The best smartwatches | Engadget

A few years ago, the case for smartwatches was not clear. Today, the wearable world is filled with a variety of high-quality options, and some major players have made their way to the front of the pack. Chances are, if you’re reading this guide, you’ve already decided it’s time to upgrade from a standard watch to a smartwatch. Maybe you want less access to your phone throughout the day, or maybe you want to stay connected in a more isolated way. The list of reasons why you want a smartwatch is long, as is the list of factors you want to consider before you decide which one to buy.

What to look for in a smartwatch

Compatibility

Apple watches only work on iPhones, while Wear OS devices play well with both iOS and Android. Smartwatches made by Samsung, Garmin, Fitbit and others are also compatible with Android and iOS, but you need to install a companion app.

The SmartWatch OS will also determine the type and number of on-watch apps you can access. Not many of these are useful, though.

Price

The best smart watches usually cost between $ 300 and $ 400. Compared to budget smartwatches, which cost between $ 100 and $ 250, these valuable devices have advanced fitness, music and communication features. They often also include features like onboard GPS, music storage and NFC, which budget devices typically do not.

Some companies make special fitness watches: they can easily run north of $ 500, and we recommend them to serious players. Luxury smart watches from brands like TAG Heuer and Hublot can also be priced higher, but we do not support any of them. These devices can cost upwards of $ 1,000, and you’re usually paying less than the brand name and some unnecessary foreign selection of building materials.

Battery life

Battery life is our biggest complaint about smartwatches, but hopefully until later. You can expect two full days from Apple Watches and many Wear OS devices. Clocks using the Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor support extended battery modes that promise up to five days on a charge – if you’re willing to turn off many features, you know, displaying time. Snapdragon’s next-gen Wear 4100 and 4100+ processors were announced in 2020, but only a handful of devices – some of which are not yet available – are still using them. Other models may last five to seven days, but they generally have fewer features and lower quality performance. In the meantime, some fitness watches can last a week in charge.

Some smart watches now also support fast charging. For example, Apple promises that the Series 7 can go from zero to 80 percent power in 45 minutes and fully charge in 75 minutes. The OnePlus Watch is even faster, powering from zero to 43 percent in just 10 minutes. (Note that this is one of the only good things about the device.)

Communication

Any smartwatch worth considering provides call, text and app alerts to your pulse. Call and text alerts are self-explanatory, but if they mean a lot to you, consider a watch with LTE. They’re more expensive than their WiFi-only counterparts, but the data connection allows the smartwatch to pick up and receive calls, and do the same with text messages without having to be near your phone. As far as app alerts go, they will let you look down when they are delivered to your pulse and see if you need to check your phone right now.

Fitness tracking

Activity tracking is a big reason why people turn to smartwatches. An all-purpose timepiece should log your steps, calories and workouts, and most wearables today also have a heart rate monitor.

Many smartwatches also have onboard GPS, which is useful for tracking distances for runs and bike rides. Swimmers want something water resistant, and thanks to that most objective devices can withstand at least one dip in the pool. Some smartwatches from companies like Garmin are more fitness focused than others and offer more advanced features like heart rate-variation tracking, recovery time estimates, onboard maps and more.

Health tracking on smartwatches has also seen progress over the years. Both Apple and Fitbit devices can estimate the level of oxygen in the blood and measure ECG. But the cheaper the smartwatch, the less likely it is to have these types of health tracking features; If collecting such data is important to you, you will have to pay for the privilege.

Music

Your watch can not only track your morning run but also play music while you exercise. Many smartwatches allow you to save your music locally, so you can connect wireless earbuds and listen to tunes without having to carry your phone. Those who don’t have onboard storage for music usually have on-watch music controls, so you can control playback without whipping out your phone. And if your watch has LTE, no local savings required – you’ll be able to stream music directly from the watch to your pair of earbuds.

Always active performances

Most flagship smartwatches today have some sort of always-on display, whether it’s a default feature or a setting you can enable. This allows you to look down your watch to check the time on your watch and any other information you set to show on its watchface without having to pick up your pulse. This will undoubtedly affect the battery life of your device, but thanks to the always-on modes the display’s brightness dimms so it doesn’t run unnecessarily at its peak. Cheap devices will not have this feature; Instead, their screens will automatically turn off to save battery and you will have to deliberately check your watch to re-open the display.

NFC

Many smartwatches have NFC, which allows you to pay for things without your wallet. After saving your credit or debit card information, you can grab your smartwatch at NFC Reader to pay for a cup of coffee on the way home from the race. Note that different watches use different payment systems: Apple watches use Apple Pay, Wear OS devices use Google Pay, Samsung devices use Samsung Pay and so on.

Apple Pay is one of the most popular NFC payment systems, with support for multiple banks and credit cards in 72 different countries, while Samsung and Google Pay operate in smaller areas. It is also important to note that both NFC payment support varies according to the device as well as for the systems of Samsung and Google.

Engadget selection

Excellent overall: Apple Watch

Apple Watch has evolved into the strongest smartwatch since its debut in 2015. This is a no-brainer choice for iPhone users, and we don’t judge you by switching to an iPhone to be able to use the Apple Watch. The latest model, the Apple Watch Series 7, has solid fitness tracking features that will meet the needs of beginners and serious athletes. It can also find out if you have fallen, perform ECG tests and measure the level of oxygen in the blood. In addition, it offers NFC, onboard music storage and many useful apps as well as various ways to respond to messages.

The main differences between the previous Series 7 and Series 6 are the 7’s larger display, overnight breathing tracking and faster charging. The slight increase in screen real estate allows you to see things more clearly on smaller devices, and Apple has managed to fit a full QWERTY keyboard into it to give users another way to respond to messages. The fast charging capabilities are also remarkable – we got 10 percent power in 10 minutes of the watch sitting on its charging disc, and it was fully recharged in less than an hour.

While the $ 399 Series 7 is the most featureful Apple Watch to date, it is also the most expensive model in the Watch lineup, and for some buyers the older versions may not have the obvious advantage. For those who don’t need an always-on display, ECG or blood oxygen readings, consider the Apple Watch SE, which starts at 279.

We really consider the Watch SE to be the best choice for first time smartwatch buyers or people on a tight budget. You’ll get all the core Apple Watch features as well as things like crash detection, voice monitoring and emergency SOS, but you’ll have to do without the more advanced hardware features like blood oxygen sensors and ECG monitors.

Buy Apple Watch Series 7 on Amazon – 399
Buy Apple Watch SE on Amazon – 279

Excellent budget: Fitbit Versa 2

Leaving $ 400 on a smartwatch is not possible for everyone, so we recommend the Fitbit Versa 2 as the best sub-$ 200 option. This is our favorite budget watch because it offers a bunch of features at an excellent price. You get all of these essentials: Fitbit’s solid exercise-tracking capabilities (including automatic workout detection), sleep tracking, water resistance, connected GPS, blood oxygen tracking and six days of battery life. It also supports Fitbit Pay using NFC and has Amazon Alexa built-in for voice commands. While the Versa 2 usually costs 150, we’ve seen it as low as 100.

Buy the Fitbit Versa 2 on Amazon – $ 150

Best for Android users: Samsung Galaxy Watch 4

Samsung recently teamed up with Google to modify its smartwatch OS, but that doesn’t mean Tizen fans should be concerned. The Galaxy Watch 4 is the latest wearable flagship from Samsung and runs on WearOS with the new One UI, which will feel familiar if you have used Tizen before. Plus, the watch now comes with improved third-party app support and access to the Google Play Store, so you can download apps directly from the watch.

We love the Galaxy Watch 4 for its premium design as well as its extensive feature set. It has a 3-in-1 biometric sensor that enables features like body mass scanning, blood oxygen tracking and more, as well as an abundance of trackable workout profiles. Both the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic run on new 5nm processors and have more storage than ever before, as well as sharp, bright displays. They both run smoothly and rarely slow down, but that performance enhancement comes with a small sacrifice for battery life: the Galaxy Watch 4 usually lasts about a day in our testing, which, though not the best, may not be a deal breaker for you if you spend every night. Recharge plan.

Buy Galaxy Watch 4 on Amazon – $ 250

Fashion-forward options

Yes, there are still companies trying to make “fashionable” smartwatches. In the past when wearables were novel and generally ugly, brands such as Fossil, Michael Kors and Skagen found their place in stylish smartwatches that took cues from analog timepieces. You also have the option of picking up a “hybrid” smartwatch from companies like Withings and Garmin – these devices look like standard pulse watches but include some limited functionality like activity tracking and heart rate monitoring. If you prefer that look they remain good choices, but thanks to the wearables made by Apple, Samsung, Fitbit and others have become very attractive in the last few years.

After all, the only thing you can change when you buy a smartwatch is its case design. If you’re not in the square-off corners of the Apple Watch, all of Samsung’s smartwatches have round cases that look a bit more like a traditional watch. Most wearables are offered in a choice of colors and you can pay extra for premium materials like stainless steel. Once you decide on the case, your band options are endless – there are dozens of first- and third-party watch straps available for most major smartwatches, allowing you to change your look whenever you want.

Cherlynn Low contributed to this guide.