Wearable technology is no new phenomenon. Its history falls back to 1977 when HP-01, a wearable calculator wristwatch, was launched. The past decade was surely a breakthrough for wearable technology as its popularity showed a huge spike with the introduction of smartwatches.

Gone are the days when watches were only used to check the time. It's the modern era now, and the traditional watch has also modernized into smartwatch. Whether you want to read your phone notifications, check how many KMs you ran today, or kill boredom listening to music, everything is on your wrist now! A smartwatch can do anything that a smartphone can do for you. In short, smartwatches are a portable and minimal version of phones.

People usually get confused on why should they spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on just a wristwatch? This article will be the answer to all of your queries. Read the article with total attention!

What is a Smartwatch?

Okay, let's get it straight. A smartwatch is a piece of wearable technology that replaces old and traditional wristwatches. It can also be considered as the condensed version of smartphones. Smartwatches can be used to do anything from checking weather updates to playing videogames. It uses a touch screen to take the input from the user and to provide the output (just like a smartphone).

In addition, they run on different operating systems, wear OS and Tizen are most commonly used in smartwatches.

Types of Smartwatches:

Let’s talk about different types or classifications of smartwatches.

Smartwatch:

This type is nothing more than a smartwatch. You can consider it as an assistant to your phone. They are connected with your phone to pop-up notifications on screen. In short, you will no longer miss an urgent email or an important message. Moreover, it comes in both the traditional and modern styles.

Hybrid Smartwatch:

If you are an old-school lover, then this one is for you. A hybrid watch is a mixture of an old analogue watch with technology. It doesn't have a screen. Rather it is connected to the phone using Bluetooth. It vibrates or alarms whenever the phone receives a new notification.

Moreover, this watch can be manipulated in such a way to point hands to a certain time whenever a message is received from a special person. So change of time to 03:00 will mean that kids have messed up something at school, or whatever you've set it to. In a nutshell, it is a beautiful combination of old and new.

Fitness Tracker Watch:

It has got almost everything a smartwatch has to offer, but it mainly focuses on the user's health. It keeps track of and records the health data. How much you ran today and the number of calories burnt this jog-session, nothing will get unnoticed now! Also, it helps you establish and save your daily goals and provides health tips as well.

Benefits of Smartwatches:

• Do More than Just Checking Time:

With clocks, calendars, and alarms in a smartphone, the trend of wristwatches is now outdated. They lost their place. But a little blend with technology gave them all of their value back. Along with offering all the basic functions of an analogue watch, the smartwatches also feature advanced capabilities. They offer almost everything an apple or android phone has to offer.

• Connect to Phone and Keep Notified:

Forget your phone at home? Worried as you were waiting for an important message? Relax! Your wristwatch has got your back. Connect the watch with your phone using Bluetooth, and boom! Start receiving notifications on your wrist. Whether it's a text or email, the smartwatch will keep you in touch.

• Never Compromise on Safety:

Getting more advanced, smartwatches now provide a fall detection feature. It consists of sensors that detect the movement, and if you fall with the watch on your wrist, it will get into alert mode and start sending notifications. On getting no response from the user for a certain time, it will notify the health authorities for help itself.

• A Better Travel Guide:

While making a trip, nothing beats the importance of a travel guide. Wait, I won't ask you to hire a guide, because you don't need to. You've got everything on your wrist. Yep! The smartwatch will also serve you as a virtual guide.

It gives different vibrations telling to turn in what direction. So instead of plucking eyes on the mobile map screen, you can enjoy the real-time journey.

• Find Your Phone with Ease:

Finding something lost was never that much easy. Thanks to smartwatches which have given all the authority to our wrist. Using the smartwatch, you can connect and locate your phone in no time. So, next time when you lose your phone, don't panic and just keep your trust in your watch.

• Fitness and Health tracking facility:

Can you think of something better than a wearable and portable fitness trainer? Hiring a personal trainer and looking towards him for each and every instruction is hectic and quite old-fashioned. It is now time to switch to virtual trainers in the shape of fitness tracker smartwatches. Whether you want to keep track of miles you ran, steps you walked, or calories burnt, your smartwatch is there to save the day.

Moreover, it keeps track of heart-rate, pulse-rate, and sleep throughout the day. Besides basic tracking, you can also determine your calorie-intake by entering your daily food consumption. 

• Stress, What Stress?

Nowadays, psychological issues are on peak. Almost everyone, irrespective of age, is suffering from some stress. Where health experts are looking for different solutions, the technology gave them a helping hand by introducing smartwatches. These watches are designed in a way that they keep track of hormones responsible for heart rate and pulse level. In case it sees some trouble, the screen notifies you to take a break, sit back, breathe and relax. As health is a matter of serious concern, this feature in smartwatches is nothing less than a blessing.

• Never Go Offline:

Social media notifications are important. No matter you are managing your online business handle or just uploaded a new picture, those social-alerts mean a lot to everyone. It's not always possible to pick out your phone to check new notifications; that's where your smartwatch comes into play. Get every notification on your wrist. Alongside this, you can also interact with those notifications. Although interacting through a small watch screen may get hectic, but it also comes in very handy at moments.

• Digitalize Your Payments:

It’s the era of online money handling. Instead of cash, online transactions are preferred. Smartphones feature different apps through which online payments can be made. But as already discussed, we can't carry our phones everywhere. Smartwatches come useful here as well. Online payment apps are also available on watches, so you can pay with more portability.

• Be A Multi-Tasker:

Jogging and reading your mails at the same time? Pausing your work to check notifications? Doesn't seem like a good idea. Don't worry as the phone won't distract you anymore. Smartwatches let you read all the chats and notifications on your wrist without stopping the work. Instead, be a multitasker without any interruptions.

Tips for buying Smartwatches:

With so many options available in the market, it often gets tedious to decide the best one for you. In the following, we will be discussing different tips to use when selecting the right one for you.

Identify Your Requirements:

Why do you even need a smartwatch? That's a question only you can answer for yourself. Whether you need it for fitness tracking or notifications checking, or something else, identify your needs, and things will get easier for you.

 Phone Compatibility:

Don't go for some watch that does not meet your phone requirements. That will be of no use for you.  Different manufacturers support only specific phone models and operating systems. For instance, Google's Wear OS and Samsung's Tyzen support both android and iPhone. Whereas apple only supports iPhone.

Fitness Tracking:

Are you a fitness geek looking for a fitness tracker for you? Check out if the smartwatch you are buying features GPS and rate-tracker sensors or not.

Battery Life:

This is probably one of the most important points to look for in smartwatches. Normally, they offer more battery-timing than smartphones. But it depends upon your preference and routine. How many hours do you need it running?

Watch Band:

Let it be traditional or smartwatches, the strap always needs to be perfect in all aspects. It should be easy to handle and replaceable.

Budget-Friendly:

Budget is always the biggest constraint buying anything. Well, if you are someone looking for newer models, then you need to have a nice budget. Older models cost less, but you can surely find good watches in less budget as well.

Conclusion:

Smartwatch is easily a revolutionary technology of recent times. This article was all about smartwatches. We discussed the benefits of a smartwatch, things to look for while buying one, its different types and advantages over a traditional watch. Thanks for sticking with us till the end!