The Moto Watch Ultra Gets Wear OS Right, Then Undercuts Itself With a 2022 Chip

For years, Motorola’s smartwatch story was a sad one. The Moto 360 that helped launch Android Wear faded out, and the watches that followed carried the Moto name through licensing deals and ran simple in-house software. The Moto Watch Ultra changes that. It runs Wear OS 6 with the full Google Play Store, it costs $349.99, and as of September 24 you can pick one up at Verizon as well as Motorola.com.

That’s genuinely good news for Android buyers who want something other than a Pixel Watch or a Galaxy Watch. It’s also a watch with one very obvious compromise, and you should know about it before you buy.

What $349.99 gets you

On paper, the hardware is premium. The Moto Watch Ultra uses a 46mm stainless steel case with a 1.5-inch pOLED display that Motorola rates at up to 2,700 nits, covered by Gorilla Glass 3. It’s IP68 and 5ATM rated, has dual-band GPS, NFC for Google Wallet and an LTE eSIM for calls, messages and notifications when your phone is at home.

• Chip: Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1
• Memory: 2GB RAM, 32GB storage
• Battery: 550mAh, rated for up to two days of active use with always-on display off
• Fast charging: a 15-minute top-up is rated for up to 24 hours of use
• Bands: standard 22mm, with both silicone and leather straps in the box
• Colors: PANTONE Black Beauty, Mountain View and Nuthatch

Including two straps is a small but welcome touch. So is the standard 22mm lug width, which means you aren’t locked into proprietary bands.

Polar is the real differentiator

Instead of building its own fitness platform, Motorola partnered with Polar, the Finnish company that has been making heart rate monitors and sport watches for decades. The Moto Watch Ultra gets Polar features including Nightly Recharge, Sleep Plus Stages, Serene guided breathing, activity goals, intensity zones and a Running Coach.

That’s a smart call. Motorola doesn’t have Fitbit’s data science or Samsung Health’s years of iteration, and Polar’s recovery and sleep metrics are respected among runners. If you’ve been eyeing a Polar watch but wanted apps, Wallet and Gemini on your wrist, this is the most interesting hybrid of the two worlds we’ve seen.

There’s also Qira, Motorola’s own AI assistant. TechRepublic notes that it requires a compatible Motorola phone and a Moto ID, so if you’re pairing this with a Pixel or a Galaxy, Gemini will be doing the heavy lifting.

The problem: a chip from 2022

Here’s where our enthusiasm cools. The Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 is, as Android Authority puts it, a 2022-era processor. It’s the same generation of silicon that has powered Wear OS watches for several years. It runs Wear OS 6 fine, but it’s not the platform you’d pick if you were building a flagship watch in late 2026.

Motorola is also promising just two OS upgrades, per TechRepublic. For comparison, Samsung committed to five years of Wear OS updates for the Galaxy Watch 9 and Ultra 2 earlier this summer. A $350 watch with an older chip and a shorter support window is a tougher sell than the spec sheet suggests. And it ships on Wear OS 6, not the newer Wear OS 7 that Samsung has already started testing on the Galaxy Watch 8.

Where to buy it and when

The unlocked model went on sale September 10 at Motorola.com. Verizon started selling it September 24. T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, AT&T, Xfinity Mobile and Consumer Cellular are all listed for the coming months, without firm dates.

Our verdict

We’re rooting for this watch. Wear OS needs more serious players, and a Motorola watch with Polar’s health smarts is a better idea than most of what’s launched this year. But at full price, the aging chip and two-upgrade promise are hard to ignore. If you’re a runner who values Polar’s recovery metrics, or you’re already on Verizon and want an LTE watch that isn’t from Google or Samsung, it’s worth a look. Everyone else should wait for the first real discount, which for Motorola hardware rarely takes long.

Sources: 9to5Google, Android Authority, TechRepublic, 9to5Google (Galaxy Watch 9 updates). Photo by Artur Łuczka on Unsplash.