5 ways the new Android Wear 1.4 update gives your Moto 360 some much-needed smarts

The Android 6.0 Marshmallow updates for Motorola devices have been rolling out in the past several days--from the Moto G (2nd Generation) and the Moto X series of phones getting Android’s latest and greatest OS, even the new Android Wear 1.4 has been rolling out to compatible smartwatches.

Among the biggest improvements here are the under-the-hood performance tweaks that deliver better battery life, support for more gestures and an overall boost in the user interface response.

Some of the key new features to use with your Moto 360--including the first generation version--include:

1. The doze mode: With the addition of this mode, apps that are seldom used are put into a deep sleep state, and when the watch is lying still (like when you remove it and forget to place it in the charging cradle overnight) it goes into a low-power mode, both of these resulting in more efficient utilization of the watch battery. This directly translates into better battery life--an aspect that has been a long-standing bane of smartwatch users.

2. Smoother animations: The overall response of the watch user interface--especially when using watch faces that feature animations--appears far smoother than it did in the earlier Android 5.0.1 world.

3. Permissions improvements: As is with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the permissions system is now more granular than ever before--access to everything from the watch location to the sensors can be individually allowed or denied for its installed apps.

4. Improved gestures: Being a wearable operating system, the new Wear update brings more clarity to the gestures now supported by the watch--jiggle your arm to cancel an action and return to the watch face, drop your wrist (like you’re playing a piano chord) to take action on a card, and pivot your arm up and down to go back in the user interface.

5. A new reminders app: This is particularly useful--Wear 1.4 includes a Reminders app that syncs with your Google Keep, Calendar and Inbox reminders. It displays a simple list of upcoming reminders along with the due date and is a quick way to view upcoming to-dos. The app also features the ability to directly add new reminders.

Other enhancements include audio feedback in watches that have a built-in speaker (not in the Moto 360, but in devices like the Huawei Watch and the Asus ZenWatch 2.) Also coming up in Android Wear 1.4 are support for more languages and more messaging apps.