A solid smartwatch lets you get call, calendar and text notifications on your wrist as well as control music, make contactless payments and monitor sleep. Ideally, it also offers advanced fitness tools that provide detailed insight into your health.
1. Fitbit Sense 2
The Fitbit Sense 2 offers everything you need in a fitness tracker, including heart rate monitoring and sleep tracking. This second generation device also comes with a more comfortable design that is lighter and slimmer than the original. It even features a physical button, which replaces the touch panel sensor that was a pain to use on the first model.
The Sense 2 uses a refreshed version of Fitbit OS that is now much closer to Wear OS and feels more like a proper smartwatch. The UI looks great, performance doesn’t lag and swiping left and right to view apps or widgets is a lot more intuitive than the previous layout.
The most important upgrade on the Sense 2 is the addition of a new cEDA sensor that monitors stress via skin temperature and heart rate variations. The watch will notify you of any signs of stress and provide on-screen prompts for ways to relax, such as a guided breathing exercise or meditation session. It also offers all the standard fitness and sleep tracking features, and has a battery life of up to six days.
2. Samsung Watch5 Pro
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is the second generation of Samsung’s smartwatch line. It has a sleek design and is suitable for daily wear, but it also packs in some high-end fitness tools. It takes aim at Garmin’s popular lineup of GPS watches with a more durable build and some extra features, like the ability to track your blood oxygen levels and electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring.
It uses a combination of optical, electrical and bioelectrical impedance analysis sensors to track your heart rate continuously and automatically detect atrial fibrillation and other abnormal heart rhythms. It also includes built-in GPS to track your speed, distance, and elevation, as well as a sleep tracker that keeps tabs on light, deep, and REM cycles.
The battery life is good, too, at about 70 hours on a full charge. That’s not an industry best, but it’s close enough to keep you from having to worry about charging it too often. It also supports cellular connectivity so you can make calls and use apps like Spotify and YouTube Music, even when the watch is not paired to your phone.
3. Google Pixel Watch 2
With the Pixel Watch 2, Google finally has a smartwatch that looks and feels like it belongs with an Android smartphone. It looks almost identical to the first Pixel Watch, except the screen now sits flush with the digital crown and is 10% lighter thanks to the switch to aluminum instead of stainless steel.
Inside, the Pixel Watch 2 adds new sensors for ECG and skin temperature readings, a more accurate heart rate sensor (with multiple points of contact) and stress tracking. It also has better battery life, faster charging and more intuitive scrolling than the original.
The Pixel Watch 2 is available to buy now for $349, or you can get a free one with the purchase of any Pixel phone. Both versions come with a year of YouTube Premium and six months of Google Play Music, and they work with Android smartphones running 8.0 or later.
Other features include GPS, cellular connectivity, a waterproof design and support for all the usual Wear OS apps. It also comes with a dedicated app for Gmail and Calendar and the ability to answer phone calls on your wrist.
4. Fossil Q Venture
The Fossil Q Venture is a smartwatch that focuses on style and customisation over cutting-edge functionality. It does this while keeping its prices reasonable. The fourth-gen model is a good choice for those who aren’t necessarily looking to get the most accurate fitness tracker for their money. It can monitor heart rate across a variety of workouts, and has a number of watch faces that can display beats-per-minute.
It also has a day’s worth of battery life and offers fast magnetic charging. It can also be customized using a Fossil Q app to curate your experience, and the pusher on the side of the watch allows you to skip songs or set unique ringtones.
Like the Q Marshal and Q Wander, it’s powered by Qualcomm’s Wear 2100 processor. This is a slightly older chip than what we’ve seen from other manufacturers, but it still manages to deliver an impressive performance. It can track walks, runs and cycling rides. It can even make mobile payments, thanks to the inclusion of NFC. The Fossil Q Venture and the Q Explorist HR are both aimed at the fashion-conscious and run Google’s Android Wear 2.0 software, which adds nifty features such as Google Assistant, standalone apps and smarter watch faces.
5. Huawei Watch GT 4
The Huawei Watch GT 4 is a premium-looking sports-oriented smartwatch with an inventive design. The 46mm device features a titanium-coated stainless steel case with a matte finish that gives it an attractive, premium look. It also has a distinctly unique octagonal form that sets it apart from traditional circular or rectangular smartwatches and provides a very pleasant haptically feel to the device.
The device comes with a 1.43-inch round AMOLED display and a resolution of 466×466 pixels and a 326 PPI pixel density. The device also has support for always-on display. It delivers a high-contrast experience even in direct sunlight. It boasts of two-week battery life when not using continuous metrics and has excellent wireless charging capabilities.
The watch is loaded with various features including 24hr heart rate monitoring, around-the-clock SpO2 monitoring, stress level detection and a breathing exercise app. It can also track your sleep and has a Health Cloverleaf that analyzes multiple areas of well-being. It also has built-in GPS that allows the user to map routes and tracks their pace during outdoor activities.