My Moto 360 smartwatch is paired with the Moto X and I need to move it to the Nexus 6P. I found on the Internet that one has to do a factory reset of the watch in order to pair it with a new phone.

A factory reset feels like a very drastic thing to do just to simply move a watch from one phone to another. All the devices in this scenario are running Android, why isn't there a simple migration tool? For that matter, why can't I simply un-pair and re-pair the watch just like one does with every other Bluetooth device?

The main issue I have with doing the factory reset is losing my fitness data. I've been using Moto Body, which has an Android app, but no web app, so I want to be sure I have access to my data before wiping the watch.

Fortunately, I configured the Moto Body Android app to upload my data to Google Fit. The number of steps showing in the Google Fit web app matches what is displaying on my watch, so we are good to go there.

I already have Moto Body installed on the Nexus 6P, but it isn't showing any historical data, so while I have Moto Body configured to upload data apparently the Android app doesn't read that data. Very odd.

Ok, I am going to first remove the Moto 360 from Android Wear on the Moto X. Now we will do the factory reset of the Moto 360. Oops, don't have enough juice left on the watch, if memory serves it might need 80% juice to do the reset, I've put it on my Qi charging pad to carry on.

Unfortunately, the watch will not execute the pairing process until it has at least an 80% charge, so I will have to wait a while to pair it with the Nexus 6P.

11/07/15; 04:09:16 PM

You really can't appreciate how thin the phone is until you hold it your hand. Ironically, I think the larger size makes the thickness stand out. The Nexus 6P is not much thinner than my Moto X, yet in my hand it feels thinner.

Given how long large screen phones have existed, I am shocked that there are a lot of widgets that don't allow you to adjust their size. I mostly use 4x1 size widgets, which span the width of the screen on the Moto X but are a little short on the Nexus 6P. Perhaps I am being anal, but it drives me nuts that the widgets don't look centered, and the Google home screen layout does not allow me to manually center widgets.

11/07/15; 03:45:36 PM

My new Nexus 6P arrived this afternoon, and I am in the process of setting it up, but not after a brief panic. Before I swapped the SIM card from the Moto X to the 6P, I popped the Folio case on to the 6P. The case has a real tight fit and I had a real hard time getting it off.

Eventually I was able to push the upper left corner of the bottom part of the case off the phone and work the case off the rest of the phone. Anyone reading this who is planning to use the Folio case on the 6P ought to keep in mind that you won't easily be taking it on and off the phone.

I moved the SIM card from the Moto X to the Nexus 6P and started up both phones. One of the first things you do is set up the finger print scanning to access the phone, I've configured Nexus Imprint to read both of my index fingers. Like everyone says, the fingerprint scan is very fast, when you pick up the phone and place your finger on the scanner, it instantly unlocks.

Got to the spot where the 6P asked whether I was migrating from another Android phone, and if so I could use the Nearby Device feature to transfer settings from the old to the new phone. You tap Set Up Nearby Device in Google settings on the source phone.

The transfer sent my Google account info to the new phone via Wifi, and I was then prompted to enter the passwords for the two accounts that I use. Nearby Device Set Up configures all of the home screens, including widgets, app folders, and icons on the new phone to match your old phone. Icons for apps not yet on the phone are in gray until the app installs.

Right now the phone is in the process of installing all of the apps I use, and this is going to take some time because I have a fair number of apps to install. I wonder whether the app settings are going to be restored, or whether I will have to set them up, such as configuring Facebook and Twitter to log on to my account.

Turns out that you do have to re-configure any app that has a logon id and password, which is a good number of the apps that I have on my phone. It took me most of the evening to casually go through my apps like Facebook and Twitter to go through each one, the process from moving from an old Android phone to a new one is still too long.

11/06/15; 07:31:46 PM

Last built: Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 3:26 PM

By Frank McPherson, Friday, November 6, 2015 at 7:31 PM.