Best Smartwatch 2020 – A Buyers Guide

We use our watch to tell the time. With the best smartwatch review, now you can answer your smartphone, reply to a text message and monitor your heartbeat.

 

Do you struggle to get your phone out your bag or pocket to answer it?

With a smartwatch, you just have to turn to your wrist to answer the call or text.

Watches have certainly changed over the years, now you have the opportunity to wear your smartphone on your wrist, the added bonus is that it even looks stylish and like a normal watch.

The best smartwatch 2020 reviews the best smartwatches available for under $200 and that have the most reviews on Amazon. We review the best android smartwatch, the best smartwatch for fitness, and the best smartwatch for iphone.

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The first question we might ask is ‘what makes a watch smart’?

A smartwatch could be described as a portable device that is worn on the wrist, like a watch.

However, unlike a traditional watch, a smartwatch is more like a smartphone with a touch screen with the ability to support apps from both Apple IOS and Android operating systems.

Digital watches have been around for quite a while but it is only recently that tech companies have started producing smartwatches.

All the big tech companies, Apple, Samsung, and Sony now have smartwatches in their portfolio of products.

When choosing the best smartwatch there are two major things to consider, your own aesthetic taste and the budget you have in mind.

As a bare minimum, you should be looking for a smartwatch that can display messages and other notifications from your own smartphone.

The other major items to consider when looking to buy a smartwatch are the following;

Apps: This is probably one of the most important features of a smartwatch.
Because smartwatches are designed to serve as companions for your smartphone, device compatibility is very important.

Google makes it easy to check whether your smartphone is compatible. Just go to Here

Unsurprisingly the Apple smartwatch will only work with the iPhone.

The pre-installed Apple watch app for the iPhone is where you will find the watchOS App store.

A smartwatch is really only as good as the number and quality of apps it will support.

The obvious bigger players like Apple and Google will give you plenty of choice of apps but increasingly lower priced smartwatches will also offer a good selection of apps to choose from.

Display: Nearly all smartwatches now come with a color LCD screen or AMOLED (AMOLED is a display technology and stands for Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diodes.

It is a type of OLED display and is used in smartphones.)

Both screen modes will let you view photos and other content rich in color.

The downside is that color displays use so much more battery so most watches now have an auto shut off when not in use.

LCD smartwatches tend to be thicker than OLED smartwatches which is why Apple chose it to make their watch thinner.

Buttons v Touchscreen: The norm for a smartwatch has traditionally been to offer touchscreens. However, it can sometimes be difficult to be dextrous and hit the right app.

Larger displays sometimes help as do card based notifications which you can swipe clear.

There is still a place for physical buttons and some of us are old school but future smartphones with app displays will probably win out.

Battery Life: A good smartwatch should offer you a good battery life. You need at least a 12-hour life to make the watch functional and usable for you.

Notifications and Alerts: Once again the more expensive smartwatches will give you the ability to answer messages.

Some of the lower priced watches are now offering good message responding facilities.

Any good smartphone will alert you to incoming calls or messages with a buzz on your wrist.

You might want to also consider social integration with notification alerts from Facebook and Twitter
Fitness Apps: Many people buy a smartwatch for the ability to track their fitness stats.

If you are one of these make sure that the watch you buy supports apps that can track your heart rate and utilize a pedometer.

If you are thinking of buying a smartwatch for just fitness purposes you might be better off considering a fitness tracker with smartphone features.

Style: The other factor that you need to consider is the same if you were buying a normal watch – that of style.

Increasingly this is becoming more of a factor as smartwatches become more of a mainstream worn gadget.

So what are the choices you might have to make?

Firstly, do you want a screen or not?

If you don’t want a screen then there is a host of choice of hybrid smartwatches such as Fossil.

They have mechanical analog faces and offer little snippets of functionality such as notifications or fitness tracking.

Most smartwatches these days offer some form of customization from a choice of bands and face color.

More and more best smartwatches are sporting round faces making them look like traditional timepieces and they are getting slimmer.

Best Smartwatch Review – Under $200

For our best smartwatch review, we have selected 10 watches that fall under the $200 mark and are the best-looking smartwatch.

They have been chosen not just for price but for their increasing popularity.

Browse through our pages and get further information on the best smartwatch that catches your eye.

Best Smartwatch – Ticwatch:
Model: S Smartwatch-Glacier,1.4 inch OLED Display

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To kick off our review of best smartwatch for 2020 we start with a medium-range watch

Our initial thoughts on the Tic Smartwatch is that it is a good look-alike of the infamous Pebble watch that was the origin of the smartwatch revolution.

The head of the watch is quite bulky, but that does not detract from the feeling of robustness and a chunky feel on your wrist.

There is a numbered bezel, but it is only there to provide context for what is showing on the screen.

Its features are the following:

GPS: It has a built-in GPS feature into the strap of the watch where it can provide independent navigation while running or cycling.
It can accurately track your distance, steps, and speed, as well as calories, burned.

Heart Rate Monitor:  The Ticwatch has a built-in heart rate monitor also where you can track your heart rate in real time.

Music On Your Wrist: Offering google play, you can enjoy music without your phone while on the go.

Stay Connected: Be notified of incoming calls, messages, emails, and news with just a glance. For Android users, the TicWatch S enables you to receive calls, make calls and reply to messages right from your wrist.

Personalization:  You can also personalize your watch by changing the watch face available from the Google play store.

The watch comes with a 300 Ma battery which is the same capacity as the Apple watch. Apple commits up to 18 hours so the Tic watch outperforms on that score.

The Ticwatch battery can last for up to 48 hours avoiding the need for charging.

Pros & Cons Table Tic Smartwatch

* Built in GPS	*Bulky watch face
* Good battery function	* Numbered bezel
* Heart rate monitor
* Works with Android and IOS

SMA-09 Smart Fitness Tracker Watch

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The SMA-09 is the budget end of the smartwatch review, but it certainly is no lightweight compared to its expensive competitors.

Its overall design and color scheme of black or silver make it appealing on the eye and it boasts a good set of features.

Able to connect to both Android and iPhone when you are receiving a call a green or red circle will appear on your watch. Although it can be a bit fiddly trying to configure for the IOS functions.

You drag the green circle to the right to answer the call or drag the red to the left to dismiss the call, maybe not as easy as just pressing to answer?

The watch has a built-in heart rate monitor that uses green-ray technology to track your own ticker!

If you have failed to move for a while the watch has a sedentary feature that after a pre-determined amount of time, will remind you to move.

The SMA-09 also allows you to take photo’s through your smartwatch onto your phone.

The camera function works well and allows you to add files, however, the file storage is limited to 1Mb.

The music control feature allows you to play music through from your smartphone with the ability to control volume through your watch.

For the fitness guru’s there is both an activity tracker and sleep tracker installed. The activity tracker will check the pedometer, distance and calories burned.

The sleep tracker will automatically track your sleep duration and monitor light sleep, deep sleep and wake up.

The speaker quality is good, however, it doesn’t reconnect to the phone Bluetooth automatically if you’ve walked away from your phone for longer than a few seconds.

Although it advertises that you can respond to a text, it does this through predetermined template responses so just be aware.

Overall, for a budget response, the watch is a good buy, it does everything a smartwatch should do although some functions are limited.

Pros & Cons - SMA-09 Smartwatch

* Affordable	*Clunky answer function
*Android & IOS compatible	*Blutooth connectivity
*Built in heart tracker

 

ASUS ZenWatch 2 Silver – Mid Range Offer

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The Zen watch by ASUS is the reincarnation of the Zen Watch 1 and operates on the Android system.

The Zen 2 delivers a well built sleek-looking smartwatch in a choice of two sizes.

Straight away one of the downsides for this smartwatch is that it lacks a heart rate monitor and has a paired down iPhone functionality.

However, the Zen 2 is lightweight and comfortable to wear and loses the bulkiness of some smartwatch comparables.

One of the good features of this watch is the extended battery life.

The AMOLED display only turns on the pixels needed, unlike an ISP display, this helps battery function incredibly well. It also boasts a ‘No Hassle’ charging function charging to 60% in only 15 minutes.

The 1.63 inches, 320 x 320 AMOLED screen is easy to read and the text is crisp and easy to read the text messages.

It even shows the picture of the person who texted or called you in the background of the messages (if you have the picture in your Google contacts).

I love that you can speak the reply to the text messages or chose common quick answers.

The Zen 2 comes with the latest Android wear software installed, with gesture control motions. With wrist gestures, you can open apps and return to watch face just with a wrist movement gesture.

It also has a wrist activated screen dimming gesture that instantly turns the watch into an ambient mode for discreet viewing.

The Zen 2 is rated at IP67, therefore, shower proof, dustproof and can stand up to being emersed in water up to 3 meters. However, it is not suitable for swimming, so take it off before jumping in that pool!

One of the most complained about features of the watch is the bezel that surrounds the face. Some describe it as being too chunky for the watch face.

Overall though the Zen 2 gives you a premium feeling watch at an affordable price.

* Superb design and build quality	* Lack of heart rate monitor
* Improved Android wear implementation	* Limited iPhone compatibility
* Affordable
* Works with Android & IOS

Samsung Gear 2 Smartwatch

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Its been three years since Samsung first started its foray into the wearable device market.

When considering the new Gear 2 watch it is clear that Samsung has got its act together and has produced a very wearable smartwatch. This could be the Samsung smartwatch best buy.

The Samsung Gear 2 features a fully circular super AMOLED touchscreen that measures 1.2 inches in diameter.

Despite having a smaller screen than some of its rivals it still gives maximum flexibility.  The watch has great pixel density at 360 x 360 pixels and matches Apple watch retina display.

Call me old-fashioned but we like the circular face as it gives that watch feel.

The watch uses the Samsung Tizen Operating System. The system takes the best of the Apple OS and Android systems.

The Gear 2 continues the trend of an attractive smartwatch. It comes with a rubber strap and a sporty appearance.

Compared to some of its counterparts it probably does not offer the personalization approach by changes of face and strap.

The watch also has a slightly inferior feel to its more expensive neighbors but that said it doesn’t look cheap and certainly feels substantial when wearing it. It can look a bit more techy than a watch also.

The Samsung operates very much the same as many other smartwatches. It alerts you to texts, incoming calls, tracks your steps and runs a number of apps.

When you receive a message or notification the watch will vibrate and display the message.

Rotate the bezel anti-clockwise and you’re shown the most recent notifications from your smartphone, including emails, texts and missed calls.

Tapping on an email allows you to read the entire text, scrolling down using the rotating bezel.

Tapping on the three dots to the left of a message brings up the options, allowing you to archive, delete, reply, open on phone, block or clear all notifications.

The watch has a 1Ghz processor and 512 RAM allowing apps to open quickly and efficiently.

In terms of health-related sensors, the  Health app lets you enter and track dietary concerns such as calorie, water, and caffeine intake and utilizes the watch’s accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, and heart rate monitor to track your activity.

You can even set notifications to warn you if you have been inactive for too long.

The watch lacks a GPS so it is not going to really serve as a running watch, however, the Samsung health app can compensate by being able to download and view your activities.

The battery life of the watch is not as large as others at 250mHA but a charge can last for around 3 days with mixed use of the watch.

The watch comes with a convenient charging dock and when the battery gets to only 5% left the watch will alert you to charge it.

In conclusion, there is a lot to like about the Samsung S2. It has stylish looks and the operating system is simple to navigate and use. However, the choice of apps is sometimes limited and the S voice needs some work.

Pros & Cons Samsung S2 Smartwatch

*Smart design	* Slow Voice Control
*Unusual rotating bezel	*Too few quality apps
*Tizen OS System

Fitbit Versa Smart Watch – A Watch for Him or Her

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The Fitbit Versa smartwatch is the latest offering from Fitbit and although it is aimed at women it is just as suitable for a man to wear.

The Fitbit Versa is aimed at women with a smaller lightweight body plus specific female health tracking features.

The watch is aimed at a wide range of fitness enthusiasts from the casual walker to the devoted runner cyclists, swimmer or serious gym goer.

The watch does have some smart features but nowhere near what you would get with a Samsung or Fossil.

The screen on the Fitbit measures 34mm diagonal by 24mm high and wide. This makes the watch quite a compact watch and on a par with the Apple watch.

The watch is available in 3 designs with different color straps, rose gold, silver pebble and black. Several watch bands are available for customization.

The color touchscreen display has a generous  300 x 300-pixel display. Being water-resistant to 50 meters it means you can swim with the Fitbit Versa comfortably.

When it comes to exercise you can choose from 15 plus exercise modes. The Versa measures Steps, distance, calories burned and floors climbed.

It also automatically measures your sleep and activity and will remind you if you have not moved in a while.

The heart rate monitor uses the Fitbit Pure Pulse system. This is a diode under the watch to measure blood flow so does away with things like chest straps and EKG’s.

It can, therefore, measure your cardio fitness level and your resting heart rate and uniquely will also measure your blood oxygen levels.

The watch does lack GPS tracking which can be a downside. It is ok if you have your phone with you but if you want to be phone free then GPS will not be available.

The Fitbit Versa will act like a normal smartwatch with the normal functions you can expect, i.e. answering incoming calls and texts.

You can access over 500 apps through the Fitbit app gallery.

The battery will give you a 4-day life cycle which is admirable against other similar watches.

The bottom line with the Fitbit Versa is that if you are looking for a watch to assist your exercise regimes this has to be the watch for you.

However, as a standalone smartwatch user, there may be other models that are more attractive for you to try.

Pros & Cons Fitbit Versa

* Great for fitness fanatics	* Lack of GPS
* Comprehensive fitness apps	* Basic design
* Lightweight design

Fossil Gen 2 Smart Watch

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Fossil is a well-known watch brand that has entered the smartwatch market with an array of products. In this Fossil smartwatch review, we look at generation 2.

The Fossil 2nd Generation smartwatch comes in three versions.

The three different versions offer subtle variations in design giving you plenty of choices when it comes to customization and fashion.

The three versions Founder, Marshal and Wander all have the same smartwatch components but the casings are slightly different.

The Fossil Gen 2 offers activity tracking with a bit more style than say the Fitbit Versa.

The Fossil is not a fancy smartwatch loaded with many features however it will track your daily movements such as distance traveled and calories expended.

The watch has no GPS function, but does have a unique device in that if you raise your wrist you activate the watch as the watch goes to sleep when you are not looking at it.

 

The Fossil has normal smartphone features such as smart notifications.

It has a good quality internal microphone so you won’t have to pull your phone out each time you get an alert.

You can answer texts on your wrist and do a variety of other things just using your voice, you can’t answer calls though.

Another feature is that you can control your music from your phone and the watch is compatible with Google maps so you can see your location on your wrist which is handy.

The watch is best used with Android devices but there is an app available for use with IOS also.

What you are getting with the Fossil Gen 2 is a watch built by a reputable watch manufacturer so the build quality is top notch and is composed of solid durable materials.

The crux of the watch is that it is not the finest fitness tracker watch out there.

However, it does look like a quality timepiece and scores highly for style and durability.

Pros & Cons Fossil Gen 2

* Solid good build quality	* Needs frequent charging
* Good voice control	*Not a lot of data
* Good watch face options	*Syncing issues

Pebble Time Smartwatch – Black Band

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Pebble is the mother of smartwatch technology. Needing to distinguish itself it uses its own e-paper technology that ensures the display is always on and has an outstanding battery life of up to 7 days.

Like many other smartwatches, you will need to pair your Pebble watch with your phone, available for both IOS and Android.

Once that is done you will be able to access over 6500 apps available in the Pebble app store.

You can store up to 50 apps and watch faces.

The Pebble also uses its own technology called Timeline where all your apps, notifications, reminders and events are laid out in chronological order.

The idea behind this is that you no longer have to go into an app to find out your desired information it all there on your timeline.

Like other smartwatches, you can receive text messages, if you are using the Android operating system you can reply to messages using canned responses, emojis or respond by voice.

While some smartwatches can be oversized the Pebble measures 40.5 x 37.5 mm and is only 9.5mm in depth. The stainless steel border around the watch face gives it a touch of class.

Using an OLED watch face the display is bright and easy to read. There is no touchscreen with all operations done by up and down buttons on the side of the watch.

The Pebble is quite a basic smartwatch. As such though it is quite responsive and snappy.

The battery life is a real plus and quite impressive with one charge lasting for up to seven days.

One of the criticisms is that the Pebble lacks some of the functionality of other smartwatch brands in that it doesn’t have GPS, heart rate monitor or a touchscreen. However, the fact that it is always on and has a great battery life can go some way to justifying its price tag.

So for the Pebble, it is unlikely to win any accolades for its looks or high-end features. But if you are looking for a smartwatch that is more a watch than phone addition it does have some attributes that other smartwatches can’t match.

Pros & Cons Pebble Time

* Impressive battery life	*Limited IOS functionality
*Always on color display	*Only choose one app for activity
*Large app library	*Voice function limited
* Works on IOS and Android

ROADTEC Smart Watches – Affordable

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If you are looking for an entry-level smartwatch then you may consider the Roadtec range of smartwatches.

The Roadtec presents itself with a 2.5D Color screen, which could be seen by some to be a bit clunky and large.

The watch face is an OLED screen and gives a wide-angle viewing lens to enhance the features wherever it is positioned on the wrist.

Along with other smartwatches, the Roadtec offers a limited but essential fitness features such as measuring your distance traveled, amount of steps taken and your calorific expenditure. It also measures heart rate and blood pressure although there are some question marks around the accuracy in some reviews of the watch.

One feature I didn’t quite understand is that the fitness tracker comes with a game? Not sure when you would play the game or the extent of the game – anyway??

The watch is compatible with both Android and IOS and gives you call alerts and SMS alerts via your smartphone.

The watch is waterproof to IP67 which means washing your hands are ok but it will not tolerate sea water or swimming and also don’t shower with the watch on.

A good plus point for the watch is that it only takes about 3 hours to charge the watch, and that charge can last you for up to 10 days with full power – quite impressive for a budget end smartwatch.

It also boasts a wrist sense icon that allows you to turn the watch on and off with a flip of your wrist.

To conclude the Roadtec gives you a great entry smartwatch at a really affordable price. It may not have the bells and whistles of some of it’s more expensive cousins but is worth consideration on price alone.

Pros & Cons Roadtech Smartwatch

* Affordable	* Basic functions
* Easy to use	* No swimming or showering
*Good battery life

Misfit Vapor Touchscreen

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This is the first foray into the world of smartwatches by the fashion brand Misfit and they have produced an admirable product. However, it is not to everyone’s taste so read on to find out if it is right for you.

As a first attempt at smartwatch design, the Misfit is surprisingly well put together. There is a round display, it is comfortable to wear and it has all the main smartwatch functions you might expect.

The stainless steel body comes in at 13.5 mm and is quite heavy, but it gives the feel of quality also.

There are lots of different body and strap variations and its large AMOLED display compliments well and looks classy.

The Misfit Vapour on sports one hardware button that sits fairly and squarely where you would expect a normal watch function button to sit. Every other interaction is done through the large smart screen watch face.

The vapor has a virtual touch bezel as a feature and is in keeping with many other watches that have a bezel surround only this is an interactive version.

The Vapor is compatible with many of the Android fitness apps, but it is easiest connection to the Misfit app supplied with the watch. The default app is Misfit Activity and you are able to track most of your fitness stats through the app.

The heart rate tracker on the Vapor is top quality and accurate and works well even in the midst of an exercise regime. The watch does have GPS tracking but it connects to your phone rather than has GPS installed.

It also waterproof for up to depths of 50 mtrs so you can take it into the pool with you so you can track your swim.

The Misfit Vapor has a battery life of about 24 hours, which is not the best battery life of the smartwatch world, and if you are using a lot of the fitness functions on the watch it will eat into the battery life even more.

You just need to remember that your watch will need charging overnight – not unlike many smartphones.

After all that this is probably one of the most affordable high-end smartwatches that look fashionable and runs off the Android 2.0 software.

The design is really well thought through and is for you if you are looking for a fashionable looking watch with a vibrant display and that is not too expensive.

Pros & Cons Misfit Vapor

* Design	* Battery Life
* Large Display	* Thick Design
* Low Price

Ticwatch S Smartwatch  – Sophisticated watch at a budget price.

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For our final choice of smartwatch, we turn back to Tic with the Tic Smartwatch.

The Ticwatch has a 1.4-inch display and uses an OLED display.

The bezel is a strong bright green with bright green numbers and dots. The body of the watch is 13mm thick that is quite thick for a smartwatch, however, it is designed not to feel bulky under your sleeve.

At the side of the watch is a protruding plastic surround which is where the one button for the Tic watch sits. The control of the watch relies entirely on the touchscreen of the watch which can lead to a fingerprinted screen.

The screen is nice and large and has the option to adjust brightness, font and watch face with a series of preloaded under Google play.

It comes also with the option of having the screen on all the time, although this does affect battery life.

 

With just a single press on the side of the watch brings up the menu that allows you to select from a number of pre-loaded apps.

The Ticwatch S runs on the Android Wear 2 operating system, a cool feature is the ability to call on Google assistant if you need too, so the voice recognition function works very well with the watch. The watch will also operate on IOS but probably not as effective.

The gestural controls you find on other watches are not quite as precise with this watch. You might have to have a couple of wrist shakes to wake the watch up.

You are able to make and receive calls from your watch as long as it is paired with your smartphone.

Being a sporty looking watch the app support for fitness is good. There is a dedicated Ticwatch app that has all the health features you might need to track. With many other excellent fitness apps on the Google platform, there are plenty of additional fitness-related apps that you can install.

 

The Ticwatch has onboard GPS capability so you will not need your phone if you go for a run. The GPS is very accurate and you can view maps of your run. The heart rate tracking is probably not as precise as in dedicated fitness trackers.

The Ticwatch S is waterproof to IP67 which means swimming is out of the question and taking it for a shower.

 

The manufacturers claim that battery life is 48 hours but you will probably only get a day and a half out of one charge. It is quick and easy to charge which is a bonus.

To conclude, as an advertised ‘sports watch’ the Ticwatch S might be a bit wanting compared to other similar smartwatches.

What is impressive is the voice recognition features. You can dictate a quick and accurate text message response with ease. The Ticwatch might be for you if you are looking to enter the smartwatch market for the first time. You will get a quality watch with a good feel and will not break the bank.

Pros & Cons Ticwatch S

* Affordable	* Non-changeable strap
* Great voice recognition	* Limited external controls
* Easy to use

 

Smartwatch Frequently Asked Questions

Whats The Best Smartwatch For Android?

One of the best range of smartwatch for Android are the TIC Smartwatch range. They are a good looking smartwatch and look quite similar to the famous Pebble smartwatch which started the smartwatch revolution. The head of the TIC smartwatch can seem bulky but it also gives the feeling of being a robust watch.

Whats The Best Smartwatch For Samsung?

One of the best smartwatches built by Samsung is the Gear 2. This very wearable smartwatch which is good looking on your wrist and has a retinal display touchscreen that gives a clear reading. The watch uses the Samsung Tizen operating system which means that it can be worn by both Apple and Android users alike.

Can You Text From A Smartwatch?

All the top branded smartwatches from Apple, Samsung, and Fitbit are essentially a miniature phone that is wrapped around your wrist. They run small version apps that let you control your smartphone remotely, and are capable of phone-like tasks such as tracking, storing music, and even making phone calls and sending text messages through a tiny SIM.

Can You Make Calls From A Smartwatch?

To make a call from a smartwatch you would normally need a compatible smartphone. There are some models however that will let you make calls from your smartwatch without a smartphone such as the Apple watch 3 and Samsung Galaxy. You can also now buy SIM cards for smartwatches only so you an use them as standalone phones.