Get the latest tech news

I'm kind of shocked at how good smartwatches have gotten

Apple, Samsung, and Google started taking fitness coaching seriously, while Garmin and its rivals delivered one killer watch after another.

When it came time to reflect on my first full year as Wearables lead for Android Central, I thought about how I've been run ragged (literally) trying to test and review one smartwatch after another, but also how I didn't mind because, by and large, most of the watches I assessed were so darn good. But all the brands I'd tested before improved in marked ways, and they all have a level of reliability that you can trust their sleep stats, heart rate zones during runs, GPS tracking, recovery time estimates, and other data that would've been erratic guesswork just a few years ago. (Image credit: Derrek Lee / Android Central)We've only just begun to see the uptick of "AI on your wrist," as analysts assured me would happen, but Samsung's Energy Score, Wellness Tips, and auto-suggested replies on Wear OS 5 certainly qualify!

Get the Android app