The world is going smartwatch crazy! Every day there is a new headline for a new watch, or new rumors for what is expected from the smartwatch world. It can all make it a little hard to decide which smartwatch is the best smartwatch for you. Well lucky for you, we’ve compiled a list of the best smartwatches on the market, and what makes them so great. The contenders for the title of the best smartwatch are the Pebble, the recently announced Sony Smartwatch 2, and the i’m Watch.
One feature you will want to look at when you are in the smartwatch market is connectivity. In other words, does the watch connect to what you need it to? One major thing that you might be connecting to is your smartphone. This is generally done two different ways: Bluetooth or NFC. It is very important to note that most phones are Bluetooth compatible, especially smartphones, but not all phones are NFC compatible yet. The advantage of NFC is that it consumes less battery, especially when compared to versions of Bluetooth lower than 4. Bluetooth 4.0 is a little easier on the battery, but still not as much as NFC. NFC is also more handy for things like keeping a digital wallet, but Bluetooth will come in handy for hardware devices like headphones.
The first watch on the list, the Pebble, uses Bluetooth 2.1 and 4.0, which shows us that the Pebble is battery conscious. The i’m Watch also only uses Bluetooth, and it also uses Bluetooth 4.0. Â The clear winner here is the Sony Smartwatch 2, that is compatible with both Bluetooth 2.1 and NFC.
Another connectivity question is what smartphones the watch will be able to connect to. The main smartphone operating systems are Apple’s iOS, on their iPhones, and Google’s Android. Obviously you will only need a watch that will connect to your phones operating system, however if you get one that can connect to both it will leave you with more options in the future if you decide to get a new phone. The Pebble is an example of a watch that can connect to both iOS and Android. So is the i’m Watch. The Sony Smartwatch 2 on the other hand connects to only Android.
Another feature to be aware of is the operating system on the watch. This is much more subjective and there is not really a best operating system on the market. It is important to note however that more well known operating systems are likely to have better support and a wider range of apps available to them. The Pebble uses Pebble’s custom operating system. Both the Sony Smartwatch 2 and the i’m Watch use a custom version of Android, which is a very well known and respected operating system.
Many people are going to be using their watches for notifications. In other words, they will want their watch to display when they have received an email, text message, or are getting a call. People will even want their watch to give Facebook and Twitter notifications. There is really no need to compare the watches in this area as they all are capable of giving all of these notifications.
So far we have been looking at the software components of the watches, but the hardware is another thing you may want to consider. The Pebble is fairly minimal as far as extra hardware features goes. It does include an accelerometer and a vibrating motor, but that’s about it. The i’m Watch on the other hand includes a number of features. These include an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a microphone, headphone jack, and a speaker. Because of this, however, the watch has a number of openings, and is therefore not at all waterproof. In fact, you should take the watch off whenever it could come into contact with water. The Pebble is waterproof, and is tested to 5 ATM. The Sony Smartwatch 2 is also fairly minimal as far as extra hardware goes, possible because of the fact that it is meant to be paired with a smartphone. The Sony Smartwatch 2 is water-resistant. This means that you should take it off in the shower and while swimming, but a little splash shouldn’t do it much harm.
Overall, you can’t really go wrong with any of these choices. The Pebble is probably the best option if you’re the sporty type and are expecting to maybe take this swimming, or use it to collect data on your sports performances. The i’m Watch, however is more for the person who wants an all in one device, although it still needs to be connected to a smartphone. The Sony Smartwatch 2 is kind of in between these choices. It is an excellent choice for someone with an Android phone, and who intends to use it in conjunction with this phone a lot. It is important to remember that new smartwatches are being released fairly often now, and we might see a device from Apple in the near future, which will be a definite contender for the position of best smartwatch available. Until then, there really isn’t a “best”, but more lot’s of different ones.
