The smartwatch market began as a revolution in mobile devices but things slowed down after the first wave since they initially were just used for receiving notifications. Nowadays, both software and hardware have evolved so much that smartwatches are really worth a try. According to the latest statistics, Apple Watch is the dominant model holding around 35% of the market share with Samsung coming in second place.
But, although it comes in 1st place, the Apple Watch isn’t all that perfect. It is addressed only to iPhone users and thanks to the strong ecosystem of the company, it achieves high sales numbers, so, it’s a no-go for Android users. In addition, the cheaper models come with an aluminum case that isn’t the most durable material out there. Also, its battery life is a day or less and you need to charge it every night.
Custom OS smartwatches
Besides Samsung that has its own wearables ecosystem (Tizen OS) and has successfully managed to populate it with many popular apps, Huawei and its sub-brand Honor are also selling very noteworthy watches. Huawei Watch GT2 is the latest model and it sells around $249 while the Honor Watch Magic sells at around $129. Both feature a custom OS that constrains their capabilities.
Both are adequately equipped featuring a built-in GPS and up to 50m deep waterproofing. Also, the Honor Watch Magic has a week-long battery life, NFC, etc. Its affordable price makes it popular among youngsters. Still, it is inferior to the Huawei Watch GT
that sports 2 weeks of battery life, a larger display, and better design.
Up next, is Huami that is specialized in smartwatches and grabs a big chunk of the market pie. The flagship model is the Huami Amazfit GTR watch which is available in two sizes – 42 mm and 47 mm. The bigger of the two is more striking and has a longer battery life (24 days vs. 12 days use) and costs just $20 more than the small one. Generally speaking, it is recommended that men choose the bigger one, and ladies choose the smaller one but that’s a matter of personal taste.
It comes with the company’s custom OS and features 12 sports modes while being waterproof up to 50m underwater. What’s more, it comes with an AMOLED high-resolution display that looks great and takes care of keeping battery consumption at a low level since when displaying black colors means zero consumption.
Full OS smartwatches
Apart from the above-mentioned models that come with their own OS and other models that come with Google’s Wear OS platform, there are manufacturers that choose to adopt a full OS. This is the case with KOSPET and its latest flagship model, Prime. The KOSPET Prime is literally a smartphone on your wrist, supporting most of the Android apps found on Play Store. Also, it supports 4G connectivity and you can make phone calls right from your wrist without the need of your smartphone.
Of course, adopting a full OS has its drawbacks like increased power consumption so the Prime comes with a 1260mAh battery, nearly 40% higher than the second in place. This results in a 168h standby time that is the best among Android watches. In addition, it sports a 1.6″ HD display and it is a full-round one as most watches come with a kind of notch that cuts the circle at the bottom. The big display solves many issues as in the past, displays were too small for third-party applications.
As said, it is a smartphone on your wrist and that requires enough power and memory so that it is fast. Prime comes with 3GB/32GB memory combo and that’s the top configuration found at the price tag of KOSPET Prime. Lastly, it is the first smartwatch to come with a dual-camera setup that supports Face ID. Lifting your hand towards your face will instantly unlock the watch thanks to the full Android OS running on the device.
As you can see, the smartwatch market isn’t as simple as the smartphone one due to the OS fragmentation. The high-end luxury category belongs to Apple and Samsung while the mid-range category is where most other manufacturers like Huawei, Honor, and Huami and even small-time manufacturers like Kospet are placed.
There aren’t many full OS smartwatches in the market that look good. But the KOSPET Prime offers pretty good features based on the Android platform. You can check it out from here.
