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If you’re exercising without one of the best smartwatches for Android users, you’re missing out on the opportunity to measure your progress and make your workouts more fun. Having technology on your wrist has become a norm in the world of fitness, according to Connor Derrickson, a fitness performance coach at Future, the app that pairs you with a world-class fitness coach who manages your ongoing fitness remotely.
“In recent years, we seem to have evolved more and more towards prioritizing our health and fitness by utilizing technology and information,” he says. That’s because tracking fitness adds another component to your workout. “Fitness watches make training, exercising, or even walking fun because it becomes a competition—a game in which you are trying to beat yourself every single day.”
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If you’re not a member of the Apple Universe (or you want something compatible with both Android and Apple devices), don’t worry, there are plenty of excellent Android smartwatches on the market. And, if you’re new to this whole sports watch trend, Derrickson offers a few tips on what to look for when choosing one of the best Android-compatible smartwatches for crushing your new year’s fitness goals.
Monitoring Heart Rate. “You obviously want something that will monitor your heart rate while you are wearing it, but you also want it to show your workout heart rate as well as your resting heart rate - and you want it to be accurate,” Derrickson says.
Tracking Calories Burned. “Many people like to know how many calories they are burning throughout the day as well as throughout one episode of training.” And if your watch has this feature, Derrickson says it can create a fun challenge for you to burn more calories each day and also see how caloric burn is affected by various training intensities.
Watch Compatibility. You need to understand how your watch works with your phone, etc. “Also, there are some watches that struggle more with third-party apps and will operate at slower speeds when downloading them, so keep this in mind,” Derrickson advises.
Battery Life. If your watch is going to die every day, Derrickson warns that you’re going to be frustrated. “It is annoying when you need to be wearing the watch for it to collect data, yet it dies so quickly and spends a lot of time on the charger.”
Tom Holland, exercise physiologist, elite endurance athlete, and author of, The Micro Workout Plan, agrees and adds that the watch should be able to withstand the type of exercise you’ll be engaging in. “For example, choose a rugged watch for tough, outdoor workouts like mountain biking and rock climbing, and a waterproof watch for paddleboarding and windsurfing.”
And he offers something else to consider. “Decide if you want a watch that you’ll take off when you’re done working out or one that’s fashionable,” Holland says. “Do you want something that not only tracks the metrics of your workouts, but is something you’d wear to work, going out at night, etc.?” Scroll through below to check out some of the best smartwatches for Android users to help crush your new year’s resolutions.
With fitness and health features powered by Fitbit, the Google Pixel LTE smartwatch can also track sleep and heart rate and assess heart rhythm. The active zone feature tracks minutes, steps, and calories and lets you choose from 40 different exercise modes. In addition, the smartwatch does everything a smartphone can, like answering calls, receiving text messages, responding to emails, and listening to music. Plus, it can also be synced with your smartphone to control your thermostat and lights and the battery lasts for up to 24 hours.
Fitbit makes some of the most popular smartwatches on the market, and the advanced Fitbut Sense 2 is perhaps its best model to date. You can track everything from steps, distance, and calories, while monitoring your breathing rate, resting heart rate, heart rate variability, skin temperature, and blood oxygen saturation. The watch also includes a sleep tracker that gauges how long you’ve slept—and provides a sleep score—along with a Daily Readiness Score to help you decide how intense your workout should be that day. Built-in GPS and voice assistants add to the watch’s functionality, and you can also get call and text notifications and pay from your wrist. The battery lasts for at least six days.
If you engage in intense workouts – including surfing, rock climbing, and skiing— the Amazfit T-Rex 2 is a rugged, military-grade smartwatch that can withstand all of your adventures. It’s equipped with a -40-degree F temperature resistance, 240h humidity resistance, 158-degree heat resistance, and 96h salt spray resistance. With just one tap, you can measure your breathing and heart rate, stress level, and blood oxygen level. Plus, the strength recognition feature detects which muscles are being activated during specific exercises—how cool is that? The watch has a 24-day battery life, supports over 150 sports modes, and has GPS 5 satellite positioning.
The SUUNTO 9 Peak is so thin and sleek that, at first glance, you might think it’s too stylish to be a practical workout smartwatch. But you’d be wrong, as it is as strong and durable as attractive. The touchscreen watch face is made of sapphire glass and grade 5 titanium and provides several health measurements, including heart rate, stress, blood oxygen, and sleep tracking. It has built-in GPS and 3D heatmaps, in addition to guided navigation. You can control music and bypass your phone to connect the watch to your headphones or earbuds. The watch can also provide weather reports and alerts when there’s a storm approaching. Battery life is 25 hours with GPS and up to seven days when in tour mode.
Another economically-priced workout watch, the Mobvoi TicWatch GTH Pro has all of the essentials you would want, including personalized watch faces. From continuous heart rate monitoring and arterial health scores to blood oxygen measurement and also sleep tracking—the watch even provides guidance on how to improve sleep scores. When working out, there are 14 workout modes, ranging from cycling indoors to walking outdoors to playing basketball. The watch is water resistant up to 50 meters, and it has up to 10 days of battery life.
The Wahoo ELEMNT Rival provides structured workout tools, which makes it a great choice for those who run, cycle, or swim. In fact, it even has race day features for touchless transitioning between different activities. The watch has a track running profile and running dynamics to provide real-time data. The watch has 12 pre-loaded workouts and the ability to connect to a TrainingPeaks account. It can also control your music, alarm, and provide smart notifications. Battery life is 24 hours in GPS workout mode and two weeks in smartwatch mode.
Samsung makes some of the best watches for Android users. They can be pretty pricey; however, the Samsung Galaxy 4 is a more economical option that still delivers the goods. It has plenty of apps and can track everything from blood oxygen saturation to sleep disturbances. There are also almost 100 workouts, including running, swimming, and rowing. You can use the watch for contactless payment and for smart home control, in addition to step-by-step directions using GPS. Battery life is approximately 40 hours.
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