What is a smartwatch

In recent years we have seen how a new type of device has become something that is increasingly common for many users. If we translate the term smartwatch into English directly, we get the word smartwatch, a term that does not fully define it, since from smart has really little.

Smartwatches, since they first hit the market with Pebble, have become devices that replicate the notifications we receive on our smartphone. But over the years, the number of functions they offer has increased. If you want to solve all the doubts regarding this type of device, we will explain below what is a smartwatch.

The first models that hit the market, offered very few functions compared to the current ones, hence the niche public was very small and it was an impossible mission to see someone on the street for any of these models. Replicating smartphone notifications and telling the time were the main functions that offered us, a function more than enough to consider its purchase, since it avoided having to be all the time looking at the smartphone to see if that sound was from our smartphone or the environment.

Smartwatch features

But as the years have passed, smartwatches have adopted a lot of technology and today, we can find how most models not only count the steps of the day to day, but also show us the heart rate (warning us if it is very high), perform electrocardiograms, detect the altitude as well as falls of the users and notify the emergency services if the user does not move, they integrate a GPS and also, depending on the model, they allow us to make telephone calls.

But not only does it allow us to quantify our day-to-day activity, since it also allows us to play our favorite music, that is, using a bluetooth headset, managing our home automation, sending text messages, answering calls, consulting our email ... or even play, although of course the experience it offers us in this regard usually leaves much to be desired.

All smartwatches as such, have at their disposal, directly from the device or through the smartphone to which it is associated, the possibility to install third-party applications, in order to expand the functions they offer us, some of which are inexplicably unavailable natively. In addition, it also offers us a large number of watchfaces, to customize the appearance of our device, in order to adjust to our tastes.

These watchfaces also allow adding complications. Complications are small additions that we can add to the watchfaces and that show us information from other applications, such as the weather, the appointment of the next agenda, the level of environmental pollution ...

Smartwatch compatibility

Unlike the world of smartphones, where we can only find devices with iOS and Android, within the world of smartwatches, we have at our disposal a large number of models, models managed by different operating systems. If we talk about the operating systems of the two big ones, iOS and Android, in the market we have at our disposal smartwatches managed by watchOS (iOS) and wearOS (Android).

The compatibility offered by iOS with watchOS and Android with wearOS we will not find if we cross platforms, so if you want to get the most out of your device, the best thing you can do is choose a model that suits you. In the case of the iPhone it is the Apple Watch while in the case of any Android terminal it is any model managed by wearOS.

If we do not mind taking advantage of all the functions that these devices can offer us, because what most does not call is aestheticsIn addition to receiving notifications, if we are iPhone users, we can connect any device managed by Wear OS, thanks to the application available in the App Store. However, we can only buy an Apple Watch if we have an iPhone, since Apple offers us no application in the Play Store to be able to use it in this ecosystem.

In addition to watchOS and wearOS, we can also find devices managed by Tizen, the proprietary operating system of the Korean brand Samsung. For a few years, Samsung has completely abandoned wearOS, previously Android Wear, in all its smart wristwatches, becoming managed by Tizen, an operating system that not only offers lower battery consumption, but also the performance is far superior compared to wearOS.

Within smartwatches, we also have to mention the wide range of models that the manufacturer Fitbit puts at our disposal, a manufacturer that came to the market selling quantifying bracelets but that over time, and after the purchase of Pebble, he has known how to adapt to the new times.

Quantifying bracelets

We cannot stop talking about quantizer bands, also called smartwatches by some, although their function is mainly focused on record all the daily activity we do, either walking, running, taking a bike ride ... And I say that they can also be called smartwatches, because some models also allow us to receive notifications, although they do not allow us to answer them or receive calls, as if we can do with smartwatches managed by Tizen, watchOS and wearOS.

The quantifiers, do not have an app store own to install third-party applications, so the number of functions that it offers us is limited solely and exclusively to that offered by the manufacturer.

Personalization in smartwatches

All smartwatches on the market are available in various box colors and with a wide variety of straps, to be able to combine it with our day-to-day clothes, whether it be a suit and tie to attend an event or go to work, with clothes inform or with sportswear. In this way, the manufacturer with the most options available to us is Apple.

The Apple Watch offers us a large number of straps of all types, materials and colors, so if you are a fashion maniac and you like to always go combined, the Apple Watch is the device you need, as long as you have an iPhone, as I mentioned earlier. The second manufacturer that also makes available to us a large number of straps is Samsung with the Gear S / Watch range, as is Fitbit with its range of smartwatches.

If we talk about customizing quantifiers, Xiaomi Mi Band bracelets are the ones that offer us a greater number of straps to personalize the device and thus be able to adapt it to the clothes we wear every day or to the occasion.

Where to buy a smartwatch?

All manufacturers make available to users the possibility of buying their items directly on their website, a website where we will hardly ever, if ever, find offers. All the opposite of what happens on Amazon. Here are several links where you can buy the prices of the main smartwatches and quantifying devices on Amazon.