Is being round enough? I've been using the Moto 360 every day for a month and have learned some interesting things about Motorola's latest wearable. Here's what you should know before you pull the trigger.

Android Wear was announced way back in March of 2014, but it wasn't until July that we could actually buy smartwatches running Google's wearable software. The LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live were capable watches, but they weren't jaw dropping in terms of their design--rectangular screens on a plastic band. These debut devices were perhaps best as demos of Android Wear--a hint of what was to come. Now the Motorola Moto 360 has arrived, and while it's still in short supply, units are slowly are slowly trickling out for excited Android fans.

The internet waited through six solid months of buildup for this device with its round LCD, but was it worth the wait? I've been using the Moto 360 every day for a month, having forsaken my G Watch, and have learned some interesting things about Motorola's latest wearable. Here's what you should know before you decide to slap one on your wrist.

The Screen is Great, and Not Just Because it's Round

The Moto 360's defining characteristic is the screen--it's round. All previous smartwatches (even those before Android Wear) have been square. Round LCDs have been rare throughout the history of mobile technology partially because they're harder to manufacture, but also because they aren't as usable in most cases. One notable example of the round screen was the Motorola Aura, a luxury feature phone released in 2008 for over $2000. We've come a long way.

The Moto 360's display is striking, with a beveled edge, clean lines, and narrow bezels. The resolution is 320x280, which is okay for a device that's 1.56-inches in diameter. If you stick it up next to your face, you can make out the pixels, but farther away you can't. The thing about the Moto 360's screen you might not know is that it's overall gorgeous. The resolution simply doesn't tell the whole story.

The LCD is gapless and right up next to the glass, giving the 360 almost perfect viewing angles. The colors are also vibrant by LCD standards. The 360's screen is very bright too. One of the failings of the LG G Watch is that the brightness is rather mediocre, even at maximum. That makes it a little tough to see outdoors, but the Moto 360 shines brightly. It even has an ambient light that automatically adjusts the brightness so you can see in indoors and out.

The light sensor brings us to the "flat tire." That's the internet euphemism for the slice missing from the display at the bottom. It's about 5mm tall and completely black. This is where the ambient light sensor peeks out, as well as the area where the display connects to the mainboard inside the watch. Motorola explains this was a necessary compromise to avoid having a larger bezel. I'll admit this is a bit off-putting at first, but you get used to it. Some watch faces don't take into account the gap, though, which makes it look worse.

Some users have expressed concern over image persistence on the 360 screen, but I didn't encounter this problem.

There is some concern over image persistence on the 360. That's where images get temporarily stuck on the LCD. Some people are reporting the charging indicator can get stuck on the screen--it looks like burn-in, but it's not permanent. This should go away after a bit of use, but I haven't really seen this happen on my unit, even after being on the charger for over 12 hours.

The screen is great overall, but that might feed into the battery issues you may have heard about--more on that later.

The Band and the Stand

The Moto 360 currently comes with either a gray or black leather band made by the Horween Leather company. I don't usually care for leather bands on watches, but I've kept the stock one on the 360 for two reasons: it's actually a really nice band, and it's a pain to replace.

The leather is very soft and flexible, which makes it feel quite nice on the wrist. Not sticky or stiff like a lot of cheaper leather bands. It might stain a little more easily, and it does crease where the buckle rests. As for changing the band, it uses standard 22mm spring bars, but there's a small plastic notch on the body of the watch that keeps the band aligned. So any band you try to connect that doesn't have that gap will probably refuse to go in. Likewise, nylon NATO bands that have to be threaded through the lugs won't fit.

A lot of metal bands actually have that same notch taken out, so they'll attach fine. You can also cut a little triangle out of some fabric and leather bands to get them in there. It's not the end of the world, but I wish Motorola hadn't done that.

The charging stand almost makes up for the watch band issue, though. It's a small black cradle covered in soft touch plastic with a wireless charger built-in. Simply set the watch down, and it starts juicing up. Not only is that really cool and convenient, it uses standard Qi wireless charging. That means almost any Qi charger will work.

I've tested the Moto 360 on the official Nexus charger, as well as a number of third-party units. It works on all of them with no issue. So if something should happen to your charger, or you need a spare for work, you don't need to wait for Motorola to sell you an official one--just get any cheap Qi pad and call it a day. One thing to note, if you need ADB access on the Moto 360, the stand won't work. It offers no data connection at all. ADB only works over Bluetooth with the phone, and there's no Fastboot without a jury-rigged cable setup.

It's Android Wear, but with Fewer Corners

Google designed Android Wear with round watches in mind, but that doesn't mean there are a lot of tweaks specifically to accommodate it. In fact, there are only a few changes to the UI on the Moto 360 compared to the square watches. There are some instances where UI elements are cut off in unexpected ways, but most of the text and important buttons stay far away from the edges for just that reason.

It's a bit odd at first to use the 360 after getting used to Android Wear on a square device, but it's perfectly usable. The only minor annoyance with the round form factor is that some list items need to be pulled a little more toward center to be used because of the taper of the LCD toward the top and bottom.

The ARM processor in the Moto 360 is not a Snapdragon 400 like all the other watches, but an old TI OMAP 3 single-core Cortex-A8. It is neither as fast nor as power efficient as the newer chips, but it seems to do okay in the 360. There are occasional hiccups, but not often. While it is true that the UI isn't quite as smooth on the 360 as it is on the G Watch or Gear Live, you would really need one of those watches there for a side-by-side comparison to notice.

The only tweaks to the software specific to this device are the watch faces (which all OEMs get to do) and the use of ambient mode. This is different than the ambient sensor--it refers to having the screen always-on (ambient on) or only on when you raise your wrist (ambient off). The default is ambient off, which saves a lot of battery life (more on that shortly). The watch faces look excellent in full-color and ambient mode, though. Motorola did great stuff with the design of its watch faces. They are so much better than anything from LG or Samsung.

Battery Life

I've been using the Moto 360 everyday for a few weeks, so I think I'm past the "new toy" phase where I have to play with it all the time. As such, my usage has leveled off to the point where I can give an objective view of battery life. What you need to know is the Moto 360 has acceptable battery life, but it's not as good as other Android Wear devices.

The default setting for Ambient Mode is "off" for a reason. Without the screen on all the time, the Moto 360 runs for about 12-13 hours. That's maybe okay for a work day, but what if you don't charge it right away after getting home? A G Watch can last more than 24 hours with the screen always on. Without ambient mode, the Moto 360 can go a full 24 hours as well.

The old processor is certainly part of the problem, but the bright, vivid screen is probably an even bigger drain. To a certain degree, this is just the price you pay for having a very readable LCD. It's nice that you can charge the 360 on any Qi pad, but the battery life is something to consider when deciding whether or not to buy.

Is This the Smartwatch to Get?

The Moto 360 is a good smartwatch. It's my favorite among the currently available Wear devices. However, the longer I use it, the more I become convinced that's largely because of the way it looks. It's by far the most attractive Android Wear watch available or announced. Hardly anyone ever asked about the G Watch in the months that I wore it, but people are constantly floored by the Moto 360. It's just a beautiful piece of technology.

Looks are more important when it comes to watches that they are with phones. It's going to be on your wrist all day, so there are fashion concerns. I say this only in the abstract, though. I personally had no issue wearing a G Watch around everyday. If you care deeply about having an attractive watch on your wrist, the Moto 360 is worth the $250 asking price. If you have more mixed priorities, or you simply aren't sold on smartwatches, maybe you ought to wait a little while longer.