Buyer’s guide Top‑7 smart watches and fitness bracelets according to hotline.ua: autumn 2019.

Autumn is the tra­di­tion­al time for man­u­fac­tur­ers to upgrade their prod­ucts. So it is not sur­pris­ing, because Black Fri­day and the New Year are com­ing soon, you need to have time to inter­est users with your new prod­ucts. Our list will include not only new prod­ucts, but also rec­og­nized best­sellers that have won the love of users.

Autumn is the tra­di­tion­al time for man­u­fac­tur­ers to upgrade their prod­ucts. So it is not sur­pris­ing, because Black Fri­day and the New Year are com­ing soon, you need to have time to inter­est users with your new prod­ucts. Our list will include not only new prod­ucts, but also rec­og­nized best­sellers that have won the love of users.

Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 4

As in the case of smart­phones, this rat­ing includes Xiao­mi prod­ucts. In the fourth gen­er­a­tion of the bracelet, almost every­thing pos­si­ble has been improved: the dis­play has become larg­er and brighter, the cap­sule with elec­tron­ics is now unlike­ly to fall out of the strap even over time, and the abil­i­ty to con­trol music play­back has appeared.

At the same time, Mi Smart Band 4 is still one of the most afford­able fit­ness track­ers in Ukrain­ian online stores.

Despite the increase in func­tion­al­i­ty, auton­o­my has not been affect­ed: 2 weeks of work with dai­ly heart rate mon­i­tor­ing are guar­an­teed.

Yes, Mi Smart Band 4 does not have GPS and NFC, but the pop­u­lar­i­ty of the mod­el has shown that not every­one needs these func­tions. First of all, you need a high-qual­i­ty fit­ness track­er for every day, which is inex­pen­sive, can count steps, heart rate and show mes­sages.

Xiao­mi Mi Smart Band 4 Black fit­ness bracelet is inex­pen­sive, can count steps, heart rate and show mes­sages

Release date: April, 2019.

Pros: com­fort­able strap, the dis­play is vis­i­ble in the sun, func­tion­al­i­ty, auton­o­my.

Cons: there is no

Amazfit Bip

Bip is anoth­er best­seller and also a rel­a­tive of Xiao­mi. Prod­ucts under the Amaz­fit brand are man­u­fac­tured by Hua­mi, which makes the bracelet men­tioned above.

Amazift Bip is a mod­el for those who do not have enough dis­play size in the bracelet, need more func­tions and bat­tery life. The watch will sat­is­fy all these requests for a rel­a­tive­ly small price.

The dis­play has reflec­tive prop­er­ties, so the brighter the sur­round­ing light­ing, the bet­ter the image is vis­i­ble. There is a back­light for work­ing in the dark.

Func­tion­al­ly, Bip is sim­i­lar to the Mi Band, but the watch has GPS, which will be appre­ci­at­ed by run­ners, cyclists and those who want to track their move­ments with increased accu­ra­cy, and a heart rate mon­i­tor that will work all day.

From one charge, the watch works from 30 to 45 days and this is anoth­er rea­son why Amaz­fit Bip was loved by users.

Want to save a lit­tle? Ukrain­ian online stores are already sell­ing the Amaz­fit Bip Lite mod­el — with a sim­i­lar design and func­tion­al­i­ty, but with­out GPS.

Amaz­fit Bip Smart­watch Black smart watch works from 30 to 45 days

Release date: April, 2018.

Pros: price, dis­play, auton­o­my.

Cons: no mem­o­ry for music.

Apple Watch Series 5

If you have an iPhone, there is no bet­ter option than a smart watch from Apple. A watch and a smart­phone are an excel­lent duo that com­ple­ment each oth­er.

Apple Watch is one of the most func­tion­al smart watch­es on the mar­ket in prin­ci­ple, but they only fit the iPhone. The fifth gen­er­a­tion of Apple Watch does not have rad­i­cal changes in design, but there are func­tion­al updates.

One of the most famous is the Always On func­tion, thanks to which the dis­play shows infor­ma­tion con­stant­ly, with­out loss of auton­o­my — 1–2 days with an aver­age load.

This was achieved by using a new dis­play con­troller. It adjusts the refresh rate, and when the clock is not in use, the dis­play refresh­es once per sec­ond.

Oth­er sig­nif­i­cant updates include an ECG func­tion, but Apple still does­n’t rec­om­mend using the watch as a med­ical device. Even the best watch can­not replace a vis­it to the doc­tor and a healthy lifestyle. But Apple Watch will be able to show the approx­i­mate state of your health.

Among oth­er func­tions, it is worth high­light­ing the pres­ence of GPS and built-in mem­o­ry for music, as well as NFC for con­tact­less pay­ment. Watch­es are sold in two case sizes — 40 and 44 mm, as well as in ver­sions with and with­out LTE, but this is not yet rel­e­vant for Ukraine.

The Apple Watch Series 5 GPS 44mm Space Gray smart watch has the Always On func­tion, thanks to which the dis­play shows infor­ma­tion con­stant­ly, with­out loss of auton­o­my

Release date: Sep­tem­ber, 2019.

Pros: design, dis­play, many options of col­ors and mate­ri­als.

Cons: cost, suit­able only for iPhone.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2

If the Apple Watch can be safe­ly called the best option for the iPhone, then the smart­watch from Sam­sung is a great pair for an Android smart­phone, pro­vid­ed that your bud­get is not too lim­it­ed.

Galaxy Watch Active 2 is one of the most func­tion­al mod­els, suit­able both for every day and for ath­letes. They have GPS and a heart rate mon­i­tor, as well as built-in mem­o­ry and the abil­i­ty to con­nect a wire­less head­set for runs with­out a watch.

This smart watch is able to dis­play mes­sages and even respond to them, pay for pur­chas­es (although the Sam­sung Pay tech­nol­o­gy required for this still does not work in Ukraine). The oper­at­ing sys­tem sup­ports the instal­la­tion of addi­tion­al appli­ca­tions that extend the func­tion­al­i­ty of the watch.

A nice bonus: the pos­si­bil­i­ty of wire­less charg­ing using the Qi pro­to­col from a com­pat­i­ble wire­less charg­er or from the lat­est gen­er­a­tion of smart­phones – Galaxy S10/Note 10.

The Sam­sung Galaxy Watch Active 2 44mm Black Alu­minum smart watch has GPS and a heart rate mon­i­tor, as well as built-in mem­o­ry and the abil­i­ty to use a wire­less head­set for jog­ging

Release date: August, 2019.

Pros: design, func­tion­al­i­ty.

Cons: Sam­sung Pay does not work in Ukraine.

Garmin Instinct

All the mod­els we talked about above are toys for city dwellers. And Garmin Instinct is a watch for those who like to trav­el far from the beat­en track.

Garmin Instinct stands out for its design, which per­forms not only an aes­thet­ic func­tion, but also pro­tects the watch from shocks and scratch­es. An anal­o­gy with the leg­endary Casio G‑Shock is appro­pri­ate here, but with the only dif­fer­ence that Instinct is a full-fledged smart watch with well-devel­oped func­tions for an active lifestyle.

In the list of their capa­bil­i­ties, accu­rate GPS and an opti­cal heart rate mon­i­tor are the same as in the old­er and more expen­sive Garmin Fenix ​​mod­els.

The dis­play deserves a spe­cial men­tion. Yes, it’s not a col­or­ful AMOLED, but the image is per­fect­ly vis­i­ble even in direct sun­light.

Bat­tery life ranges from 10 to 14 days. With active use of GPS, of course, the num­ber will be low­er, but on our list it is one of the best indi­ca­tors, after Amaz­fit Bip.

The set of smart func­tions is not rich: the watch shows mes­sages and mon­i­tors sleep. As for sports fea­tures, it’s hard to say what isn’t here: all sorts of options for run­ning, cycling, swim­ming, and even yoga.

It is dif­fi­cult to call the most func­tion­al watch, because there is no NFC for con­tact­less pay­ment and built-in mem­o­ry for music, but in this mod­el the focus is on sports func­tion­al­i­ty.

Fit­ness bracelet Garmin Instinct Graphite mon­i­tors any options for run­ning, cycling, swim­ming and yoga

Release date: Novem­ber, 2018.

Pros: design, body pro­tec­tion, auton­o­my.

Cons: there is no music lis­ten­ing func­tion and Garmin Pay.

HUAWEI Watch GT 2

At the time of pub­li­ca­tion of the arti­cle, the Watch GT 2 mod­el has just gone on sale in Ukrain­ian online stores. It replaced the pop­u­lar Watch GT, which at one time suc­cess­ful­ly com­bined an afford­able price, good auton­o­my and func­tion­al­i­ty.

The sec­ond gen­er­a­tion retained all these qual­i­ties and also received sev­er­al new fea­tures. The watch can be used for phone con­ver­sa­tions — the HUAWEI Watch GT 2 has a micro­phone and a speak­er.

The sec­ond inno­va­tion was the built-in mem­o­ry of 4 GB for stor­ing music, as well as the option of con­nect­ing wire­less head­phones. You can not take your smart­phone with you for jog­ging and lis­ten to music from the watch.

Anoth­er small improve­ment was the Always On mode in the dis­play. Like the Apple Watch, it keeps the watch screen always on with­out drain­ing the bat­tery.

If you want to see the time, you don’t have to wait until the clock wakes up and the screen lights up. All nec­es­sary infor­ma­tion is con­stant­ly avail­able for view­ing.

The HUAWEI Watch GT 2 Sport smart watch has a built-in mem­o­ry of 4 GB for stor­ing music, as well as the option of con­nect­ing wire­less head­phones

Release date: Sep­tem­ber, 2019.

Pros: design, dis­play, cost.

Cons: no NFC

HUAWEI Band 3 Pro

When you choose a fit­ness track­er with GPS, it is almost always made in the form fac­tor of a watch. Those who are look­ing for a more ele­gant and com­pact bracelet should pay atten­tion to Band 3 Pro from HUAWEI.

This mod­el is a rare rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the seg­ment of fit­ness bracelets with GPS, it is rel­a­tive­ly inex­pen­sive, suit­able for both run­ning and every­day use. In addi­tion to GPS, it has a heart rate mon­i­tor that mea­sures heart rate both dur­ing train­ing and around the clock.

Band 3 Pro also shows incom­ing mes­sages, cal­en­dar events and calls, and has a timer and stop­watch.

A capa­cious bat­tery can­not fit in such a small case: HUAWEI Band 3 Pro works in jog­ging mode with GPS on for no more than 3 hours. The lim­it with­out using GPS is up to 7 days, but this will be enough for most users.

HUAWEI Band 3 Pro Black fit­ness bracelet shows incom­ing mes­sages, cal­en­dar events and calls, has GPS, timer and stop­watch

Release date: Feb­ru­ary, 2019.

Pros: price, avail­abil­i­ty of GPS, good dis­play, design.

Cons: rel­a­tive­ly low auton­o­my.

We hope that our mate­r­i­al will help you choose a smart watch and fit­ness bracelet, and we wish you suc­cess­ful pur­chas­es from Hot­line!

Author: Bohdanov Vitaly