Many smartwatches have NFC, allowing you to pay for items without pulling out your wallet. After storing your credit or debit card information, you may use your wristwatch to pay for a cup of coffee on your way home after a run by holding it up to an NFC scanner. Remember that different timepieces utilize various payment systems: Apple Watches make use of Apple Pay, Wear OS devices make use of Google Pay, Samsung devices make use of Samsung Pay, and so on.
Apple Pay is one of the most popular NFC payment systems, supporting numerous banks and credit cards in 72 countries, although Samsung and Google Pay only function in a handful. It’s also worth noting that NFC payment functionality differs by device for both Samsung and Google’s systems.
Battery Life
Battery life is still one of our major concerns regarding smartwatches, although there is some good news recently. Apple Watches and other Wear OS devices have a battery life of two days. Watches powered by the Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset have extended battery modes that promise up to five days of battery life if you’re prepared to disable everything except the time display. Snapdragon’s next-generation Wear 4100 and 4100+ CPUs were announced in 2020, but they’ve only been used in a few devices, some of which aren’t even ready yet. Other versions offer a battery life of five to seven days, but they have fewer functions and lower-quality screens. Meanwhile, certain fitness watches may operate for many weeks on a single battery.
Some smartwatches now offer quicker charging as well. Apple, for example, claims that the Series 7 can charge from zero to 80 percent in 45 minutes and reach full charge in 75 minutes. The OnePlus Watch is even faster, charging from 0% to 43% in only 10 minutes.
Make sure you pick a smartwatch that ticks at least some of these boxes, especially those that are essential to you. The wearable market still has a way to go, but companies today seem to have found the right formula and things will only get better from here on out.
