World at Your Wrist: Roundup of Best Smartwatches

The smartwatch tech category is exploding. Many firms would like to be part of it.

Let's take a look at best smartwatches who joined the race, based on the post at T3.

1. Agent Smartwatch - Secret Labs

Secret Labs' Agent Smartwatch is a Kickstarter success which brings things one step further by pairing with House of Horology and actual design studio. With a more crafted design, the watch comes in hex shape including Qi charging by laying the device in the pad. Apps abound with those dedicated to music control, notifications and running. A very useful app is one that alerts you when your phone is left somewhere.

2. Cookoo - Cookoo ($129.99)

The familiar-looking smartwatch with its round face, Cookoo dumps the usual square screen with a regular-shaped watch with features. Calendar alerts, reminders, missed calls and Facebook updates all show up while the clock hands make itself always visible. It looks a bit chunky, slightly larger but not more normal. It is water- and shock-resistant.

3. CST-01 - Central Standard Timing ($109)

Central Standard Timing comes with an impressive smartwatch that blends acute slimness and beautiful design. It is named "the world's thinnest watch." CST-01 can be alive for a month on a single charge and takes only 10 minutes to be fully charged again. The battery is paper thin and the MEC tech in it ensures long life of up to 15 years. It wins in the design side although it lacks typical features of smartwatches.

4. Eco-Drive Proximity - Citizen (£399)

Citizen takes their Eco-Drive watch and adds some features with a classic style, great for people who love to have a glancable information at their wrists but do not want to make it obvious. Bluetooth 4 low energy Proximity makes it possible to sync date and time and alert for emails and missed calls along with calendar events. It is not feature-packed but its leather strap and stainless steel rim make it look familiar.

5. Frame - Metawatch ($199)

The 96 x 96 pixel Metawatch Frame's reflective mirror may not be the sharpest. But it is equipped with useful data like today's weather, agenda and stocks. Time is at the core. It has a dual-mode setting in Bluetooth that lets two phones to be connected at once and alerts you with missed calls, texts and the like. Also available are different widgets.

6. G Watch - LG

LG has partnered with Google and produced Nexus 4 and 5. It is no surprise the South Korean company jumps to join the Android Wear bandwagon with G Watch. Like Moto 360, the device is still upcoming and little is known about it for the time being. But it is likely to use the Google Now service.

7. Galaxy Gear - Samsung ($299)

Samsung's pilot smartwatch Galaxy Gear was announced in Berlin at IFA 2013 with different colors. It packs a 1.6-inch Super AMOLED display, 800 Mhz processor and a 1.9 MP camera. It has 4 GB internal storage and about 70 apps to download. But it only works with some Samsung Galaxy phones via Bluetooth.

8. Gear 2 - Samsung ($295)

Samsung failed in its first smartwatch Galaxy Gear released in the previous year. But the South Korean giant bounced back with an updated model this year with a few changes in the package. The Galaxy moniker was dropped. The mobile OS was changed from Android to homegrown Tizen. Thickness was slashed and weight reduced. There is now a 1 GHz dual-core processor in the device for power and the camera transferred to the front. New apps are BMW, Line and Path, Garmin, CNN, music player and an onboard heart rate monitor. You can still get notifications and the like and this will work with Samsung phones.

9. Gear Neo - Samsung ($199)

Similar to Samsung Gear 2, the Neo has no camera and gets rid of some weight to give space to more entry level. It runs Tizen OS and has apps like CNN, Line, BMW and Garmin. Included in the specs are heart monitor and 1 GHz dual-core processor.

10. Kreyos - Indie gogo ($169)

Now making waves on Indie gogo crowd-sourcing site is Kreyos. Its most intriguing feature is the voice aspect. It integrates a mic and speaker so you can use voice to control your phone. Gestures are included too like shaking your wrist to change the song it plays. Activity monitors, email notifications, weather alerts are also present.

11. Moto 360 - Motorola

The best good-looking smartwatch so far, Motorola offers a clever time piece that runs Android wearable and takes the aspects of Google Now in your wrist.

12. Pebble - Pebble Technology ($150)

A great success in the smartwatch market, Pebble hit Kickstarter in the past year as it paired an e-paper display with presentable design and useful apps. It alerts you with everything as incoming calls, Twitter posts, weather and calendar entries. It keeps you updated with what's going on by glancing at your wrist, which makes it exciting. Apps include ones for cycling, music control and running. A cool all-round device it is.

13. Pebble Steel - Pebble Technology ($249)

The original Pebble Watch is criticized for its plastic construction as it takes away from the premium watch craved by many. Pebble is back and in stainless steel, more apps and functionalities. RAM is doubled, Gorilla Glass coating on display and a new charger; but most changes are on design. The Pebble smartwatch becomes better.

14. Smartwatch 2 - Sony ($199)

Sony is back to impress better with its sleek, chrome bezels and black front Smartwatch 2. It works with Android although its OS is homegrown. The 1.6-inch device has 220 x 176 display, 200 apps, NFC plus a battery that should be alive up to 3 to 4 days.

15. Toq - Qualcomm ($350)

Qualcomm joined the smartwatch bandwagon and its entrance is more comparable to Pebble than Galaxy Gear. Qualcomm Toq comes with a screen that works in bright sunlight, but drains less power than AMOLED or LCD display. It has wireless charging, easy to control with touchscreen and developers can create apps.