Smartwatch bonanza: hottest smartwatches at IFA compared

IFA used to be dominated by smartphone announcements, then tablets moved in and now wearables are the new hotness. Many companies have various smartbands but we’re only interested in proper smartwatches – ones with big screens for notifications and with a proper OS to run apps.

This cuts the number of contestants down somewhat but not enough, it can still take you a while to wade through specs and price not to mention looks. There’s a battle shaping up versus practical square watches and aesthetically pleasing round watches. Here are all the specs in one place to make things a little easier.

	Samsung Gear S	Motorola Moto 360	LG G Watch R	Sony SmartWatch 3	Asus ZenWatch
Screen size	2″	1.56″	1.3″	1.6″	1.63″
Screen res	360 x 480	320 x 290	320 x 320	320 x 320	320 x 320
PPI	300ppi	205ppi	245ppi	282ppi	278ppi
Screen type	Super AMOLED	LCD	P-OLED	Transflective TFT	AMOLED
OS	Tizen	Android Wear	Android Wear	Android Wear	Android Wear
CPU	Dual-core 1GHz	? (OMAP3)	Quad-core 1.2Ghz	Quad-core 1.2GHz	Quad-core 1.2GHz
RAM	512MB	512MB	512MB	512MB	512MB
Storage	4GB	4GB	4GB	4GB	4GB
3G	Yes	No	No	No	No
Battery	300mAh	320mAh	410mAh	420mAh	369mAh
IP	IP67	IP67	IP67	IP68	IP55
Other	GPS with SatNav, IR, heart rate	heart rate	heart rate	GPS	-
Price	?	€249	?	€229	€199

The table mostly speaks for itself but it does need some clarifications. For one, Android Wear recently added support for GPS but it’s not clear if all devices have a built-in receiver. Sony has confirmed the SmartWatch 3 does have GPS and the Samsung Gear S has GPS and standalone navigation courtesy of Nokia HERE Maps.

The Gear S is the only Tizen-running watch in this comparison but it’s also the most independent – with a SIM card slot and 3G connectivity it can be used without being connected to a phone. The Gear S also has an IR blaster, which the others lack.

The same Android Wear update allowed some freedom for the watches – they can talk to accessories, like Bluetooth headphones. This means you can go on a run and listen to music from the watch, which is where the built-in storage comes in.

Here’s a quick refresher on IP ratings as that’s much more important for a watch than a phone. The first digit signifies dust tightness – 5 means dust can only cause cosmetic damage, 6 means the device is completely dust tight. The second digit is water resistance – 5 means water jet resistance, 7 means submersion up to 1m of water for half an hour and 8 goes beyond that (generally up to 3m but may vary).

So, which one is your favorite smartwatch of this IFA?