 |
| The Top 5 Smartwatches and Wearables of the last year |
SMARTWATCHES have come into their own within the last 12 months – from the roll-out of the first Apple wearable, to the growth of Fitbit and Jawbone-style fitness trackers and entirely new designs from Huawei and Samsung. But which deserves pride of place on your wrist?
The last year was a pivotal one for wearables.
The device category has become increasingly popular within the last 12 months, with more and more people using fitness trackers, smartwatches and other wrist-worn gadgets on a daily basis.
Apple Watch hit shelves across the world within the last year and although the Cupertino company has yet to reveal how many units it has sold, the ever-increasing presence of the Watch is undeniable. From prime-time adverts to fashion catwalks, the Watch has already attracted thousands and thousands of apps and accessories.
Huawei also dipped its proverbial toes into the smartwatch water in 2015, with the release of the Huawei Watch at the IFA consumer technology show, in Berlin.
Motorola updated its show-stealing circular design Moto 360 watch with a new range aimed squarely at female wrists, and Jawbone updated its entire product line.
But which one of these wearables is best suited to YOUR needs?
NewsNewsBlog.blogspot.com has spend the last twelve months answering calls, tracking runs, ordering taxis and monitoring our heart rate with these clever wearable, and these are our picks –
Best Wearable and Smartwatch for Data Crunchers – Microsoft Band 2
Granted, the Microsoft Band is not the best looking device on the market. And it’s also not the most comfortable to wear, thanks to the myriad of sensors and trackers packed into the Band 2.
But when it comes to quantifying your sleep, workouts and commute – you’ll struggle to find better.
Microsoft has fitted a total of 11 different types of sensor including an optical heart-rate monitor, three-axis accelerometer, GPS, gyrometer, a microphone, ambient light sensor, skin temperature sensor, UV sensor, capacitive sensor, galvanic skin response detector and barometer.
Data from these sensors can be viewed on the companion smartphone app, which is available on iOS, Android and Windows Phone, as well as the powerful online dashboard.
 |
| There are an impressive slew of sensors and trackers packed into the Band 2 |
 |
| Microsoft Band 2 is one of the cheaper trackers on the list |
The latter provides some stellar insights into your data, including statistics around your sleep, workouts and calories burned in your day-to-day life and a new Observations tab, which presents trends from the patterns in your data, like statistically when is the best time for you to go to bed, and which activities let you burn the most calories.
Microsoft also lets you export your data and statistics into a traditional Excel spreadsheet, if you want to do the number-crunching on your own computer, rather than let Microsoft’s cloud servers do it for you.
Oh, and as well as the number crunching and data sets, the Band 2 also brings caller ID, Breaking News alerts, WhatsApp notifications and Travel updates from all major mobile platforms to the vibrant touchscreen.
- Microsoft Band 2 is on-sale now from £169.99
Best Wearable and Smartwatch for Android users – Samsung Gear S2
Samsung was one of the first major technology companies to bring a smartwatch to market. But it is the South Korean firm’s seventh attempt, the Gear S2, that is a truly innovative and compelling wearable.
The Samsung Gear S2 is a stylish smartwatch with a unique spinning bezel and great notification support for Android smartphones.
Turning the bezel around the bright AMOLED display gives a satisfying solid click, which adds to the enjoyment of flying through menus, news articles and text conversations. It's also much better than the touchscreen-focused solution currently used by the majority of Android Wear devices, including the disappointing LG Watch Urbane.
Sadly, it's not all positive as the wearable is let down by the lack of compelling and big-name apps available on its custom Tizen OS and the absence of tap-to-pay contactless Samsung Pay in the UK, for now.
 |
| Samsung's seventh smartwatch is missing some headline-grabbing third-party apps |
 |
| The watch faces are restrained and stylish, like those on its rival, Apple Watch |
Samsung has also been clever by finally making the Gear S2 available to any Android handset running KitKat 4.4 and with at least 1.5GB of RAM, which certainly broadens its appeal. But there’s no iPhone support yet.
All of these issues will almost certainly be fixed in the coming months, but it's certainly something you need to consider before splashing the cash on a Gear S2 now.
Granted, this device certainly isn't perfect but with Samsung hard at work on bringing its tap-to-pay solution to the UK and pushing developers to embrace its Tizen operating system – the Gear S2 is only going to get better and better.
For now, the Gear S2 is a stylish smartwatch with a unique and fun spinning bezel and great notification support for Android smartphones. But with iPhone support, contactless payments and more must-have smartwatch apps on the way – this wearable is only going to become more appealing over the coming months.
Samsung Gear S2 is on-sale now from £249
Best Budget Wearable and Smartwatch of 2015 – Jawbone UP Move
This nifty little fitness tracker brings the might of the Jawbone app and ecosystem to your wrist for a bargain price.
Clip the coin-sized UP move to your jeans or wear it on your wrist and the smart, circular fitness tracker will start keeping an eye on your sleep quality, steps, exercise and calories burned.
You can also log your latest meals to double-check that you are on track for your fitness goal.
But the star of the show is Jawbone’s iOS and Android apps, which analyses the constant stream of data to make intelligent – and personalised – recommendations.
And it’s these personalised tips that helps the Jawbone ecosystem stand-out from competitors like FitBit.
 |
| The tracker works well, but the star of the show is Jawbone’s iOS and Android apps |
 |
| The Jawbone UP app is colourful, intuitive – and links with a slew of other popular fitness apps |
Dubbed Smart Coach, the feature tries to add some insight to the slew of numbers your fitness tracker throws up everyday. And it works really well. For example, after analysing the time you go to bed and your sleep quality, the Jawbone app will suggest an ideal bed-time for the best possible night’s rest.
It will also analyse your heart-rate throughout the day and night, to offer insights into this sometimes confusing metric. You can also compare yourself against other Jawbone users to see what you can expect of yourself.
The smartphone app also displays your activity in a beautiful timeline, as well as a series of graphs.
Jawbone also has the best social features of any fitness tracking app.
The firm recently introduced Duels – which allows those running the app to kickstart a head-to-head step battle lasting 24 hours, three days or 1 week with a friend. It’s an intuitive, well designed and shows why the Jawbone app ecosystem is the best on the market.
Best Overall Wearable and Smartwatch of 2015 – Apple Watch Sport
If you want the best smartwatch of the year, buy an Apple Watch Sport.
The aluminium wearable subtly keeps you abreast of the most important notifications from your smartphone, tracks your workouts and day-to-day fitness, and quickly respond to your friends’ texts and calls.
And thanks to the immense response from the developer community, Apple Watch owners can now order an Uber without pulling the iPhone from their pocket, track your Domino’s pizza order as it wings its way to your door, follow turn-by-turn directions and quickly glance at the latest train times.
You can also tap your wearable on any contactless payment point to pay for your weekly shop, or get the London Underground.
The subtle haptic feedback built into the Watch – which provides a gentle tapping sensation on your wrist, instead of the aggressive vibrations favoured by rival smartwatch manufacturers – works really well.
 |
| Apple's Watch handles notifications and calls perfectly |
 |
| Third-party developers have already jumped on the opportunities offered by the Watch |
Apple Watch looks great and feels comfortable on the wrist, thanks to the colourful, flexible and soft fluoroelastomer strap that ships with the smartwatch.
Unfortunately the Apple Watch can still be a little sluggish at times, with loading animations endlessly chugging away as you try to load your favourite third-party app. Apple improved its load times with the roll-out of watchOS 2.0, which allows third-party apps to run natively.
However since not every Watch app has been updated to take advantage of the tweaked speeds, you will still see more than a few loading animations while using the wearable.
You’ll also need an iPhone 5 or newer to use the Apple Watch, and there’s no Android support.
But if you are interested in smartwatches and have the required hardware – the Apple Watch is a solid investment and once you get used to glancing at your text messages, changing music tracks, following directions, scanning plane tickets, paying at the check-out and checking your upcoming appointment from your wrist, you’ll struggle to see how to lived without it.
- Apple Watch Sport is on-sale now from £299
Best Wearable and Smartwatch for Style Gurus – Withings Activité
While the majority of smartwatch manufacturers favour functionality over a svelte, stylish design, Withings has taken the opposite approach with its Activité range of fitness trackers.
The stylish fitness trackers have been stripped back to a simple, Swatch-like watch design. In fact, the only clue that there is any smarts to this simple, elegant watch is the small second hand on the watch face.
 |
| Withings is water resistant to 50 meters and has an eight-month battery life |
 |
| Withings' tracker has a stripped back, Swatch-like watch design |
But do not be fooled by the traditional looks, the Acitvité range are able to automatically detect and track steps, runs, swims and calories throughout your day. Data is then beamed to the companion iOS or Android app.
Aside from the fitness side of the device, it also includes in-built sleep analysis and a silent vibrating alarm.
It’s water resistant to 50 meters and has an eight-month battery life. It’s the fitness tracker for people who would prefer to wear a traditional watch than a fitness tracker.
Between Activité, Activité Pop, Activité Steel – there are a range of styles available for different tastes.
- Withings Activité range are on-sale now from £119.95
Post a Comment Blogger Facebook Disqus