How to choose the right smart watch in 2021?

To yourself for a reward? To someone close to a birthday or under a tree as half a piece of jewelry and half a modern gadget? Or a family member because he needs help monitoring his health? There are a lot of opportunities to buy a smart watch these days. As well as manufacturers and models to choose from. It is all the more difficult between watches choose the ones that meet all the requirements its new owner. How to choose the right smartwatch from the perspective of 2021 trends?

How to choose and how to judge a smart watch?

Design (size, shape and materials)

The appearance and style of watch processing most often determines, for example, how we divide them into men’s or women’s (and children’s). The boundaries determining that square watches are more sporty and round old-fashioned are now almost erased. And sometimes completely reversed. For models with round dials At present, watches for men are considered to be roughly those with a diameter of 45 millimeters or more. Models for ladies are 42 or 43 millimeters in diameter. At the watch with rectangular display it is then a specific size for the buyer to consider, as it is quite easy to imagine them on the wrist.

In addition to the area occupied by the hand, it is certainly good to judge as well the height of the body of the watch and its total weight. Don’t buy a narrow but pretty heavy and deep pot. There are already a lot of material variants and combinations nowadays and they often reveal about the watch, especially that how durable they are. You should probably require at least 5ATM resistance or IP68 protection against water and dust almost automatically. It may come in handy, even if you don’t plan it now.

Other details such as the number, shapes and locations of the buttons, the curvature of the display, the presence and size of the frame or color are already subject to individual subjective assessment and consideration. Of course, a slightly different style is suitable for each prevailing occasion and activity, and sometimes it’s about searching for the golden mean. And we haven’t even talked about the straps yet, for which we recently put together separate tips.

Hardware equipment and controls

At the first glance at the watch, you can guess how it will probably be operated and what they will probably offer for functions depending on the hardware. As far as control is concerned, it belongs to the complete basics dragging your finger across the screen and possibly additional button presses. Some models (such as Huawei Watch 3 Pro or Amazfit GTR 3 Pro) also have one common button instead of one rotating navigation crown. It is also very effective control rotating bezelwhich can be found on the body of the Samsung Galaxy Watch4 Classic.

Other different hardware parameters suggest what the watch should or could do. The presence of a loudspeaker and a microphone indicates the possibility of a loud call from the wrist, NFC the module is a promise (but definitely not a guarantee) for contactless payment, e.g provides direct connection to the mobile network, GPS module independence of the watch on the phone in determining the position and so on. In the case of children’s watches, the presence of a front camera is also common. Traditional “performance” elements are usually viewed as with other electronics – the processor is better faster and newer, RAM and storage as large as possible (for example, to store music), display of the highest quality and with the highest possible level of maximum (and ideally auto-tuned) brightness.

Openness of the system and application

If you ask ten people how they would define a smart watch, you might get ten different answers. And they will often differ in what the operating system should be able to do in a smartwatch. For many people, it is not only its tuning, speed, clarity and appearance, but also openness. So, for example, some possibility installation of additional applications, which we are used to, for example, in a mobile phone. In this respect, WearOS (formerly Android Wear) from Google is probably leading and HarmonyOS is catching up with it in the new Huawei watch. The rest of the producers rely more on a proprietary (ie their own, tailor-made) environment. However, openness is not a priority for everyone and they will rather appreciate preserved security.

An idea of ​​how the new owner will live with the new watch can be made even by just previews of required applications in the Play Store. Take a look at them and you can assess not only the appearance, but also various menus, types of charts, dials and so on. Of course, you can also download applications, but without a specific device connected, you will find much less in them. With some watches, it is even possible to use several different applications if you do not like the basic one. Don’t forget that too not all watches and applications have Czech.

Functions (sport, health, interaction)

Pedometer, heart rate monitor, stopwatch, alarm clock or weather forecast. These are items that almost every watch will offer today, more or less in quality. With more advanced features manufacturers have vehemently overtaken recent years and do not hesitate to give them proper names so that the consumer is even more captivated and confused at the same time. Always think carefully about what your smart watch will be needed for and choose accordingly in terms of features.

For sports functions, it basically only depends on how many developers can fill the watch with a link to the sensors. There can be many over a hundred of them. They need to be supplemented by their own GPS, altimeter, compass or different types of prepared training regimens. The cross-brand health function palette includes measurements and analyzes for the following things, for example: stress, sleep, SpO2, PAI, ECG, blood pressure, fall detection, menstrual cycles, inactivity alerts or even a mass diagnosis of the whole body with a single measurement. Just choose the right mix.

Also crucial are the interactions that can be performed through the watch and that force us to pull the mobile phone out of our pockets as little as possible. Find out, for example, whether notifications from various (typically chat) applications can be read in the watch or can be accessed also react in some way. It’s also good to know if you can answer or make a call straight from your wrist. For many people, the ability to pay via NFC is also crucial. These interactive skills that they make the watch a real replacement for a mobile phone, should be on the list of things to consider really high. Other goodies may include remote camera shutter release, control (and physical storage) of music, night and cinema mode, a number of dials, and so on.

Battery life

Before buying a watch, you should also carefully consider what its normal endurance is (always take the manufacturers’ claims with some caution) and whether you are willing to accept charging even every day. More functions usually automatically collect the tax in the form of faster discharging. There is probably no general advice as to which watch has the optimal ratio of function vs. stamina. You will have to judge for yourself.

However, we can definitely recommend that the watch has, for example, sensor-tuned brightness, night / sleep mode, automatic switching off of GPS or WiFi and more. energy saving elements. They can really help a lot. For advertised endurance values, pay attention to the difference between normal operation and “economy” or similarly called mode. The latter often promises giant times, but he usually only makes watches “Stupid” time indicator. You may also be interested in whether your smart watch can handle wireless charging.

price

Symbolically at the end, even though it is the number one parameter for many interested parties. It can probably be said in general that the more money you pay for a smart watch, the more music. Watches from famous manufacturers usually cost much more than comparable pieces from lesser-famous competitors, but in addition to the brand, you usually pay for proven reliability, slightly more accurate measurements, service options and an overall more tight ecosystem. If we were to mention specific cheaper brands with an interesting price vs. performance, they would probably be, for example, Amazfit (now under the control of Zepp), Honor and Xiaomi.

What else would you consider for a watch?