HARDWARE
The hardware of this smartwatch is not industry best, but it gets the job done.
One particular example is the display, which offers an adequate, though certainly not stunning visual experience. Instead of the AMOLED display tech used by the smarter set of smartwatches, Moto 360 2nd generation uses IPS LCD display technology, a choice that many customers find surprising and disappointing.
The Huawei watch sports a 400×400 pixel resolution display with 286ppi (pixels per inch). Contrast this with the Moto’s display which comes in at 263ppi for the 42mm model that appeals to men with smaller wrists and women, and the 46mm model that offers a 233ppi spec due to the larger diameter.
If Motorola’s smartwatch team wants to gain market share, in fact, if they plan to NOT LOSE market share during their upgrade to the 3rd generation, they would be well advised to fix this issue in a big way.
Another example is the protective cover of this smartwatch. The Huawei correctly uses sapphire glass to protect its smartwatch. Considering the investment one makes in a highly functional piece of art that decorates your wrist with great intelligence, all smartwatches should protect their sensitive surfaces with the ultimate in modern scratch resistant technology, even if it means embracing a bit of a sticker hike.
What would you rather have, a smartwatch that costs “x” price, which then gets inevitably scratched over mere months of typical use or a work of industrial art that costs more, but leaves your considerable investment rather scratch free for most, if not all of its life cycle?
Sapphire glass protection of smartwatches is the industry best technology. Motorola needs to improve this product by employing industry best surface protection technologies to mate with its industry best Moto Voice enabled smartwatch command and control. Gorilla Glass 3 is great, but its not even the current smartwatch protection market share leader, Gorilla Glass 4.
Two hardware features that are hitting the sweet spot with a good segment of Moto 360 customers are the bigger 400mAh battery on the 46mm model and the wireless charging dock.
The charging dock enables inductive charging so that all you really need to do is to casually place your smartwatch on the cradle horizontally and you get a 100 percent charge in two hours or less while enabling a small deskside or bedside clock, as the charging cradle allows the Moto 360 2nd generation to perform simple, yet very convenient clock functions while displaying status updates on the charge level.
There’s WiFi capability to enable notifications while you are in situations when and where you are not tethered to your smartphone, such as if you are more than Bluetooth 4.0 LE (Low Energy) distance apart from your beloved smartphone assistant in a large apartment, home, or office.
One disappointing item to note is the lack of NFC (Near Field Communications) technology on this smartwatch. By the time the next Moto 360 smartwatch comes to market, NFC technology enabled mobile payments will be well on its way to becoming a rather pervasive market leader in the form of both terminals and smartwatches. As such, Motorola is well advised to get this right in the 3rd gen of the Moto 360 or suffer market share loss, as customers will become increasingly fond of the UX ease of doing the wrist-to-pay maneuver via an NFC enabled smartwatch.
The Moto 360 2nd generation sports 9-axis gryo and accelerometer functions, a compass, pedometer, optical heart rate monitor underneath the watch, and it offers a housing that is rated at IP67 dust and water resistant, but which many customers are finding is not all its cracked up to be in watery resistance required circumstances.

Overall, the Moto 360 2nd generation offers quite capable everyday smartwatch capabilities and good, though not superior performance and user satisfaction with all its features and benefits.
It could use some sprucing up with the 3rd gen model or Motorola will start suffering market share loss.
On the other hand, there are simple and eminently obvious solutions to the hardware issues of better battery life, thus enabling vastly improved display performance via industry best AMOLED technology for the 3rd Gen model, more consistent Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity without the nettlesome drops, fewer [heat causing?] aggravating resets, which is a real performance bummer, and better microphone pick-up for improved voice command and control.
As stated, the hardware of the Moto 360 2nd generation is good, but it is not industry best. This only begs the question, “What could this smartwatch achieve if the Motorola design and engineering team put on a turbo-boosted smart cap to think up these obvious solutions that are already apparent to analysts who write such reviews, but who are not in a position to implement such?”
If there is enough demand from the readership, these solutions can be proffered in future updates.