A smartwatch is a beautiful piece of innovation. Essentially, a smartphone brings the major functionalities of your smartphone to your wrist. From fitness to tracking your heart rate and steps, even to placing bets on outstanding odds on Free Bet Sportsbook, there is a lot a smartwatch can get done for you on the fly.
But then, smartwatches don’t come for the price of chips. Given their relatively premium price, you want to ensure you are buying a smartwatch that best suits your needs. So the question comes: what should you look out for when buying a smartwatch?
Article Breakdown
What type of display do you want?
Contemporary smartwatch displays are split across LCD and OLED displays. LCD screens are richer in color and brightness. But this significantly shortens your battery life.
If you want a longer-lasting battery and generally enhanced smartwatch efficiency, it is advisable to go for a black-and-white display.
More expensive smartwatches are commonly furnished with OLED displays. These are more efficient substitutes for LCD displays as the former is better suited to slimmer smartwatch design.
Samsung holds the award for producing the first smartwatch to deploy an OLED display. This was when the South Korean manufacturing giant launched the Samsung Gear in 2013.
What type of compatibility do you want?
It is important to consider the range of devices your desired smartwatch would work with when buying a smartwatch.
As a rule of thumb, Apple watches are extremely discriminatory, working only with iPhones. If you need more versatility (regarding compatibility), you would be best suited to consider Wear OS devices.
Smartwatch models like the Fitbit Versa 2 boast an impressive range of device compatibility, working seamlessly with all iPhones and Android headsets.
However, smartwatches like the recently launched Google Wear OS have limited compatibility, working only with Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 (at present).
What fitness/health features do you want?
Fitness tracking is admittedly one of the biggest attractions of smartwatches today. A significant number of smartwatches available on the market today can monitor your activity.
Smartwatch makers are increasingly furnishing their products with an inbuilt pedometer. This helps in tracking (or counting) your step.
If fitness and workout are your primary reasons for buying a smartwatch, you could buy fitness trackers enhanced with functionalities that mirror smartwatches.
Products like the Garmin Forerunner 245 are excellent in this regard. Interestingly, this smartwatch has female-friendly features like recording periods and tracking symptoms.
What is the battery life?
The screen display fundamentally determines the battery life of a smartwatch. Your smartwatch’s battery would rarely last more than 48 hours (uncharged) if it had colored screens.
In some instances, smartwatches with colored screens have their battery lasting less than 24 hours without charge.
When you use your smartphone for traditional phone duties, its battery life will be substantially shortened. Do well to bear this in mind when buying a smartwatch.
How about charging?
If you don’t want the rigors of directly plugging your smartwatch into a charger, you can go for those with wireless charging.
Smartwatches like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 leverage wireless charging technology.
What apps will you need?
The spectrum of apps on your smartwatch directly influences your user experience. With increasing sophistication in smartwatch design, the latest models are beefed with a mammoth lineup of apps – sometimes running into thousands.
The Apple Watch readily comes to mind here, with an app roaster swelling into 20,000 available apps. Among this voluminous collection are favorites like ESPN, Uber, and MapMyRun.
The versatility of these apps means you can do almost anything you typically do with your smartphone on your smartwatch.
Well, Wear OS devices don’t disappoint either. While they don’t come with the bevy of already-installed apps like Apple Watch, you can install just any app on them. The caveat to this is that apps are only installable from your smartphone.
Will you make calls with your smartwatch?
If you find carrying your phone about as stressful, your smartwatch can be your relief – allowing you to pick calls directly from your wrist.
Sounds exciting?
Several smartwatches today are decked with built-in LTE. Thanks to this facility, you can leave your phone at home without missing out on vital calls.
Alternatively, you can choose smartwatches fitted with NumberShare (from Verizon) and NumberSync (from AT&T) that allow you to duplicate your number on your phone and smartwatch.
This way, you can still receive calls when your phone is not within range or even when your phone is switched off. Note that an exclusive data plan procurement is needed to enjoy this feature on your smartwatch.
The good news is that this will not cost you an arm and a leg. With a meager $10 monthly subscription, you can maximize your smartwatch’s cellular connectivity.
How about payment from your wrist?
The 21st century is lovably inundated with fintech. If you want to be paying for things from the convenience of your smartwatch, it is advisable to go for smartwatches embedded with NFC chips.
With this feature, you don’t need a phone in proximity to pay for items from your smartwatch. Apple watches come girded with Apple Pay.
Courtesy of this, you don’t need an LTE connection or have a phone around before paying for stuff from your wrist.
Samsung watches are typically supplied with Samsung Pay, while Wear OS devices come with Google Pay.