A smartwatch is an innovative portable device designed to be worn on the wrist. By smart, I mean watches with smartphone-like abilities built by the tech world. Now instead of just being a digital watch that tells time, calculates, and converts, these watches do many things, from answering calls, fitness trackers to even sending messages. Some of them have your favorite social media abilities.

Features of a Smartwatch

Answer voice calls: Just like smartphones, smartwatches support voice calls. This enhances communication, especially for those who find it difficult to walk around with their phones.

Read messages: for instances where you are far from your phones, you get to receive messages sent to your smartphones. 

Alerts and Notifications: This is the measure feature of a smartwatch. You get notified for almost everything especially when connected to a phone. You receive the notifications even if your phone is far away.

Good battery life: A good smartwatch is built with a good battery that has the ability to carry you through the day. The Apple smartwatches give you 18 hours of battery life, while the Pebbles give you two to three days battery life.

Media management: Most smartwatches paired with smartphones support media playback.

Apps ecosystem: Beyond displaying notifications and supporting voice calls, a smartwatch is as good as the apps it supports. Though the apps’ ecosystem may vary because of its Operating System, smartwatches with dedicated purposes such as diving smartwatches and hiking smartwatches are built with apps for these purposes. 

Heart rate monitor: Most smartwatches are built with a heart rate monitor created to track our heart rate all day and all the time. This heart rate helps us to reflect our overall health.

GPS: Which is an acronym for Global Positioning System, is a feature in smartwatches that are designed to enable tracking of location and also receive specific location alerts.

Fitness trackers: For an athlete, a good smartwatch is a dedicated fitness band. Smartwatches support heart rate monitors and pedometers that help track your workout.

Types of Smartwatch

I bet you think all smartwatches are the same. Well, not all are the same. There are different types of smartwatches for different uses.

Fitness focused Smartwatch

Imagine thinking of improving what you cannot measure. This watch focuses on tracking your general fitness and helps you analyze what you can do better. It is more like having a personal trainer who follows you around. This smartwatch does not just focus on your overall fitness. They also keep track of your health and your well-being. The Garmin Venu Sq, Xiaomi Mi Band 4, Apple Watch Series 6, Fitbit Ace 2, and the Sq Music Edition are all examples of fitness smartwatches.

Hiking Smartwatches

These are watches that are used for hiking; it is not your typical watch that counts steps and workout in the gym. These watches are engineered to handle specific elements like a barometer that measures elevation, an altimeter to measure altitude, and a digital compass that studies directions and movements. That’s the reason they are also called ABC watches, where A is for Altimeter, B is for Barometer, and C for Compass. It’s also a nice watch for anticipating weather.

Luxury Smartwatches

These are watches designed for high-class watches with high fashion statements and a useful gadget that does the job. Traditional Swiss watchmakers are revolutionizing the game to keep them in the market with the combination of fashion and smart. Examples of these watches are Federique Constant, Breitling, and Tag Heaur. 

Diving Smartwatches

Pretty much most recent matches are waterproof and can stand a dip in the pool for a while, but smartwatches do not just track your swimming; they also include diving apps that are important for safety underwater experience. The Garmin’s Descent Mk2S is a perfect diving smartwatch. The Garmin Descent Mk1 is also a superb all-rounder that is perfect as a Diving Computer.

Wear watches

This is a smartwatch built by Google. This is a watch for entrepreneurs, remote workers, athletes, name it. It is built to support all google apps like G-mail, Google keep notes, google calendar, Google Maps, google assistant, etc. The best Wear Operating System (OS) watches are The Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3, The Skagen Falster 3, The Fossil Gen 5, The Suunto 7, and The Moto 360 (2019). There are other watches, but these stand out because of their cutting-edge specifications.

Hybrid Smartwatch

A hybrid smartwatch looks more like an analog watch but has processors and connectivity that connects with other phones. This smartwatch does it all from tracking your heart rates and workouts but with the traditional analog looks. Examples of Hybrid Smartwatch are Skagen Hybrid and the HR Jorn.

Will smartwatches ever replace the smartphone?

I am not convinced that smartwatches have what it takes to replace smartphones. Even though the tech world always surprises us, until the smartwatch comes with a second display screen where we get a broader picture of what is happening, they can never replace a smartphone. Your smartwatch is a support device to your phone, not a substitute.

Smartwatch vs. Fitness Tracker

A smartwatch is generally a fitness tracker too. The difference between a smartwatch and a fullness tracker is that smartwatches have more features with smart abilities. Though it is always easier to get a fitness tracker, and it is less expensive compared to a smartwatch. But if you want more, they should invest more.

Are smartwatches bad for your health?

Smartphones are beneficial; they help you get a lot done, but depending too much on them can harm your health because of the radiation it emits. When users fail to disconnect before bedtime, there could be underlying sleep, memory, and mood-related issues. 

Finally

Smartwatches enhance the overall day-to-day life of a parent that wants to keep track of their child. This entrepreneur always wants to be available, an athlete who wants to track fitness, or remote travelers who wish to keep track with navigation. The smartwatch, when paired with a smartphone, does a lot for us. It is just a combination of many things in one gadget. Stay updated with our blog as we hope to elaborate more on the smartwatch radiation protection tips.