Gadgetory

smartwatches are going to be the next big thing keeping us connected looking good and making us feel like we're living in the future at least that's the promise but though all of the many smartwatches you can buy right now make those promises few if any actually deliver a good SmartWatch does three things it tells you the time easily so you don't have to constantly look at your phone it gives you notifications on your wrist so you don't have to constantly look at your phone and it looks good while doing it so you don't feel like you're wearing a computer on your wrist everywhere you go everything else that many smartwatches attempt to do is just extra some count your steps some can be controlled with your voice and some can run a variety of apps right on your wrist but the best smartwatches focus on those core features and don't worry too much about the extra stuff if you're looking to buy a SmartWatch right now the best option for the most number of people is the pebble steel the steel is compatible with both Android and iOS it doesn't cost a fortune and looks good on almost anyone's wrist the steals always-on LCD display makes it easy to check the time indoors or out and it's battery life of five days or more is hard to beat you get notifications for email texts incoming calls and more and you can control your music right from your wrist as well pebble does have an app store to add more functionality and custom watch aces to the steel and it can count your steps as you walk but neither of those things are as important as the core functions the steel gets right which makes it my top pick if you're looking for more from your SmartWatch like the ability to talk to it or send messages from your wrist or run a variety of apps Motorola's Moto 360 is the best option among the many Android wear watches you can buy today the 360 looks great it's comfortable to wear and it's not as large or cumbersome as many other Android wear watches as a color display that's visible outdoors as well as indoors voice controls to quickly reply to messages without touching your phone and a built-in heart rate monitor instep counter the Android wear platform offers a ton of apps to add more functionality to the Moto 360 but if you're an iPhone user none of this is available to you you can't even use the Moto 360 for basic time and notifications though google has rapidly updated and improved Android wear since its debut earlier this year it's still not as stable or reliable as the pebble and it requires more setup and tinkering from you to get it working best the Moto 360 display isn't always on by default requiring more effort to check the time and its battery life is less than half that of the pebbles on a good day fortunately you can charge on almost any qi wireless charger in addition to motorola special dock the rest of the field is dominated by other Android wear watches from other manufacturers the second best option is LG's G watch R which is very similar to if not quite as good-looking as the Motorola it really comes down to personal preference between the two but most people I've spoken to prefer the looks of the Moto 360 over the G watch are the G watch R has a nicer display and slightly better battery life but you can only charge you with LG stock so it's not as convenient as the 360s wireless charging Samsung's also has its gear 2 SmartWatch that doesn't run on Android wear but uses Samsung's own software platform that limits it to only Galaxy smartphones and greatly reduces the number of third-party apps you can install on it there really isn't a good reason for anyone to buy a gear 2 at this point if you're on a tight budget pebble also offers its classic watch at half the price of its steel it does all of the same things as a steel but it's plastic so it doesn't look or feel as nice as the steel does there are other smartwatches that work with both iOS and Android like meta watches m1 and Ito's pop and the Martian notifier but none of them work as reliably as the pebble or they cost significantly more many people probably don't have a need for a SmartWatch but if you're looking to buy one right now and you're not interested in waiting to see what Apple and other manufacturers bring next year the pebble steel is the best SmartWatch you can buy