Motorola’s Moto 360, the most eagerly anticipated Android Wear device, is finally on my wrist. Aside from whatever Apple is building, it may be the most anticipated wearable of all.

hough a bit larger than I’d like, Motorola's circular smartwatch is as elegant as I’d hoped and has moments of thrilling responsiveness and utility. I just wish it was more reliable and felt a bit less like Version 1.0 hardware.

See also: Motorola Moto Hint Bluetooth Earbud Is Too Tiny to Be a Headset

The design speaks to watch purists: It’s round, shiny and offers and eye-pleasing mix of metals, Gorilla glass and leather — in the band, at least. It looks expensive, but does not feel fragile. It’s rated to handle dust and some water immersion.

You can see the heart-rate monitor on the back of the Motorola Moto 360 Image: Mashable, Christina Ascani

Part of the reason the Moto 360 looks so much like a traditional watch is because it has just one button on the side where a traditional watch's crown would be. However, it is on the large and thick side for a traditional time keeper. The perfectly round 1.56-inch display sits in a 1.81-inch diameter by 0.43-inch deep body (with the removable leather band, it weighs 1.7 ounces). You will be noticed when wearing it.

Watch this screen

Motorola Moto 360 will show you reminders from your phone and Google Account. Image: Mashable, Christina Ascani

If people don’t notice the Moto 360’s design, they’re sure to spot the screen, which, when it’s not in power-saving sleep mode, is ever-changing. There’s a watch face, a notifications face, a pedometer face and activities face, a Google Voice "say something" face. And there’s the often-visible watch face/notification combo, which covers roughly one-third of the watch face. It’s really a tiny computer strapped to your wrist. You work your way through the screens via taps and swipes: up, down and side-to-side.

You may also notice that the screen is not perfectly round. There’s a little black crescent at the bottom, which appears to accommodate a very hard-to-see ambient light sensor. If you’re not looking at the watch, the screen may be black, but it will light up as soon you bend your arm and bring the watch toward your face.

Like most smartwatches, though, the Moto 360 gains a lot of its power and, certainly, information from a companion smartphone. Without it, it’s really just a fancy digital watch and fitness tracker.

Don't like Moto 360's watch face? Change it. Image: Mashable, Christina Ascani

Moto 360 is designed to work with any Android phone running version 4.3 "Jelly Bean" and higher, but I found it didn’t like all Android phones. It hated the LG G3 — I couldn’t get any notifications to come through — but was pretty happy with the Samsung Galaxy S5. Unsurprisingly, it worked best with new Moto X.

To get the most out of Moto 360, you have to make sure everything is running just so on your smartphone. The phone and watch communicate via Bluetooth so the smartphone can share contact info and notifications, alerting you to incoming calls and messages

Then there’s Android Wear, which serves as a sort of cartilage between the phone and watch software. For all of your interesting notifications (news, sports, weather and more), the watch relies on Google Now which is installed on the phone. It also gains access to your email, contacts and calendar. If the phone and Moto 360 become disconnected, you’ll still get alerts — the calendar just won’t get any updates until you reconnect.

One funny quirk about the phone's Android Wear app: when it’s running on your smartphone, there’s a little icon showing if the watch is connected or not. Not connected shows an outline of a watch. Tap it and it turns into the same picture with a diagonal line through it…which means it’s connected. Go figure.

Smarter than you think

Motorola includes a wireless charing base with the Moto 360 that automatically turns it into a nightstand alarm clock. Image: Mashable, Christina Ascani

Because the smartwatch can tap into your Google account (through the phone, of course), it can also access content connected to your Google+ account (if you have one). I was surprised to see my unshared photos on the Moto 360. They looked pretty sharp on the small screen.

The communication between smartphone and smartwatch is two-way. If, for example, you have a bunch of unopened emails, the Moto 360 will notify you, and then offer the option of opening them on the smartphone. The phone will light up and when you unlock it, your email box will be open.

The more you let Moto 360 tap into your Google world, the more utility you get out of the phone. It can even tell you when someone has sent you a message in Google Hangouts. I would not recommend, though, doing everything through the watch. When I hit the big Reply button to respond to a Gmail message, I got a check mark indicating I had replied, instead of a voice-to-text field to actually craft a response.

The Moto 360 has a built-in pedometer. Image: Mashable, Lance Ulanoff

If you have everything set up right, the Moto 360 is a nicely self-aware gadget. If I raised it to my face, the screen lit up. However, I usually needed need to pause before speaking “OK, Google” — otherwise it missed my command. Alternatively, I could just tap on the screen to access voice control.

There’s roughly a dozen voice command options, including “Show Me My Steps,” “Set a Time,” and “Stopwatch.” You can use the default commands or tie them to different apps, though there aren’t that many that are designed specifically for the Moto 360. You can also ask the Moto 360 about the weather, sports scores and random Google questions like, “How tall is Barack Obama?”

Overall, the Moto 360’s dual microphones did an excellent job of interpreting my speech, even when I spoke just above a whisper. I especially liked sending myself little email reminders. I'd look at the watch, say "OK, Google," wait a second for it to show me "Speak Now," dictate my note and then it would immediately appear in my inbox.

For as good as the Moto 360 is at listening, it — thankfully — never talks back. Instead, everything appears on the sharp 320 x 290 screen. It will try to fit your whole answer or message on screen or truncate it and let you tap and then scroll on the screen for more detail. It also vibrates to alert me of appointments, new info, and incoming calls.

The Moto 360 is also a good fitness tracker. It’s always measuring my steps and pushes you to maintain a healthier lifestyle by also keeping track of your overall activity. Included in that is a heart rate monitor, which you can access via gestures or voice.

Not there yet

There’s much to like about the Moto 360. I love the wireless charging base that automatically transforms the device into an alarm clock and makes the act of charging it every night — a necessity — not seem quite so bad. It also succeeds as a piece of wearable technology, largely because it is, with its eye-grabbing, classy design, so fashionable.

I’m also pleased I can choose the watch face and do not have to live with “OK, Google” always on it. The Moto 360 also impresses with its ability to act as a quiet, yet very smart assistant. I also think it’s worth $249 (the same price as Pebble Steel), especially because the price includes the charging base.

Motorola's Moto 360 comes with a supple, yet strong leather band. Image: Mashable, Christina Ascani

What I’m less impressed with is its finicky nature. Moto 360 often lost its connection to the phone, which was always in my pocket, and it was really unhappy if I didn’t connect to a Moto phone. I also couldn’t always tell when the device was connected, so I’d gesture and gesture with no indication as to what was going on. And wherever I had to install Android Wear, (including on the brand new Moto X) additional software updates were needed for Google Services and Google Search.

I can’t help but compare the Moto 360 experience to the Pebble Steel, which I’ve owned for roughly three months now. It was easy to set up and never caused me a moment of frustration. Granted, Pebble is a simpler device. It has an E Ink display and can run for four or five days on a charge. In my experience, the Moto 360 gives you roughly a day.

Pebble offers notifications and apps, and although the screen isn’t beautiful in the same way as the Moto 360, it gets the job done. I have my key info, never miss a call and find it not too big or noticeable on my wrist. The Moto 360 is pretty, but also pretty big.

I never expected to stop wearing an analog watch for a smart one, but with the Pebble, I did. I doubt I’d make the switch for the Moto 360, at least not yet.

My hope is that the next Moto 360 is thinner, offers a curved back for even greater comfort and works more consistently. The current model a good first attempt at a smartwatch for Motorola but for something I will wear 12 hours a day, every day, I want better.