What Is The Best Smartwatch For You?
Of all the “smart” devices out on the market today, smartwatches have caught the attention of many individuals. Not only do they take a lot of the guesswork out of your daily tasks, but in many cases make them fun as well. In addition, the best smartwatch offerings are fashion accessories of sorts, boasting as they do exciting looks that run the gamut from sporty to sleek. Just as there’s a smartwatch to match your personal style, each comes a unique set of features sure to match your lifestyle as well.
Best Smartwatch In The Market Today
Narrowing Down Smartwatch Options
At its most basic, a smartwatch will not only tell time but run various fitness and other apps, make calls and send messages. Most sync with a specific operating system connected to your phone. That means if you’re already addicted to a particular type of phone, your choice of coordinating smartwatch is automatically narrowed. But even within those parameters — whether you’re an Android or an iPhone fan — you’ll likely have several choices.
What needs suit your lifestyle best? A waterproof smartwatch? Hold a charge for a long period? Act as a virtual wallet? Should it function on its own, without a coordinating phone? These consolidations, along with looks and price, will likely help you decide which smartphone is best for you.
1. Apple Smartwatch
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Apple tends to land consistently at the top of the “best all-around” categories of smartwatches. Apple Watch 3 is the latest iteration, made notable because it comes with LTE capabilities (There’s also a less expensive, non-LTE version).
If you’re the kind of person who hates being tethered to anything including your cell, then the extra dollars to run the LTE will probably be worth it. Otherwise, go for the less-expensive non-LTE Apple Watch 3. It syncs with your iPhone and also has a longer battery life than the LTE version.
Aside from the LTE option, the Apple Watch 3 is a superior fitness watch, with its expansive ability to track your fitness progress, water-resistant casing, GPS, music selections,message-sending ability — and fast speeds.
2. Samsung Smartwatch
Samsung is serious enough about its Gear Sport smartwatch to have created its own operating system, Tizen OS, but it’s also compatible with Android and iOs systems. Gear Sport’s main claim to fame is the attention put into making the face of the watch into a highly clear screen.
This superior face, and sleeker overall look, help balance out the drawback — the battery life averages 2 days. You’ll need to weigh whether needing to charge this watch slightly more often than other models is a deal-breaker or not.
The Gear Sport also offers offline Spotify playback, so that your special workout setlist can be onboard with you even when you’re in the park. The built-in GPS will keep you from getting so into the zone listening to your music and tracking your run, that you won’t literally go off course. Are you often in the water? This Samsung offering isn’t just water-resistant, it’s 50-m waterproof.
3. Google/Android Wear
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Android Wear watches are analogous to Apple Watches in that they are Google’s version of the Apple brand. Yet you’ll find more variety within the Android smartwatch family because several partners are enabled to use the Android Wear technology. That arrangement means that there’s probably at least one look, and a set of apps, that match your own lifestyle perfectly.
If one of your criteria is a watch that isn’t “married” to either Android or Apple, the Android Wear might be ideal for you. You might not be able to open quite as many Apple features if you’re syncing your iPhone with an Android Wear smartwatch, but you can still do a surprising amount of interfacing.
Android Wear’s fitness tracker is the popular Google Fit, but you’ll also have access to Google Assistant, music, and various apps. Depending on which smartwatch you choose, available apps and battery life may be an issue, so make sure to read the individual specs carefully.
Along with LG (considered below), Android Wear options include Huawei Watch 2, Fossil Q Founder, Asus ZenWatch 3, and Tag Heuer Connected.
4. LG Smartwatch
LG smartwatches are arguably the “kings” of Google’s Android Wear family. The LG Watch Sport and the LG Watch Style each have decidedly different audiences. This makes the choice easier — at least for some people! As their names suggest, the first is geared to a super-active lifestyle, while the other works to combine form and function.
The headline for the LG Watch Sport is that, like Apple Watch 3’s LTE version, it’s available with a no-smartphone-needed, 4G option. The LG Watch Sport also one of the most feature-packed watches out there.
LG Watch Style’s claim to fame is its sleek good looks, not just in terms of the non-clunky watch band, but also its thin, jewelry-like face. The downside to LG Watch Style is that there is no heart-rate monitor or GPS — but you may find this disadvantage offset by the fact that it’s less expensive than the LG Watch Sport.
5. Pebble Smartwatch
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Pebble smartwatches captured the public imagination a few years’ back with their distinctive squared shape, minimalistic look, and root-worthy Kickstarter origin. Unfortunately, the company is now defunct. But these distinctive-looking watches are still being offered through various online and in-store retail outlets. So if you’re looking for a minimalistic gadget this may be the best smartwatch for you.
Pebble smartwatches have plenty of fitness and sleep-tracking apps so that you can do everything from monitor calories burned to syncing your selected workout with your desired beats-per-minute. Watches are still on the market that works with either Apple or Android.
Still can’t decide? Tabletguy shows us his choices of the best smartwatches in 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyWFm3Fpz14
Keep in mind that new smartwatch models are continually being introduced by existing major manufacturers, and new makers are on the horizon. Even already-iconic models like Apple Watch and Fitbit are finding new ways to bring new apps and capabilities to the table. So before you buy your first — or next — smartwatch, stick with us to keep up to date on the latest upgrades to these fascinating and endlessly useful devices.
Which smartwatch do you think is best for you and your lifestyle? Let us know in the comments section below.
