The best Wear OS watches (October 2020)

In the early days of Android Wear, there were only a few decent smartwatch options — mainly from Motorola and LG. Since then, the platform has been rebranded to Wear OS, and many other companies have joined the Wear OS party. We’re now seeing Wear OS watches come from fashion brands and watchmakers instead of smartphone OEMs. There are plenty of options out there, so we’ve rounded up our list of the best Wear OS watches you can buy.

Best Wear OS watches:

Fossil Gen 5

Wear OS is in need of a revamp, but the Fossil Gen 5 smartwatch makes the best of a strange software situation with excellent hardware and performance. It has 1GB of RAM and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 3100 SoC, which means performance is great.

Also read: The best Wear OS watch faces

Even the software is a positive. Google hasn’t prioritized Wear OS as it should, but it’s nice to have quick access to Google Assistant, Calendar, and other Google apps. The new Tiles feature also impresses and makes navigation a bit easier.

The Fossil Gen 5 isn’t cheap, but that’s the price to pay if you want the best Wear OS smartwatch.

Fossil Gen 5 specs:

Display: 1.3-inch AMOLED
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 3100
RAM: 1GB
Storage: 8GB

Battery: At least 24 hours
IP rating: 5ATM
Sensors: Accelerometer, altimeter, ambient light, gyroscope, heart rate, microphone, NFC, GPS

Skagen Falster 3

The Skagen Falster 3 fixes all the performance and battery issues that plagued the first two Falster smartwatches. It has essentially the same specs as the Fossil Gen 5 (above), as well as its fantastic custom battery modes that really help it eke out as much battery as possible. There’s also a built-in speaker, so you can hear Google Assistant talk to you and answer phone calls directly on the watch through Bluetooth.

If I had one complaint, it’d be that this watch is too expensive. Don’t get me wrong, I like the Falster 3. A lot. But $300 is a lot of money for a smartwatch running on a platform that rarely gets an update. However, I think the Falster 3 makes the best of a bad Wear OS situation.

Skagen Falster 3 specs:

Display: 1.3-inch OLED
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100
Storage: 8GB

Battery: At least 24 hours
IP rating: 3ATM
Sensors: Accelerometer, altimeter, ambient light, gyroscope, heart rate, microphone, NFC, GPS

Suunto 7

Suunto is new to the smartwatch space, and its first offering, the Suunto 7, is a solid first try.

For starters, it’s the best smartwatch you can buy from Suunto, and it’s absolutely the best Wear OS watch for fitness. You get access to Suunto’s wonderful Heatmaps feature, a super cool Heatmaps watch face, and the watch syncs with Suunto’s smartphone app.

However, fitness and health stats are split up between the Suunto app and Google Fit, which is frankly a big misstep. The heart rate sensor is also not up to par with some other GPS fitness watches. This might not be the watch for diehard Suunto users.

Even with its caveats, the Suunto 7 is a solid Wear OS smartwatch, and definitely one of the best Wear OS watches you can buy today.

Suunto 7 specs:

Display: 1.39-inch OLED
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100
Storage: 8GB

Battery: Two-day battery life
IP rating: 5ATM
Sensors: Accelerometer, altimeter, ambient light, gyroscope, microphone, heart rate, NFC, GPS

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Moto 360 (2019)

A company called eBuyNow resurrected the iconic Moto 360 line with a new Wear OS device in 2019. The Moto 360 (2019) is a fantastic Wear OS smartwatch overall. The display, performance, and battery life are all top-notch and exactly what you’d want out of a modern Wear OS watch.

Any negatives? Yeah. It’s pricey at $350 without offering more than Fossil’s options. The charging puck is also pretty bad. If you like the design, though, you should consider picking one up. I don’t think you’ll be sorry.

Moto 360 (2019) specs:

Display: 1.2-inch AMOLED
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100
Storage: 8GB
RAM: 1GB

Battery: 355mAh
IP rating: 3ATM
Sensors: Accelerometer, altimeter, ambient light, gyroscope, heart rate, microphone, NFC, GPS

Upcoming: Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3

Mobvoi’s new TicWatch Pro 3 is the first smartwatch with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Wear 4100 chipset. This, coupled with 1GB of RAM, makes for overall good performance, at least in our short time with the device. Battery life also seems to have been improved, with our own Oliver Cragg showing two-day battery life could be a possibility with normal smartwatch usage.