Top Factors to Consider While Purchasing a Smartwatch
Technology is evolving, and so are our requirements. Now the technology has succeeded in making your wristwatch work like a music player, a mobile phone, and a fitness specialist. If you are an ardent fan of compact gadgets, the smartwatches are worth a try. Smartwatches, since their inception, have gained a lot of public attention. It could perform anything from health check-ups to making calls!
Smartwatches are available in plenty these days. And the toughest task has been to choose the one that suits you. This article will detail the factors that one needs to consider while buying a smartwatch.
Factors to consider while buying a smartwatch
Compatibility
Compatibility is the prime factor one needs to look for before choosing your wrist partner. If you are an android user, certain brands like Apple watches will fall in the ‘restricted category’. It is because not all smartwatches are compatible with the phones you carry. And only compatible devices can transfer or build data. You can monitor your health status from information received through the watch only if you have a compatible pair.
Apple watches are compatible only with iPhones. On the other hand, brands like Fitbit work well with android phones as well as iPhones. Samsung Galaxy smartwatch runs on Tizen and is efficient for androids as well as iPhone. Though this is the case, the experience can be tiring, and some features may be denied when a Samsung watch is coupled with an iPhone. Hence, compatibility is one of the factors to look for while buying a smartwatch.
Battery Life
I never leave my watch aside, even at bedtime. If you are one of my genres, battery life is a cause of concern.
The smartwatches can live for 18 hours to one week, depending on what brand you carry. But remember, those which offer life till the weekend compromises most features except displaying the time. The Apple Watch lasts up to 18 hours whereas the Fitbit Version Lite can sustain for 4 days steadily.
Smartwatches adopt smart technologies for their charging. Wireless charging is a common mode of charging for smartwatches. Instead of plugging, place the watch over the charging puck and charging occurs through electromagnetic induction.
Display Screen
Whatever be your purpose of the smartwatch, display features are crucial. Before buying, thou should be given to choosing the watch that suits you best.
Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy watch uses LED display. Brands like Movado Connect employ AMOLED whereas the Fitbit uses LCD.
The OLED in Apple Smartwatches are known for their superb quality but comes at a cost of higher price and reduced battery life. The display is an important factor to consider while choosing a smartwatch because unlike the software that gets a regular update, display settings are less adjustable.
Fitness and Health-Related Features
No one buys a smartwatch to make a call or play random music. The top attraction of this device is the fitness features it carries along. Hence it is necessary to verify that the brands you choose fulfill your fitness requirements.
Fitbit Versa 2 has a sleep tracker. It gives information on your sleeping pattern by analyzing your body movement and heartbeat while sleeping. In the morning, the watch will produce qualitative evidence of different phases of your sleep- light sleep, deep sleep, etc. Sleep app is a common feature of many premium brands like Mi Smart Band 5, Polar M430 GPS Running Watch, Apple Watch Series 6.
Some brands have built-in pedometers that help us recognize the number of steps climbed each day.
Apart from its ability to detect the heart rate, a dozen smartwatches could detect the calorie burnt or energy expended each day.
Therefore, be wise when you choose the brand. Ensure that it offers all the fitness features that you need the most.
App Availability
Brands take special care to ensure that their product supports all the essential apps for users. But nothing can be taken for granted. Application support is one important factor to be verified before selecting a brand.
Popular networking apps like WhatsApp, Twitter are available for every brand. Apple watches have a dedicated Apple Watch App Store with over 20,000 apps for users to satisfy their requirements.
Google’s Wear OS also has thousands of apps in its store that could be downloaded directly on the watch.
Budget
Price is one of the determining factors while buying a smartwatch. Brands like Mi offer you one at Rs. 4000 ($55) whereas the premium ones from Apple can go higher than Rs. 50,000 ($690). Though it may depend completely on the user’s financial ability, we suggest you go through a detailed comparison of features offered by various brands. Competition in the market has forced brands to offer quality services at a lesser price.
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Having said the factors to be considered while buying a smartwatch, let us take a look at some of the popular brands you can try.
Apple Watch Series 5
Apple is undoubtedly the crowned one in the Smartwatch market. Depending on the model, the price of this product varies from $399 to $1399. Excellent fitness tracking and heart rate monitoring features make it one of the most sought models. It has an ‘Always on’ display, avoiding the need to flick the screen to turn it on. It also has advanced security features like placing an emergency call if it detects that you have fallen or lay motionless for at least 60 seconds.
Fitbit Versa 3
Fitbit Versa 3 is a cost-effective yet efficient smartwatch. Its integrated GPS and long battery life make it a perfect choice for many. Though it does not have the usual fitness features like stress tracking and skin temperature detection, it can measure blood oxygen levels while sleeping. The price of this model starts at $229.95. Fitbit offers its new users free access to workout videos of brands like Barre3 and Gaiam’s Yoga Studio.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 3
Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 is known for its elegant design, super-light, and decent fitness features. Even if you forget to turn on the fitness tracking feature, certain activities will automatically trigger the app to function. These activities include swimming, running, cycling, etc. Another stunning feature unique to this Samsung product is the rotating bezel. But a terrible setback for this model is its high charging time. It requires around 2-3 hours to charge the device completely. The price of this device starts at Rs. 30,000 ($413).
