The Best Smartwatches of 2024

Ignore the mouthful of a name and you’ll see that the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS ($127) is a shockingly great value when it comes to a Wear OS budget smartwatch for Android users. What the smartwatch lacks in bells and whistles, it makes up with some strong basics.

Right off the bat, you’ll notice the TicWatch is a big smartwatch. Its 47mm stainless steel, nylon, and fiberglass case is the most reminiscent of a traditional timepiece. If you’ve got daintier wrists, consider a different option like the Pixel Watch 2. There’s nothing particularly bad about the design; it feels as generic as it looks. It has two pusher buttons with rotating caps, but they’re purely decorative and don’t control the software interface.

The 1.4-inch AMOLED display is more than serviceable. It’s not the brightest but not the dimmest. However, the smartwatch has a second Film Compensated Super-Twisted Nematic (FSTN) display for its always-on watch face mode, which turns it into a stripped-down monochrome digital watch. This is supposed to help conserve power without turning the screen on, but to be honest, we found it a little hard to see in bright sunlight.  

Released in 2022, the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS’s Wear OS 3.5 software lags behind newer Wear OS 4 smartwatches that have performance and security optimizations, as well as support for Gmail and Google Calendar apps. But we didn’t feel it couldn’t keep up, so long as you can accept some minor annoyances, such as choppier animations when swiping between widgets and notifications and having to figure out which of the Mobvoi-made apps do what.

Mobvoi could do some consolidation instead of asking users to dig through TicBreathe, TicCare, TicExercise, TicHealth, TicOxygen, TicPulse, TicSleep, and TicZen apps. On the topic of apps, we’re puzzled by the “Hand-wash Timer” app not automatically kicking it in when we run our hands under the faucet.

For basic fitness tracking, the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS does the job. We were impressed by the sensors’ abilities to log generally accurate steps and heart rates as well as smartwatches that cost hundreds of dollars more.

Mobvoi advertises up to 3 days of battery life. We weren’t able to get the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS to last that long, but we came close with roughly just under 2.5 days of power on a single charge. 

To our disappointment, there’s no Google Assistant support. Apparently, the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS previously supported the virtual assistant, but Google removed that for Wear OS 2 smartwatches. Even though we’re running Wear OS 3.5 on the smartwatch, the hardware doesn’t support the Assistant. It was a bit of a bummer as we consider the Google Assistant core to any Wear OS smartwatch.

If you can overlook the age and some of the rougher software edges, the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS is not to be slept on. For $127, good luck finding another Wear OS smartwatch that packs as many features without more serious compromises.

Smartwatches typically last around 1 day on a single charge, but we’re finally seeing smartwatches with extra-long stamina like the OnePlus Watch 2 ($250). Designed by the smartphone maker of the same name, the OnePlus Watch 2 boasts an impressive 100 hours of battery life (in “Smart Mode”). One full charge can also power the smartwatch for nearly two full days. 

The secret is nerdy but clever: the OnePlus Watch 2 has two chips with each one running a separate operating system. Without getting into the weeds, one chip powers Google’s Android-powered Wear OS 4 software, which provides access to core smartwatch features like the phone, notifications, fitness and health tracking, and Play Store apps. The other chip is active when you’re not activating the sensors and only need to display basic stuff like the time or battery life. 

Speaking of the battery on the OnePlus Watch 2, we really like that the magnetic charger’s detachable puck and cable allow it to connect to any USB-C cable. That’s one less dangly cable to squeeze into your backpack.

The OnePlus Watch 2 is a handsome smartwatch. The polished stainless steel case (available in silver or black) looks good paired with a rain jacket or a dress shirt. The 1.43-inch round display is not the brightest out there, but it’s still crisp thanks to a 466 x 466 resolution and 1,000 nits of max brightness.

OnePlus didn’t skimp on smartwatch functionality. The OnePlus Watch 2 has all the smartwatch staples, like a heart rate sensor, sleep tracking, and stress tracking, and it can detect up to 100 sports. However, automatic workout tracking is limited to only six (walking, running, swimming, cycling, rowing machines, and elliptical machines). 

Despite stellar battery life, using the OnePlus Watch 2 can be hit or miss. Compared to the other smartwatches we tested in this guide, the automatic fitness tracking is less reliable. On several occasions, the OnePlus Watch 2 didn’t detect walks or runs, even after 30 minutes of activity.

Other quirks that annoyed us: the rotating crown doesn’t do anything like scrolling up or down in an app the way you’d find on other smartwatches, there’s no cellular LTE connectivity, and there’s no electrocardiogram (ECG) tracking built-in. The OnePlus Watch 2 also only comes in one size: 47mm.

The OnePlus Watch 2 works with any compatible Android phone and even better with a OnePlus device. We recommend it if you like the idea of charging your smartwatch every two days instead of every night, and if you might need the extended battery life.

Even though the Pixel Watch 2 ($250) was released a year ago, in 2023, Google’s smartwatch is still our go-to if you’re rocking an Android phone. The second-generation Google-made smartwatch is basically Android’s Apple Watch, only with a round stone-shaped design.

Whereas the other smartwatches we tested are on the beefier side, the Pixel Watch 2’s 41mm case is what we would consider very reasonable for most wrists. If you’ve got a thick wrist, you should probably consider a different smartwatch. And unlike other smartwatches that usually have a chonky bezel (decorative or not) around the screen, the Pixel Watch 2’s sturdy 1.2-inch AMOLED display curves beautifully into its polished aluminum case. It’s a simple and elegant design that stands out.

Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 chip and Wear OS 4, the Pixel Watch 2’s hardware keeps up with other Wear OS smartwatches, such as the OnePlus Watch 2. For example, battery life with the always-on display is up to a full day. However, it’s the Fitbit integration that separates it from the competition.

Building on Fitbit’s decade-plus of trusted fitness and health monitoring, the smartwatch (especially if you pony up for a $10 Fitbit Premium subscription) gave us arguably the most accurate metrics. We walked 500 steps and the Pixel Watch 2 was the closest one to logging them, with the Apple Watch Ultra 2 only around 10-15 steps behind. (Note: this wasn’t a controlled, scientific test, but we did the test three times and got similar results.)

We’re big fans of how easy it is to jump directly into fitness tracking on the Pixel Watch 2. By default, you can tap the Fitbit application to dive into your daily stats, including steps walked, floors climbed, distance walked, calories burned, and more. Swiping screens gives a graph of your continuous heart rate and quick access to workouts.

Compared to other smartwatches, Google emphasizes fitness upfront, and it shows. The smartwatch has a continuous electrodermal response sensor (cEDA) that, alongside the skin temperature sensor and heart rate sensor, can aid in monitoring stress, but we didn’t find it particularly useful. Stress notifications seemed to come in later than they should have (often at times when we didn’t feel stressed anymore), and logging your stress level with a mood (i.e., sad, calm, content) didn’t help in reducing our stress.

Google recently released the Pixel Watch 3, which improves on the Pixel Watch 2 in myriad ways, including offering a bigger screen, Gemini AI support, and a larger 45mm model. That being said, until we get our hands on the Pixel Watch 3 for a future update, the Pixel Watch 2 is our choice for the best smartwatch for Android users.

It’s stylish and well-rounded. Pixel phone users will benefit most with deeper integration (i.e., automatic syncing for “Bedtime Mode” and “Do Not Disturb”), but because it’s a Wear OS smartwatch, virtually everything else will work just as well on other Android phones.

For a two-year-old smartwatch, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 Pro ($330) sure can take a beating. We wore the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro on a recent climb up New York State’s Bear Mountain, and it survived a heatwave that depleted or shut down every other non-Apple Watch we tested. That’s why we’re giving it the best rugged smartwatch designation. 

As the “pro” version of the Galaxy Watch 5, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is overall bulkier to earn its rugged distinction. Like the Apple Watch Ultra 2, the smartwatch is made of titanium (black or gray). Although it’s on the thick side, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro didn’t feel too big on our tester’s smallish wrist.

We could comfortably wear it over a light rain jacket (though you do lose contact with the heart rate monitor if you do that), and we really like the “D-Buckle” magnetic silicone buckle strap. There’s no fiddling with adjustment holes and loops.

But ruggedness is what the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro succeeds at. It’s MIL-STD-810H, a U.S. military standard that certifies it for certain extreme conditions, including (but not limited to) very cold or hot temperatures, humidity, shock, and vibration. On top of that, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is officially IP68-rated, which means it’s fully dustproof and can be submerged in water that’s up to 1.5 m deep for up to 30 minutes.

Additionally, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is 5ATM, which means it can withstand water pressure up to a depth of 50 meters. The 1.4-inch round sapphire crystal display is damn near impossible to scratch or crack because of its recessed design. 

Samsung’s latest Galaxy Watch Ultra is even more rugged and durable and has some features we wish the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro had, like a touch-sensitive bezel for navigating through the One UI interface (based on Wear OS) or the programmable “Quick button.” But if you’re just looking for a wrist computer that can survive the elements like no other, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is up to the job.