Quality control in consumer electronics seems to be getting a lot of attention these days, from the iPhone 6 Plus to the Galaxy Note 4, people are reporting issues via social media and posting pics to boot. Now Motorola may have an issue to deal with of their own, as several users are reporting their Motorola Moto 360 smartwatches are cracking along the backs, specifically where the watchband fits into the body. This is certainly not what you want to happen to your $250 piece of technology.
Pictures posted online appear to be stress cracks, one user had a Pebble steel band installed (pictured below) but the others had the original leather bands installed. The Pebble Steel band could be the cause of the cracking on the one unit but that doesn’t explain the others that have the OEM leather bands. As with any hardware issue this could be isolated and not be an problem for the majority of users but until we hear from Motorola and other users we won’t know for sure. The good news is Motorola is taking care of at least one of the users. Joe Betsill, whose watch is seen above, did confirm Motorola replaced his 360 and all is well for now. So it is encouraging that the company is willing to work with consumers.
We’re reaching out to Motorola for comment on the situation and hopefully they’ll have a statement soon. In the meantime, are you a Moto 360 owner? Have you experienced cracking on the backside of your Moto 360? Let us know in the comment below or on social media. You can also check out the Moto 360 cracking issues at the three links below.
Update: The mods over at /r/moto360 subreddit are attempting to gather some metrics on the Moto 360 cracking problem. You can find their thread on reddit and their surveys at the links below.
Update: Moto360 crack data1 Moto360 crack data2
Update 2: More users who have had cracked backs are getting replacements, seems Moto is aware of this and are gladly replacing the bad units. Check out the tweet below.
@Timotato @smartwatchme @Motorola already sent me a replacement, great customer service pic.twitter.com/Q08V4f6WHh
— R2 (@RussCorwin2) October 3, 2014
Update 3: RMA’s can be initiated on Motorola’s website.
Update 4: Some users are reporting Motorola is replacing their units while others are reporting Motorola is claiming “normal usage and wear”. So it might be a toss up if you actually get a replacement or not.
Update 5: The folks over at DrumNTech have a video out that attempts to explain why these Moto 360’s are cracking, with OEM leather bands or with third party metal bands, check out the video below.
[button link=”https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JamesSaxton/posts/dX2XvFhrz5e” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: James Saxton Google+[/button] [button link=”https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DustinCarpenter/posts/CZcuFdLKyZk” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Dustin Carpenter Google+[/button] [button link=”https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JoeBetsill/posts/7vuFCBiK37y” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Joe Betsill Google+[/button]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
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