Technology never stands still! The development of wearable tech has come a long way over the last few years so we wanted to bring you a run down of the best smartwatches for the whole family!
Without further ado, here are some suggestions for affordable smartwatches with some nifty features that’ll thrill anyone in the family.
For her
Fossil Gen 3 Women’s smartwatch
$99 / £79
This smartwatch has experienced a significant drop in price from nearly $300 to just $99. So automatically, your lady is getting a lot of bang for your buck.
Powered by Wear OS this Google device is compatible with both Android and iOS phones. It’ll provide notifications for calls, text, email, social media alerts, alarms and calendar events as well as various other app alerts. The display itself is incredibly vibrant (and offers custom faces) so even in the summer, she’ll still see the notifications easily.
She can enjoy Google services. For example, maps and other voice-activated commands as well as listen to music via the watch itself.
As looks go, it’s a gorgeous piece of kit. It comes in a number of finishes with bands to suit your (her) style. The most popular seller is rose gold. All styles, though, are waterproof and dustproof so they can be worn during the more sporty activities during the day.
The only real downside to this watch is that she’ll probably need to charge it every day. This can be done overnight, as there’s no heart rate monitor or sleep tracking on offer.
For him
Samsung Galaxy Smartwatch
$169.99 / £135
This price might be stretching it into the realms of an ‘actual’ present rather than a stocking-filler, but there are different budgets to cater for.
The Samsung Galaxy smartwatch is incredible, some say it might even be better than an Apple Watch, at a fraction of the cost. The most impressive feature for the cost is the addition of Samsung’s assistant, Bixby, which brings the virtual assistant services right onto your man’s wrist for convenience, all without having to get his phone out.
It offers fitness tracking rivalling some of the best on the market and comes in a beautifully sleek design that steps away from the typically clunky fitness tracker and into designer smartwatch territory. It boasts a heart rate monitor and GPS, with a choice of 40 preset sport tracking options.
The Samsung Galaxy also works with Spotify so your man will be able to listen to music directly from the watch. It’ll provide notifications like text, calls, emails, social media, third-party app alerts, calendar events and alarms. It’s controlled with the rotating bezel and simply swiping at the 1.2 inch display. It’s also waterproof up to 15m.
Furthermore, it’s not exclusive to Android users; iPhone users can use the watch too. It has an OK battery life of 3 days and the cool thing is, it charges wirelessly.
The simple but classy design is slick, with a traditional watch face option to complete the look. It comes in three colours and two sizes.
All in all, for the price, it’s a steal considering what’s packed inside.
Unisex
Amazfit Bip
$89.99 / £59.99
If you’re not into gender labels, fear not, the Amazfit Bip is here. Yes, it’s entirely designed around the Apple Series 5 watch and it makes no excuses for that. This stylish smartwatch is a fantastic cheeky alternative to the recognisable, but ten times the price Apple version.
It doesn’t come with the bells and whistles, and rightly you shouldn’t expect it to at the cost, but it’s not without benefits.
Android and iOS compatible the Amazfit Bip is stubborn when it comes to letting go of battery life and endures days on end between charges.
It has GPS and a heart rate monitor and will give you generally-accurate fitness data.
You’ll get notifications like texts, calls and social media, but you shouldn’t expect to be able to respond to them. It just lets you know what’s happening on your phone.
It’s never going to offer the rich experience you’d get from an Apple Watch, but don’t discount it. If you want the style without the price tag, or a test-the-water watch (note, don’t wear this to swim) smartwatch before taking a more expensive plunge, the Amazfit Bip is surprisingly wonderful.
For kids
NuBand Kids Activity Tracker
$17.99 / £19.99
This nifty little gadget, available in pink or blue, is great for kids. At the price, it comes with a whole host of features that kids love. It not only helps them to learn to tell time, but also helps keeps them active with features like step and calorie count and a sleep tracker.
The great thing about the NuBand for kids is how durable it is. It’s scratch and dust resistant as well as being waterproof.
You’ll get around 6 days battery life out of the watch, so you don’t have to worry about losing it because your kids won’t be taking it off that often!
The only downside is that this smartwatch doesn’t have GPS, so if you’re interested in keeping an eye on your little one’s location, this isn’t something offered by the NuBand kids activity tracker.
Summary
Thanks to the competitive market, smartwatches are accessible in terms of functionality and budget.
It’s great to get kids into smart wear to facilitate their activity as well as learning, both of which smartwatches can make fun.
There’s so much choice of smartwatches for the whole family that it’s a wonderful thing to offer someone a device that suits their personality to a tee.
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