How to Choose a New Smartwatch

Daniel Wellington

As well as offering you a useful tool to tell the time with, a good smartwatch will offer a wide range of accessories and features that will enhance your daily life. Smartwatches are easy to connect with your smartphone and other similar devices, and you’ll find they come in a wide variety of styles and designs. Today we’re going to share with you everything you need to know when choosing a new smartwatch to wear every day.

What is a Smartwatch?

A smartwatch is similar to a typical watch but is enhanced with smart features. It offers you many of the top features from your smartphone or laptop right on your wrist. Most smartwatches have some form of digital screen, but others may look like a regular watch and have a few of their smart features hidden. In order to use a smartwatch, you will usually need a smartphone, as these are paired via an app. You’ll be able to update the smartwatch with the app and view the data the watch has collected. 

How Much Do Smartwatches Cost?

The prices range for smartwatches varies greatly, and can start as low as £20 and work up to £500. The top of this price range usually includes designer watches and may also incorporate materials such as gold into the design. Of course, brands such as Apple are able to charge a fortune for their Apple Watch, and this is one of the best options on the market today. However, you don’t need to break the bank to find a new smartwatch to meet your needs. There are many great mid-range smartwatches that still offer all of the advanced features a more pricey model will offer. Sometimes you are simply paying for the brand name as opposed to gaining anything extra from your purchase.

Phone Compatibility

As we mentioned above, your smartwatch will work alongside your smartphone. For that reason, if you are opting for a branded smartphone, such as an Apple Watch, you’ll need to ensure you can use it with your smartphone, as these are designed to work with iPhones. If you have an Android phone, check out the best options for the exact model you have currently. Especially if you have an older model of phone, you might also need to consider upgrading this at the same time if purchasing a smartwatch is something you are really keen to do. Samsung also has its own range of smartwatches, which are excellent for loyal Samsung smartphone users.

Hybrid Smartwatches

If you enjoy classic watch designs, one option to consider is a hybrid smartwatch. These combine your classic watch design with the technology that’s associated with smartwatches. They hide their features behind the traditional watch design and are good for everyday wear. However, we don’t recommend these for anyone who is looking to purchase a smartwatch to use as a fitness tracker, as they aren’t ideal for use at the gym or when swimming.

Top Smartwatch Features

There are so many different features that you may be lucky enough to find on your new smartwatch. We encourage you to consider the screen size and design of the smartwatch before the features, as this is often what impacts your purchase. You don’t want to be walking around with a watch on all day that you don’t enjoy wearing. Most smartwatches will have 4GB or more of internal memory, and that’s the minimum amount of memory we recommend. Wi-fi connectivity is something that most smartwatches come with as standard, and it allows you to not always rely on Bluetooth when you are out of range.

Fitness tracking is one of the main reasons that many people opt to buy a smartwatch. Look at the various tracking metrics that your new watch offers, which could include heart rate, calories, distance, step count, and much more. Depending on how keen you are on keeping fit, you’ll need to look for a watch that fits all of your tracking requirements and expectations. For anyone who enjoys improving their fitness and training regularly, you’ll find it fun to track your progress using your smartphone and smartwatch.

Look for a smartwatch that is waterproof to avoid any issues with your new device. Almost all watches have this as standard, but it may be missing from the cheaper models. While you won’t necessarily want to wear your new watch swimming, it gives you the option to in the future. Finally, we encourage you to find a watch that offers some customisation with the straps and design. This can make the wearing experience much more enjoyable, and it will allow you to keep up with your changing style in the future.

A smartwatch is an incredible device, which can help you to keep in touch with friends and family on the go. You’ll have everything you need on your wrist, and it will be easy to use many features with the touch of a button or via voice control. As you can imagine, the number of features on each watch varies dramatically. Try to find a watch that offers everything you need while still sticking to your budget and design preferences, and you’ll find that you have an accessory that gives you years of enjoyment in the future.