The holiday season is almost upon us! It’s time to start shopping for all those gifts before you have to fight the crowds and calculate for delayed shipping from the busy season.
Gadgets of all shapes and sizes have always been a hot commodity during the holidays, especially with everything being turned into a “smart” device these days. This year, wearables and smartwatches are going to be at the top of everyone’s list.
We’re going to take a look at 8 reasons to gift a smartwatch or wearable to your loved one(s) this year.
1. They Promote Healthy Living
Most smartwatches and wearables include some basic health tracking features that can be used to maintain a healthier lifestyle. This includes tracking information such as heart rate, steps taken, calories burned, and more.
In addition, a majority of the smartwatches out there are compatible with mobile apps – like smartphones – which means those who wear them can get extra support. If you purchase a watch that doesn’t come out of the box with a health-tracking app, it’s entirely possible you can download and install a third-party package.
Of course, you’ll need to do your research before making a purchase ensure the watch or model you’re looking at offers the features you desire. This is because tracking health data requires internal hardware too, and some smartwatches have certain sensors omitted due to money or size constraints.
2. They Can Break the Notification Bind
Do you find yourself constantly picking up your phone to look at notifications and alerts, answer messages, or check basic info on the internet? Don’t worry we all have that same problem to some degree. Just take a look around the next time you’re in public and you’ll see just how many people feel a constant itch to look at their phone.
Believe it or not, smartwatches and wearables can help break that bind that smartphones have on us. How, you ask? Most – but not all – smartwatches can pair with a smartphone to receive those notifications and alerts. In addition, they can often handle replying to text messages, emails, answered or placing phone calls, and more.
That means when you receive a new notification you can check it briefly via your smartwatch and then dismiss it if it’s not important. This can help you get back to the world at large and interacting with those around you.
3. You Can Customize Smartwatches to Fit Your Needs
Don’t like the wristband that came in the box with your watch? No problem. Don’t like the digital watchface that’s displayed on the device currently? No problem.
Smartwatches and wearables always have some degree of customization or personalization, which means you can truly make it your own. A lot of them are compatible with standard size watch bands, so you can swap them out at any time for something better.
You can customize the watchface by choosing a new one. Customize the features by installing more apps or removing others. You can even customize what shows up on the watch if you don’t want to get certain alerts from a connected smartphone.
4. They Actually Look Good Now
When smartwatches first started gaining popularity they weren’t exactly ideal. They offered a lot of the same features discussed here, but they just didn’t look all that attractive. Most of them were bulky and geeky looking, and the ones that weren’t could easily be considered gaudy.
All that has changed. Smartwatches and wearables are finally starting to look good now and in droves. In fact, there are so many good looking watches out there now – or coming soon – that you might find it difficult to choose a favorite.
Between models like the Apple Watch, Samsung Gear S2 Classic, Asus ZenWatch 2, Huawei Watch, Pebble Time, and more you’ll certainly have your work cut out for you when it comes to choosing one.
5. There’s Something for Every Budget
Whether you want to splurge and buy the latest, most expensive smartwatch or you want to adhere to a strict budget and go for something cheaper, there are plenty of options available. You won’t be sacrificing features or quality either no matter which way you go.
For instance, just because you have an iPhone doesn’t mean you have to spring for the Apple Watch. There are plenty of alternatives that work just fine with the iPhone, especially since Google updated their Android Wear platform to offer support.
Do some window shopping and look at a variety of models and devices. Don’t just settle for the first one you see. Better yet, set a spending limit and try to find the best wearable for the price range. Even if that sounds like silly, basic advice it’s still true. You don’t have to worry about limiting your options because there are plenty of great devices out there.
6. There are Tons of Accessories
There are wireless chargers, docks and stands, wristbands and cases, charms, wireless headphones, and so much more. Often, as a family we tend to coordinate our gifts so that one relative will purchase something and another will purchase compatible accessories.
Because there are so many accessories available for smartwatches and wearables, they also make great outlying gifts. Furthermore, you could even opt for the gift card route and purchase gift cards for a device’s respective app store. For example, you could purchase a Google Play gift card to give to someone who’s getting an Android Wear watch, or an iTunes gift card for someone who’s getting an Apple Watch.
There are so many options it’s dizzying. Just make sure you get the right accessories to match the watch.
7. They Can Extend Your Phone Battery
Since smartwatches pair up with smartphones using Bluetooth low-energy wireless tech, they can actually help conserve battery. How? Every time you turn on your smartphone to look at a text, notification, email, or alert you’re conserving battery by using the display. Believe it or not, the display is probably the one component of a smartphone that uses the most energy.
Since smartwatches can receive all that information remotely, you’ll be using your phone less – or at the very least turning on the display less often. In the end, that can help you extend the average battery life of your phone. That seems like a pretty fair trade-off to us.
8. They’re Quiet
Have you ever been startled by the ringtone or notification sound from your smartphone? When you have a smartwatch paired up, you can turn that down, or off completely. Smartwatches generally include a vibration feature that allows you to quietly be alerted to incoming alerts.
This is absolutely fantastic if you’re in a quiet or dark environment and you don’t want to disturb anyone. That said, you probably still shouldn’t be playing with your smartwatch in a movie theater, but that’s probably a given.
Why Would You Gift a Smartwatch?
Are there any reasons why you would gift a smartwatch that aren’t included on the list? Are there reasons why you wouldn’t gift a smartwatch at all? Please chime in with your thoughts on the matter in the comments below.
As always, good luck with your holiday shopping from all of us here at Smartwatches.org.