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How to Choose the Best Wearable Technology for Your Lifestyle

Use this guide to help you research, compare and buy the one that best fits your needs and lifestyle

Smartwatches, fitness trackers and smart glasses—these wearable devices have continued to gain traction in the past few years and with good reason. “Wearables,” for short, allow users to stay connected all while they follow through with their personal goals. (We’ve seen them come especially handy for business professionals and fitness enthusiasts who get to go above and beyond the things they want to achieve with a little smart assistance.)

With smart sensors that track and monitor the wearer’s movements and biometrics, easy syncing features that allow these gadgets to wirelessly transmit data to your smartphone, wearable technology isn’t just a trend; it’s a new way of meeting today head-on.

To help you find the right wearable device perfect for your needs, here are some questions you ought to ask yourself before you add to cart and check out.

Why are you springing for a wearable device?

Before you look around for wearables, ask yourself this question: What are you hoping to achieve with your wearable tech?

Are you looking for a wearable to monitor your health and track your sleep? Or is it to monitor your steps throughout the day or the calories burned when exercising? Perhaps it’s a bit of both. That said, know that premium features will set you back, so it pays to see if you can find existing apps that can provide you with what you’re looking for. If you think a smartphone app won’t cut it, go ahead and start looking for the right wearable tech for your needs.

What is the right wearable device for you?

Wearable tech is great for tracking fitness goals, heart rate and sleep, but some are designed to offer more advanced features for specific activities and uses.

Fitness or activity trackers: Activity trackers do an excellent job at measuring motion like counting steps and tracking exercise. Some fitness trackers even offer heart rate functionality and other more advanced options, such as a comprehensive sleep-tracking feature.

GPS Sports Watches: GPS sports watches capture more data such as distance traveled and location maps. They also offer more functionality compared to regular fitness bands like measuring stride length, running index, laps, heart rate zones, altitude, temperature, lap swimming and more.

Smartwatches: Smartwatches not only track your overall health, sleep and fitness activity but also act as your second screen for calls and text messages, social media notifications and more. Think of smartwatches like the Apple Watch and Fitbit Versa as a mini extension of your smartphone clipped on your wrist.

Safety wearables: This refers to wearables you can use for emergencies and other threatening situations. It can be attached to clothing, jewelry or even your house keys. Some safety wearables look like penny-sized panic buttons. When pressed, they can emit an alarming sound and send a text message to your immediate contact together with your location.

Smart glasses: Smart glasses are wearable tech for your eyes, which can carry augmented reality specifications and fitness tracking. Some of the well-known examples are the now obsolete Google Glasses and Amazon’s Echo Frames.

Do you find the app user-friendly?

This is often an overlooked factor when it comes to buying wearable technology. No matter how packed with features the device is, it’s important to check if the accompanying app is just as good as the tech.

See if the app has an intuitive UI and is easy to use since this is where you will view and interact with the device’s metrics and features. Some people prefer to stick with one ecosystem, so they opt for the Apple Watch (for iOS users) or any Android-supported device for Android users. Meanwhile, some apps support third-party apps for integration such as when tracking workouts with a gym app.

How much are you willing to spend?

When you’ve finally decided which wearable tech best fits your needs and offers the features you’re looking for, the next step is to compare wearables to one another. Narrow your options. Afterward, it’s deliberation time.

Budget is a huge factor when it comes to making your final decision. Do you think the wearable device will improve your life significantly? If so, are you willing to pay that much for its convenience and functionality?

Apart from people’s obsession with the latest smartphones, they also enjoy geeking out over the latest gadgets and wearables. Hopefully, this handy guide could help you choose the best wearable tech that suits your needs and lifestyle. With the right wearable technology, everything is possible.