When we talk about smartwatches, most people think of brands like Apple or Huawei. Nice gadgets, but relatively expensive and very much focused on technology. Fortunately, there is now much more choice on the smartwatch market. The ‘ordinary’ watch brands are also increasingly including smartwatches in their collection.
What we’ve known as smartwatches all looked very slick and advanced, but lacked the ‘watch feel’ a bit; like walking around with a mini phone on your wrist.
But the new generations of smartwatches look more and more like regular watches. This way you not only have a piece of advanced technology on your wrist, but also a beautifully designed accessory from a well-known (watch) brand!
There are currently 4 common types of smartwatches available:
1 Touch Screen Smartwatch
The touchscreen smartwatch is the most advanced type of smartwatch. The dial has been replaced with a display that shows the time like a regular watch. Usually you can choose from different colors and styles of displays.
In addition to reading the time, you can find all the usual smartwatch functions on this type of watch: notifications of incoming calls and messages, control music or (smartphone) camera and much more.
Nowadays there are even completely waterproof sports watches with GPS and apps that can be operated via the touchscreen. And the technology continues to advance every day.
Good examples of touchscreen smartwatches can be found at brands such as Samsung, Garmin and Michael Kors.
2 Hybrid smartwatch
The hybrid is in fact an ordinary quartz watch with hands to which smartwatch functionalities such as notifications, agenda reminders and pedometer have been added, the results of which can be read via an app on your phone. The connection to your phone is usually via Bluetooth.
Sometimes a hybrid smartwatch has a small digital window in the watch face where notifications come in.
3 activity trackers
An Activity tracker – also called wearable – is not a watch but a bracelet that keeps track of all movements (heart rate and sleep rhythm) day and night. By synchronizing the band with an app on your smartphone, you can keep track of all kinds of data. Of course, some activity trackers indicate the time just like a watch. Others look like a jewel and only reveal their information after pairing with the smartphone.
Calypso, for example, offers fun activity trackers.
4 Bluetooth Connected watches
More and more regular watches contain digital functionalities that can be synchronized with your smartphone. The watch itself is not ‘smart’, but by uploading the collected data to your phone it is possible to use and analyze this data as you would with a smartwatch. Some Bluetooth-connected watches also allow you to sync the time, date, and location to your watch.
You can find many Bluetooth watches in our Casio collection.
Smartwatch expensive? You can make it as crazy as you want!
Smartwatches have the image of being a lot more expensive than regular watches. That is unjustified, because you already have a simple hybrid smartwatch from € 99, ​​for example.
On the other hand, the luxury watch brands are now also entering the smartwatch market and you can sometimes pay thousands of euros for that. But those watches often cost more than € 1000 anyway.
So you can make it as crazy as you want! The choice is yours! Use the search filters on our smartwatch page to select the price category you are looking for.
When do you choose a smartwatch?
For people who see watches as a piece of jewelry or a beautiful piece of classic technology, a smartwatch may be less suitable. But if you like to be available all day and/or love modern gadgets, then a smartwatch is really something for you. And now that there are so many different smartwatches for sale, you can always find one in your style or price range!
.