Top smartwatches of 2015
It looks like a watch, but it could do a whole lot more. What makes a smartwatch a smartwatch is being connected to your phone, the Internet or both. Here are our favorite picks for the best watches out there right now.
Pebble Time Steel
CNET product review (1-10 scale): Performance: 7.0; design: 7.0; battery life: 9.0; features: 7.0; software: 8.0. Overall average:. 7.9.
CNET rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (very good).
The good: Solid, all-steel construction; boosted battery life should last over a week; 30 meters water resistant; always-on display; works with iPhone and Android phones.
The bad: Design doesn’t look much different than the less-expensive non-steel Pebble Time; can’t make phone calls; fitness tracking is less accurate than rival wearables.
Cost: $249.99
Bottom line: Pebble’s step-up all-steel smartwatch has added battery life and a more durable feel, but it’s basically a tiny upgrade to the less expensive Pebble Time.
Apple Watch
CNET product review (1-10 scale): Performance: 7.0; design: 9.0; battery life: 5.0; features: 8.0; software: 8.0. Overall average:. 7.8.
CNET rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (Very good)
The good: The Apple Watch is a beautifully constructed, compact smartwatch. It’s feature-packed, with solid fitness software, hundreds of apps, and the ability to send and receive calls via an iPhone.
The bad: Battery only lasts a little more than a day; most models and configurations cost more than they should; requires an iPhone 5 or later to work; interface can be confusing; sometimes slow to communicate with a paired iPhone.
Cost: $349.00
Bottom line: The Apple Watch is the most ambitious, well-constructed smartwatch, but first-gen shortfalls make it feel more like a fashionable toy than a necessary tool. That may change with a big software update later this year, though.
Pebble Time
CNET product review (1-10 scale): Performance: 7.0; design: 7.0; battery life: 8.0; features: 7.0; software: 8.0. Overall average:. 7.8.
CNET rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (Very good)
The good: Always-on reflective color display; water resistant for showers or swimming; battery life lasts more than three days between charges; added storage holds dozens of apps and watch faces; works with iPhones and Android phones; most apps are free.
The bad: Display is sometimes hard to read in dim light; fitness apps aren’t as polished as on other premium smartwatches; apps and watch faces are plentiful but very mixed in quality; lack of touchscreen limits interactivity with some apps.
The cost: $147.38 to $199.99
Bottom line: The Pebble Time adds a few key improvements and a color screen compared to previous Pebble watches, but owners of previous Pebble watches may not see a need to upgrade yet.
LG Watch Urbane
CNET product review (1-10 scale): Performance: 6.0; design: 8.0; battery life: 6.0; features: 8.0; software: 7.0. Overall average:. 7.2.
CNET rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (Very good)
The good: Crisp, classic design; fully round, beautiful OLED display; latest Android Wear support; Wi-Fi antenna connects to phone across different Wi-Fi networks; decent battery life (for Android Wear).
The bad: Big design won’t appeal to many wrists; Android Wear software still doesn’t feel all that smooth to use; Wi-Fi connectivity spotty at times; watch is expensive compared to other Android Wear options.
Cost: $272.82 to $349.99
Bottom line: The LG Watch Urbane is the best-looking Android Wear smartwatch and adds Wi-Fi-to-phone connectivity, but it doesn’t offer all that much more than previous Android Wear watch models.
This story was originally published November 8, 2015 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Top smartwatches of 2015."