Best smartwatch: the top smartwatches you can buy in 2018 in the UAE
Update: The Apple Watch 4 is now official, and while we don't yet know whether it'll enter the ranking below we'd expect it to sit in a similar place to the Apple Watch 3. Keep your eyes peeled for TechRadar's upcoming full review.
The smartwatch is the ultimate smartphone accessory. It can tell the time, of course, but it can also beam important notifications straight to your wrist and run native apps too.
What's more impressive is that many of today's best models can also perform a ton of tricks, such as enabling you to search the internet with your voice, tracking your exercise with GPS and letting you pay at the grocery store without reaching for your wallet.
Oh – and they look absolutely stunning to boot. If you're thinking that a smartwatch is a pointlessly geeky accessory... think again. These choices are well-made, powerful and can genuinely make you fitter through some smart nudges.
Below is our full list of the best smart wristwear you can buy right now including options from the Apple Watch to Fitbit and Tizen. Plus there are quite a few watches running Wear OS (previously known as Android Wear) which is Google's own smartwatch operating system.
- Feeling active? Check out our Best Fitness Trackers
- We've also put together our guide to best Android Wear watches
Our best smartwatch you can buy right now is from Samsung, and instead of opting for the expected Gear S4 name it's called the Galaxy Watch. Following on from the Gear S3 series and the Gear Sport in 2017, the Galaxy Watch is much improved.
We've tested out the larger 46mm version of the watch and it comes with a phenomenal four day battery life even when you're using it extensively. That's impressive considering a lot of other watches on this list last a day or so from a single charge.
The rotating bezel remains a highlight of navigating around the Tizen OS on the watch, and the interface is one of the easiest to pick up that we've seen on a smartwatch.
Apps available on the watch are more limited than Wear OS or watchOS 4 - two rival smartwatch operating systems - but it still offers the core basics and Samsung had provided a watch that's good at fitness as well as sporting a great design and lots more functionality too.
Read the full Samsung Galaxy Watch review
The Apple Watch 3 (or Apple Watch Series 3, if you're picky) was the best smartwatch but has recently been bumped off the top spot by Samsung's latest. The Apple Watch 3 is essentially just the Apple Watch 2 frame with some new innards... but they make a big difference.
The LTE connection is the headline event, although that's not really as useful as some might hope - plus it costs a lot more to use, and drains the battery.
What we like is the non-LTE version, which is a lot cheaper, and offers all the smarts of the Watch 2 but with a longer battery life and faster speeds when flicking through apps. This is the right kind of upgrade on the best smartwatch in the world.
It's still water-resistant so you can swim with it and you won't have to worry about getting it wet in the rain when you're out for a jog. There's GPS onboard to make running that little bit easier plus it comes running the latest watchOS 4 software and will be updated to watchOS 5 later in the year.
Read the full Apple Watch 3 review
What's next? The Apple Watch 4 was announced on September 12 sporting two new sizes, a larger screen than the Watch 3 and new internal tech. It's also the first watch that can carry out an ECG, too. Be sure to read our hands on Apple Watch 4 review, and expect to hear whether it places in this list in the next few weeks.
Fitbit is one of the biggest names in fitness tracking tech, but until late in 2017 the company hadn't gone anywhere near smartwatches.
The company has now released two smartwatches, and both feature on this list but first we're starting with our favorite that was announced in March 2018 and will be ready to buy in mid-April.
That favorite from Fitbit is the Versa that is a touch smaller than the other one (that's the Ionic) but it comes with Fitbit Pay for contactless payments, 2.5GB of storage for music and battery life that'll last around three days.
It doesn't have GPS for tracking your runs and the design doesn't feel as premium as some of the other watches on this list, but we really like the Fitbit Versa and it's one of the more affordable choices on this list.
Read the full Fitbit Versa review
The Fitbit Ionic was always going to be a tough move for the brand, trying to enter the world of smartwatches from fitness bands.
The effort succeeds in some places: namely fitness, as you might imagine, where you can track all manner of things, from running to weight lifting to swimming. There's also dedicated bodyweight coaching sessions in there, and you can pay for items on the go using Fitbit Pay.
Where it lacks is the price - it's expensive, and the amount you can do with it compared to other smartwatches is limited. However, if you're a Fitbit fan looking to do more with the a band, this is a nice option.
Read the full review: Fitbit Ionic review
Not quite the successor that we imagined that it would be, the Huawei Watch 2 appeals to a sporty crowd that values function over form. And in terms of functions, this smartwatch is filled with them. GPS, NFC, even 4G connectivity is available in some regions.
For all its perks, we wish that the Huawei Watch 2 stuck with a premium design. The bulky, mostly plastic build doesn't fare well against the tougher competition. Also a downside is that its screen is smaller in this iteration, but on the plus side, it has gained the spiffy Android Wear 2.0 software.
Read the full review: Huawei Watch 2
