Today the smartwatch is the ultimate accessory. It can tell the time, of course, but it can also beam important notifications straight to your wrist, and run apps.
What's more impressive is that many of today's best models can also perform a ton of novel tricks, such as enabling you to search the internet with your voice, tracking your exercise with GPS and letting you pay at the grocery store without reaching for your wallet.
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Oh – and they look absolutely stunning to boot. If you're thinking that a smartwatch is a pointlessly geeky accessory... think again. These choices are well-made, powerful and can genuinely make you fitter through some smart nudges.
Here are the top 10 smartwatches you can buy in 2018, according to the editors at Tech Radar:
1. Apple Watch 3
The Apple Watch 3 (or Apple Watch Series 3, if you're picky) is the best smartwatch you can buy right now. Yes, it's essentially just the Apple Watch 2 frame with some new innards... but they make a big difference.
The LTE connection is the headline event, although that's not really as useful as some might hope - plus it costs a lot more to use, and drains the battery.
What we like is the non-LTE version, which is a lot cheaper, and offers all the smarts of the Watch 2 but with a longer battery life and faster speeds when flicking through apps. This is the right kind of upgrade on the best smartwatch in the world.
It's still water-resistant so you can swim with it and you won't have to worry about getting it wet in the rain when you're out for a jog. There's GPS onboard to make running that little bit easier plus it comes running the top watchOS 4 software.
2. Ticwatch E
You may not have ever heard of Ticwatch, and that's because it's a relatively small and new brand to the smartwatch world. This is the best Android Wear watch money can buy right now.
That's mostly because of the low price and the fact everything works really well. We also love the Ticwatch E for its built-in GPS, accurate heart rate sensor and great design.
All of the fitness features you'd expect are here; you can even use it without having to take your phone out while you exercise, but you won't be able to receive phone calls like on the Apple Watch 3. The design is premium, but it won't be for everyone so be sure to properly study the photos above and in our review to work out if it's built for you.
The true highlight here is the low price considering it's generally around half the price of a lot of the other devices you'll find on this list.
3. LG Watch Style
The LG Watch Style (built in collaboration with Google) offers everything that's to love from the best Android Wear smartwatches, ditches the dreaded flat tire, then fills in the gap with cool, useful features and a whole lot of… style.
Roll that all up and you're left with an extremely alluring presentation that makes a mighty strong argument for Google's wearable platform. But there are some familiar wrinkles here including the sub par battery life.
That said, it’s easy to express why the Style is one of the smartwatches we want to put on our wrists.
For a recently-lowered price, it offers just as much utility as prior smartwatch attempts, but ups the ante with a slim, dashing design and several welcome features, like the voice-activated Google Assistant and a refreshed user interface that's full of clever tweaks.
4. Ticwatch S
Ticwatch is back again for our fourth entry. This time it's the Ticwatch S, which is remarkably similar to the Ticwatch E we've mentioned above.
The differences are limited, but this watch is a tiny bit heavier and a little larger because it comes with a thicker bezel around the sides to show you the exact time.
There's also a different strap on this version that comes with the GPS sensor inside. The makers of the Ticwatch claim this is more accurate than when it's inside the watch casing, but we didn't see any major differences.
It does mean you can't swap out the band on the Ticwatch S, like you can on the Ticwatch E, and that's a big shame.
It's a touch more expensive than the Ticwatch E too, but if you prefer the design you may want to go for this as it's still much more affordable than a lot of our other favorite smartwatches on sale right now.
5. Fitbit Ionic
The Fitbit Ionic was always going to be a tough move for the brand, trying to enter the world of smartwatches from fitness bands.
The effort succeeds in some places: namely fitness, as you might imagine, where you can track all manner of things, from running to weight lifting to swimming. There's also dedicated bodyweight coaching sessions in there, and you can pay for items on the go using Fitbit Pay.
When it first launched, the price was super high and it was a bit too expensive to wholeheartedly recommend. The good news is the price seems to have dropped in recent months so you can get it for at least $70/£70 cheaper than the RRP.
If you're a Fitbit fan looking to do more than you get on an average band, this is a nice option.
6. Misfit Vapor
Misfit's first ever fully-fledged smartwatch comes in sixth position in our ranking, and a part of that is down to its low price.
The Misfit Vapor has a super clear and bright 1.3-inch AMOLED display, a premium design - if it is a little thick - as well as up to the minute Android Wear 2.0 software as well.
It's not the perfect watch as the Misfit Activity app is quite limited and there's no Android Pay, but mostly this will suit you if you're looking for an attractive watch with basic fitness and notification features.
7. Samsung Gear Sport
Despite a serious lack of original apps, the Samsung Gear Sport still merits a place on this list. It's got the same premium build we've come to expect from Samsung, has an exceptionally clear screen.
The main draw is the fact it has Spotify offline playback onboard, and combine that with the inbuilt GPS and you've got an all-in-one running watch that can supply you with millions of tracks on the go.
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It's also 50m-waterproof, which means you can take this little wrist beast into the water and get swimming - and it's even compatible with iOS on top of that.
It's not got the battery life of the Gear S3, lowering the time between charges to make the whole unit a little sleeker - and with a rubberized band in the box, it's clear this a smartwatch for the fitness fans from Samsung.
8. Garmin Forerunner 735XT
OK, we know this isn't a true smartwatch - but it's a brilliant running watch with smartphone connectivity, and to many it's good enough to achieve what they need.
The notifications are basic but rich enough, and you can control your music from the wrist.
Yes, this will be a bit basic for some, but if you're in any way interested in fitness this watch can do it all - and it's a half-decent fitness tracker too, with a super long battery life that puts many on this list to shame.
9. Samsung Gear S3
This is the watch the Gear Sport above replaced, but the Samsung Gear S3 is now much, much cheaper than when it initially launched meaning it has re-entered our list of the best smartwatches.
Fitness is the big focus here with some great activity tracking features that comes alongside the heart rate tracker and built-in GPS. Be warned this won't track your swims, but it is water resistant.
We particularly like the rotating bezel design on the Gear S3 and Tizen OS has improved a lot recently, so the software works really well too.
10. Apple Watch
Still on sale as the 'budget' Apple Watch, this device is still well worth a look. OK, it doesn't have the water resistance, LTE connectivity or GPS of the top Apple Watch 3, but it also doesn't have the price.
Being able to check when you've got a message, or see who's calling and be able to make snap decisions, still is possible here and great when you're exercising or in another situation where grabbing your phone isn't practical.
The new enhancements from Apple's watchOS 4 really do help this smartwatch leap forward, even if the hardware is years old now. It's now faster, more usable and comes with watch faces that make it feel more personal.
This watch is still on sale from Apple, so deals might be a bit sparse, but the Apple Watch Series 1 can be found at lower cost if you're sharp.
By James Peckham
