Best Smartwatches For Construction Workers and Surveyors

Peter Henlein had probably never imagined that his beloved invention would one day evolve into a device that tracks how many steps you’ve taken in a day. It’s quite amazing how far watches have come along technologically, with tons of smartwatches out in the market to suit your every need – from constant connectivity to instant health and fitness tracking.

If you’re looking to purchase the best smartwatch either for yourself or for a friend, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the never-ending choices. Where do you start? How do you decide which smartwatch to buy? There are a few things you have to carefully consider before hitting that “Buy Now” button.

The single most important feature for land surveyors looking to purchase a smart watch is the GPS function. This ensures your safety when working out in the field in remote areas and some smart watches can even download topographic maps to help you navigate the terrain better.

In addition to making sure your smart watch has GPS functionality , also consider the following factors:

1. Need-Specific Features

Why do you need a smartwatch? What are you going to use it for? The answer to these questions will be your starting point in looking for the best smartwatch. Most people use smartwatches for the following features:

• Track health and fitness activities. Some people want health and fitness trackers like a heart rate monitor, step counter, sleep tracker, and more.
• Get notifications. When connected with a smartphone, smartwatches are capable of displaying notifications for messages and incoming calls. Some also allow you to display only the notification or the entire message. A few smartwatches also allow you to directly accept calls via the watch provided that it’s within the wireless range of your smartphone
• Store music. You can also directly store music on some smartwatches’ internal memory. Either that or download a music player app for your smartwatch.
• Contactless payments. Did you know that some smartwatches also allow you to make contactless payments? By combining near field communication (NFC) and smartwatches, you can now pay your bills, groceries, bus tickets, and more in an innovative way.
• Other features. With more features being rolled out, smartwatches have a lot more to offer. They let you set alarms, view emails, view photos and videos, and even automate your home. These features are not a priority but can make your life a lot easier.

2. Smartphone Compatibility

Most smartwatches are designed to function as companions to smartphones. If you’re getting a smartwatch designed to work with a smartphone, you have to make sure that it’s fully compatible with your smartphone.

For obvious reasons, Apple Watches only work with iPhones. Samsung’s Tizen watches and Google’s Wear OS work with both Android phones and iPhones, but with limited features than when used with Android devices.

3. Interface and Display Features

• Touchscreen. Smartwatches are either touchscreen or not. Touchscreens allow you to operate and navigate your device with a swipe or tap. Because of the small screen, some users find it difficult to access apps or notifications.
• Non-touchscreen. Non-touchscreens have buttons and bezels usually located on the watch face that you can use to navigate apps, access features, and system menus.
• LCD. LCD screens use a backlight to illuminate the screen and generally perform well outdoors under direct sunlight and in other bright settings.
• OLED and AMOLED. Many smartwatches have OLED (organic light emitting diode) and AMOLED (active-matrix organic light emitting diode) screens because of their thinner build and less power consumption. OLED screens can optionally display single, multi, or fullcolor while AMOLED always displays full color.
• Water-resistant/waterproof. If you’ll be using your smartwatch for outdoor activities like trekking or biking, it’s best to get a water-resistant smartwatch. Not all water-resistant smartwatches are created equal, so you have to check how much water it can withstand.
• Chemically fortified glass. Also best for outdoor activities are watches with fortified glass, like the Corning Gorilla Glass, that protects the screen from scratches and other damages. You can also separately purchase a tempered glass for additional protection.
• Always-on display. Some smartwatches dim the screen when not in use to save energy while some have always-on display screens for easy time telling and general usage.

4. Personalization, Style, and Comfort

If you’re the type that wants to personalize your accessories to suit your style, the best smartwatch for you is one that has a lot of customization options such as choices of straps, ability to swap straps with third-party options, options for band color and material, and options for face color, finish, and size.

Designs of smartwatches are becoming more diverse now, offering a wider range of face type, shape, and general vibe to choose from. There are smartwatches with round faces that resemble traditional timepieces, and there are those – usually sports and fitness smartwatches – with modern-looking rectangular or square faces.

No matter the type of smartwatch, always go for one with easy-to-fasten clasps and buckles for maximum comfort.

5. Apps

Smartwatches are great by themselves, but the right apps take it up a notch. You can tailor your smartwatch to suit your needs by using apps.

The Apple Watch has an impressive collection of free and paid apps, with more than 20,000 apps to choose from, including the CARROT Weather, ESPN, Things, and Just Press Record. To install these apps on your smartwatch, you’ll have to use the Apple Watch App Store on your iPhone.

Google’s Wear OS has a different approach to app installation as it lets you install apps directly on the watch itself without having to use a smartphone. It has a lot of interesting apps like Lyft, WhatsApp, Citymapper, Podcast Republic, and more.

Some brands like Garmin, a top brand of sports and fitness smartwatches, have pre-loaded sports apps so you can use their smart watches to the full right out of the box.

In deciding which smartwatch to buy, you must know why you’re getting one and the specific features that you’d love to have. Take note that the best smartwatch is not necessarily the most technologically advanced, but the one that has the right features that you need to improve your life.