The Wear OS, formerly known as Android Wear, is one of the most popular operating systems that powers some of the top smartwatches available to the consumers today. It was initially powering up smartwatches that connected to Android phones only, but then, with the Android Wear 2.0 and the rebranding to Wear OS, smartwatches that run Google’s operating system for smart wearable devices have little to no performance shortages when paired to an iPhone.
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Why a Wear OS smartwatch?
Wear OS smartwatches are amongst the best available and are actually cheaper than the Apple Watch Series 3 or Samsung’s Galaxy Watch. They can as well be rated as mid-range smartwatches. Despite that, pricing is not the main reason for opting for a smartwatch running Google’s Wear OS. The main reason to go for them is the large collection of compatible applications for your timepiece Wear OS provides.
Owners of Wear OS watches have more applications and games for their smartwatch than their Tizen counterparts that opted for a Samsung smartwatch. Even more than those that use an Apple Watch, but there is a balance amongst these two.
Besides having access to an extensive collection of applications and games that let you play with your watch and customize its outlook, Wear OS-powered smartwatches are compatible with every smartphone. An Apple Watch will not pair to your Android while a Mobvoi Ticwatch Pro connects to an iPhone with ease. If your phone of choice happens not to be an iPhone but an Android instead, you’d be much better with a Wear OS smartwatch than an Apple Watch. Wearable devices are much smarter and have much more function features when connected to a phone, even a standalone smartwatch running on LTE network need pairing to a phone to display full activity reports amongst other things.
Convinced that a smartwatch running Google’s Wear OS is the right pick for you? Here we go with the list of top ex-Android Wear smartwatches you might want to buy.
Mobvoi Ticwatch Pro
Mobvoi’s moderate-priced Ticwatch Pro is the current top-of-the-line Wear OS smartwatch. It will continue to be so for a while, at least until Google introduces its first Pixel Watch. Until then, The Ticwatch Pro will remain to be unrivaled.
The Ticwatch Pro smart wearable equips the whole set of components to make it an excellent wristwear. It sports a premium round design with an AMOLED display featuring a resolution of 400 x 400 pixels, a crown that will activate Google Assistant when long-pressed, metallic bezels and leather straps for a classic and elegant appearance.
It has GPS and a heart rate monitor for accurate activity and health tracking. It has NFC support for contactless Google payments, and it is the best watch to test the full potential of Wear OS applications and games. Its built-in activity monitoring app maintains fitness records that extend to 30 days of time. The primary application to view fitness data is Google Fit, but you can install other health apps in it to better plan your workouts and diets such as Lifesum or Endomodo.
It makes an excellent watch for hiking and other outdoor activities, it is waterproof but is not recommended you swim with it, the on-map GPS navigation will help you plan and discover hiking routes, camping locations, and points of interest to pass by. It is compatible with iPhone and Android devices to deliver notifications and social media updates to your wrist. You can also install social media applications such as Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Foursquare, and more and chat on them through the watch when it connects to a WiFi network. You’ll not be needing to pair it with a smartphone when it links to WiFi to interact in the social media.
The premium Ticwatch timepiece supports more than one thousand different watch faces for you to adjust its outlook to match your style. Its battery life is extensively impressive, and a single charge will keep it going for a week. There’s even a battery saving mode that extends its lifespan for up to a month.
Buy from AmazonMisfit Vapor
Misfit Vapor plainly is the best looking Wear OS smartwatch. It boasts a similar minimalistic design to Misfit’s line of top choice hybrid smartwatches that contain Misfit Phase, Path, and Command. It mirrors the same round pattern and with a single crown which has functions like a button. When held pressed it activates Google’s virtual assistant for smart wearable devices.
The Vapor by Misfit also makes a surprisingly freakish swimproof smartwatch, as it is certified to remain sealed from the water when submerged to depths of up to 50 meters. Although it isn’t really a smartwatch for diving, it’ll do just fine when you swim with it.
Misfit’s Vapor doesn’t have a GPS of its own, for location tracking it demands to be connected to a smartphone featuring a GPS sensor. This might be a drawback for some. However, it does have a heart rate monitor and makes a decent option for a running watch. It features a sports outfit and can wirelessly stream music to your Bluetooth earphones.
Misfit equips this watch with the company’s activity reporting software and Google Fit application for other fitness-oriented data. Besides them, you can install as many apps as you want from the Play Store on its four gigs of flash memory. The watch connects to iPhone and Android and asides from viewing notification alerts on your wrist you can answer and make phone calls, exchange text messages, surf the web, play games, access the social media and more.
Buy from AmazonPolar M600
Polar M600 might not best-looking watch out there, the concept design of it is actually widely abandoned now. But it has the feature supports to rate it the best smartwatch for tracking sports and fitness that runs on Wear OS.
Polar M600 wristwear is water resistant and dust proof, despite that, is not recommended to swim with it. It features GPS and heart rate sensors to provide detailed activity reporting that include speed, distance, calorie burn, and route maps with the integrated GPS and GLONASS location tracking systems.
There’s a quite impressive battery life coming with this timepiece. It will keep going for up to two days when connected to an Android smartphone. Your phone will be more likely to turn off earlier than this smart wristwatch. There are four gigs of free memory for you to fill up with songs, applications, and games. Notification alerts, reminders, text messages, phone calls, and more that arrive at your phone will also appear on your wrist when the wearable is connected to a phone. Polar’s M600 as well connects to iPhone and Android.
Buy from AmazonLG Watch Sport
The LG Watch Sport was amongst the first to ship with Google’s Android Wear 2.0, now Wear OS, and it sells with enabled cellular support. Unlike newest models of smartwatches feating a non-detachable electronic SIM chip, this wearable will need you to insert a SIM card into its slot. Not that much convenient if you like having only one phone number. Despite this odd tech implementation to convert it into cellular wearable, it still is one of the best Android Wear smartwatches your money can buy.
The Watch Sport by LG has one of the best displays on a smartwatch. The featured 1.38-inch round touchscreen panel boasts a resolution of 480 x 480 pixels. Its screen is actually much clearer than the unit present on the Galaxy Watch. LG’s Watch Sport spotlights a metallic body design with a crown standing in the middle of two buttons on one of the sides. Rotating the crown assists with the navigation.
Beyond an astonishing design, this LG smartwatch arrays the whole pack of sensors a top-notch watch must have. It has a GPS and heart rate monitor sensor, four gigs of flash memory to download apps, games, and songs from the Play Store, supports music streaming from Google Music, has NFC technology for contactless Google payments, and can be charged wirelessly. Google Fit app covers fitness and health tracking and reporting.
Buy from AmazonMobvoi Ticwatch S
Xiaomi’s Mobvoi now-popular for designing top-choice smartwatches for Android introduced the Ticwatch Sport with a less-pricey option that is called Ticwatch Express. They’re also often promoted as the Ticwatch S and E. Although they’re both affordable neither of them packs a hefty price, the Ticwatch S is slightly more pricey but also a quite better.
The GPS comes embedded within the band of the Ticwatch S model, you can’t change the band of it, but the accuracy is much better when the sensor is in the outside of the device. The GPS signaling is of the best performances with this smartwatch. A heart rate monitor is also present.
The Ticwatch S has a circular design built with fashion and has the side button for activating Google Assistant sporting some sort of rugged design for a masculine outlook. The non-detachable bands look like they wrap around the display. It is quite compact.
This Ticwatch is entirely built for fitness and sports tracking. Its activity monitoring and reporting features include distance, speed, calorie burn, and GPS maps for routes. This Wear OS smartwatch works with Spotify and Google Play Music for you to stream your favorite songs while running or when at the gym. This wearable is water resistant and will not be bothered by rain or sweat dropping on it but is not made to swim or shower with it.
Buy from AmazonHuawei Watch 2
Huawei Watch 2 brings to Google’s Wear operating system for wearable devices everything a smartwatch should have. It is brilliantly designed with classic patterns, sports a smaller round display than most watches, a 1.2-inch touchscreen panel with a resolution of 390 x 390 pixels grants it one of the clearest and brightest super Amoled displays in a watch.
This Huawei smartwatch lacks little to nothing in terms of hi-tech equipment. It enjoys GPS signaling, heart rate sensor, a 6-axis accelerometer, barometer, compass, NFC payments, and it even has an embedded eSIM that connects to the 4G LTE network. There aren’t that many watches with LTE support out there.
The second generation of Huawei Watch has four gigabytes of flash memory for you to download whatever you want from the Play Store. You can also stream online and offline music with this wearable. It is the ultimate Wear OS smartwatch for fitness. Activity data includes everything from distance and speed tracking to calorie burn, route mapping, navigation, fitness coaching and fitness analysis via the VO2Max algorithm while continuously keeping an eye at your heart rate. This watch works with iPhone as good as it functions when paired with an Android phone and one of the most notable features of it is its highly-intelligent built-in virtual assistant.
Buy from AmazonMobvoi Ticwatch E
Mobvoi gets one thing right, and that’s designing smartwatches that work great on Wear OS. The budget-friendly Ticwatch E is not only one of the best cheap Wear OS-powered watches, but it also is the best cheap smartwatch out there. It has the feature supports, design, and the low price to turn it into a flagship killer watch.
Similarly to the pricier Ticwatch S, the Ticwatch Express also equips GPS, heart rate, proximity, accelerometer, and compass. The whole set of sensors a watch must have are packed together on this watch with a minimalist design. The minimalist and round design with a tiny crown-button on the side makes this wearable a suitable smartwatch for the ladies. There’s nothing wrong with men wearing this timepiece too.
The Ticwatch masterpiece connects to iPhone and Android to deliver notifications and alerts, has four gigs of memory for you to release the whole set of Google Play applications, monitors activity via Google Fit app and supports music streaming from Google and Spotify. The Google Assistant will take your voice commands while the battery will keep it working for up to two days with a single charge. Despite being a relatively affordable wristwatch, the display is at the highest resolution regarding smartwatch terms. 400 x 400 pixels is the best you can ask for a device that costs less than $160.
Buy from AmazonLG Watch Style
The LG Watch Style is the fashion version of the LG Watch Sport. It has a way better appearance with entirely round bezels but it doesn’t have that much to offer regarding hi-tech functionalities. It is one of those smartwatches that desperately need a smartphone to go beyond telling the time and playing offline Wear OS games or playing with pre-downloaded watch faces.
It has no heart rate monitor or GPS. You can’t get to know an estimate of your heart rate with this watch. The GPS thingy can somehow get fixed as it will be provided when the watch is connected to a smartphone. The display of this LG smartwatch is good enough.
This isn’t the watch you want to buy for fitness monitoring or to explore the universe of Wear OS. It just doesn’t do that much. But it certainly is one of the best looking watches out there. Do you need something that will look great with whatever you wear? Perhaps this is the watch you want to get for yourself.
Buy from Amazon