The best smartwatches of 2020

The world of wearable or wearable devices (in English wearable devices or wearables ) is still a minority sector for now. But month by month the number of units sold increases and with them the interest of the rest of the consumers, although focused on the activity wristbands. Also after the arrival of the Apple watch the rest of smartwatches have been selling better due to greater consumer attention in alternatives with Android.

The most interesting products right now are smartwatches or smartwatches with Android Wear, renamed in early 2018 to Wear OS, Google's bet for the sector, and compatible with both Android and iOS phones. But there are also other proprietary systems, such as the one used in Samsung watches that use Tizen or the basic systems of Garmin watches and bracelets. The most common use currently given to wearable devices is to quantify physical activity, such as keeping track of steps, calories burned, or sleep cycles.

Types of devices

Within the wearable sector, watches and bracelets can be catalogued by their functionalities and appearance:

Smartwatch: they are products with a more complex electronics since they include a touch screen, a sufficiently powerful processor - currently a pair of cores -, between 512 MB and 1 GB of RAM, and 4 GB of storage. In this article I focus on them, I already have watchOS, Wear OS or some other operating system from another manufacturer. They are therefore like miniature smartphones, with access to an application store to install applications of all kinds and not only related to physical activity. The inclusion of a microphone in some models allows them to answer or make calls with them.

Activity bracelet or quantifying bracelet: they are usually simple bracelets with or without a small screen to display information or function as basic clocks. They are usually cheap and focused on simple exercises such as walking, running, treadmill or exercise bike. You can see the article of best activity bracelets.

Sports watch: they have the usual look of a watch, and include the functionalities to track physical activity. The manufacturer can provide a small application store through an application for the paired phone so that sports to be practised are installed on them, or provide new watch faces. You can see the article of the best sports watches for fossil gen 3 vs gen 4.

Focused on notifications and physical activity

Both smart watches and fitness wristbands and sports watches include various sensors to measure the steps taken, distances traveled or control sleep and heart rate. At the moment there is no definitive application that makes them indispensable devices of every consumer's day-to-day, and therefore they exploit their facet of devices for people who like to perform physical activities of all kinds. The included sensors, especially the heart rate, can be used in the best models with sufficient accuracy (not ideal) for other purposes such as carrying out a medical evaluation of the wearer.

That is why the clocks are designed to access important information, such as notifications or quick sending of a text message, for a few seconds , but nothing that requires more than 10 to 15 seconds. Due to its low battery, in the range of 300 to 400 mAh in the case of watches with color display, if you use them intensively none would last more than 2 or 3 hours. Any task that cannot be completed in a few seconds is best done with the phone.

The Best Smartwatches Are:

1. Apple Watch series 5 (40 mm)
2. Apple Watch Series 3 (42 mm)
3. Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2
4. Mobvoi C2 Ticwatch
5. Huawei Watch 2
6. Samsung Galaxy Watch
7. Mobvoi Ticwatch Pro
8. Samsung Galaxy Watch Active
9. Samsung Gear S3
10. Mobvoi S2 (Sport) and E2 (Express) Ticwatch