Motorola Likely To Release Moto 360 Watch Alongside Moto X+1 Phone In August

Motorola Mobility is not likely to break from the annual release cycle for the forthcoming Moto X+1, the follow-up to its Moto X phone, which debuted last August.

Gadget-lovers clamoring for the device can expect Motorola to release the Moto X+1 in the U.S. alongside the Moto 360 smartwatch this August. Motorola Mobility has not yet announced an official release date for the follow-up to its Moto X smartphone nor its Moto 360, the first touchscreen smartwatch with a round dial, but an August timeline corroborates the company's tweet from February: that it would offer a 2014 follow-up to the Moto X coming sometime “late summer.”

It offered a similar timeline for the Moto 360 when Google announced Android Wear, its new operating system for wearables. Motorola will call its latest flagship the Moto X+1 (or Moto X Plus One), according to historically accurate gadget leaker @evleaks, also known as Evan Blass, who unveiled what purports to be a marketing logo for the device.

Earlier this month, Blass mentioned back-plate options for the Moto X+1, alluding to the next stage of Motorola’s Moto Maker website. They include a slew of options in “genuine leather,” including black, red, grey and blue.

Motorola appeared to have accidentally leaked photos of the watch bands that will accompany the Moto 360 in March, showing seven different colors. Those included a dark-brown option, in addition to a tan leather band that Motorola’s lead designer for the Moto 360, Jim Wicks, has been wearing to media interviews. Both the brown and tan options are conspicuously absent from the leaked image. Wicks confirmed in March that the bands would be interchangeable.

Rumored specs for the Moto 360 allude to features like a sapphire glass-covered OLED display. Mockups of the Moto 360 released by Motorola don't show any connectors, meaning the device will be powered wirelessly by magnetic conduction technology – perhaps aided by alternative power methods to keep it running longer on a charge involving solar or kinetic energy.

The Moto 360 could also rely on its rechargeable battery, using minimal electricity by utilizing a low-power processor and connecting to smartphones through Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Motorola could also use an AMOLED display like that found on its phones. Images of the Moto 360 show a watch face like that on a Rolex or Citizen, with a black background that would utilize AMOLED’s individual pixel-lighting to save power.

Considering its unique design and rumors that the company is encountering manufacturing difficulties with mass production, Motorola may have limited availability for the smartwatch upon its initial release. International Business Times suspects Motorola will charge upwards of $399 for the Moto 360, provided it ships with the steel band alongside a leather option.

Specs for the Moto X+1 appear to have leaked on the mobile benchmark site GFXBench, with a 1080p, 5.2-inch display running on a quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage memory. Motorola appears to have upgraded the Moto X+1's camera over its predecessor, with 12 megapixels (instead of 10) captured by the main camera and 2 megapixels for the front-facing shooter.

Follow Reporter Thomas Halleck on Twitter @tommylikey