Smart Watches

A couple of years ago, you'd have likely never heard of it. But today, you have one, have bought one as a present, or your Dad chews your ear off about how he's tracking his calories and steps, and at 75, he feels like he's 30. The smartwatch has taken over, and from here, who knows what the future holds.

Before leaping into some amazing current watches, a little history is a must. The first LED prototype watch (the literal great-granddaddy of today's smartwatch) hit the scene in 1972. It was wrapped in 19-carat gold and priced at $2,100. This model was a hit, at least in the circles that could afford it. Not too long after, Seiko released their infamous T001, a watch linked to a portable TV receiver. It debuted on the big screen of all places during the James Bond era. The hit film Octopussy put this watch on the map, which led to the release of the Data 2000.

In 1994 Timex Datalink was the first watch to download data using a wireless connection. Not for retail initially, this watch was employed by NASA and co-developed with Microsoft. Samsung upped the ante in 1999 with its SPH-WP10, featuring a monochrome LCD screen and an integrated microphone and speaker. During much of the early 2000s, the technology evolved understandably. There were some duds, no doubt about it, but the watches we have today are due in large part to the experimentation that took place early on.

Samsung and Apple battle it out (as they do with other products) for the consensus number one smartwatch. The Samsung Galaxy features a super clean interface, one of the easiest to learn by far. As a side note, there are a host of smartwatches out there that are a real pain to operate. We're not going to get into an exhaustive list of watches to avoid. Instead, we urge you to touch and play with any smartwatch before you consider a purchase. With this behind us, again, the Samsung Galaxy receives rave reviews in terms of usability. The only downside of this watch perhaps are the limitations in terms of available apps. The Wear OS or watchOS offers more apps, surprisingly.

A close second, although we aren't ranking, is the Apple Watch. The current iteration is number 5. This watch syncs seamlessly with Apple phones, so if you have an iPhone, this is the natural next purchase. Water-resistant with an impressive battery (24 to 36 hours) life, you get all the bells and whistles the Samsung provides, but in sync with your iPhone as opposed to an Android. Outside of these two giants, we also have the Fossil Sport. Fossil has long been a watch mover and shaker and decided to make its foray into this smart sphere. It was a good bet. The Fossil Sport gets excellent reviews online, and if you thought the battery life on the Apple Watch 5 was impressive, try 48 hours with this puppy. The unique sports-related features that runners and others enjoy with Samsung and Apple are not here. But the rest is, so still a solid bet.

Many assume smartwatches start and end with these brands, but there are plenty more. They are also a heck of a lot cheaper, so do your research.