The first time I put an Apple Watch on my wrist was more than three years ago. Since then, it has become an essential in my day to day. I use it to play sports, to work, to follow a route. Of course, also to see the time and even to monitor my sleep at night or check, among other things, my heart rate. My good experience with this smartwatch has made me ask on many occasions if there really is a definitive alternative for those users who own an Android device, because the watch from the Cupertino company is not compatible with the Google operating system. In my opinion, and after years of testing different models, I can say that there is not.
You might think that this is a hasty or incoherent conclusion, especially if we take into account the wide range of smartwatches compatible with Android that we can find in the market. Huawei has a large number of models, as does Samsung. Xiaomi and other Asian manufacturers are also marketing devices with similar characteristics in the global market. Even Google will soon announce the Pixel Watch, its first smartwatch. But there are a number of reasons why all of them are not a definitive alternative.
Design is very important in a smart watch, and very few meet
Google, Huawei, Samsung, Xiaomi; everyone has in their catalog, clocks smart with rounded shape. They tend to have a very careful design, and imitate the classic shape of the watch with some of the most iconic elements of these products, such as the crown (which the Apple Watch also has) or even the dials. However, they have a very important drawback.
That the clock is round means that the panel is also round, and this translates inton further loss of information displayed on the screen. That is, the texts and some elements of the applications, especially those that are located on the edges of the panel, may not be visible due to the curvature. This, above all, hampers the viewing experience by not being able to see, for example, a complete icon or by making the texts much smaller to fit on the screen.
The Apple Watch, on the other hand, has a square design, and its screen also inherits this shape. There is no disproportion in the edges, so the text can be displayed in a more complete way, without the need to reduce it. The display of the icons and other elements of the interface, in addition, are also correctly adapted. Outside of Apple we also see some examples, such as the Huawei Watch Fit, whose rectangular screen even allows you to view small videos as totorales to perform the exercises.
In software and functions almost no watch beats the Apple Watch
watchOS is probably the best operating system for a smart watch. Above all, if we take into account the number of apps that are available for the Apple Watch, the multiple health functions, and the extreme synchronization that it has with the iPhone. There is no smartwatch for Android with similar features at the software level. Huawei, for example, uses HarmonyOS, its own operating system, and although it offers very good synchronization with the company’s smartphones, it does not include as many third-party apps as watchOS, so its use is limited to its own applications.
Samsung, on the other hand, plays in a somewhat more similar league to Apple and its Apple Watch. The company’s latest smartwatch includes its own customization layer under WearOS, Google’s operating system for smartwatches. this interface it does allow you to download a large number of apps from the Google Play Store and use third-party services and applications, such as Spotify, directly from the watch. WearOS also includes support for the Google Assistant and, of course, the company’s apps. The Galaxy Watch, in addition, also have an excellent synchronization with Android devices. However, and in my experience, the services and functions offered by both Samsung and WearOS are not up to watchOS and its intuitive interface.
Apple on the other hand, reigns in the accessibility-related features. The Apple Watch already has multiple options that allow better control of the interface, such as the possibility of performing actions through hand gestures thanks, and will add new additional functions soon. Among them, the possibility of controlling some apps directly from the iPhone. No smartwatch for Android offers these features.
Are the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 or Pixel Watch a worthy alternative to the Apple Watch for Android?
The truth is that there are very interesting alternatives to the Apple Watch for Android. Samsung, for example, has its Galaxy Watch 4, which is probably one of the most complete smartwatches on the market and competes head-to-head with the Apple Watch Series 7. Google will also soon announce its smartwatch, the Pixel Watch. Again, with features to compete against the latest Apple smartwatch.
Neither of these two models, however, surpass or equal the Apple Watch. They are, in my opinion, only alternatives, but not worthy to face Apple. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, for example, has health-related features that we also see in the Cupertino company’s watch, such as the blood oxygen meter. But it does have a rounded screen, and we’ve already seen how useless these panels are on such small devices. Something similar happens to the Pixel Watch. Also adding that the processor it includes is ridiculously old, and this could harm performance and efficiency.
Changing the format from round to square or creating a more complete and intuitive ecosystem could be enough for these watches to become the best option for the Apple Watch. We will see if in the future the manufacturers are committed to modifying the design of their devices.