Smelt is the same device recently spotted on an alleged picture taken by Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing.
As for when the Motorola Smelt could be officially unveiled, it could happen as early as sometime in the next few weeks. A rumour back in late 2014 had already hinted at an “early 2015” announcement.
Source : Phandroid