If you’ve been thinking about getting a smartwatch, it can be difficult to choose one. There are so many on the market that it can be hard to pick just one for your needs. Smartwatches come in all shapes and sizes, with all different prices and functions. The best thing you can do is find out what your needs are and then find the perfect watch that fits them. If you need something basic, then low-end watches will work for you. But if you need something more advanced, like fitness tracking or voice commands, there are higher-priced options available. Here, is everything you need to know before picking out the best smartwatch for your lifestyle!
How to choose the best smartwatch in India
1. Fitness band vs smart watch vs true smart watch
Understanding the differences between fitness bands, smartwatches, and true smartwatch is very crucial. It helps you to find out what you actually looking for and what you need. Below I have listed the differences between a True smartwatch, a smartwatch, and a fitness band.
True Smartwatch
- Works without a smartphone
- Comes with all smart features like Heart rate monitor, Sleep tracking and many more
- Ability to replay to notifications
- Music control, Bluetooth (to connect to wireless headphones), built-in mics for calls and voice assistants, and NFC (for on-the-go payments).
- Expensive, The basic apple watch starts around 25,999/- in India
- Battery life is very less. On average smart watch only lasts for 2 days
- Popular ones include Apple Watch, Samsung Watch and other watch with wear OS.
Smart Watch
- Need smartphone to view your health data
- Comes with all smart features like Heart rate monitor, Sleep tracking and many more
- You cannot reply to notifications
- Music control, Bluetooth (to connect to wireless headphones),
- You cannot take or make calls.
- In India, The basic smart watches start from as low as 1000 rupees.
- Battery life is very high. On average smart watch only lasts for 21 days
- Popular ones include Realme Watch, Oneplus Watch, Honor Watch.
Fitness band
- Need smartphone to view your health data
- Come with or without a screen
- The screen size of fitness bands is smaller compared to smart Watches.
- Comes with all smart features like Heart rate monitor, Sleep tracking and many more
- You cannot reply to notifications
- Music control, Bluetooth (to connect to wireless headphones),
- You cannot take or make calls.
- In India, The basic smart watches start from as low as 1000 rupees.
- Battery life is very high. On average smart watch only lasts for 21 days
- Popular ones include Realme Watch, Oneplus Watch, Honor Watch.
2. What your watch can do
Obviously, choose to smartwatch what it can do. Whether you just want a smartwatch for tracking your sleep or want to reply to the notifications you receive or even take calls directly from the watch.
The sensors used in the watch determine what your smartwatch can do. In below, I have listed out different sensors used in a smartwatch and their functions.
Types of sensors that are present inside fitness bands and smartwatch
| wdt_ID | Sensor | Its Job |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ambient light sensor | The ambient light sensor's primary job is to tweak the brightness of the display. It automatically adjusts the screen brightness based on your surroundings. This also helps in saving battery life. |
| 2 | Axis accelerometer | An Axis accelerometer track moments of the deice. It tracks backward and forward moments, senses gravity, and determines object position and change in speed. |
| 3 | heart rate sesnor | The heart rate sensor's job is to calculate your heartbeats per minute. The sensor uses light to check the speed of flow of blood that helps you to measure the heart rate. |
| 4 | SpO2 Sensor | SpO2, or oxygen saturation, is the ratio of oxygen-carrying hemoglobin to non-carrying hemoglobin in the blood. The body requires a certain amount of oxygen in the blood to function properly. Spo2 sensor measures spO2 value. |
| 5 | Proximity Sensor | The proximity sensor simply informs the device that you are in close proximity to the device and intend to use it. When you are not wearing your fitness tracker, this sensor allows the device to go to sleep and conserve battery power when not in use. |
| 6 | Compass | A compass helps Map applications to run on a smartwatch and also gives the device a sense of direction. |
| 7 | ECG sensor | When your heart beats, the ECG sensor is responsible for detecting the minute electrical impulse that is sent out by your heart. The electrodes on the wearable are used to detect this minute heart signal, which is detected by this sensor. |
| 8 | GPS | GPS simply helps in detecting the location of the wearable and track your activity. |
| 9 | Skin temperature sensor | The skin temperature sensor detects slight changes in temperature to determine whether or not you are about to get sick, such as a fever, or whether or not you are starting your menstrual cycle. |
| 10 | Gyroscope | a gyroscope sensor is a device that can measure and maintain an object's orientation and angular velocity. Data from gyroscopes and other sensors can be used to determine whether you are actually running or simply jogging in one location. Additionally, it aids in the elimination of motion caused by a violent shake of the wrist that is mistaken for an intense running session. |
3. Build Quality of the Watch
There are many factors that influence the build of a smartwatch. The number one is the dail size and the material used.
Strap material used in the watch also plays a key role in the durability and also comfort while you are wearing it. Most commonly in the budget, you will find staps made with plastic or Nylon and leather in the premium segment. Also, make sure that you can replace the straps with the third-party ones available. Here is the list of What are the types of watch strap materials. You can visit the link and know more about different materials used in the watch strap and their uses.
Also, check if you want to take your watch to swim make sure that it has an IP rating. Here is the list of different IP ratings.
| wdt_ID | IP Number | First Digit – SOLIDS | Second Digit – LIQUIDS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IP00 | Not protected from solids. | Not protected from liquids. |
| 2 | IP01 | Not protected from solids. | Protected from condensation. |
| 3 | IP02 | Not protected from solids. | Protected from water spray less than 15 degrees from vertical. |
| 4 | IP03 | Not protected from solids. | Protected from water spray less than 60 degrees from vertical. |
| 5 | IP04 | Not protected from solids. | Protected from water spray from any direction. |
| 6 | IP05 | Not protected from solids. | Protected from low pressure water jets from any direction. |
| 7 | IP06 | Not protected from solids. | Protected from high pressure water jets from any direction. |
| 8 | IP07 | Not protected from solids. | Protected from immersion between 15 centimeters and 1 meter in depth. |
| 9 | IP08 | Not protected from solids. | Protected from long term immersion up to a specified pressure. |
| 10 | IP10 | Protected from touch by hands greater than 50 millimeters. | Not protected from liquids. |
4. Display
Based on your budget the display quality of the smartwatch changes. Having an Oled display is always better but you need to spend more. Most budget smartwatches are equipped with LCD or TFT displays.
Another most important is a touch screen. Most of the smartwatches we see in India has a touch screen but a few only offer knob to control the watch. Based on your convenience you can choose either of them. I prefer touch screens more.
5. Os compatibility
Before purchasing a smartwatch, be sure it will function with your smartphone. Apple Watches, for example, is only compatible with the iPhones. While most of the other watches are compatible with both android and iOS. Here is the list of all popular smartwatch OS that is popular in the market right now.
There are also different sets of smartwatches that you find Mostly in the budget that runs on a custom operating system. For example, the OnePlus watch runs on its custom operating system.
6. App support
Having support for third-party applications adds extra functionality to the watch. For example, Parking Can automatically determine where you park, or you can tell it which location to remember and wear Casts lets you Download podcasts to your smartwatch and more. However third-party app support is only available on premium smartphones. Most of the budget smartwatches that don’t run on Google wear or apple watch OS don’t have third-party app compatibility.
7. Battery life
The battery is the most important for any electronic device to run. Talking about the battery life on smartwatches, it varies depending upon the features and the price. The premium watches which have cellular support have only 2 days of battery life on average and whereas the budget smartwatches which doesn’t come with a lot of features can get 15 days on a single charge.
So, those are the important factors you should consider before buying a smartwatch in India. Each and every factor plays an important role in the watch’s usability. Hope you find this tutorial helpful. If you have any suggestions we would like to hear you. You can send your suggestions at vinron.in/suggestions. Keeping all those factors in mind we have compiled the list of best smartwatches under 2000, 3000, 5000, 10000, and 150000 rupees in India.
