No, there is no worthy alternative to the Apple Watch on Android, and for various reasons

I first wore the Apple Watch on my wrist over three years ago. Since then, it has become indispensable in my daily life. I use it for sports, for work, for the passage of the route. Of course, also to see the time and even keep track of my sleep at night or check, among other things, my heart rate. My good experience with this smart watch made me ask many times if indeed there is a definitive alternative for those users who have an android device, since the watch from the company from Cupertino is not compatible with the Google operating system. In my opinion, and after many years of testing different models, I can say no.

One might think that this is a hasty or incoherent conclusion, especially when one considers a wide range of smartwatches compatible with Android which we can find on the market. Huawei has a large number of models, as does Samsung. Xiaomi and other Asian manufacturers are also bringing devices with similar specifications to the global market. Even Google is about to announce the Pixel Watch, its first smartwatch. But there are a number of reasons why all of them are not the ultimate alternative.

Design is very important in smart watches and very few respond

Google, Huawei, Samsung, Xiaomi; everyone has in the catalog, clock smart round shape. They tend to be very carefully designed and mimic the classic watch shape with some of the most iconic elements of these products such as the crown (which the Apple Watch also has) or even watch faces. However, they have a very important drawback.

The fact that the clock is round means that the panel is also round, which meansn further loss of information displayed on the screen. That is, texts and some application elements, especially those located at the edges of the panel, may not be visible due to curvature. First of all, this hinders viewing, since it is impossible to see, for example, a full icon or make the text 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 are no disproportions at the edges, therefore text can be displayed in a more complete way, without the need to shorten it. The display of icons and other interface elements, in addition, is also correctly adapted. Outside of Apple, we also see some examples, such as the Huawei Watch Fit, whose rectangular screen even lets you watch small videos as exercise totorals.

In terms of software and features, there are almost no watches that are superior to the Apple Watch.

watchOS is arguably the best operating system for smartwatches. First of all, if we take into account the number of apps available for the Apple Watch, the many health features and the exceptional iPhone sync. There is no smart watch for Android with similar features at the software level.. Huawei, for example, uses its own operating system, HarmonyOS, and while it offers very good sync with the company’s smartphones, it doesn’t include as many third-party apps as watchOS, so its use is limited to native apps.

Samsung, on the other hand, plays in a somewhat more similar league to Apple and its Apple Watch. The company’s latest smartwatches include their own layer of customization under WearOS, Google’s operating system for smartwatches. this interface it allows you to download a large number of applications from the Google Play store. and use third-party services and apps like Spotify right from your watch. WearOS also includes support for the Google Assistant and, of course, the company’s apps. The Galaxy Watch, in addition, also has excellent synchronization with Android devices. However, in my experience, the services and features offered by both Samsung and WearOS fall short of watchOS and its intuitive interface.

Apple, on the other hand, reigns in accessibility features. The Apple Watch already has several options that give you more control over the interface, such as the ability to perform actions with hand gestures, and more additional features will be added soon. Among them is the ability to control some applications directly from the iPhone. No Android smartwatch 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 some very interesting alternatives to the Apple Watch for Android. Samsung, for example, has its own Galaxy Clock 4, which is probably one of the most complete smartwatches on the market and goes head-to-head with the Apple Watch Series 7. Google will also be announcing its Pixel Watch smartwatch soon. Again, with features to rival Apple’s latest smartwatches.

However, neither of these two models surpasses or equals the Apple Watch. They, in my opinion, are just alternatives, but not worthy of Apple.. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, for example, has health-related features that we also see in the Cupertino company’s watches, such as a blood oxygen meter. But it has a rounded screen, and we have already seen how useless these panels are on such small devices. Something similar happens with the Pixel Watch. Also adding that the processor it includes is ridiculously outdated and that can reduce performance and efficiency.

Changing the format from round to square, or creating a more complete and intuitive ecosystem, may be enough to make this a better option for the Apple Watch. Let’s see if manufacturers will undertake to change the design of their devices in the future.