IF you are looking for more of a SOAW (Smartphone On a Wrist), I think iWatch is probably the best thing on the market.
It's insane at this point. I resisted getting a smartwatch for years, because I like the aesthetics of traditional analog watches, and did not want to charge a battery every day or two. Especially when the cheaper options a few years ago often required you to disassemble the band to reveal a USB male plug for charging, instead of just attaching a magnet to the back.
But for "starter" smartwatches, prices have fallen and quality risen to the point now where you can try one out as a next-to-free impulse purchase, and just shrug and move on if it's not for you.
Now I'm hooked on it. I don't so much care about push notifications for calls and emails, etc (i.e. my phone is already right there). But it's pushed me to walk about twice as many steps per day as I used to, and get about an hour more sleep per night. I've lost over 20 pounds since buying mine six months ago, from no conscious lifestyle changes beyond that. Plus the aesthetics have grown on me, so I don't think I'll ever be going back. On the other hand, I wouldn't even consider "upgrading" to a true Apple Watch until their battery life improves 5-10x.
The one nice thing I've enjoyed on this version is I went with the one with cell service. I haven't used it a ton, but it -is- nice to be able to leave your phone at home. I wouldn't intentionally make or accept calls on it, but having kids you always want to be reachable so in the case of an emergency it works fantastic.
I try and do this now when I go out with the kids to the park so I'm not tempted to be buried in my phone.
If you really want a “smartwatch on your wrist”, because you’ve wired up all your home appliances into Apple’s ecosystem or some use case like that, then great. A smartphone’s battery life may be acceptable.
But if your use case includes, “track my heart rate 24 hours a day, my overnight sleeping patterns, and be an alarm clock and practical timepiece”, then paying hundreds of dollars for 18-36 hours of battery doesn’t really make a lot sense against the other options available now.
That's how I use my Apple Watch. But I don't leave it on for a week straight, I take it off and charge it when I hop in the shower. I haven't found a use case for the shower yet, but it could happen.
Necessary edit: don't get me wrong, I understand how useful or good it can be feature-wise, but this is still a huge dealbreaker.
So I have developed a habit of taking off my apple watch when I sit at my desk. By the first time I think to look at my wrist, it's charged.
I put it in sleep mode all night, and wake up with plenty of battery anyway.
Sure it's one more thing to manage, but having it wake me up with vibrate every morning is worth the small hassle.
Seriously though, my Apple Watch is definitely the one device that runs out of battery the most in my life. I would love more battery life, so long as it doesn’t compromise any of the functionality or design. But there’s the rub.
Even on busy weekends where I'm out all day with multiple "workouts" it usually lasts the day fine.
When you are in apple ecosystem, unlock phone with watch, unlock Mac with watch, accept Okta verify (2FA) on watch without an unlock, etc are life changing things for me.
What sucks is that I can’t gift it an Android/PC person without replacing thousands worth of everything else.
Hopefully you understand that watches can still be competitors in the smartwatch space even if they don't have feature parity?
Pebble is so good that I still keep 2 extra ones in their unopened boxes, for the day my current one fails.
Other than the nightstand clock thing, this is how I wear my "real" watches too.
I like wearing my watch at night for sleep tracking, and the longer it's on my wrist, the more data it's capturing, which my hope is that in the years to come, can be harnessed for improving my health, somehow.
Retaining nearly all of your capabilities is a huge selling point for me since I spent an enormous amount of time away from cell towers and wifi in the outdoors.