Key Points
- There are many factors to consider when choosing the best smartwatch, including compatibility with your phone, supported apps, display, price, and battery life.
- The Apple Watch Series 7 was voted Best Smartwatch Overall. It has an excellent design and build quality, with a beautiful and bright OLED screen, great battery life, and many features, including GPS tracking and music playback controls.
- The best smartwatch for your budget is the Amazfit BIP U Pro, with its ingenious display that is easy to see in bright sunlight.
Smartwatches can help you do everything from getting texts and emails to tracking your sleep. However, with so many brands on the market today, it can be hard to know which one is right for your needs. To make things easier for you, we’ve researched to find the five best smartwatches worth your time and money. With these devices, you’ll be able to stream music and make calls without pulling out your phone or use them to count your steps and measure your heart rate throughout the day without breaking the bank! So without further ado, here are our top picks.
- Best Smartwatch Overall: Apple Watch Series 7
- Best Smartwatch for Android: Samsung Galaxy 4 Classic
- Best Fitbit Smartwatch: Fitbit Sense
- Best Fitness Smartwatch: Garmin Vívoactive 4S
- Best Budget Smartwatch: Amazfit BIP U Pro
Best Smartwatch Overall: Apple Watch Series 7
- Large, Retina display
- Compatible with your iPhone
- Highly customizable device
- Advanced fitness tracker
- Monitors blood oxygen & heart activity
- Water, dust, and crack resistant,
![Apple Watch Series 7 [GPS 45mm] Smart Watch](https://history-computer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/41eMn3D-PpL._SL500_.webp)
The Apple Watch Series 7 is a fantastic smartwatch that offers all the functionality you’d expect from a top-end wearable device at an affordable price. It has an excellent design and build quality, with a beautiful and bright OLED screen, great battery life, and many features, including GPS tracking and music playback controls. The Apple Watch 7 offers few new features and roughly the same hardware, but what it does have is beneficial, particularly its larger screen, which is 20% bigger but slightly wider on your wrist thanks to lower bezels. Its larger size and faster-than-ever charging make all the difference when using the wearable. The Apple Watch 7 is unquestionably a terrific wearable and the greatest smartwatch on the market today, with those features added to the still-excellent Apple Watch 6 – as long as you have an iPhone, that is.
The size of the display, the Apple Watchband you choose, and whether you choose the GPS + cellular option will all impact how much you ultimately pay for the Apple Watch Series 7. Regardless of the settings you select, the watch itself is water resistant and comes pre-configured with a decent selection of watch apps and interchangeable watch faces. However, the App Store offers tens of thousands of other optional apps and watch faces.
| OS: | watchOS 8 |
| Display: | 1.69 / 1.9″ OLED |
| Compatibility: | iOS |
| Processor: | Apple S7 |
| Onboard storage: | 32GB |
| Battery: | 18 hours |
| Charging method: | Wireless |
| IP rating: | Water-resistant to 50m |
| Connectivity: | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, LTE |
Check out the Apple Watch Series 7 on Amazon.
Best Smartwatch for Android: Samsung Galaxy 4 Classic
- BODY COMPOSITION ANALYSIS: Galaxy Watch4 Classic is the first smartwatch to off body composition data right on your wrist, On your own schedule, now you can get readings on body fat, skeletal muscle,...
- BETTER SLEEP STARTS HERE: Wake up feeling refreshed and recharged with advanced sleep tracking; When you go to bed, your Galaxy Watch4 Classic sleep tracker starts monitoring your sleep and SpO2...
- BE SMART ABOUT YOUR HEART: Take care of your heart with accurate ECG monitoring and keep an eye on possible atrial fibrillation, a common form of irregular heart rhythm; Share personalized readings...
- MAKE EVERY WORKOUT COUNT: Get the most out of every exercise session with advanced workout tracking that recognizes 6 popular activities, from running to rowing to swimming, automatically in just 3...
- GO THE EXTRA MILE: Improve your runs with advanced running coaching technology; VO2 Max readings assess your oxygen levels to manage and track your heart and lung endurance
If you’re looking for the best smartwatch on Android, the Samsung Galaxy 4 Classic is a great choice. It’s got all the features you’d expect from a top-notch smartwatch, like step counting and heart rate monitoring, with a few extras that make it stand out from the crowd. The Samsung Galaxy Watch4 Classic features a more robust version of the watch’s powerful operating system, advanced sleep, and continuous SPO2 tracking, fitness and auto workout tracking, a real-time ECG monitor, optional cellular data connectivity (for when Wi-Fi and a smartphone are not nearby), and tracking for both fitness and workouts. Additionally, you’ll see that it has a more streamlined appearance, is lighter than prior models, and has a battery life of up to 40 hours.
The Wear OS operating system, created jointly by Samsung and Google, is improved on the watch. You’ll find a ton of brand-new features for your health and fitness, like automated exercise recognition and ECG monitoring. Health and fitness enthusiasts will greatly appreciate the barometer, ambient light sensor, compass, optical heart rate sensor, and other valuable built-in technologies and apps.
| OS: | Wear OS |
| Display: | 1.2″ 396 x 396 / 1.4″ 450 x 450 Super AMOLED |
| Compatibility: | Android |
| Processor: | Dual-core 1.18GHz |
| Onboard storage: | 16GB |
| Battery: | 3 days on 44mm / less on 40mm |
| Charging method: | Wireless |
| IP rating: | IP68 |
| Connectivity: | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LTE (for extra) |
Check out the Samsung Galaxy 4 Classic on Amazon.
Best Fitbit Smartwatch: Fitbit Sense
- EDA Scan app helps detect stress
- Assess your heart for atrial fibrillation
- On-wrist skin temperature sensor tracks your sleep each night
- 6+ days of battery life
- Menstrual cycle tracker
- Compatible with Apple and Android
Fitbit Sense is a great Fitbit smartwatch. It comes with the classic Fitbit app, which syncs your data to the cloud to see your progress in real-time. You can also use it to track steps, distance traveled, calories burned, and sleep quality. The watch itself has an OLED display and is compatible with Android and iOS devices. It also includes GPS functionality to track your location when you run or walk outdoors.
You can track your health and fitness, but you can also use it to set reminders and alerts, making it an ideal watch for people who want to stay on top of their schedule while they work out or go running at the gym.
The Fitbit Sense also features built-in GPS, which is “swim-proof” (so it can be worn in and around water), and it boasts a battery that lasts around six days per charge. The overall design of the Fitbit Sense is clean and sophisticated. Thanks to its soft silicone band, it’s also reasonably comfy.
| OS: | Fitbit OS |
| Display: | 1.58″ AMOLED |
| Compatibility: | Android |
| Processor: | N/A |
| Onboard storage: | 4GB |
| Battery: | 6+ days |
| Charging method: | Magnetic |
| IP rating: | Water resistant to 5ATM |
| Connectivity: | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC |
Check out the Fitbit Sense on Amazon.
Best Fitness Smartwatch: Garmin Vívoactive 4S
If you’re looking for a smartwatch that can track your fitness, then the Garmin Vívoactive 4S is the best option. It has a built-in heart rate monitor and offers GPS tracking, which makes it ideal for runners or anyone who wants to use it while they play sports. The watch works with both iOS and Android devices, so you can use it even if you don’t have an Apple Watch or Android phone.
It’s difficult not to love the on-screen animated exercise demonstrations, which are useful for assessing your technique and include Pilates and yoga exercises. You also have access to a sizable selection of specialist fitness apps and built-in storage for playing music.
Although it lacks many of the productivity, communications, and general use applications found in other smartwatches, it includes energy monitoring, a pulse OX sensor, stress tracking, women’s health tracking, hydration tracking, respiration tracking, sleep tracking monitoring, and a mindful breathing tool. However, it does provide Garmin Pay, which enables contactless purchases similar to Apple Pay or Android Pay.
| OS: | Wear OS |
| Screen Resolution: | 218 x 218 pixels |
| Compatibility: | Android, iOS |
| Pixel Density Sharpness: | 280 PPI |
| Screen Size: | 1.1 Inch |
| Battery: | Up to 5 hours in GPS and music mode, Up to 7 days in smartwatch mode |
| Charging method: | USB cable |
| IP rating: | N/A |
| Connectivity: | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB |
Check out the Garmin Vívoactive 4S on Amazon.
Best Budget Smartwatch: Amazfit BIP U Pro
- Ultra-light design for all-day comfort
- Alluring 1.43” large color screen
- Over 60 sports modes for exercises
- Water resistant up to 50 meters
- All-round health tracking (sleep quality, heart rate, blood oxygen)
- Long battery life (up to a week)
Due to its reflecting LCD screen, the Amazfit BIP U Pro was revolutionary when it originally came out. It’s outdated technology, but it’s incredibly ingenious since the display allows ambient light to pass through; the brighter the light, the easier it is to read the display.
This has significant implications for battery life because it eliminates the need for a backlight to keep the display viewable in bright sunlight. On a single charge, the Amazfit Bip S is said to last up to 40 days! You can use this watch for a good month, even if these stats are slightly inflated. The S is the spiritual successor to the original Bip, which has been discontinued. It’s an improved version overall with a better screen, additional workouts, and a 5ATM water-resistant rating.
| OS: | Amazfit OS |
| Display: | 1.61 x 1.39 x 0.44 inches |
| Compatibility: | Android, iOS |
| Processor: | N/A |
| Onboard storage: | 4GB |
| Battery: | Up to five days with heavy usage, up to nine days with typical usage |
| Charging method: | Wireless |
| IP rating: | N/A |
| Connectivity: | Bluetooth |
Check out the Amazfit BIP U Pro on Amazon.
How to Pick the Best Smartwatch: Step by Step
It can be challenging to choose a new wearable in a market that is overflowing with options. How do you order your alternatives, and what should you search for? Just the beginning includes functionality, sensors, and compatibility. Before shopping for a smartwatch, here are a few things to consider.
OS and App Selection
You must choose the smartwatch OS you want to use before choosing apps to install. Any wristwatch will work with an iPhone running iOS, but the Apple Watch series offers the best compatibility. And if you have an Android smartphone, you can choose from any smartwatch outside of the Apple Watch because Android does not support it.
Even though a smartwatch is a relatively small gadget, it can run thousands of programs specifically made for it. Apps like WhatsApp and Uber are available that have been modified for the wristwatch platforms. Apple Watch supports numerous well-known apps, and Samsung’s Tizen OS appears to be catching up with the trend. Even Google has Wear OS, which is compatible with many apps designed specifically for smartwatches. As a result, you ought to purchase a watch that supports a lot of the programs you utilize frequently.
Display
Nowadays, a touchscreen display with full color is seen on most smartwatches. The make and model of the smartwatch will, however, significantly impact the display’s size and form. Select a simple display type and size for you to view and use. Additionally, it must be snug against your wrist. A monochrome smartwatch will have a far longer battery life than one with a full-color touchscreen display.
Battery Life
Most smartwatches’ rechargeable batteries are made to last at least a day before they need to be recharged. However, this will drain more battery life if you frequently use the smartwatch’s built-in speaker, GPS, or cellular connectivity. Make sure the smartwatch model you purchase will satisfy your demands by taking into account the battery life it gives in light of how you want to use it.
Pricing
The first thing you need to do is figure out how much you are willing to spend on a smartwatch. The more features it has and the more features it does, the more expensive it will be. If you want an affordable smartwatch that doesn’t have many features, then go for manufacturers with entry-level products in a very inexpensive price range like RealMe and Oppo.
If you want something a little more expensive and with a ton of features, then there are plenty of options out there that fit within your budget. Companies like Fossil and Fitbit provide quality watches in the mid-range if you want something better. Apple Watch Series 7 is the most recent model from the firm and a fantastic all-around wristwatch. You may also check out the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3, the company’s most recent offering in the Android smartwatch category.
What to Know Before Buying a Smartwatch
The first thing to look for is compatibility with your phone; for example, you cannot use an Apple Watch with an Android phone or a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 with an iPhone. Beyond that, think about the features and battery life. How frequently would you be happy charging it, and what functions do you require from your watch?
Also, consider how much you want from your smartwatch. Are you looking for fitness tracking? Do you want something that looks like a traditional watch? Do you want it to connect with other devices? All of these things will help determine what kind of smartwatch is right for you.
Using a Smartwatch: What it’s Like
Setting up a smartwatch is a pretty easy process. It involves downloading the necessary app, downloading the watch face, and then connecting the watch to your phone. Once you’re all set up, you can use the smartwatch as you normally would: by checking your email, social media, or even getting notifications from apps like Uber or Lyft.
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