New Moto Watch 40 looks to beat Galaxy Fit 3 at its own budget game

News
By Michael L Hicks
published

Motorola's $65 fitness tracker has all the essentials, but Samsung's leaked tracker has some key upgrades to make it more compelling.

A render of the Moto Watch 40 in front of dozens of different possible watch faces.
(Image credit: Motorola)

What you need to know

  • Moto revealed its new Moto Watch 40 on its website on Thursday. 
  • The LCD watch has a 10-day battery life, IP67 water resistance, HR and SpO2 data, and it weighs 26g with a strap.
  • Motorola promises in-depth sleep tracking and "deep integration" with Google Fit for Android fans. 
  • It costs $64.99 and should go on sale soon. 

After months of leaks surrounding Samsung's new Galaxy Fit 3 band, another budget fitness tracker from Motorola has arrived with a very similar look and spec sheet: the Moto Watch 40. 

The Moto Watch 40 store page shows reasonable specs for its $65 price tag, starting with a 1.57-inch LCD display, IP67 dust and water resistance, and 10-day battery life with continuous heart rate data active. 

While other fitness trackers do better for battery life, the Moto Watch 40 makes up for it with an insane 25-minute charge time to go from 0% to 100%. Most trackers take two hours to charge, in our experience, whereas you can top the Watch 40 off quickly.

Running Moto OS, the budget fitness tracker doesn't have much in the way of smarts aside from a weather widget, notifications, and nightly sleep-stage summaries. You'll mostly use the Moto Watch 40 for tracking workouts, with basic data like step count, calories burned, and distance via your phone's connected GPS. 

While it's narrow enough that it barely skirts the border between watch and band, the Moto Watch 40 will look very familiar to fans of trackers like the Amazfit Band 7 or Xiaomi Band 7 Pro, two sub-$100 AMOLED bands with core health and fitness tools. 

A leaked image of the packaging for Samsung's Galaxy Fit 3 in black and white colorways.

(Image credit: Reddit)

That said, it most closely reminds us of the Galaxy Fit 3, recently leaked to have a 1.6-inch AMOLED display, IP68 rating, and three extra days of battery life — even though its 200mAh capacity is smaller than the Moto Watch 40's 240mAh. 

Supposedly, the Fit 3 will cost about $99 or more, making the Moto Watch 40 the more affordable option. It also won't have built-in GPS or tap-to-pay, but it allegedly does have over 100 sports modes, SOS and fall detection, and may have a much higher resolution than the Watch 40, according to a recent SamMobile leak.

Ultimately, the Moto Watch 40 has a competitive price, but there just aren't enough details on the site of what, exactly, it brings to the table in terms of sports tracking and software that competing fitness trackers don't. With Samsung pivoting to fitness AI and brands like Amazfit giving you a fitness score based on your workouts, the Moto Watch 40 has stiff competition. 

Michael L Hicks
Michael L Hicks
Senior Editor, VR/AR and fitness

Michael is Android Central's resident expert on fitness tech and wearables, with an enthusiast's love of VR tech on the side. After years freelancing for Techradar, Wareable, Windows Central, Digital Trends, and other sites on a variety of tech topics, AC has given him the chance to really dive into the topics he's passionate about. He's also a semi-reformed Apple-to-Android user who loves D&D, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings.

For wearables, Michael has tested dozens of smartwatches from Garmin, Fitbit, Samsung, Apple, COROS, Polar, Amazfit, and other brands, and will always focus on recommending the best product over the best brand. He's also completed marathons like NYC, SF, Marine Corps, Big Sur, and California International — though he's still trying to break that 4-hour barrier.