Here are the best smartwatches you can buy in 2019
If you’re sick and tired of reaching into your pocket for your smartphone every time your phone buzzes, you’ll probably find the convenience of a smartwatch that delivers notifications to your wrist appealing.
The best smartwatches come with a multitude of preinstalled apps for displaying calendar entries and other useful info, but more often than not, what attracts people to buying their first wrist wearable is the fitness features they offer. If you’re seriously into sports, you might better off looking at our list of best fitness trackers, but now that many smartwatches offer built-in GPS, along with features such as step counting and heart-rate monitoring, the lines between the two types of device have become increasingly blurred – you’ll find most of the devices below will accurately track your run or bike ride without it being tethered to your phone.
Without further ado, scroll down to read our pick of the best smartwatches you can currently buy. Below this, you’ll find our short guide to how to choose the right smartwatch for you.
News update: Samsung announces Galaxy Watch Active
Samsung has announced the latest addition to its range of smart wearable technology, the Galaxy Watch Active. The new smartwatch appeared alongside a host of new products at the recent Galaxy S10 launch on Wednesday 20 February, and it pretty much confirmed what all the rumours in recent months had suggested.
This means that the Galaxy Watch Active is, essentially, a more stylish, approachable version of Samsung’s more chunky, masculine Galaxy Watch and Gear Sport. As the name suggests, it’s fitness-focused and will track your steps, calories, heart rate, sleep and more.
Will the new product end up on our list below? Stay tuned for our full review, which will be coming very soon.
The best smartwatches 2019
Apple Watch Series 4: Best for iPhone users
Price when reviewed: From £399
The Watch 4’s headline health features (ECG functionality and atrial fibrillation detection) might not be making an appearance in the UK any time soon but despite this, there’s plenty to love about Apple’s new smartwatch. For a start, the company has redesigned the device from the ground up, meaning it come in two new sizes – 40mm and 44mm – and has a 30% larger screen than before. This makes using the Watch much easier than before and you can now also add up to eight watch face complications, so all the most information is front and centre, right where you need it.
Elsewhere, it’s had a significant performance boost too – Apple claims it’s twice as fast as the Watch 3 – and the speaker’s maximum volume is 50% louder than before. Battery life is still advertised as 18 hours, but in real-world use we’ve found it lasts closer to double this. All in all, the Watch 4 improves on the Watch 3 in nearly every conceivable way, making it the best smartwatch we’ve ever tested.
The catch? You’ll need an iPhone to use it. Oh, and it’s pretty expensive.
Apple Watch Series 3: Still excellent, now £50 cheaper
Price when reviewed: From £279
The Watch 3 has been succeeded by its bigger, prettier sibling, the Watch 4, but it’s still one of the best smartwatches you can buy. And best of all, it’s just had a £50 price cut across all models. In terms of features, the only thing lacking on the Watch 3 that’s currently offered by the Watch 4 is fall detection and the option to have the more sophisticated watch faces with up to eight complications (you can still add as many as five). It obviously has a smaller screen, and there’s no haptic feedback on the digital crown, but otherwise the Watch 3 does everything you can do on the Watch 4. At £280, that makes it as good value as anything on this list.
Ticwatch E2: Best budget smartwatch
Price when reviewed: From £146
The Ticwatch E2 is unbeatable in terms of the value it delivers. It’s a lightweight Wear OS watch with built-in GPS, swim tracking, a heart-rate monitor and 4GB of storage, along with a microphone for interacting with Google Assistant. Sure, it’s plasticky, but it has a more appealing design than its predecessor and compared to the more expensive watches in this list, it only really lacks NFC and a built-in speaker. If you’re on a strict £150 budget and looking for a competent all-round smartwatch, this watch fits the bill admirably. And if you’re not worried about swim tracking, the Ticwatch C2 is another excellent-value option that comes with NFC.
Samsung Galaxy Watch: Best Samsung smartwatch
Price when reviewed: From £280
The Samsung Galaxy Watch has just arrived, and it’s the company’s best smartwatch to date. What’s so good about it, you ask? Well, for a start you can choose from two different sizes (42mm and 46mm), where Samsung’s previous flagship, the Gear S3, was only available in 46mm – good news for those with smaller wrists.
Apart from that, it offers everything you could ask of a flagship smartwatch – GPS, NFC, heart-rate monitoring and swim-tracking – in a package that costs just £280. Consider that it’ll work with both iOS and Android phones and offers up to seven days battery life (for the larger 46mm model), and it’s difficult not to be tempted. And, as if that’s not enough, there’ll also be a cellular version of the watch available on EE later this year.
Garmin Vivoactive 3: Best for fitness enthusiasts
Price when reviewed: £180
Its smart features might be more basic than some of the other wearables in the list – it only shows notifications, weather and calendar entries – but the Vivoactive 3 has practically all its adverseries beaten when it comes to fitness features. Indeed, thanks to its built-in GPS and modes for walking, running, cycling and pool swimming, you can use it to track all manner of indoor and outdoor workouts. And because it monitors your stress, you’ll also know when it’s the right time to laces up your running shoes and when it’s a better idea to rest.
Its relatively slim, lightweight design means you can also keep it on at night and it’ll track the quality of your sleep. Best of all, though, it boasts superb 7-day battery life when used as a smartwatch, and upto 13 hours with GPS enabled. Now available for a new lower price of £180, the Vivoactive 3 is incredibly easy to recommend if you’re looking for a new sports-orientated smartwatch.
Huawei Watch 2: Packed with tech
Price when reviewed: From £279
Announced alongside the P10 and P10 Plus smartphones at 2017’s MWC technology show, the Huawei Watch 2 is getting a bit long in the tooth, but it’s brimming with tech, boasts a good battery life and is packed with all the sensors you could possibly need. Wear OS makes it simple to use and adds the ability to use Google Pay, and despite the weaknesses of the Huawei Wear app, it is undoubtedly a boon to be able to cut loose from your smartphone and go on a run without it.
The Huawei Watch 2 comes in a fitness-orientated “Sport” version and a more stylish classic variant. Both watches have largely the same core feature set, but with a few key differences. The Classic has a stainless-steel body and comes with a leather strap, while the standard, sporty model has a plastic body and strap with a ceramic bezel and stainless rear, and adds the option of 4G connectivity.
TAG Heuer Connected 45: Wear OS gets classy
Price when reviewed: From £1,200
Smartwatches are a possible challenge to the big-money market of high-end watches, after all if you’re buying a new smartwatch every couple of years and are used to all the extra functions it brings, why would you buy and wear a simple, analogue timepiece? TAG Heuer is looking to play to both markets with this, a truly premium Wear OS watch, to challenge the more expensive Apple Watch models.
It’s a luxury watch through-and-through with a titanium case, clasp and crown, and sapphire crystal glass on top. There’s no heart monitor here but we don’t think that’s a huge deal; all the other smartwatch features are present. Unlike most Wear OS devices, Google has allowed TAG Heuer to heavily reskin Android Wear so that it matches the design perfectly. Best of all, there are lots of options for physical customisation thanks to its modular design.
How to buy the best smartwatch for you
Below, we’ve outlined the most important criteria to consider when picking which smartwatch is right for you. Of course, we consider all these points in our reviews, so you should be happy with the majority of the smartwatches we’ve picked out below.
Compatibility
The first thing to consider when buying a smartwatch is what type of smartphone it’s compatible with. In most cases, you shouldn’t run into any problems here, but if you’re eyeing up the new Apple Watch Series 3, for example, you’ll need an iPhone to pair it with – sorry, Android users. The majority of other devices from manufaturers including Huawei, Samsung, Fitbit and Garmin should pair with both iOS and Android phones.
Apps
Most smartwatches offer a range of basic apps for displaying calendar entries, checking weather forecasts and monitoring your step count throughout the day. However, if you’re looking for the best selection of third-party apps, for now you’re best off with an Apple Watch (which runs Apple’s watchOS) or something that runs Wear OS (formerly known as Android Wear). Samsung smartwatches, which run Tizen, and the Fitbit OS both fall considerably behind in this department. Garmin watches, too, predominantly stick to the essentials. Another boon for watchOS and Wear OS devices is their respective voice assistants, Siri and Google Assistant, which let you send messages and make other basic commands without touching the screen.
Sensors
The next important consideration is hardware. Does it have a heart-rate sensor? Is there an altimeter for tracking how many flights of stairs you’ve climbed? These are the kind of questions you’ll need to ask of your shiny, new wristwatch, depending on how you want to use it. Built-in GPS is essential if you want to be able to track runs and bike rides accurately, and NFC is required if you want to make contactless payments (you’ll also need to check if your bank is supported). Although most watches have the sensors required for swim and sleep tracking, these features are not universally offered.
Battery life
The single most important thing to look out for when buying a new watch is battery life, which varies enormously among the current crop of wrist-borne devices. The Fossil Q Control, for example, will barely stretch past a day, while the new Fitbit Versa offers closer to five days between charges. If you need a watch that’s truly dependable, you’re better off buying something with excellent battery life.
Music playback
The last thing to check is whether it offers music playback, and the streaming services it supports, if any. This won’t matter if you always have your phone with you (in which case, you should still check that it has a music remote app), but if you want to leave your phone and listen to music while exercising, it’s a great feature to have.
Source: expertreviews.co.uk