The 5 Best Smart Watches

The 5 Best Smart watches

The infamous calculator watch has been around since the 1970s, but smart watches have finally reached the point that they're, well, smart. From running apps, to displaying smartphone notifications, to monitoring your heart rate, the latest crop of smart watches do a lot more than just tell time. But which one should you buy? We've rounded up our five highest-rated smart watches to help you decide.

Calculator Watch

Some of these watches, like the Pebble and Pebble Steel, feature full-fledged app stores, bringing everything from ESPN and Yelp to—yes, a calculator—to your wrist. Others, like the Basis Carbon Steel Edition, are more fitness-focused, measuring everything from perspiration and the temperature of your skin to heart rate and activity levels. You could argue that the Basis Carbon Steel Edition and Samsung Gear Fit are activity trackers first and smart watches second, but ultimately, they're wrist-worn devices that do much more than simply tell time, which makes them a lot smarter than the average timepiece.

Differences aside, all of these wearable devices have one thing in common: They all sync with your smartphone to some degree. The Sony Smart Watch 2 lets you stay on top of email and social network updates from your phone on the watch itself, while the Gear Fit uses an app on to collect and display data on your phone's display. Make sure to read the reviews to find out if the watch of your choice is compatible with your current phone.

With Apple expected to enter the smart watch space, and Google's new Android Wear OS, the battle for wrist real estate is quickly heating up. That's good news for consumers, since it's likely to result in even better—and hopefully better looking—devices. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this list reads completely differently the next time you see it. But if you're looking for the best smart watch available today, the five below are the finest we've seen so far.

5 Smartwatches