In terms of design, smartwatches come in all shapes and sizes, but there are also many differences in the underlying hardware and the features on offer.
Whilst brands like Apple and Samsung try to capture the mainstream market with a “one size fits all” approach, many brands are targeting smaller segments of the market with niche-specific features. There are watches for fitness enthusiasts, golfers, mountain climbers, Swiss watch lovers, and many other interests.
In this guide, I’ll share a breakdown of the different types of smartwatches and the key things each type has in common. I’ll also touch on the pros and cons of each type of smartwatch to help you decide which is best for your needs.
Types of Smartwatch
General Use Smartwatches
The most popular type of smartwatch is the general-use smartwatch. These are designed to be suitable for a wide range of occasions, from checking your notifications on your commute to listening to music during your daily run.
Most of the flagship devices from popular brands such as Samsung and Apple can be considered general use smartwatches. They tend to be a jack of all trades, but master of none. Many devices will have built-in GPS, the ability to make/receive calls, media controls, and
To help them accomplish such a broad range of tasks, they will usually have a comprehensive operating system, such as WearOS or Tizen, which allows them to run different apps from the manufacturer and often from third parties too. The downside to this is that they are usually power-hungry so you’ll need to recharge them most days.
Fitness-Focused Smartwatches
Fitness-focused smartwatches are designed to appeal to those looking to monitor their workouts and track their overall health. A slim aesthetic is essential for fitness smartwatches as this ensures they do not obstruct your workouts.
The casing will often be made from lighter materials, such as aluminum or plastic instead of stainless steel, and manufacturers will usually include a silicone strap that is more comfortable on your wrist.
In terms of features, fitness-focused smartwatches will often have onboard music storage and Bluetooth capability. This allows you to work out without needing to carry your phone with you, this is especially important for runners who may not have anywhere to store their phone during a run.
Some of the more premium fitness smartwatches will also have the option for a cellular connection, again this is aimed at improving the tether-free experience and allows you to receive calls or reply to messages without your phone.
They will also have GPS and an accelerometer for tracking your routes and should integrate with your favorite fitness apps such as Strava or Google Fit.
Budget Smartwatches
🏆 #1 Best Overall
- Heart Rate and Sleep Monitoring: The Fitness Tracker monitors your heart rate automatically all day, and you can select manual mode through the App. The fitness Watch also monitors your sleep at night, providing a detailed analysis of your sleep quality (deep sleep, light sleep, awake time). It is a health advisor for women men in daily life.
- Multi Sport Modes with Activity Tracking: The fitness tracker features 9 sport modes like running, walking and more. Additionally, the activity tracker records daily steps, calories burned, walking distance and active time throughout the day. You can also set a daily steps goals through the App to track your progress.
- Smart Notification Reminder: You can get SMS messages, and SNS notifications directly on your wrist including Facebook, Twitter, Gmail ect. You won't miss any important calls and message and stay updated. Please note: the smart watch can not make calls or text.
- Long Battery Life and IP68 Waterproof: This smart watch only requires 2 hours of charging and can be used for 5-7 days continuously, IP68 waterproof rating can withstand daily sweat, washing hands and rainy day, allowing you to fully enjoy your workouts.
- More Functions & Compatibility: Fitness watch comes with multiple smart functions such as stopwatch, alarm clock, breathing guide and sedentary alert, enhancing convenience to your daily routine. The tracker is compatible with iPhone Android Phones which run on iOS 8.0 or Android OS 4.0 & Bluetooth 4.0 or above. Please note that it is not compatible with tablets or computers.
Read our Yamay Smartwatch Review
If you’re not willing to splash out too much of your hard-earned cash on a smartwatch, then a budget smartwatch might be a good pick.
These tend to be priced under $50 which makes them very accessible, although you will have a more limited set of features compared to some of the flagship general use smartwatches.
A typical budget smartwatch will mirror your notifications, track your daily fitness goals such as steps or calories burned, and control media. Unlike general-use smartwatches, they cannot download apps so you are limited to the features they ship with.
On the plus side, as they do not perform so many functions, you can expect a very decent battery life, often lasting many weeks on a single charge.
Rank #2
- Personalized Watch Faces with Practical Tools: The fitness watch for women comes with theme dials and you can personalize the watch face to your liking and customize the display content. Brightness adjustment make you an optiomal experience based on environment change. The smartwatch features practical tools such as stopwatch, timer, music control, breathing training, night mode, alarm clock and wrist up awake, giving more convenience and fun to your life.
- Healthy Monitor on Your Wrist: The smartwatch monitors your heart rate in real time and you can view recorded data on the watch or App. Our watch also allows for manual detection of blood oxygen. Besides, the fitness watch tracks your sleep status automatically, including light sleep, deep sleep and awake time, helping you develop healthy sleep habits and improve sleep quality.
- Multiple Sport Modes with Waterproof: Our fitness watch is equipped with 10 different sports modes suan as yoga, walking, running, ect, tracking automatically your steps, distance, calorie burn, and activity time. The smartwatch also can track your outdoor workout route if connected with your smartphone's GPS. The sport watch features IP68 waterproof rating, ensuring that it can withstand sweat, hand washing, or rain in daily life, and is also suitable for swimming and diving.
- Get Notified on Smartwatches: The smart watch receives incoming call and notifications from SMS, Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp etc, This helps you stay up-to-date and avoid missing important information. (The watch can not make calls or text back). The watch also has a sedentary reminder function and you can create reminders for drinking water, meetings, dinners, appointments and more in the alarm settings, enjoying a healthier lifestyle and a well-planned schedule.
- Long-lasting battery and Extensive Compatibility: The smart watch will take 2 hours to charge and last for up to 7 days of continuous use or 30 days standby time. The watch is compatible with smartphones that run on iOS 10.0 or Android OS 5.0 and have Bluetooth 4.0 or higher. Please note that it is not compatible with tablets or computers.
Luxury Smartwatches
Luxury smartwatches are designed for those looking to make a high-end fashion statement as well as having a useful gadget on their wrist.
Many traditional Swiss watchmakers are turning to the smartwatch market as a way of remaining relevant and making use of the strong brand affinity and loyalty their brand receives. Examples of brands that have launched luxury smartwatches include Tag Heuer, Breitling, and Frederique Constant.
There is a lot of crossover between luxury smartwatches and general use smartwatches as many of them use the same underlying platforms such as Google’s WearOS. The key difference between the two is that you’re paying a premium price for the high-end look and recognizable brand.
Although they often use the same operating system, many will also come with bespoke watch faces that are only available on that watch as another point of difference.
GPS Smartwatches
GPS smartwatches are the evolution of GPS watches that have long been used by hikers, mountain climbers, and general outdoor enthusiasts. Their primary purpose is still to provide navigation and tracking, but many now have smart features such as notification mirroring and integration with other fitness apps.
At a first glance, a GPS smartwatch might seem similar to a fitness-focused smartwatch since they both have GPS and track your workouts. The key difference is the accuracy and real-time feedback from a GPS watch. They will continue to monitor your position to provide detailed routes and you can often see real-time pace if you’re running or cycling.
Conversely, a fitness-focused smartwatch tends to rely more on the watch’s compass and accelerometer to estimate your routes, steps, and other fitness goals. This is handy for amateur fitness fanatics but isn’t reliable enough for elite or endurance athletes.
Rank #3
- 【24/7 Heart Rate Monitor 】This blood pressure watch supports real-time dynamic heart rate, blood oxygen, blood pressure ,Sleep Tracking,temperature monitoring so you can know more about your physical condition.
- 【Sleep Tracking 】The Smart watches monitors your sleep and analyzes your sleep quality through Deep Sleep, Light Sleep, Awake stage, gives you a nightly sleep score in the app, leading a healthy lifestyle.
- 【25 Sport Modes Activity Tracker】you can select any number of sports modes in the app as your exclusive sports mode to record your sports data.can record all daily health data such as steps, distance, and calorie consumption in the App "Keep Health"
- 【1.10 inch AMOLED HD Touchscreen】 The durable stainless steel frame of C60 pairs flawlessly with the Skin-friendly fitness straps, while its 1.10 inch AMOLED HD Touch Color Screen design and multitude of invigorating watch faces blow you away any moment
- 【Smart Functions】An easy-to-use activity fitness tracker with various intelligent features. Including Call & Message Reminder,Remote Photograph, Drink Water Reminder, Sedentary Reminder, Female Health,Family Health, Alarm Clock, Stopwatch, Find Device, etc
Hybrid Smartwatches
A hybrid smartwatch has a traditional analog watch face but still contains a processor, onboard sensors, and connectivity to communicate with your phone. This allows it to perform all of the tracking features such as tracking your workouts or your heart rate but without the interaction with the watch face.
Most hybrid smartwatches do have a small smartwatch screen that sits within the main watch face, although this might only be big enough to show your daily step count or to let you know when you have a new notification. There will be little interaction on the device itself as you’ll need to use your phone to set up the watch and make any changes to the settings.
One of the biggest benefits of this type of smartwatch is battery life. Without the typical screen, a hybrid smartwatch can often last a month or longer on a single charge. If you do ever run out of battery, this will only affect the smart functions so you’ll continue to have a working analog watch.
Hybrid smartwatches were hugely popular in the early days of wearables as many of the flagship devices were large and bulky on your wrist. However, they have become less popular now that manufacturers have managed to reduce the size of general use smartwatches.
Smartwatches for Specific Sports
There are several smartwatches that have been designed with specific sports in mind. These tend to be similar to the fitness-focused smartwatches but with extra apps or features to aid in that sport.
One example is golf smartwatches such as the Garmin Approach. These often have course maps downloaded along with GPS to help you get around and automatic tracking of how many shots each hole takes.
Another popular example is smartwatches designed for mountain climbing, there are rugged smartwatches designed to withstand extreme temperatures and with screens that will work well in direct sunlight.
There are also dedicated watches for rowers, mountain biking, and even watches designed for skiing.
The downside to these watches is that they tend to be more expensive than a typical fitness smartwatch and will only provide good value if you’re a regular at that sport.
Rank #4
- Multi-Functional Sports Tracking & 100+ Sport Modes:The fitness watch is equipped with more than 100 sports modes, such as walking, running, swimming, hiking, cycling, mountaineering, yoga, etc. Accurately record all-day activities, this fitness tracker for men and women is waterproof with an IP68 rating, you can safely wear it for swimming, washing hands and showering. However, it is not recommended to use it in hot water (sauna) or sea water (diving).
- All Day Health Monitoring:This smartwatch for Android and Iphone (Please note: it requires iOS 9.0 and above and Android 6.0 operating system) is equipped with advanced sensors that provide insights to help you better understand your health and adjust your lifestyle. It not only can monitors your health indicators (heart rate, blood oxygen, sleep), but also records women's menstrual period. It can also automatically monitor your sleep status and provide a comprehensive sleep quality analysis to help you have a better sleep.
- Smart Notifications & Bluetooth Calling:Make and receive calls directly from your smartwatch with SMS and calling features through the built-in microphone. Stay connected to SMS and app messages (text, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) and never miss anything important. The AI Voice feature on this smartwatch lets you free your hands to control music playback, check the weather, set alarms, timers, and more by just speaking into your watch (message replies are not supported).
- Variety of Watch Faces & Customization Options:This multifunctional smartwatch is equipped with a 1.27-inch round full touch screen, which brings you a refined visual experience and a better appearance experience. You can upload your favorite pictures as the watch face. It contains many daily practical functions that you can choose by yourself, such as message reminders, weather forecasts, music control, stress monitoring, alarm settings, stopwatch, timer, sedentary reminders, breathing guidance, raise to wake, find phone, adjustable brightness, etc.
- Worry-free after-sales services:KEEPONFIT smartwatch supports SMS and call functions, and is seamlessly compatible with most iOS 9.0 and above and Android 6.0 and above smartphones (only for smartphones, not for PC, laptop or iPad), plz make sure download the VeryFit App and turn the bluetooth on before you connect it to your phone.Making it a great gift for boyfriends and girlfriends! We are committed to providing you with the best service, if you have any questions, please feel free to let us know, our professional technical team will serve you within 24 hours!
What Kind of Smartwatch Do I Have?
It can be difficult to segment smartwatches as one specific type, this is because they often display characteristics that would see them fit under several of the categories mentioned above.
If your watch has the ability to install apps from the manufacturer or a third party, it’s most likely a general use smartwatch. Otherwise, it probably has a specific use case that can be identified from the model name or the manufacturer’s website.
Often, it’s possible to tell which type of smartwatch you have by the brand name. For example:
- Apple and Samsung tend to make general use smartwatches
- Garmin and Fitbit make fitness-focused smartwatches
- Traditional Swiss watchmakers make luxury smartwatches
- Polar and Suunto make GPS smartwatches
Do I have a Smartwatch Or Fitness Tracker?
The lines have continued to blur between smartwatches and fitness trackers. Many smartwatches now have built-in fitness tracking, and many fitness trackers can mirror your notifications or store your music. So, we can no longer use the features as a way of defining the difference between the two. Instead, you should look at the aesthetic of the device.
A smartwatch should look and feel like a traditional watch, it will have a round or square watch face and either an always-on display or a lift-to-wake screen. On the other hand, fitness trackers tend to look more like a bracelet and don’t have the full-color screen that smartwatches have.
Of course, it’s not always easy to tell as many traditional fitness tracker brands such as Garmin and Fitbit have moved into the smartwatch space, often choosing a middle-ground between the two. If in doubt, check the manufacturer’s website or the manual that came with the device as this will tell you whether it’s a smartwatch or fitness tracker.
To find out more about the differences between the two types of wearable, see our full article on smartwatches vs fitness trackers.
💰 Best Value
- 【Superb Visual Experience & Effortless Operation】Diving into the latest 1.58'' ultra high resolution display technology, every interaction on the fitness watch is a visual delight with vibrant colors and crisp clarity. Its always on display clock makes the time conveniently visible. Experience convenience like never before with the intuitive full touch controls and the side button, switch between apps, and customize settings with seamless precision.
- 【Comprehensive 24/7 Health Monitoring】The fitness watches for women and men packs 24/7 heart rate, 24/7 blood pressure and blood oxygen monitors. You could check those real-time health metrics anytime, anywhere on your wrist and view the data record in the App. The heart rate monitor watch also tracks different sleep stages for light and deep sleep,and the time when you wake up, helps you to get a better understanding of your sleep quality.
- 【120+ exercise modes & All-Day Activity Tracking】There are more than 120 exercise modes available in the activity trackers and smartwatches, covering almost all daily sports activities you can imagine, gives you new ways to train and advanced metrics for more information about your workout performance. The all-day activity tracking feature monitors your steps, distance, and calories burned all the day, so you can see how much progress you've made towards your fitness goals.
- 【Messages & Incoming Calls Notification】With this smart watch fitness trackers for iPhone and android phones, you can receive notifications for incoming calls and read messages directly from your wrist without taking out your phone. Never miss a beat, stay in touch with loved ones, and stay informed of important updates wherever you are.
- 【Essential Assistant for Daily Life】The fitness watches for women and men provide you with more features including drinking water and sedentary reminder, women's menstrual period reminder, breath training, real-time weather display, remote camera shooting, music control,timer, stopwatch, finding phone, alarm clock, making it a considerate life assistant. With the GPS connectivity, you could get a map of your workout route in the app for outdoor activity by connecting to your phone GPS.
What Are the Different Types of Amazfit Smartwatches?
According to their website, Amazfit makes 4 different kinds of smartwatches: their flagship, sports, basic, and fashion. These are fairly similar to the types of smartwatches we identified earlier in this article.
Here is a breakdown of the different types of Amazfit smartwatches and which devices are included:
- Amazfit flagship smartwatches: Verge, Nexo, and Amazfit X
- Amazfit sports smartwatches: Neo, T-Rex, and Stratos
- Amazfit basic smartwatches: Bip
- Amazfit fashion smartwatches: GTR and GTS
What Are the Different Types of Garmin Smartwatches?
Garmin’s evolution from a fitness tracker brand to a leading smartwatch manufacturer means that most of their devices are fitness-focused. They also have several smartwatches aimed at specific sports too.
Here is a breakdown of the different types of Garmin smartwatches and which devices are included:
- Garmin fitness-focused smartwatches: Venu and Vivoactive
- Gamin GPS smartwatches: Fenix and Instinct
- Garmin smartwatches for specific sports: Forerunner (running), Approach (golf), Descent (diving), Swim (swimming), and Quatix (sailing)
What Are the Different Types of Samsung Smartwatches?
Samsung is attempting to achieve a broad mainstream appeal for their smartwatches so they usually tend to be general use devices. That being said, the latest generation of Samsung smartwatches also included a fitness-focused variant.
Their current flagship device is the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 which is one of the most popular smartwatches with third-party apps and their signature rotating bezel.
Then there’s the fitness-focused Samsung Galaxy Active 2 which is near identical in specs but sports a much slimmer aesthetic and loses the rotating bezel in favor of a more streamlined touch-sensitive version.