Over the vacations, I held a smartwatch magnificence contest with my household. At Christmas, I went to my mother and father’ home with 13 smartwatches in a plastic Safeway bag and requested my fearful family members in the event that they wished to assist me with an essay. Most of them had by no means worn a smartwatch, which led to their creation. good For my little expertise.
I poured a messy pile of Android watches, health watches, and an Apple Watch onto my mother’s festive desk. Then I requested every choose to line them up with the “prettiest or finest” watches on the left and the “ugliest or most boring” on the fitting, specializing in which of them they “really need to put on the tools”.
All instructed, I discovered 21 contributors throughout generations, from my 80-year-old grandmother to my teenage nephews and nieces. After every vote, I will shuffle the clocks again right into a pile so the earlier individual’s selections do not have an effect on their resolution.
Why did I contain my family members on this little experiment? Whereas I attempt to make my smartwatch evaluations as goal as attainable, specializing in battery life, efficiency, and health accuracy, many individuals select a watch based mostly solely on seems to be, consolation, and vibes. will And I believe that is perhaps a blind spot for me.
I am glad to put on larger, sportier watches or heavier fashions to get higher battery life, and I believe tech reviewers are getting used to the chunky, machine-cut look of smartwatches. However when my mother instructed me that my Garmin watch appeared like a “spaceship on my wrist,” it received me occupied with reshaping my psychological picture of a handsome watch. Should strive. So, the smartwatch magnificence contest!
CES 2025 stored me busy after the break, however I lastly received to tally the votes this week. And I wager you may be as stunned by the outcomes of my smartwatch magnificence contest as I used to be!
How I chosen and ready for ‘competitions’
I selected 13 smartwatches for my take a look at: Amazfit Cheetah Professional, Apple Watch Extremely 2, Coros Tempo Professional, Fitbit Cost 6, Fitbit Sense, Garmin Fenix 8, Garmin Intuition 2X Photo voltaic, Google Pixel Watch 3, OnePlus Watch 2R, Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Professional, Galaxy Watch 6 Traditional, Galaxy Watch Extremely, and Wings Scan Watch 2.
I attempted to have a good break up between “sporty” and “mainstream” watches, in addition to between costly and reasonably priced watches. I made some extent of together with the Cost 6 and Sense to see how a health band or a generic-looking Squirrel would evaluate in individuals’s minds to a fancier or conventional spherical smartwatch design.
I wasn’t certain whether or not to incorporate the Hybrid Scan Watch 2, because it appeared so completely different from the remaining with its basic look, however I used to be curious how a lot non-techies would care in regards to the old-school impression or If you’ll really feel this too. Quaint for Gen Xers.
Whereas I had extra smartwatches than I thought-about, I did not need to overwhelm my household with too many selections. They got here to occasion and socialize, not do unpaid surveys.
I selected to not cost my smartwatches earlier than the take a look at. will do you Need to spend Christmas morning charging watches? I had a justification for this: I wished individuals to deal with the bodily design of the watches, and I believed that brilliant shows or fairly watch faces may subconsciously sway their votes. Nonetheless, you may disagree with this resolution as a result of it is laborious to guage what a smartwatch seems to be like with out turning on the show.
Lastly, I instructed my family members to attempt to ignore the colour of the smartwatch band after the primary couple instructed me they hated the orange bands on the Fitbit Cost 6 and Galaxy Watch Extremely. I assured them that these straps can come in numerous colours.
My Smartwatch Magnificence Contest Outcomes
The desk above exhibits what number of votes every smartwatch obtained from 1st to thirteenth place. The desk under exhibits the overall factors, with contestants ranked from highest to lowest. I awarded a proportional quantity of factors for every vote: 13 factors for first place, 12 factors for second place, and so forth, down one level for thirteenth place.
As you possibly can see, the Withings ScanWatch 2 crushes the competitors, considerably predictably. Many members of the family didn’t like this. Principally appeared like smartwatches and instructed me {that a} hybrid watch is perhaps the one one they might critically take into account carrying.
However you is perhaps a bit stunned to see the funds OnePlus Watch 2R are available second. Everybody loves its distinctly scaled bezel and flat form, preferring its spherical aluminum case to the fancier titanium of many rival watches. The ScanWatch 2 is one thing to contemplate. barely A smartwatch with its small OLED show, you possibly can name the Watch 2R an actual winner of the competitors.
Virtually nobody appreciated the Garmin Prompt 2X Photo voltaic, the last-place decide, however I totally anticipated it to. This can be a nice, area of interest look ahead to the outdoorsman. One individual instructed me it seems to be like what Grasp Chief would put on and he anticipated Cortana to drag it off.
What stunned me extra is how few individuals care in regards to the three most costly smartwatches: the Garmin Fenix 8 (seventh), the Apple Watch Extremely 2 (eighth) and the Samsung Galaxy Watch Extremely (twelfth). All of them misplaced to the Fitbit Sense (sixth), which a member of the family known as “so generic-looking it drove me loopy.” The sense appeared mild sufficient that the ladies in my household particularly thought it will be probably the most snug and “regular”.
This can be a big knock in opposition to all of the tech reviewers like me who gave these flagship watches glowing evaluations and praised their distinctive designs. Folks did not thoughts the Phoenix 8 as a result of it was flat and “regular wanting”, nevertheless it was too massive for a lot of of them, and so they did not like what number of buttons it had. As for Apple and Samsung, their hard-edged, squared-off shapes made them each synthetic and “too massive.”
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Samsung’s older smartwatches fared higher. The Galaxy Watch 6 Traditional (4th) divided voters, with some loving its distinctive rotating bezel and others discovering it made the watch too massive. The Galaxy Watch 5 Professional (third), launched by Samsung, has captivated individuals with its distinctive sunken bezel and metallic look.
Actually, I am unable to low cost how a lot individuals beloved the Professional as a result of it was a shining silver in a sea of black watches. However the white Coros Tempo Professional (tenth) and the titanium-bezel Amazfit Cheetah Professional (eleventh) barely low cost that principle. Their shine solely highlighted how “low-cost” and “unattractive” they appeared, with only some of my energetic family members praising the Tempo Professional’s lightness for train.
Probably the most polarizing candidate was the Pixel Watch 3 (fifth). It was ranked within the prime 4 for practically half of voters, with the highest three votes coming from members of the family who appreciated its rounded, comparatively mild form. However different reviewers reacted strongly to it wanting like “nothing”, akin to “a drop of horrible water” or “like a naked rooster breast with no seasoning”. My household has a singular manner with phrases.
What I Discovered From My Smartwatch Magnificence Contest
21 individuals is a good focus group, however the take a look at was hardly conclusive or adequately managed. In an ideal world, I might ensure that each watch case and strap was the identical colour, that the shows had been energetic, and that individuals weren’t curiously different individuals’s votes earlier than voting themselves.
Nonetheless, I believe I realized just a few classes from my expertise:
- Measurement issues. Most individuals did not just like the smaller Fitbit Cost 6, however additionally they cared extra in regards to the snug match and slim case than a big show.
- Folks do not care that a big watch is proportionally lighter due to titanium. They’d slightly it’s compact and never discover if it is aluminum.
- They cared extra about how the watch appeared from the highest (what they see) than the facet (what others would see), which made the bezel (or lack thereof) extraordinarily necessary.
This take a look at jogged my memory why Apple watches outsell each different model except for identify recognition and iPhone dominance. They’re skinny and smooth and safe-looking, and so they do not invite frank comparisons with non-smart or hybrid watches like spherical smartwatches.
Android smartwatches can not help however look “big” to individuals exterior the tech area, although the 40mm Galaxy Watch 7 or 41mm Pixel Watch 3 can escape that label. So whereas I desire bigger shows and batteries, and many others., I’ve to recollect when reviewing smartwatches that many individuals may even see my positives as negatives.
Ball ballet
The Withings ScanWatch 2 contains a refined OLED grayscale show that turns off whenever you’re not it, monitoring behind-the-scenes well being information like coronary heart fee, AFib, stress, blood oxygen, and pores and skin temperature. Whereas preserving the basic model. It lasts for a month per cost and can flash your notifications in a small show cutout.
Inexpensive model
The OnePlus Watch 2R might not have the basic metal design of the OnePlus Watch 2, however based mostly on this magnificence contest, you will not care. Outdoors of seems to be, although, it is a fantastic choice, with a 1.43-inch show, the identical chipset and reminiscence because the Pixel Watch 3, and a steady three-day battery life.
