Technologies

Motorola’s Moto Watch Is Officially Here With Polar-Level Fitness Cred

The $150 Moto Watch is built for work and workouts alike, and will be available for preorder starting January 22.

Motorola is adding more muscle to its smartwatch lineup. Unveiled at CES 2026, the $150 Moto Watch combines a polished design with Polar-backed health tracking, bringing the insights of a sports watch to to a smartwatch that looks just as much at home in the gym as it does at the office.

Instead of going all-in on a rugged sports-watch look, the Moto Watch is designed to feel like a jack of all trades, with advanced features like dual-band GPS and a battery life that lasts over a week, putting other flagships to shame.

But the Moto Watch isn’t exactly trying to go head to head with Android smartwatches either. Like recent Motorola watches, the Moto Watch doesn’t run Google’s Wear OS. Instead it relies on Motorola’s own software, with support limited to Android phones. That puts it closer in spirit to brands like Amazfit or Withings, carving out its own lane between fitness-focused wearables and full-fledged smartwatches.

The Polar partnership brings health clout

One of the biggest curveballs to come from the announcement is Motorola’s partnership with Polar, a veteran in the fitness world. Polar is known for its highly accurate heart-rate chest straps used by professional and serious athletes, as well as dedicated sports watches that compete more directly with Garmin than mainstream smartwatches.

By teaming up with Polar, Motorola is making it clear that it’s serious about health tracking and the partnership instantly brings credibility and expertise from a trusted name in the space. Motorola says the watch supports more nuanced fitness insights such as heart-rate variability, sleep stages and recovery. It’ll also support dual-frequency GPS for more accurate location tracking, a feature typically reserved for dedicated sport watches or higher-end models like the Apple Watch Ultra 3, the Pixel Watch 4 and newer Galaxy Watches.

Easy on the eyes, heavy on the battery life

The Moto Watch looks like a blend of rugged sportwatch and polished analogue, and that’s no accident. Motorola designed it to be sleek yet tough, built to transition seamlessly from sweaty gym sessions to formal evening wear.

It has an aluminum frame, stainless steel crown and a 47mm (1.43-inch) round OLED display covered in Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3. The watchbands are meant to be interchangeable, with a stainless steel, silicone and leather-like options. It’s also compatible with third-party watchbands. The watch has an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance, which means it can be submerged under a meter of water for 30 minutes.

Battery life is another major selling point for Motorola. The company says the Moto Watch can last up to 13 days on a charge in raise-to-wake mode, or up to seven days with the always-on display enabled. If those claims hold up, the Moto Watch would leave most Android smartwatches from Samsung and Google trailing behind with their typical two-day battery life. Motorola also says the Moto Watch supports fast charging, adding roughly a day’s worth of charge in just 5 minutes.

Part of a broader Motorola ecosystem

Rather than positioning the Moto Watch as a standalone product, Motorola repeatedly framed it as part of its expanding Moto Things ecosystem. The watch integrates with Smart Connect, Motorola’s app for managing experiences across phones, tablets, and accessories.

Motorola also teased future alignment with its upcoming Qira AI platform, designed to work across Lenovo PCs, Motorola phones, tablets, and wearables. While there was no mention of any watch-specific AI features, Motorola says future updates could allow notifications, reminders and tasks to flow more seamlessly between devices.

Too soon to reach a verdict

Time will tell how the Moto Watch holds up in real-world testing. The watch will be available for preorders starting January 22 through Motorola’s website, and will officially go on sale on January 28.

For now, the Moto Watch offers a glimpse of Motorola’s vision for wearables, aiming to build an ecosystem of products that work seamlessly together. It’s not trying to pick up where it left off with its Moto 360 smartwatch (discontinued in 2019), but rather carve out a new lifestyle-focused niche backed by credible fitness tracking and long battery life.

For more announcements and first looks ahead of CES 2026, check out CNET’s full CES coverage.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, April 8

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 8.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Hint: It uses a lot of the letter Z for some reason. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: ___-Carlton (hotel chain)
Answer: RITZ

5A clue: Span of the alphabet
Answer: ATOZ

6A clue: Cable channel with an out-of-this-world name
Answer: STARZ

7A clue: Takes care of, as a squeaky wheel
Answer: OILS

8A clue: Toy on a string
Answer: YOYO

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: When a post receives far more negative comments than likes, in social media slang
Answer: RATIO

2D clue: World’s leading wine producer
Answer: ITALY

3D clue: Middle of the human body
Answer: TORSO

4D clue: Sleeping sound
Answer: ZZZ

6D clue: Tofu base
Answer: SOY

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for April 8, #562

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for April 8 No. 562.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Working out.

Green group hint: Cover your face.

Blue group hint: NFL players.

Purple group hint: Leap.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Exercises in singular form.

Green group: Sporting jobs that require masks.

Blue group: Hall of Fame defensive ends.

Purple group: ____ jump.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is exercises in singular form. The four answers are crunch, plank, situp and squat.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is sporting jobs that require masks. The four answers are catcher, fencer, football player and goaltender.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Hall of Fame defensive ends. The four answers are Dent, Peppers, Strahan and Youngblood.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ jump. The four answers are broad, high, long and triple.

Technologies

The $135M Google Data Settlement Site Is Live — See If You’re Eligible

Use the settlement website to select your preferred payment method, and you may end up $100 richer.

You can now file a claim in the $135 million Google data settlement. The case centers on claims that Android devices transmitted user data without consent. Specifically, the class action lawsuit Taylor v. Google LLC contends that Google’s Android devices passively transferred cellular data to Google without user permission, even when the devices were idle. While not admitting fault, Google reached a preliminary settlement in January, agreeing to pay $135 million to about 100 million US Android phone users.

The official settlement website for the lawsuit is now live. The final approval hearing won’t occur until June 23, when the court will consider whether Google’s settlement is fair and listen to objections. After that, the court will decide whether to approve the $135 million settlement.

In the meantime, if you qualify and want to be paid as part of the settlement, you can select your preferred payment method on the official website. There, you can find information on speaking at the June 23 court hearing and on how to exclude yourself or write to the court to object by May 29.

As part of the settlement, Google will update its Google Play terms of service to clarify that certain data transfers do occur passively even when you’re not using your Android device, and that cellular data may be relied upon when not connected to Wi-Fi. This can’t always be disabled, but users will be asked to consent to it when setting up their device.

Google will also fully stop collecting data when its «allow background data usage» option is toggled off.

Who can be part of the settlement?

In order to join the Taylor v. Google LLC settlement, you must meet four qualifications:

Be a living, individual human being in the US.
Have used an Android mobile device with a cellular data plan.
Have used the aforementioned device at any time from Nov. 12, 2017, to the date when the settlement receives final approval.
You’re not a class member in the Csupo v. Google LLC lawsuit, which is similar but specifically for California residents.

The final approval hearing is on June 23, so you can add your payment method until then. The hearing’s date and time may change, and any updates will be posted on the settlement website.

If you choose to do nothing, you will still be issued a settlement payment, but you may not receive it if you don’t select a payment method.

How much will I get paid?

It’s not currently known exactly how much each settlement class member will receive, but the cap is $100. Payments will be distributed after final court approval and after any appeals are resolved.

After all administrative, tax and attorney costs are paid, the settlement administrator will attempt to pay each member an equal amount. If any funds remain after payments are sent, and it’s economically feasible, they will be redistributed to members who were previously and successfully paid. If it’s not economically feasible, the funds will go to an organization approved by the court.