RRP: £189 With Android Wear now compatible with the iPhone, the Apple Watch has gained plenty of competition including Sony's Smartwatch 3. A sporty-but-smart wrist-wrapper, the Smartwatch 3 unlike the Apple Watch offers properly standalone functionality. Built-in Wi-Fi means you can download apps and data straight to the device (a boon for iPhone users who might otherwise have to wrestle with the less-than-impressive Android Wear app), whilst it'll happily store up daily data for later syncing with activity apps on your smartphone. GPS tracking means it'll also sense where you're striding though it lacks a heart rate monitor for pulse-based feedback. Still, notifications, music controls and app alerts suggest Sony's Smartwatch 3 is angling for a balance between sports-tracking and day-to-day usability, something reflected in the availability of a range of interchangeable strap and style options from stainless steel to silicon to leather. A two day battery life is par for the course, as is the 320 x 320 resolution display, although a 1.8in diagonal makes its screen larger than the Apple Watch's. In the power stakes, the Smartwatch 3 is hardly sluggish, packing a Quad ARM A7 1.2GHz chip and 512MB of RAM, whilst its IP68-rated casing should see it survive dust storms and a substantial dunking (in fresh water, of course). It might lack some of the Apple Watch's sleek styling, but, at around half the price, it could well be worth a punt for those looking to keep their iPhone stowed even with the quirks of running Android Wear with iOS.
Happy-snapping worldly wordsmith. In between snapping street shots, tapping out stellar prose and having more hair-brained ideas than a barber with a bachelor's in business, you'll find him fumbling with the latest fitness fads and dreaming of a debut in F1 (he's a late bloomer, OK?).
