Personal assistant on hand: five "smart" watches

The Amazfit Sport smartwatch is produced by Huami, one of the partners of the ambitious Chinese company Xiaomi, which has taken care of the promotion and distribution of the gadget into its own hands.

You can fall in love with the appearance of the watch at first sight — everything in them looks harmonious and thoughtful. The round display with a resolution of 320x300 pixels is encircled by a shiny ceramic rim that performs a decorative function. The screen is not simple, but transflective — the peculiarity of displays of this type is that they are not only illuminated, but also reflect light. In the sun, the screen remains readable almost without using its own backlight.

The gadget's display is always active. It displays the values of the current time and the remaining battery charge. Sometimes there are problems with the readability of information due to the small viewing angles of the screen — the picture simply fades closer to the edges of the display and dims in bright external lighting.

In the case of the watch there was a place for a full set of necessary wireless modules (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS) and sensors for tracking physical activity parameters (heart rate monitor, pedometer, etc.). And taking into account the fact that the gadget is more positioned as a sports device, a lot of training modes are included in its interface. To be able to view the report on the results of training on a smartphone linked to a watch, you need to install the Mi Fit or Mi Dong application, while notifications and watch settings are managed through the Amazfit Smartwatch programme.

One of the main problems of Xiaomi products is the localization of the interface. Here and there hieroglyphs slip through the gadget menu, which is why it is necessary to guess the true origin of the selected item by pictograms. Fortunately, they are at least intuitive. But this fly in the ointment does not greatly spoil the overall impression of the model. In contrast to it, you can put a long-term operation of a "smart" watch on a single battery charge. With a small battery capacity (280 mAh), its energy reserves will last for 5-6 days of activity, which is a very good indicator for devices of this class.

The classic version of the smartwatch from Samsung is made in the style of a round dial chronometer. From afar, a "smart" gadget is very easy to mistake for an ordinary watch.

The smart component of the model is given by a screen built on the basis of a SuperAMOLED matrix. It consumes practically no energy when displaying black pixels, which made it possible to implement the Always on Display function in the watch — showing the current time on a constant basis. This mode has a minimal impact on the total operating time of the gadget from a single charge of a 380 mAh battery. The included GPS module consumes much more energy — with constant use of the location function, the battery life of the watch decreases from three to four days to two.

Samsung Gear S3 Classic are running Tizen OS, as well as most other portable gadgets of the South Korean brand (except smartphones). The software shell of the watch is designed taking into account the specifics of controlling the device by means of a rotating bezel and two mechanical keys on the right side. Using them, you can do without touching the touch screen at all. But the number of compatible proprietary shell software is still inferior to solutions based on AndroidWear and watchOS.

A bunch of powerful Exynos 7270 processor and 768 MB of RAM is busy with nimble turning of the interface and applications. The internal hardware of the gadget also includes the presence of an altimeter, an optical heart rate monitor, a gyroscope, an NFC chip, a conversational speaker and a microphone. All this wealth is reliably protected from dust and moisture according to the IP68 standard. And if this level of security is not enough for you, we advise you to pay attention to the closest relative of the watch in the person of Samsung Gear S3 frontier . In addition, this modification is not afraid of the effects of vibrations, high and low temperatures, as well as impacts during falls.

LG Watch Sport, developed in close cooperation with Google, comes "out of the box" with Android Wear 2.0 preinstalled OS. It tried to take into account most of the comments of users over the two years of the previous version of the software shell.

The thick and massive case of the watch hides a lot of useful features: it fits a barometer, a heart rate sensor, a GPS module, an NFC chip and even a slot for a nanoSIM card (the model supports 3G and LTE networks). In the younger version of the gadget (LG Watch Style ) there is none of this, so for active users, a sports modification of the watch will be much more preferable.

Not every smartwatch will be able to compete with the LG Watch Sport screen. With a diagonal of 1.38", the display resolution is 480x480 pixels — the pixel density per inch with such parameters is equal to 348ppi, which indicates that it is impossible to see with the naked eye the individual points from which the image is built.

The functions of the watch are controlled both by swipes on the screen and by means of a digital crown on the right side. There are also two programmable mechanical keys on top and bottom of it, which can be assigned to launch applications. The Google branded market presents the entire set of necessary programs for comfortable work with the watch. And LG itself constantly sends updates with new versions of the dials, diluted with numerous widgets.

The body of the model is reliably protected from dust and moisture penetration according to the IP68 standard. Therefore, they can not be removed from the hand when swimming or taking a bath. The only disappointment is the inability to quickly replace the strap, which is securely screwed to the body of the watch with screws. The battery life of the model is also annoying — when using all the functions, the battery charge will last less than a day of activity. But despite these minor flaws, the LG Watch Sport still deserves to be called one of the most advanced and functional Android watches on the market.

Apple has been dictating the fashion in the smartwatch market since the release of the first generation Apple Watch 1 Aluminum 38 mm . The second version of the "smart" gadget has become even better and has gained more independence.

Flexibility in using the model has been added by the built-in GPS module, which allows you to track the current location of the owner of the watch and record tracks of jogging or bike rides without the need to connect to a smartphone. In parallel, Apple Watch 2 collects indicators of the user's physical activity (heart rate, number of steps taken and calories burned, etc.).

Externally, the watch has hardly changed in comparison with its predecessor. But this did not prevent them from acquiring water resistance up to 50 m. However, the Cupertino company does not recommend diving with a watch so deep, but you can swim or take a shower without removing the Apple Watch 2 from your wrist without the slightest fear.

Some parameters of the gadget have improved by 2 times. These include the increased brightness of the screen, which is easily readable when exposed to direct sunlight, and processor performance. High performance and nimble responsiveness are the key advantages of the model over many competitors.

There is no habitual vibration motor in Apple smartwatches. Instead, the tactile response mechanism Taptic Engine is used. After getting used to it a little, it becomes possible to perform many actions almost blindly. The gadget also includes a microphone and a speaker, which are useful for communicating with the Siri voice assistant or for making voice calls. The watches are optimally balanced in all parameters, thanks to which they are deservedly considered one of the undisputed leaders of the industry.

The popular Garmin Fenix multi-sport watch series jumped from the "3" model index to the top five in one sitting. Most likely, they did so because of the dissonance of the name of the gadget in Chinese, where, as is known, the number "4" is not favored.

The lineup, updated at the dawn of 2017, included three representatives at once: the standard version of the Garmin Fenix 5 watch, a reduced modification for refined female hands Garmin Fenix 5S and an advanced "monster" Garmin Fenix 5X Price from 27 171 up to 30 384 ₴. The latest model stands out against the background of peers with support for topographic maps with the possibility of full navigation and a large amount of internal memory (16 GB against a miserable 64 MB for younger representatives of the series).

The Garmin Fenix 5 display is built on transflective technology — in bright light conditions it functions by reflecting light, and in low light or in the dark, backlight comes to the aid in displaying data. The screen supports only 64 colours, but this is four times more than the predecessor model.

A set of sensors and wireless interfaces went to the gadget from the previous version — Garmin Fenix 3 HR . In comparison with it, the heart rate measurement sensor stopped sticking out of the watch case. In normal activity mode, the model runs on a single battery charge for about 15 days, and with continuous location tracking — 24 hours.

Garmin Fenix 5 is the best choice for those who lead an active lifestyle. In terms of the accuracy of measuring activity indicators and the convenience of using the watch (even despite the lack of support for touch input), there are practically no equals to the model. What is the presence of a huge number of training modes (running, cycling, triathlon, rowing, golf, and others) and a high level of water resistance of the gadget 10 atm (corresponding to diving to a depth of about 100 m). However, all this wealth is worth a lot of money.