Sony SmartWatch 3

Sony SmartWatch 3 review

UPDATED: Now with added steel, we revisit Sony's sporty Android Wear debutant

 

The Sony SmartWatch 3 may not be the hottest Android Wear device on paper, but with built-in GPS and a slick new all-metal design, it's one of the most complete smartwatches we've reviewed.
With the new stylish looking stainless steel version hitting the stores, we thought it only right that we updated our comprehensive SmartWatch 3 review….

Sony SmartWatch 3: Design and display

The Sony SmartWatch 3 isn't exactly breaking any new ground with its aesthetics.It takes its design cues from the rubber-strapped GPS running watch brigade and unsurprisingly looks more sporty than fashionable.The rubber strap, black or yellow as standard but with additional accessory straps available, features a nice adjustable clasp – allowing you to get a perfect fit – and you can simply pop the smartwatch module in and out to mix and match straps.

 

It's a comfortable, lightweight design if a little bland. It's a smartwatch that suits a pair of joggers and trainers more than it does your smartest chinos and loafers.
Essential reading: The world's best smartwatches
One thing that we did notice about that strap – it seemed to collect dust and grime like no watch we've ever seen before, as if it's some kind of fluff magnet. You'll see what we mean in the hands-on pics.
The stainless steel version adds a bit of style to the mix and people who like the weighty assurance of luxury metal watches won't be disappointed by the feel.
This version uses the traditional link system, so you can adjust it to get a comfortable fit. It's probably best to let a watch shop do this though, as it's not easy and you could damage the straps trying to get the pins out.
The display is a 1.6-inch, 320 x 320, LCD affair, which lags behind the AMOLED tech found on the latest Samsung and Asus smartwatches. And it's a deficiency that's really noticeable with the screen offering very little vibrancy, and appearing pale and faded.
Viewing angles also aren't great and, even with the brightness turned up full whack, you're not going to be blown away. Let's hope the next Sony SmartWatch follows the lead of the Xperia smartphone line by tapping into the tech giant's years of display heritage.

Sony SmartWatch 3: GPS tracking

 

The biggest selling point of the Sony SmartWatch 3 is that it packs in GPS connectivity. That's obviously a massive plus for anyone who wants to accurately track their runs without having to lug their smartphone around with them.
Since Google introduced GPS support for Android Wear in the platform's first big update, the major players in the run tracking app game have been slow to got their acts together. The RunKeeper app was recently updated to include GPS support for Android Wear devices though, and the other option for smartphone-free GPS tracking is Google's own MyTracks app.
Must download: Best Sony SmartWatch 3 apps
Using MyTracks, which is fairly basic, we found that the GPS tracking on the Sony SmartWatch 3 was actually impressive. We did a few runs with it strapped on and the distances tallied with our regular minutes per mile pace. We also compared it with the Adidas miCoach Smart Run running watch and found that, over a 10km run, the SmartWatch 3 was within 20m after the 10,000m run – a great result.

Sony SmartWatch 3: Hardware

The Sony SmartWatch 3 is not only the first Android Wear device to pack GPS skills, it's also got NFC and Wi-Fi connectivity built in – although there aren't yet any features taking advantage of this hardware yet. However, there's a good chance that future Android Wear updates will add functions that make use of this connectivity – Google Wallet would be nice – so the SW3 is fairly future proof.
The SmartWatch 3 has 4GB of storage space – pretty standard for an Android Wear smartwatch – and is powered by a quad-core 1.2GHz Arm A7 processor, which seems a bit like overkill in the early days of Android's newest ecosystem.
You won't find an app that makes the SmartWatch 3 stutter – although that's also the case with other Android Wear devices with much less powerful processors.
One thing the Sony SmartWatch 3 lacks, compared to some of its OS brethren, is an optical heart rate sensor but, given the inaccurate bpm info we've seen recorded from the likes of the Gear Live and the Moto 360, that's no great loss.

Sony SmartWatch 3: Android Wear features

When it comes to Android Wear smartwatches, there's very little differentiation in features, and the experience is fairly standard across the current spectrum. The beauty of Android Wear is that it's a vanilla experience – it's more or less the same on every device running Google's smartwatch OS.
For a full breakdown of Android Wear check out our comprehensive Android Wear guide.
As we've stated in previous Android Wear device reviews, such as the LG G Watch R and the Moto 360, the platform is very much still a work in progress.
At times the platform works a treat – glancing at your smartwatch to see that it's a boring text from your boss and not an important group WhatsApp message making your phone buzz, for example, is incredibly handy. As is getting updates on traffic delays to the location of your afternoon meeting.
At other times it's just infuriating and annoying; swiping through unwanted Google Now-style cards just to get a clean watch face, for example, or wishing you could scroll through recent notifications from a specific app.
Essential reading: LG G Watch R review
Music playback with a Bluetooth speaker or some Bluetooth headphones is a feature that is available on all Android Wear watches now, but it definitely feels the most useful on the Smartwatch 3 – there really is no need to take your smartphone out running anymore with Sony's latest wearable on your wrist.
We had no trouble pairing the SW3 to our Monster iSport running cans or our Cambridge Audio office speaker – although the music syncing options through Google Play music is still a basic setup (all or nothing, essentially). Again, that's an Android Wear issue though and not one specific to the SmartWatch 3.
The latest Android Wear update adds customisable watch faces to download with ease, so the amount of ones originally on offer with any device is kind of irrelevant now. It's 15 with the Sony, in case you were wondering though – each one as mundane as the last.
Our advice is to get yourself over to Google Play, quickfast, and download some more exciting options.

Sony SmartWatch 3: Battery life and extras

 Great news - there's a 420mAh battery inside the SmartWatch 3 – which is the biggest we've seen on an Android Wear smartwatch to date, and you should have no bother achieving the quoted life of two days.

It's also great that Sony's newest smartwatch charges via Micro USB as there's no need to carry around a separate charging accessory. With the stainless steel version, it is incredibly awkward to get the charger in though, as there's not much room to move at the back with the sealed strap.
The SW3 ups the ante when it comes to waterproofing. All the other Android Wear models, aside from the Asus ZenWatch (which can only manage an IP55 rating), are IP67 rated – meaning they can last 30 minutes in water at a depth of 1m. Sony's effort has an IP68 rating, so you can go double the depth for double the time without damage, which will hopefully enable swimming features in the future.

Tag Heuer Connected

Our comprehensive verdict on the most expensive Android Wear device to date

Months after declaring its intentions to join the smartwatch party, Tag Heuer finally pulled the covers off of its Android Wear debutant at an exclusive New York event.
Since then, the first Google smartwatch powered by Intel silicone has gone on sale, albeit in limited numbers, and is proving to be quite the commercial success – gold and diamond models (link to the story) are already being touted for next year.
Lord only knows how much those models will end up costing – the non-encrusted Tag Heuer Connected, on review here, retails at $1,500; which is around five times what the new Moto 360 costs and double what the next most expensive Android Wear model – the gold Huawei Watch – will set you back.
 Then again, good luck finding a Tag Heuer for less than the Connected's asking price. It's not a brand that comes cheap. However, after two years, you can have your Tag Heuer Connected exchanged for a mechanical watch.
You'll have to cough up the same price again for the replacement mechanical model, although Tag assures us it would have a retail price of the total outlay.
But is it worth the hefty original price tag? Read on to find out…

Tag Heuer Connected: Design and build 

 

Let's not beat around the bush, the Tag Heuer Connected is a ridiculously good-looking smartwatch. From afar it genuinely looks like a regular Tag Heuer watch - it's only when you get up close that you notice it's quite a bulky beast. 12.8mm is this smart Tag's waistline measurement, which is a fair bit chunkier than its round Android Wear rivals - the Huawei Watch is 11.3mm and the new Moto 360 is 11.4mm.
And it shows. It raises a fair bit off the wrist and is anything but female friendly. But that's not really an issue as far as I'm concerned. I like chunky, luxury watches and the Tag Heuer certainly fits that description.
It's so comfortable. So, so comfortable. Especially given I'd been wearing an Asus ZenWatch 2 (easily the most uncomfortable smartwatch so far) for a few weeks before getting my mitts on the Tag. The Connected is a million miles from that.
It's mega light, for a start - surprisingly so when you first slip it on. At 52g (for the case), it's 10% lighter than its lookalike the LG G Watch R. That's the result of the grade 2 titanium, which looks awesome by the way on the fine-brushed lugs; although the back plate is disappointingly constructed from plastic (although the swish logo engraving almost makes up for that).

The clasp is easily the best constructed we've seen on Android Wear so far although, like the top end, it does protrude from the wrist a fair bit.
I've been wearing the black variant but, at the launch event last month, I did see all the other colours in the flesh. The white one is particularly swanky. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed that the only strap options were vulcanised rubber ones. I'd have loved a stainless steel, or titanium band option.
Back to the plus points though and the black, carbide-coated titanium bezel (boasting anti-finger print tech) and raised numerals look awesome. The LG G Watch R did a decent job of adding this sort of style to the Android Wear line-up but closely comparing the Korean company's effort to the Tag reveals a huge leap in quality. The Tag Heuer Connected lettering on the bezel is engraved with silver lacquer. It just looks so slick.
The design is finished off with a crystal sapphire glass face. It's easily the first Android Wear watch that I've been most annoyed by fingerprints with. Not because it suffers in this area worse than its stablemates. Because it's the only smartwatch that I wanted to keep looking its best.

Tag Heuer Connected: Display

That was all a bit gushing right? However, it's not all brilliant from Tag. I could moan about the lack of GPS but I won't.
What I will quibble about though is the display. Sure, it's fine. It's more than fine actually - its transflective, so it holds up really well under bright lights; even when in the black screen low power state. And the 1.5-inch LCD display, with a 360 x 360 resolution is crisp enough at 240ppi.
But, if you're paying well over a thousand of your hard earned dollars or pounds, you'd want the best of the best. The Huawei Watch has a 400 x 400 display with a ppi count of 286; the highest on any Android Wear device to date. The cancelled LG Watch Urbane Second Edition proved that more was possible; it was on sale, albeit briefly, with a 480 x 480 panel at 348ppi.
I've been told repeatedly by Tag, Intel and Google that the screen is amazing, and that the trade-off for battery life was an important factor. But the fact remains: if you're buying the Tag Heuer Connected, you are not buying the best Android Wear display. Fact. And that's a damn shame.
Tag Heuer clearly didn't want a bright screen blaring out alerts from people's wrists. And it has got just that. Telling the time is a major focus for Tag's smartwatch, unsurprisingly, but we're definitely left hankering for a few more pixels.

Tag Heuer Connected: Time telling

 

Tag's custom watch faces are by far the best we've seen - with an incredible attention to detail that Tag fans, in particular, will love. There's shadows under the hands. Smooth skimming second hands. An ubiquitous array of dials. Traditional Tag colours. All present and correct and with more than a nod or two to existing popular Tag mechanical models (I particularly love the Chronograph face complete with face tapping stopwatch timer).
Usually we breeze through the digital watch face section in an Android Wear review, mentioning how many exclusive options are on offer and whether they are any good. After all, there are hundreds of options to choose from Google Play if you can't find one you like. It's not really an essential part of the Android Wear offering.
That's different on the Tag Heuer Connected though. The Swiss watchmaker clearly wanted its first digital dive to respect its traditional timepiece roots.
The live notification count, a small number that appears on the face when there's an update for you to read, is unobtrusive and helps to keep Android Wear in the background. Your smartwatch notifications are there if you want them but they won't jump in and ruin the traditional watch ambience.

Tag Heuer Connected: Android Wear

Like Motorola, Tag has done a decent job of adding widgets to its watch faces. However, the 'Themes' face option – which offers three unique dials on a set theme – needs some work. There's only three to choose from; the weather one didn't load any live data; and there's an annoying registration process you have to go through before you can even start to play around with them.I should write more about the features, about how you can get the same OS and, therefore, the same apps and so on for a tenth of the cost elsewhere. But I feel that's missing the point. You shouldn't be buying the Tag Heuer Connected with Android Wear as your primary concern.

 

Tag Heuer Connected: Hardware & battery 

 

As mentioned, Intel is on board, powering the Tag Heuer Connected with a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z34XX CPU. It was the first Android Wear watch to arrive with Intel power (the Fossil Q Founder has followed it recently) and, after months of using Android Wear watches predominantly with Qualcomm processors, we just hoped we wouldn't see our first signs of smartwatch lag.
We needn't have worried though – Intel's hardware is more than up to the job. It's a seamless experience on the OS and app front and touchscreen responsiveness, gesture controls and voice directions all performed as they should.
Tag promised all-day battery life from the 410mAh battery and we can't argue with that. 26 hours was the longest stretch we had, with heavy-ish usage. Charging is quick, using a dock and there's a nice watch face animation giving a countdown of the charging time remaining when plugged into the mains.
Elsewhere, there's 4GB of storage on-board – standard for Android Wear devices – and the Tag Heuer Connected is IP67 rated.

Tag Heuer Connected: How it compares

It's difficult to compare the Tag Heuer Connected to any of the other Android Wear smartwatches. It's just a different beast entirely. Sure, it runs the same regular Android Wear that its more tech-minded rivals offer up but the feel of the device is just so different. We're not just talking build quality either. It just feels more 'watch' than 'smartwatch'. The notifications and so on are there, but they'll only really bother you if you decide to bypass the carefully designed watch faces. It's up to you to decide how deep you want to dive on the smartwatch side.
That also makes it difficult to compare it to the Apple Watch Edition – the luxury range from Cupertino. Because, while the materials and the construction of the top-end watchOS models are, without doubt, top quality, Apple's smartwatch is very much that: a smartwatch. Even with a 24-karat gold case and bezel, the luxury Apple Watches still very much allude to being a 'digital-assistant'. The Tag Heuer Connected, for some reason, doesn't.
I found myself comparing the Connected to my own mechanical Tag much more than I did to the likes of the Huawei Watch or the LG Watch Urbane. It's a lovely Tag watch first and foremost; the smartwatch features are a bonus. And this is from someone who has lived with, and very much come to rely on, the notifications an Android Wear watch offers over the last 18 months.

 

We don't expect Asus, LG and Lenovo to start suddenly using titanium in their devices - not everyone has got $1,500 to blow on a smartwatch. But we do expect them to pull their fingers out a bit when it comes to aesthetics, hardware and software.
Brands like Tag Heuer and Fossil are now gate-crashing the wearable tech party and it's no longer acceptable for a smartwatch to be a slimmed down smartphone in watch form. Wearables have to be wearable... it's simple. Traditional tech brands are going to have to deal with the fact they are now competing with companies that have fashion in their DNA.
That's not to say that there's not some nice looking smartwatches out there - LG and Motorola, in particular, are doing great things incorporating style into its wearables - but the arrival of the Tag Heuer Connected definitely signals a new dawn.
The smartwatch features are actually the weakest part of the whole Connected package and the main reason we aren't marking Tag's debut smartwatch higher. That's not really Tag Heuer's fault. Android Wear, and I'm very much a fan, is still a work in progress and is far from the polished, complete article. So while we'd definitely give the design top marks (quibbles about the display and lack of metal strap aside), we can't go any higher with the limitations of Android Wear dragging the Connected down somewhat.

Casio Smart Outdoor WSD-F10

The Casio WSD-F10 Outdoor Smartwatch truly represents the second coming of Android Wear. It ends the era of identikit faux dress watches with no real USP. It reminds us that Android Wear has so much more to offer than pings from our smartphone and badly timed Google Now pronouncements.
The Casio Outdoor Smartwatch is designed for those who love the great outdoors. It's a segment of people who would traditionally look to Suunto or Garmin – or perhaps Casio's non-smart but super-durable G-SHOCK brand – who the company now believes are better served by Android Wear.
With dedicated modes for hiking, fishing and biking, a bevvy of sensors, the ability to hook into apps and services and access a world of data – is the Casio the ultimate outdoors watch? Or does the impending Nixon The Mission leave it stranded on the north face? We found out.

Casio WSD-F10: Design

The app and tool buttons make it easier to access Casio's baked-in features
So there's no denying it. The Casio WSD-F10 is an incredibly large piece of smartwatch. Up there with the Garmin Fenix 3, the Casio's bulk is a result of the meticulous waterproofing and dust-protection.
It offers 50m water resistance designed to military standards – that's MIL-STD-810G, for the dust-proofing aficionados out there. It was the toughest smartwatch around, until the Nixon's The Mission trumped it at Baselworld 2016. With 100m of water resistance, the Nixon wins on the numbers, but both are pretty substantial.
While it's without doubt one of the bulkiest watches going, it's not as heavy as you might think. It weighs 92g with the bulky rubber strap, but we didn't notice it overly, even on our slender wrists.
It's certainly not for everyone, and perhaps too much to wear to the office every day despite the Android Wear features. But in outdoor watch terms, it even trumps the massive Fenix 3 (85g) and Suunto Traverse GPS (80g).
Now onto the screen. The display is the biggest battery drain of any smartwatch, which is a serious problem when you're out on the hills. To counter this, the Casio employs two screens, which can be switched between to conserve power.

 

The Casio is a big hunk of smartwatch
The main screen is a colour 1.32-inch LCD display with a resolution of 320×300 pixels. It's not exactly mind-blowing, and it's one of the dullest displays we've seen on a smartwatch, presumably to save power. It's also devilishly reflective, which isn't fantastic in direct sunlight, and that's a bit of an issue for an outdoor watch.
Head to the apps screen and choose Timepiece and you can toggle the screen into a monochrome mode. This low-power state will preserve battery, but locks out all extra functionality including the touchscreen. The sensors and apps are also off limits, so all you can do is check the time. If you're out on the hills it's probably the state you want to keep your watch in, before firing up the main OS to dip in and out of the WSD-F10's features.

Casio WSD-F10: Features

The built-in barometer will warn you of inclement weather
So what exactly can this Android Wear-toting hunk of smartwatch do? Well, by using Google's smartwatch OS it brings smartphone notifications and apps to your wrist, notifying you of any messages or calls – and offers you the ability to reply via voice or quick reply.
There's also Google Now information, which comes in the form of tips from Google's services to help you out. This includes offering relevant bus times or travel information from your commute, diary reminders and so on, by harvesting information from the likes of Gmail, Google Calendar and Maps.
This is the standard MO of Android Wear, and if you're particularly interested in those features check out our Android Wear review and guide to Android Wear, as these aspects are constant across Google-powered devices.
But the Casio WSD-F10 changes things slightly. It adds its own apps and services hardcoded into the watch and its own app for controlling the experience.
The main companion app is called Casio Moment Setter+ and this becomes your main point of contact once you've set up using the traditional Android Wear app. The Moment Setter+ enables you to customise the buttons on the right-hand side of the watch.
In the Activity app there are options to track fishing, trekking and cycling as dedicated sports, plus of course you can use any Android Wear app, be it for running, cycling or any sport. And as you come to realise, that's the real power of the Casio as an outdoors watch.

Stainless steel on the back is a nice touch
However, there's something that overshadows the entire ensemble: the lack of GPS. Yes, believe it or not, Casio opted not to add GPS to its outdoors smartwatch. That means that while you can enjoy live air pressure and weather data, it's missing the most obvious location data. All is not lost: you can piggy-back GPS from your smartphone, but that's problematic, too. If you're out on the hills the last thing you want is something draining your phone battery in case it's needed in an emergency.
The lack of GPS is clearly an attempt to save precious battery power. However, it's not a trade-off that has to be made. The Fenix 3 has a low power GPS option for walking, which offers 50 hours of tracking. It can be done. The fact that Casio hasn't included built-in GPS points to a lack of technical prowess (few brands can hold a candle to Garmin's power management) or that Android Wear is too power hungry. Either way, it's a serious omission – and one that's being rectified by Nixon, even though the results are yet to be seen.

Casio WSD-F10: Sensors, apps and tracking

So there's no GPS. Life must go on. And the Casio is filled with alternative sensors to bolster its outdoor prowess.
Positioned around the bezel are sensors to read air pressure, altitude, an accelerometer, gyrometer and a magnetometer to act as a compass.
It's an impressive list, but meaningless without harvesting the data. And Casio does that impressively though its Tool apps, and a handful of third party offerings.
Firstly, the Activity app. This provides tracking for the tri-sportage of fishing, cycling and trekking that make up the Casio's USPs. Turn on fishing mode and you'll get elapsed time, atmospheric pressure change over the last two hours and the current atmospheric reading, so you can track weather changes in real time.

The atmospheric sensors sit on the watch bezel
Trekking mode shows time, traveling speed and altitude remaining to your goal. And finally, cycling shows time and distance on the watch face.
The three modes are slightly limiting, and it's a little annoying that you can't choose the information you see. For example, it would be great if fishing mode could swipe right for tide times, but it doesn't.
You can, however, add some nifty alerts in the Casio Moment Setter+ app. In each mode you can set IFTTT style alerts: an alarm X hours before high tide in X city, show a map of your location every 30 minutes, a reminder to eat every time 500kcal is burned. There are scores of options to customise, and while there are shortcomings, it's great that Casio has made the sensors useful.
Each sensor can be viewed on its own via the Tool button (or app) on the Casio. When the Tool app fires up, you can swipe through each sensor in turn to get full screen readouts. What's more, not every option is turned on by default, but a quick trip to the Casio Moment Setter+ app can apply extra data like sunrise/sunset data and My Graph, which is Casio's own activity tracking app that shows steps, calories and workout times.
You can switch out of any tracking mode to cycle through these screens as you wish, just by heading back to the home screen and pressing the Tool button.
All in all, the array of sensors and supporting apps is a real boon for Casio. They've made them impressively relevant and useful for those out on the hills, especially via the customisable alerts. It's just a shame that GPS can't complete the ensemble.

Casio WSD-F10: Third party apps

While Casio's built-in apps are decent, the watch does provide you with some third-party options as well. This is just a handful of apps, though, and it's worth checking if your favourites can access the Casio's sensors.
The main third-party app worth highlighting is Viewranger. This requires a free sign up and you can track walks and hikes in better detail than with the built-in Casio app. While the app on the Casio will track open hikes and display distance, altitude and heading, you can also set up routes on the smartphone app and have the watch guide you, which is especially useful if you're trekking off the beaten path.
There are also apps from MyRadar and YAMAP pre-installed on the watch (you'll be fired off to Google Play to download the phone part).

Casio WSD-F10: Battery life

The magnetic charger sits above the sensors
The crucial aspect of this whole ensemble is battery life. Can you spend all day on the hills and still have the Casio tracking your every move? Well, it's a tight run thing. Casio has done everything in its power to eke the maximum battery life out of the Outdoor Smartwatch, and it's just about succeeded in making it usable.
As a basic smartwatch without using any of the power saving features, the Casio will last around a day and a half, which isn't that impressive given the size.
However, in the various tracking modes the watch shuts itself down, switching to the low power screen. This means you're looking at roughly 20 hours of tracking, although it's highly dependent on the type of activity and how often you interact with the watch. The 20 hour figure came from the fishing mode, but the increased data points from cycling will take that figure down substantially.
You will see even less stamina if using the live tracking in Viewranger, which shows your heading to GPS co-ordinates plotted within the app – again, this uses a handy low-power screen mode when not in use. This would take battery life down even further (again, dependent on how often you fire up the screen) and impact your phone's battery life too, tracking GPS. This, for many, will be a dealbreaker.
To sum up, the Casio's clever battery saving techniques save its blushes, but test it hard enough and you will find the limits. Use the built-in apps and they should see you right for a good day outdoors, but if you're going away for the weekend, pack the charger.

 

Casio WSD-F10: Price

 

The Casio and Fenix 3; somehow the Casio manages to outsize the Garmin
Now comes the second big problem. Not the $500 price tag, because in many ways that's worth it – the Garmin Fenix 3 will set you back the best part of $700. It's the availability of the Casio that is the big issue.
The company hasn't updated us since it confirmed that the Casio WSD-F10 won't be released outside the US or Japan. While we have heard reports that Germany is next on the list, that's not confirmed by our Casio sources.
What's more, while you can get it shipped overseas, a lot of the features are blocked. We had to sideload the Casio Moment Setter+ app which was awkward, and you still can't load tide times, for example, for non US or Japanese coastlines.

Apple Watch

It's sometimes easy to think of Apple as a miracle worker – the brand with a Midas touch. There's nothing the company can't turn to gold. But with the Apple Watch – its first foray into wearables, two years after Pebble smashed the market wide open – Apple faces its toughest challenge yet.Apple has the opportunity to define the smartwatch – something that Android Wear, Pebble and Samsung have largely failed to do. But it's faced with the same challenges of screen size, battery life and user experience as everyone else – so can it work another miracle?

Apple Watch: Design

Whether you find the Apple Watch a terrific example of fashion blending with tech, or a square boxy abomination is a question of taste. But for our money, it's the best looking smartwatch made to date.The build quality is superb, and the footprint of both the 38mm and 42mm watch is much smaller than you'd expect – and it goes some way to excuse the thickness of the design.

We tested a 38mm watch with a green silicon band – noteworthy because it's the cheapest of the line-up at $349. At 38mm the watch is rather dainty, and most men will certainly prefer the 42mm band, which also benefits from a larger battery.

The main elephant in the room is that price tag. With a basic 42mm Apple Watch Sport clocking in at $399 and the main Apple Watch $599, it's a staggering premium even for Apple. And when you compare the price of the best Android Wear devices – $299 for the Sony SmartWatch 3 in Steel or $349 for the LG Watch Urbane – it's hard to qualify exactly what you're getting for the extra money.

Part of the appeal is the 340 x 272 pixels, 290 ppi screen (390 x 312, 302ppi for the 42mm one), and while it's not quite as sharp as the Samsung Gear S, it's one of the most vibrant we've seen from any smartwatch to date and shows off the deep colour palette of watchOS 2.

The bands themselves are the first true indicator that you have an Apple product on your wrist. The silicon feels reassuringly weighty, and the unique design means the excess strap slips through a hole, so you don't get that accidental flapping that's all too common with cheap watches. What's more, the extra straps feature the same attention to detail. The Milanese number, which has been much lauded, fixes magnetically with a pleasing snap.

The straps are easily changeable using a typically Apple proprietary mechanism, but that means you can't use any old 22mm strap off the shelf – and Apple's straps are eye-wateringly expensive.

Underneath is an optical heart rate sensor, which bulges from the rear, just out of sight. The whole thing is IPX7 rated, which means it's splashproof, but not waterproof – meaning you can shower with it if you must, but don't take it for a swim.

Apple Watch: Features

Two schools of thought have emerged in smartwatch design: less is more, which means filtering out digital noise; and more is more, which means giving you access to every conceivable feature.

The Apple Watch is all about more.

Answering the question "what does it do?" is a little like defining the iPhone. Yes, the Apple Watch is a smartwatch, but with the addition of its app store, it can do anything developers decree. And that's really exciting.

But for the benefit of the uninitiated, the Watch connects to your iPhone, and is effectively impotent without it. It uses that wireless umbilical connection to display any notification from your phone, flashing up anything from texts to WhatsApp messages, tweets, Instagram likes, Gmail alerts, calendar reminders, annoying SkyBet notifications and pointless push messages.

You can trim notifications and stop the less relevant ones from being displayed on your watch using the iPhone companion app, so in some way there is a filter. However, you can't dig further in and only allow messages from certain people or conversations onto the wrist.

You can also make calls from the Watch (the leg work done by your paired iPhone, although you'd never know) and reply to messages using your voice.

Other key features include tracking steps, standing time and daily activity, prompts to remind you to stand up regularly, and of course, the tracking of sports.

In short, Apple has built in all the features you'd expect from a smartwatch and let its developers create the experiences that give the Watch the opportunity to define the market. So far so good, but does it do those core things well, how good are its apps, and is it the best smartwatch to date?

This is where the test really begins.

Apple Watch: UI and interface

The joy of Apple's previous successful products, and the reason it's been so successful is simplicity. Your mum can use the iPhone. Your three year old can rack up thousands of dollars in micro-payments. It's so easy to use.
The Apple Watch? Not so much.
To conserve battery the screen turns off when the watch isn't in use. This is a common feature most smartwatches, but unfortunately, Apple hasn't nailed the gesture of turning on the screen when needed. It works okay when standing, but if you're sitting or lying down, the watch often fails to illuminate, which is pretty frustrating.
The long and short is that occasionally it's difficult to tell the time.
The control system also takes getting used to. The watch face is the main screen, as you'd expect and a tap on the Digital Crown takes you to that iconic spread of apps – just like the home button on the iPhone. You twiddle the crown oh so gently to zoom in and out of those apps.
Must have extras: Best Apple Watch accessories
Within apps, you can scroll through options and lists using your finger or the crown, and you tap to make choices. A long press (Force Touch) will bring up a context menu – it's a feature that's been lauded on the Apple Watch, but frankly has been a part of Android for years.
Using the Apple Watch requires a deft touch. The more apps you have, the more cluttered your screen will be, and that it requires concentration to hit the right one. Your finger will never feel so large and ungainly when trying to pick out that app you need. There's also strange lack of standardisation across the apps. Some have a long press option, some don't.
The most useful information is held in the Glances section, which is accessed by swiping up from the bottom when you're on the watch face screen. Here you can see battery life, calendar alerts, progress towards move goals among other things. You have to swipe through the cards to find the one you need, which can be a bit of a faff. What's more, if you're in the apps screen, you have to return to the watch face to use your Glances. Annoying. However, you can add or remove Glances and reorder them from within the iPhone companion app.

Apple Watch: Notifications

When notifications land on the watch, they're stored in a list, just like on the iPhone. Swiping down from the top enables you to recall them, and tapping one will open it up in full.
Smartwatch showdown: Apple Watch v Android Wear
This works well, but again, there's discrepancies in notifications. For all the 3,000 apps made for Watch, there are no dedicated ones (yet) for Facebook, Gmail or WhatsApp. That means for some notifications – Facebook in particular – alerts just tell you something has happened. Gmail and WhatsApp messages can be read, at least in part, but you can't read messages in full or reply.
More on that later.
While Apple has nailed the relatively easy task of getting notifications to your wrist, it does lag behind Google when it comes to preempting the information you need. We missed Google Now's cards, prompting you to go to your meeting, or telling you there's disruption on your way to work without you having to check manually.
You can reply to text messages and emails, using either stock replies or voice. Now watchOS 2 has enabled apps to use the microphone we wouldn't be surprised to see similar features come to Whatsapp and co soon.

Apple Watch: Taptic engine

One of the triumphs of the Apple Watch's design is the Taptic engine, which enables a different feeling for notifications. Rather than just buzz when notifications come through, the Apple Watch uses a series of different digital taps.
A notification feels like someone tapping your arm, rather than a dull buzz. And there's different feelings depending on the type of alert: left and right turns during walking navigation, move goals, standing prompts and of course Digital Touch. The latter is Apple's feature enables you to send heartbeats, sketches and taps to other Watch users – which is obviously a gimmick, but good fun for your first day with the Watch.
See also: Apple Watch v Pebble Time
The reality is however, that the Taptic engine is a huge part of the experience, and makes the watch feel so much more personal. The taps are much more pleasant to experience than a series of motorised buzzes you'll find on every other smartwatch out there, and it's the Watch's best example of that hallmark of Apple quality we've come to expect.

Apple Watch: Fitness, sports and heart rate 

A big push for the Apple Watch is in fitness and sports, and Apple has been keen to market the device to the millions who are interested in fitness trackers and sports watches.
As a general fitness tracker that counts steps and pushes you to your daily goals, the Apple Watch superb. The built in Activity app is one of the best we've seen in terms of design, and you can look at results on the Watch and iPhone app quickly and easily. Progress towards your Move Goal is clearly shown by coloured circles – one for standing time, one for activity and the other for movement.
Sports watch showdown: Apple Watch v Fitbit Surge
Unlike a Fitbit, the 'move goal' is measured in calorific burn rather than the number of steps, which is a sensible move, as it rewards you for getting out for a short run or more intense bursts of activity. You can change your goal from the Watch, and set a higher number of calories to try to burn off.
There's no sleep tracking built into the Apple Watch, presumably because you need to charge it nightly, but there are already third party apps in the App Store ready to fill this void.

While the Apple Watch is certainly somewhat of a Fitbit-killer, it's far from a complete sports watch.
Firstly, there's no GPS, which is a problem. You cannot accurately track runs without it. However, the Apple Watch can steal GPS data when running with an iPhone, so if you're willing to take both out, you're good to go.
Of course, there's hundreds of running apps for iPhone, and more on that shortly, but the Apple Watch has its own Workout app, that tracks runs, cycles, walks, indoor gym work and free exercise. When you start a session, the Watch will keep tabs on your heart rate, pace, distance and time, just as a running watch would do.
When you finish your run, it provides a simple text summary of the workout, but without any maps of your route, graphs of your heart rate zones, breakdowns of your pace. It's beyond basic. Your workout sits within the Activity app, the metrics are stripped out and it's not possible to compare sessions at all.
To illustrate the fact of how totally unfit for purpose the Apple Watch's Workout app is, we turned on a free workout, and sat at our desk for an hour. It reported that we'd burned 600 calories.
That said, the only really accurate part of our run tracking was the heart rate data, which stacked up against a Garmin chest strap admirably. While neither are scientifically accurate, both came back with similar data.

Apple Watch: Apps

 

Apple's selection of apps will arguably make or break the Apple Watch, and like so many products before it, Apple has provided a platform for developers to run with. And with the new watchOS 2 operating system in place which enables standalone apps that can access all the sensors and hardware in the Watch, it's in a strong position.
The line up of apps is now 10,000 strong although big name apps are only slowly filtering through. Google Maps has only just landed and features seriously limited functionality.
Our top picks: The best Apple Watch apps
Unfortunately it seems that Apple Watch apps are not made equal. Apple based apps work well on the Watch, and third party ones simply don't.
An example is Apple Map's walking directions, which use the Taptic engine to guide, which is a genuine wow moment. And despite the Workout app being flawed, it stays illuminated so you can check your run stats on the go.
On the other hand, CityMapper directions don't update live on the Watch screen and if you accidentally tap on the map shown within the app, you're whisked off to the Apple Maps app, with no way to return.
That isn't an isolated incident, and apps like Runkeeper – which basically just fire up the iPhone app and provide a mirrored display of the data – suffer the ignominy of the screen turning off and disappearing off into the background while running. A double tap of the Digital Crown will retrieve it.
Apps have improved under watchOS 2 both in terms of the variety and the speed in which they load. There's still a lot of work to do here, and developers aren't jumping on board as quickly as they have in the past.

Apple Watch: Siri and calling

Like Android Wear, voice is a big part of the Apple Watch, and of course, Siri is on-board. You press and hold the Digital Crown to summon Siri, and then ask questions, schedule meetings and the like. It works well, and the voice recognition works a treat – although the movement of bringing your Watch closer to your mouth can annoyingly dismiss Siri again.
Voice calling from the Apple Watch is also impressive, and in our test calls, recipients had no idea the call was made from the Watch. The only complaint was that the built-in speaker wasn't loud enough, which made calls in the car – an ideal time to use the Watch – hard to hear.
However, it's supremely easy to make a call by using the second button that brings up your regular contacts – and in select situations, wrist calling can be genuinely useful.

Apple Watch: Battery life

Battery life has been widely panned on the Apple Watch, and of course, it depends on your expectations. Definitively, the battery life is one single day. In our testing we had no problems getting through the day, and generally went to bed with at least 20% of charge remaining.
We also tested the 42mm Apple Watch with its bigger battery and found that we could just make it last two days, but no longer.
Of course, that means taking your proprietary charger away for weekends, which is really annoying. We're a bit miffed that Apple didn't opt to integrate iPhone charging somehow, perhaps with a double USB plug. Now we must use up another socket next to the bed for the extra device, which could have been avoided with a little consideration.

Apple Watch: Should you buy it?

For anyone to buy a first generation Apple product, you have to be a big enthusiast with money to burn – and the Apple Watch is no exception. If you're looking for the best smartwatch, this is certainly a front-runner along with the Sony SmartWatch 3, which boasts great sports features, the best of Android Wear but a distinct lack of X-factor.
Read this: The best Android Wear smartwatch you can buy
Sports fans should avoid the Apple Watch for now, or risk serious disappointment, but if you love your iPhone and want some of the best looking wearable tech on offer today – the Apple Watch is for you.

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​Samsung Gear S2 

 

When it comes to Samsung smartwatches, our Gear S2 review breaks new ground. Never before have we been able to describe a Samsung smartwatch as desirable, intuitive or – most importantly of all – compatible.

With its Swatch-like looks and ability to play nicely with rival Android smartphones, Samsung has performed a spectacular U-turn. The result is a bold wearable that gets as much right as its predecessors got wrong. Read on to find out why Samsung is back in the game.

Samsung Gear S2 : Design

It's impressive how many bases Samsung has covered in just two designs: the standard Gear S2 and the upscaled Gear S2 Classic. It should be noted that the stainless steel and plastic editions look like watches and feel well made – and if you've ever worn a previous Samsung smartwatch, you'll know that is big news.

 

If we'd had a choice of which Gear S2 to review, we'd have plumped for the Classic. The ridged bezel, leather strap and smaller body combine for a premium feel, and it can be easily fitted with third party straps. It's $50 more expensive, but feels lovely.

We also haven't had a chance to test the Gear S2 with 3G and GPS – the obvious choice to compare to the Sony SmartWatch 3 or Moto 360 Sport if you want a smartwatch for everyday as well as running or training.

With two different designs and a bunch of different straps, there's some choice of style in the Samsung Gear S2 line-up, though it can't rival Apple or Motorola for personalisation options. While the Gear S2 Classic, with its leather strap, looks more in line with a Fossil watch, the plastic strapped Gear S2 has more in common with a Swatch. This is key for a couple of reasons. First, the Samsung Gear S2 doesn't try too hard. With its pre-loaded watch faces it looks fun and off-the-wall. It's not trying to be as classy as an Omega or as blingy as a Michael Kors. It has a confident style and it translates well.

One of our only criticisms here is that the 11.4mm thick S2 is still quite chunky and sits quite high on the top of your wrist. This is similar to the second gen Motorola and if there's one guarantee about the next generation of devices it's that they will be slimmer, but right now smartwatches are still chunky. The Classic will work for women but it wouldn't be our first recommendation. Still, one thing is for sure – we are so far away from the first Gear watch. This is a polished, unisex, circular smartwatch that no one will be ashamed of wearing. 

Samsung Gear S2 : That rotating bezel

The Gear S2's rotating bezel is far and away our favourite thing about the piece. Rather than try to disappear the bezel altogether like Motorola or primp it up to look like a traditional wristwatch like LG, Samsung has transformed it into a satisfying, addictive and most importantly, intuitive way of interacting with the smartwatch.

When you move your hand to hover over the watch on your wrist it's the exact place your fingers land, even when you aren't looking down yet, and thanks to some clever UI design in its Tizen OS – more on that later – you can switch between apps, cycle back to notifications, change volume and brightness all in the same smooth motion.

In short, it's genius and – sorry, Samsung – we hope to see similar mechanisms on rival smartwatches.

It's faster than Apple's Digital Crown on the Watch and the touchscreen prods and gestures of Android Wear. You can control everything with your finger on the right half of the bezel (if you're right handed) which means you will always be able to see the whole display. 

The bezel's closest rival here is actually a little known Chinese watch, designed by Frog design, called the Ticwatch which has a capacitive strip on the outer edge.

There are also two buttons on the right-hand edge of the round watch body: 'back' at two o'clock and 'home' at four o'clock. The first of these is in the perfect position, the second can be a bit annoying to shift your hand around to press. You can set a double tap of the home button to launch an app, such as the music player or maps, which is handy, though unlike say, a Pebble, in order to select an app or setting it's back to prodding the touchscreen. 

Samsung Gear S2 : Screen

With so much love for the rotating bezel you might forget to pay proper attention to the bright, vivid and sharp 1.2-inch Super AMOLED screen. It's smaller than some smartwatch screens and set into the watch so it doesn't look quite as modern as the Moto 360 2. But this just increases its retro/classic charm.

At 360 x 360 pixels, the Gear S2's screen has an impressive pixel density of 302ppi, which means you can choose to set the font very small and see more messages or notifications on one screen as you scroll through them. It's as pin-sharp as the smaller Apple Watch and it shows. And unsurprisingly for a Samsung product, it can go very bright – probably too bright, though, as most days we settled for a low, easily readable setting.

Samsung Gear S2 : Tizen

Tizen has always been a gamble for Samsung but this time it has paid off. Unlike all the Android Wear watches from Huawei and LG and Motorola which benefit from recent updates but can't really move the category on, the Gear S2 is doing its own thing. And its thing is a damn well easy to use smartwatch OS. As easy to use, in fact, as our beloved Pebble OS.

The home screen is the watch face screen and you simply rotate left one click for recent notifications. Rotate right to get to a screen with an apps icon, settings, buddies (for quick messages) and S Voice. Keep rotating right and you can get easily glanceable information – weather, S Health progress, heart rate and information from third party apps. Choose the apps menu instead and Tizen makes the most of the circular screen and bezel with round app icons around the edge of the display to cycle through. Keep going with the bezel and it simply takes you to the next screen of apps. It is much quicker than zooming in and out with a Digital Crown. 

Editor’s picks :

Notifications are there, messages are there, call logs, third party apps… You can't get lost. One niggle is that images, say from WhatsApp, don't display on the watch but this can be excused for the time being. Tizen performs well too with no lag between transitions – the only thing that keeps you waiting is animations when apps open. Unlike Android Wear, the music player controls work without fail every time. With alerts, the vibration is quite subtle – not refined subtle like Apple's Taptic Engine but more in a you-might-miss-it kind of way. You can set the Gear S2 to long vibrate and there are levels to choose from but even 'strong' isn't that strong.

Our only criticism is that it would be great to be able to customise the aesthetic of the whole UI – it looks a little clownish and in particular will probably look a little odd on the Classic. Apple's watchOS 2 is colourful but looks more suited to a stylish accessory and watches such as the Olio Model One are offering bespoke watch faces and UIs custom to each finish.

Like the Apple Watch, it's missing the contextual alerts of Google Now which can be really handy, but arguably what Tizen offers is – for now – more useful; a quick way to find out and access what's happening. What we really want is a blend of the two – Google's virtual assistant is the future but Android Wear is still a work in progress after 18 months. Outside of Apple and Google, Samsung has obviously been looking elsewhere for its services and maps are taken care of by HERE Maps. It's generally accurate and you can zoom in and out of your location using the bezel but it can be rather slow to load on the watch. Directions are handled by a separate HERE app, Navigator.

Tizen supports Bluetooth – the S2 works with most Android phones, another first for a non-Wear Samsung smartwatch. It also has Wi-Fi on board – pull down to see if it's in 'standalone' mode or paired to a phone – as well as NFC for Samsung Pay, its mobile payment service which is a hit in Korea, just launched in the US and is coming to the UK. We'll update this review with our impressions of using Pay with the Gear S2 very soon.

There is also the small matter of the 3G and GPS Gear S2 with a bigger battery but we haven't seen this model yet, and according to a Samsung exec it's not due to come to the UK or Europe.

Samsung Gear S2: Health and fitness :

So many health and fitness features are bolted onto smartwatches these days, we'll focus on what Samsung does well. Step counting is accurate and S Health offers some easily glanceable graphics to show your progress to specific goals set in the smartphone app.

If you want to be more active, the Gear S2 can vibrate to remind you you've been sitting down for nearly an hour and also give you the time you've been inactive as well as active – all useful, motivational stuff. Other alerts include step target achieved and healthy pace. You can also input that you've drank a glass of water or cup of coffee with one tap (once you've reached that screen with the bezel) which is exactly the kind of thing a smartwatch can help with.

The S2 isn't going to replace your sports watch, especially as neither the regular nor Classic models have GPS, but there are some attempts to give you that option. It auto tracks walking, running and cycling, with estimates of calories burned, which is perfect for the kind of casual user who would consider the Gear S2 as an all-rounder. Though it did detect our evening jog, it also had a blip when it once – only once – classed sitting on the sofa as light activity. Nike+ Running is also preloaded and is a better choice for regular runners as it shows time, distance and pace right on the watch face. 

The heart rate monitor on the underside of the Gear S2 is a cut above too, and while it's no more accurate than the tech you'll find on an Android Wear watch, it's a lot more useful. It can take on the spot readings and can also be set to continuously take your pulse at intervals with two settings, moderate or frequent.

When you're not exercising, you can also tag your bpm readings as 'resting', 'before exercise', 'after exercise' or with moods such as 'excited' and 'angry' so you can keep an eye on your heart's health. The app also lets you know if your resting heart rate is average or lower/higher than average, though the stats get annoying fairly quickly.

All-in-all, the S2 offers more than Android Wear or Pebble in terms of health and fitness tracking. It's similar to what the Apple Watch is offering, partly successfully, but if Cupertino does decide to include GPS on its next model, the Gear S2 could get left behind. 

Samsung Gear S2 : Apps

Here's the part of the Tizen gamble that might not pay off. There are a handful of preloaded watch faces to choose from – both analogue and digital style, customisable and some with 'complications' to show the date, the weather or whatever you want instant access too.

As for apps, Samsung promised over 1,000 Tizen apps designed for the Gear S2's circular screen and it gave developers plenty of notice to get them ready. What we have is a bunch of big names like Nike, CNN, Yelp and Twitter as well as some smart home control options, and then a lot of, shall we say, interesting apps to sift through. Interesting may be generous.

You can head to the Samsung Gear Apps store via the Samsung Gear app to see the limited selection for yourself, but chances are you won't be too impressed. For instance, there's no Uber app yet, though you can obviously order a cab on your phone then get the alerts to your smartwatch until the app arrives.

Pebble's indie app store took time to get going, but despite the healthy community and the decent Kickstarter sales, it hasn't come close to Android Wear or Apple.

But this is Samsung and the Gear S2 has the potential to outsell all Android Wear watches. We haven't seen anything available for Tizen so far that pushes the boundaries of what smartwatches can be great at – we're thinking of Google's two way translation app, say, or the text based games on the Apple Watch. But it's still very early days, so we will only say that if you think apps will be a big part of your smartwatch experience, it might be wise to wait or look elsewhere.

Samsung Gear S2 : Battery life and charging

The battery life on the Gear S2 is better than most smartwatches. Of course it depends how you use it – whether you go for the always on screen, how much you use apps like S Voice and Maps, etc. But when using the S2 as much as we've used Android Wear watches day to day, Samsung's smartwatch is the one left standing. The 300mAh battery inside is officially good for three days – we haven't got more than two and a bit days out of it, even without the screen 'always on', but we're sure it can go for longer with lighter use.

To find out the battery level, you swipe down from the watch face, exactly the same as on Android Wear. Especially worth mentioning is the superb Power Saving mode. We left the house on 15% battery one morning having forgotten to dock the S2 in its tidy wireless charging dock overnight. We popped power saving on and it got us home from work before the Gear conked out. This switches the watch face to a simple grayscale screen, disables everything apart from alerts, calls and messages and turns off Wi-Fi. In short, it's wonderful and it means you won't be wearing a blank circle on your wrist on your commute home.

As for that dock, it's the spitting image of the Moto 360 dock (a little smaller) and helps to build charging into your daily routine. The only annoyance comes with needing to charge your watch at work or when travelling but nine times out of ten, we prefer this kind of dock to a random proprietary cradle.