Best smartwatches of 2015: Apple Watch, Moto 360 and Samsung Gear S2
We count down the top 10 finest wearables to launch this year
Smartwatches came a long way in 2015, going from niche gadgets to must-have accessories - with the millions of sales to match.
Naturally, this meant that tech manufacturers were rushing to develop and release their own wearable wares, regardless of their usual focus on smartphones, PCs, televisions or whatever else. As a result, there's already a pretty sprawling selection to choose from.
To help you decide, we've compiled this guide to 2015's best smartwatches, from affordable all-rounders to elegant premium offerings.
10. LG Watch Urbane
We'd have loved to include the new, LTE-capable LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition on this list, but a defective screen component saw it pulled from shelves after just six days on sale, with no word yet on when it might be fixed and return.
Luckily, the original Watch Urbane is still a worthy wearable. This device wraps a circular, 1.3in P-OLED (Plastic OLED) display in a stylish brushed metal case, includes a big 410mAh battery and is IP67 certified, so it's as dust- and water-resistant as many fitness bands. It's powered by the Android Wear operating system - in fact, it was the very first smartwatch to launch with said OS's 5.1.1 update.
On the subject of firsts, some believed that the Watch Urbane would be the first serious rival to the Apple Watch. The market is a little more crowded these days, but LG's offering still manages to look like a fine choice. It hasn't been recalled yet, after all.
Best smartwatches of 2015: Apple Watch, Moto 360 and Samsung Gear S2
We count down the top 10 finest wearables to launch this year
9. Pebble Time Steel
Pebble was perhaps the first company to release a smartwatch, having gained support through the Kickstarter website.
The firm showed off its newest model, the Pebble Time Steel, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The device is the higher end version of the Pebble Time, which is plastic in construction, unlike the Steel, which is made of metal as the name suggests, and designed to offer a more alluring look and feel.
"Where Pebble Time is more sporty and playful, Time Steel emphasises different design cues and brings a refined and elegant aesthetic to the same Pebble you know and love," said the firm in a Kickstarter update prior to its launch in July.
"At its core, the Time Steel is powered by the same system as the Pebble Time, with a few tweaks."
Those tweaks include increased battery life of up to 10 days, waterproofing, an extra 1mm in thickness, and colour options of gunmetal black, silver and gold. Similarly to Android Wear, it can also connect to both Android and iOS smartphones.
Best smartwatches of 2015: Apple Watch, Moto 360 and Samsung Gear S2
We count down the top 10 finest wearables to launch this year
8. Asus ZenWatch 2
The ZenWatch 2 was unveiled at Computex and remains one of a select few Android Wear smartwatches to feature a physical watch crown like the one seen on the Apple Watch.
Again taking a page out of the Apple Watch design book, the ZenWatch 2 also features two 49x41mm and 45x37mm size options, both of which are built of stainless steel and feature Gorilla Glass 3 2.5D Amoled screens. The ZenWatch 2 runs Google's Android Wear mobile operating system overlaid with Asus' custom ZenUI software.
The software adds a number of features, including a Remote Camera and Watch Face Land apps. Remote Camera lets users control their smartphone's front and rear camera using the ZenWatch 2 while, the Face Land app lets users create custom watch faces for the ZenWatch 2.
Best smartwatches of 2015: Apple Watch, Moto 360 and Samsung Gear S2
We count down the top 10 finest wearables to launch this year
7. Sony SmartWatch 3
Sony's SmartWatch 3 eschews the trend for circular screen in favour of a sizeable 1.8in display. That's not the most unique thing about it, though.
Many smartwatches support replaceable straps, but the SmartWatch takes things a little bit further by allowing the main unit to pop out of the strap/bezel combination completely, so that it can be slotted into a different set.
While making full use of this will require the purchase of multiple straps and bezels, it does in effect allow for Sony's device to quickly switch from a fitness tracker clad in comfortable rubber to a leather-strapped casual wearable to a formal timepiece with a classy, stainless case - and back again.
Best smartwatches of 2015: Apple Watch, Moto 360 and Samsung Gear S2
We count down the top 10 finest wearables to launch this year
6. TAG Heuer Connected
If you're going to spend £1,100 on a smartwatch, it might as be one like the TAG Heuer Connected. A joint effort between Intel, Google and Swiss luxury watchmakers TAG Heuer, the Connected is an ultra-high-end Android Wear device crafted from grade II titanium and crystal sapphire, with a 1.6GhZ Intel Atom processor and 1GB of RAM.
From the digital hands to the chronograph counters, TAG Heuer has borrowed design touches from its existing products to make this look as much like a premium mechanical watch as possible. It's even made some additions to Android Wear, enabling support for exclusive apps like RaceChrono Pro, ViewRanger and GolfShot Pro.
There's no heartbeat monitor, but these apps and a feathery weight of just 52g means that the Connected is as effective a sporting aid as it is a fashion statement.
Best smartwatches of 2015: Apple Watch, Moto 360 and Samsung Gear S2
We count down the top 10 finest wearables to launch this year
5. Motorola Moto 360 (2015)
The second-generation Moto 360 is just as much of a looker as its predecessor, sporting a thin bezel and a considerable variety of designs to choose from - including such lavishly-titled options as ‘gold metal' and ‘cognac leather'. For the thin-wristed, there's also a "'Women's' version with smaller 16mm straps.
Sadly, Motorola hasn't ditched the bizarre ‘flat tyre' display shape in favour of a truly circular screen, but resolutions of 360x330 on the 46mm edition and 360x325 on the 42mm edition ensure that both are sharper than the original.
As for specs, the new Moto 360 packs a solid 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage, plus the Android Wear OS, so it can be paired with smartphones running the recent versions of either Android or iOS.
Best smartwatches of 2015: Apple Watch, Moto 360 and Samsung Gear S2
We count down the top 10 finest wearables to launch this year
4. Apple Watch Hermes
In a bid to give the Apple Watch more fashionista appeal, Apple has teamed with Hermès to release a special version of the smartwatch.
While the Hermès edition offers no additional specs compared to the standard version, it does offer the added bonus of a classic Hermès' designed strap, available in Cuff, Single Tour and Double Tour options, the latter of which offers an extra-long leather strap that wraps around the wrist twice. This is available in four French-themed flavours: Fauve, Étain, Capucine and Bleu Jean.
Given that you'll need to cough up at least £1,000 to get your hands on the Apple Watch Hermès, an exclusive customisable watch face is also thrown in for good measure. The minimalist face can be altered to show 12, four, or just one number along with the hands and a Hermès logo, and in one of three different typefaces.
Best smartwatches of 2015: Apple Watch, Moto 360 and Samsung Gear S2
We count down the top 10 finest wearables to launch this year
3. Huawei Watch
Like the Moto 360, the Huawei Watch is a fashion-focused smartwatch that nonetheless performs as a respectable all-rounder. It runs Android Wear, has a high-res 400x400 circular AMOLED display, will last for at least a day and a half on mixed usage and can be used as a fitness tracker thanks to its built-in heartbeat monitor and pedometer. Plus, Huawei has resisted from weighing the watch down with bloatware, like it does with its smartphones.
Being a classy, aspirational kind of device, the Huawei Watch also boasts some of the best build quality we've seen. The stainless steel case and sapphire crystal display are both elegant and tough, easily resisting scratches and scuffing, and it's a very modest 11.3mm in thickness - slim enough to pass for a traditional timepiece.
Best smartwatches of 2015: Apple Watch, Moto 360 and Samsung Gear S2
We count down the top 10 finest wearables to launch this year
2. Apple Watch
Apple launched its first smartwatch this year, the imaginatively-named Apple Watch, and it's already dominating the wearables market. There are already six million people around the globe rocking the high-end wrist-worn device, with analysts expecting Apple to double this figure over the Christmas period.
This popularity isn't surprising when its specs and features are considered. The Apple Watch is available with either a 1.5in or 1.7in Sapphire-coated screen, which displays a custom version of iOS that can be navigated using the Digital Crown on the side of the smartwatch. NFC is also baked-in, meaning the watch offers support for Apple Pay, and the Taptic Engine under the hood offers wearers haptic feedback to their wrist when they need to turn left or right while using Maps, for example.
Naturally, though, the Apple Watch doesn't come cheap - especially if you opt for the 18-carat gold Apple Watch Edition.
Best smartwatches of 2015: Apple Watch, Moto 360 and Samsung Gear S2
We count down the top 10 finest wearables to launch this year
1.Samsung Gear S2
There's nothing too exceptional about the Gear S2's specs: a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage are all par for the course with consumer smartwatches. Instead, it's the inspired rotating bezel that sends Samsung's smartwatch spinning to the top of this list.
Whether flicking through photos, zooming in on maps or simply scrolling through a menu, using the bezel as a control method in place of the usual swipe gestures is both nimbly responsive and wonderfully intuitive. Tizen, Samsung's custom-built operating system, has been completely revamped to accommodate the bezel, including a new UI that perfectly complements the circular display - which is attractively crisp and colourful to boot.
There is one catch. Tizen currently has the weakest app support out of itself, watchOS 2 and Android Wear, with the arguable exception of fitness apps. It still covers all the essentials you'd want from a smartwatch, though, and its clever design makes it a great wearable even while we wait for the software to catch up.