Internal specs
At the heart of the Apple Watch is a custom-made S1 processor that confines its key specs to a single miniaturized chip. It sounds powerful, but we can't know for sure until next year.
Also onboard is what Apple calls its Taptic Engine to initiate haptic feedback that feel like taps on your wrist. Alerts, notifications and friends' conversations all produce a unique vibration.
We know more about Motorola's smartwatch at the moment. A Texas Instruments OMAP 3 processor makes it tick along with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage.
Moto 360 is noticeably slower than the earlier Samsung Gear Live and LG G Watch, as both Android Wear rivals went with a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor. It won't ruin your day, but we expect the Apple Watch S1 processor to surpass both chipsets on April 24.
Winner: Apple Watch. Truthfully, smartwatch specs are boring without monster processors and state-of-the-art graphics chips. It still manages to push with new chip innovation, which also puts the higher Apple Watch price into perspective.
Interface
Android Wear's Google Now-inspired interface isn't perfect, but it's an impressive start for the rather new product category for the company given its launch ten months ago.
Google's know-it-all software predicts what we're interested in before we even move. I looked up the Chicago Cubs' Wrigley Field and my Moto 360 nudged me that it's 24 minutes away.
As I walked in a few innings into the baseball game, it told me the score whenever I asked "OK Google, what's the score of the cubs game?" Sitting in the stands, it reminded me about my flight back home the next day.
Apple's software could be equally impressive thanks to its time-saving Glances feature and Siri that could make "OK Google" seem "just OK."
It also has a digital crown input on the side of the smartwatch, in contrast to Moto 360's small-screen swiping. Zooming and scrolling won't get in the way on the Apple Watch.
Winner: Tie. For now. Apple isn't known for data mining to the same degree as Google, so its ability to surface our need-to-know information at a glance is unproven. But the digital crown is a nice touch considering our fingertips (and fingerprints) hog smartwatch touchscreens.
Apps
The Apple Watch release date is April 24, and yet the company has already demoed several apps for its smartwatch months in advance to justify the Apple Watch price.
You'll know what to do in life with Calendar, where to go with Maps and how to check in with Passbook and keep your wallet in your back pocket with Apple Pay.
Apple Watch will also let you set the tone with Music or Remote for Apple TV and iTunes, and remember the best moments in life with the Camera Shutter remote and Photos app.
Stopwatch, Time and Alarm apps keep you on time, while Stocks keep you in the black. Weather or the third-party Dark Sky, exclusive to the Apple Watch and iOS devices, should keep you dry.
The thing is, with few exceptions, most of these apps are available on Moto 360 via Android Wear, as Google has had a few months to grow its Google Play Store smartwatch subsection before the Apple Watch launch.
Winner: Tie, but eventually Apple Watch. Moto 360 is here right now, but Apple Watch already has a healthy amount of apps ready for launch and it'll be able to handle phone calls from the wrist.
Fitness
Apple is taking fitness seriously with the Apple Watch that tracks activity with three metrics. Move shows how many calories you've burned while wearing the watch. Exercise keeps track of your most active minutes and Stand actually measures how long you spend on your feet.
Dedicated cardio exercise makes use of the Apple Watch's Workout app, which has real-time stats for your total exercise time, distance, calories and pace. Keeping you motivated are goals, reminders and achievements.
Like me after eating a cheeseburger, fitness isn't Moto 360's forte. Google Fit tracks steps like a pedometer and monitors your heart rate.
Motorola's slightly more robust Heart Rate Activity app goes an extra mile with a motivating countdown to 30 minutes of daily brisk activity and week-long streak indicators.
It also features an optical heart-rate sensor to keep track of your active (or less than active) ticker, but we're waiting for a Moto 360 update to really get the blood flowing.
Winner: Apple Watch. There's more to come, says Motorola and while the Moto 360 does some fitness chores, it's just pedometer and heart-rate information. Apple Watch is already demoing this and more.
Battery charging
Moto 360 and Apple Watch are designed to be worn seven days a week, but they also require recharging on a nightly basis.
That's why it's extra important to make juicing the battery as straightforward as possible. What I like about the Motorola's recharging method over the Apple Watch is the Qi standard.
Moto 360 uses the more widely adopted Qi wireless charging. In addition to coming with a dock that doubles as a nightstand, the smartwatch can be powered back up using Google's own Nexus Qi wireless charger meant for the Nexus 9 tablet and Nexus 6 smartphone.
Apple Watch uses a similar inductive charging solution with magnets for proper alignment. It's modelled after the MagSafe adapter used by MacBooks, but it's a proprietary charger nonetheless.
Winner: Moto 360. Grabbing a single multi-purpose charger for a roadtrip or borrowing a friend's Qi charger in a pinch is a little closer to reality when owning the Moto 360. I tested it out and it works with my universal Nexus Wireless Charger made by Google.
Which one should you buy?
You can't get away with using both, as Moto 360 and Apple Watch are tied to their respective Android and iOS platforms. Then again, you can only buy the Moto 360 right now.
Is Apple Watch price worth paying? It has a nice build quality, out-of-the-box band variety and tweakable watch face selection thanks to Apple's incredibly rare gift of user customization.
It's also a keener fitness tracking compared to Android Wear watches right now, including Moto 360. Google Fit really needs to catch up using its own secret gym.
None of this changes the fact that Moto 360 sports a classic circular watch face that's infinitely more stylish. You can't go around knocking Samsung Gear Live and LG G Watch for very computerized square displays and then praise Apple Watch for the exact same design.
In an ideal world, I'd fit the iOS 8-compatible Apple Watch into a round Moto 360 display, call it iWatch, and then call it a day. But that's not the ambitious design Jony Ive went with, at least not this time or the geeky tech name Apple wants to projects.
Apple Watch is worth waiting for, at least to see how it performs. But you may want to hold out (or at least not splurge) on the ultra-expensive Apple Watch Edition until Tim Cook and company make a circular version in the future too.
