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The main way to connect a wearable gadget with external devices. For smartwatches and fitness bands (see "Type"), this refers to a connection to a smartphone or tablet, while in the case of watch-phones, it usually refers to headsets.

— Bluetooth. Wireless technology for direct communication of various devices with each other. This is the most popular interface in smartwatches and bracelets: Bluetooth modules can be made very tiny, the communication range even in the earliest versions reaches 10 m, and different generations of Bluetooth are mutually compatible in terms of basic functionality. Specifically, the versions nowadays are as follows:

• v2.0. The earliest standard used in modern wearable gadgets. The possibilities of such a connection are more modest than those of more advanced versions, but they are often quite enough.
• v3.0. A standard that combines classic Bluetooth v 2.0 and a high-speed “add-on” for transferring large amounts of data.
• v4.0. Further, after 3.0, improvement of Bluetooth: in addition to the classic and high-speed format, this version added Bluetooth Low Energy technology. Support of this technology is especially useful in fitness trackers, which usually transmit small amounts of data, but constantly.
• v4.1. Modification of the 4.0 standard described above with improved protection against interference while working with LTE mobile communications. ...i> v4.2. Another improvement of the 4.0 standard, which introduced, in particular, improved data protection and increased connection speed.
• — v 5. The fifth generation of Bluetooth was released in 2016. The key innovation in version 5.0 was the expansion of capabilities related to the Internet of Things. Thus, in the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol, it became possible to double the data transfer rate (up to 2 Mbit/s) at the cost of reducing the range, and also quadruple the range at the cost of reducing the speed; In addition, a number of improvements have been introduced regarding simultaneous work with a large number of connected devices.
• — v 5.1. Update of the version described above v 5.0. In addition to general improvements in the quality and reliability of communication, this update introduced such an interesting feature as determining the direction from which the Bluetooth signal is coming. This makes it possible to determine the location of connected devices with centimeter accuracy.
• —v 5.2. The next, after 5.1, is the fifth generation Bluetooth update. The main innovations in this version are a number of security improvements, additional optimization of power consumption in LE mode and a new audio signal format for synchronizing parallel playback on multiple devices.
• —v 5.3. The Bluetooth v 5.3 wireless communication protocol was introduced at the dawn of 2022. Among the innovations in it, they accelerated the process of negotiating a communication channel between the controller and the device, implemented the function of quickly switching between the operating state in a low duty cycle and a high-speed mode, and improved the throughput and stability of the connection by reducing susceptibility to interference. When unexpected interference occurs in Low Energy mode, the procedure for selecting a communication channel to switch from now on has been accelerated. There are no fundamental innovations in protocol 5.3, but a number of qualitative improvements are evident in it.
  
  Of course, to use all the capabilities of a particular version of Bluetooth, it must be supported not only by the gadget itself, but also by the smartphone/tablet to which it is connected.

Types of sports and medical data collected by the gadget (plus some features of a similar purpose, such as sleep tracking, smart alarms, stress levels and women's calendar). Note that the features from this list can be found not only in specialized fitness trackers (see "Type"), but also in more traditional devices like smartwatches. Here are the most popular options:

— Pulse rate. Heart rate is one of the most important physiological parameters of a person. So that sports training is as effective as possible, the heart rate must be in a certain range (the specific value depends on the purpose of the training and the personal data of the user). And for some illnesses and treatments, a faster or slower heart rate can be an important signal, including a warning of danger.

— Pressure (tonometer). A sensor that measures the user's blood pressure. Note that the accuracy of such a sensor is usually quite low, the measurement error can be 10% or even more; so it will not replace a full-fledged medical tonometer. On the other hand, a gadget with this feature is quite capable of detecting a critical increase or decrease in pressure, which will allow you to take the necessary measures in a timely manner.

— ECG. A sen...sor that allows you to get detailed data about the work of the user's heart. Note that such a sensor is not a full-fledged electrocardiograph — in fact, it is an advanced type of heart rate monitor that can track the features of the heart rhythm. However, even this is enough to detect some dangerous phenomena — for example, atrial fibrillation, which at first is imperceptible to a person — and take appropriate measures in time.

— The blood oxygen. A sensor (the so-called pulse oximeter) that determines the saturation of the blood with oxygen (saturation); at the same time, the measurement is carried out by a non-invasive method — without punctures and other damage to the skin. Like most medical sensors in wearable gadgets, it is not accurate and is not a full-fledged medical device, but it is quite capable of responding to a critical decrease in the level of oxygen in the blood. It is believed that the presence of a pulse oximeter is relevant primarily for certain diseases, when saturation may decrease due to the disease itself or the characteristics of the treatment being taken. However, this feature can also be useful for quite healthy users who often travel at high altitudes — primarily climbers and aeronauts.

— Body temperature. The presence of a sensor for measuring temperature allows you to take measurements without the use of thermometers. Naturally, errors can occur, so a slight deviation from the norm may not be determined, but the device will easily fix a significant increase in temperature.

— T° of the environment. Even though smartwatches are worn on the body, the built-in sensors in them are usually designed to measure the ambient temperature. This information can be useful both for a general assessment of the surrounding conditions, and for specific purposes — in particular, weather forecasting. It is not uncommon for watches with this feature to also have a barometer (see "Navigation").

— Number of steps. The traditional pedometer is a feature for counting the number of steps taken by the user. These measurements usually use data from the accelerometer, and the results are quite accurate: most modern accelerometers are well calibrated and are quite capable of distinguishing tremors during steps from hand waves and other extraneous movements. The exception is trips in land transport: many wearable gadgets perceive shaking as steps, which should be taken into account when evaluating the results.

— Distance travelled. Measurement of the total distance traveled by the user. For this, either data from a pedometer or a GPS module are usually used (see "Navigation"); each option has its own merits. So, the pedometer is cheaper, it can be used even in rooms without windows, where the signal from satellites does not reach, and on simulators like treadmills, where the user does not move relative to the ground. GPS, in turn, gives higher accuracy, especially over long distances, and is not prone to false positives in vehicles. In some advanced gadgets, these methods can be combined — this is not cheap, but it allows you to combine the advantages of both options and achieve maximum accuracy.

— Movement speed. Determining the speed of the user's movement. As with distance travelled, measurement can be done in a variety of ways; see above for more details. Also note here that many gadgets with this feature are able not only to determine the current speed, but also to constantly record its value and display various indicators: the maximum achieved speed, the average value for training, etc.

— Energy spent (calories). Measurement of the number of calories burned by the user in the process of movement. These data are rather approximate, as they are calculated by indirect parameters (speed and range of movement, personal specs of a person, etc.). However, even this accuracy is quite enough to determine the overall effectiveness of training.

— The amount of fat burned. Measuring the amount of fat burned per workout. As in the case of calories (see above), the result of such measurements is quite approximate. However, in fact, absolute accuracy is not required, and fat loss data can be a powerful motivator.

— Activity time. A measurement of the total time during which the user is actively moving. In many models, such metering may provide additional options, such as fixing several periods of activity with breaks between them and determining the ratio between the time of movement and the time of rest.

— Smart alarm. An alarm clock that monitors the user's sleep phases and gives a signal to wake up at the optimal time for this. Human sleep consists of alternating phases, and waking up in the unfortunate phase creates a feeling of lethargy and fatigue, even if there was enough time to sleep. A smart alarm clock avoids such situations; its work is based on tracking the pulse, breathing rate and other parameters that differ depending on the phase of sleep. Note that the deviation of the signal from the set time can be up to half an hour, but this is usually a deviation towards an earlier rise. As a result, the risk of being late with a smart alarm clock is close to zero, and the lack of sleep time is compensated by the optimal moment of awakening.

— Sleep tracking. Sleep quality assessment is based on data from on-board sensors of fitness trackers or smartwatches. In particular, the heart rate monitor controls the number of contractions of the heart muscle, the accelerometer controls the user's movements. A blood oxygen sensor, if available on the wearable, improves the accuracy of sleep quality data collection. According to the readings of the sensors, the moments of entering and exiting the deep sleep phase are recorded. It is during this period that the restoration of the nervous system and the accumulation of energy for the coming day take place. In deep sleep, a person can completely reboot and gain strength, while in REM sleep, brain activity practically does not differ from the state of wakefulness. The sleep quality analysis feature helps you determine the best time to go to sleep and provides personalized recommendations to improve your night's sleep.

— The level of stress. The level of stress of the body allows you to evaluate the metric that determines the variability of the heartbeat — the difference in time between successive contractions of the heart muscle. Respiration rate, maximum oxygen consumption and excess oxygen consumption after exercise are also taken into account. The stress level score gives a clear picture of the user's experience during the day, however, the value of this parameter is in determining the most optimal body regimen for training. A high heart rate variability usually indicates you are in good shape for playing sports, while a low one can indicate fatigue, dehydration, or feeling unwell. All this directly affects the ability to train effectively. There are no clear units for measuring the level of stress — in smartwatches, the parameter is usually shown as a scale from 0 to 100, often indicating the number of hours the body is under stress and the time it takes to recover to a normal state.

— Women's calendar. The tool for tracking the menstrual cycle keeps abreast of the events of the expected dates of the menstrual period, allows you to determine the most favorable days for conception, helps to notice alarming symptoms in time and prevent many diseases in case of cycle disorders. Based on your total cycle length, the device calculates a predicted date for your next period. The women's calendar records cycle dates, fertility windows, and the day of ovulation. By adding your own notes to it, you can track fluctuations in sleep, appetite, fitness, mood changes and predict well-being for a particular day.

In addition to those described above, more specific types of measurements can be found in modern wearable gadgets.

— TFT. The simplest type of liquid crystal panel used in colour displays. They provide a relatively low, but generally sufficient image quality, while they are much cheaper than more advanced options. This type does not require backlight — more precisely, the backlight is part of the screen itself and turns on with it. Of the unequivocal disadvantages, it is worth noting that many TFT panels have rather limited viewing angles; however, as technology improves, this drawback is gradually eliminated.

— IPS. A variety of LCD panels created in an attempt to eliminate the shortcomings of TFT. There are many subspecies of IPS panels, but they all feature high colour reproduction quality, excellent brightness and wide viewing angles. The disadvantage of this option is the relatively high cost.

— OLED. In this case, we mean the technology used to create the simplest monochrome displays. In such screens, each segment that makes up the image is a separate LED, which eliminates the need for external illumination (and even the display itself can be used as a flashlight).

— AMOLED. Screens based on a panel of active organic light emitting diodes. Similar to various types of TFT, this technology allows the creation of high-resolution colour displays. Its key feature is that the screen doe...s not require a separate backlight system — in AMOLED panels, each pixel glows independently, resulting in somewhat lower power consumption. At the same time, such screens are distinguished by good colour reproduction quality, excellent brightness and wide viewing angles, however, they are much more expensive than TFT.

— Super AMOLED. An enhanced version of the AMOLED technology described above, delivering more expansive colour reproduction and brightness, as well as improved touch accuracy and speed, all at a thinner display and lower power consumption. In addition, the degree of reflection of external light is reduced, such a panel gives less glare and is better visible in sunlight.

— E-Ink (E-Paper). Displays made using "electronic paper" technology; in addition, this category also includes screens such as Memory LCD. The classic E-Ink screen is black and white, does not have a backlight (however, it can be built into particular gadgets), has a very low refresh rate and is poorly suited even for stopwatches, not to mention videos or animated pictures. On the other hand, "electronic paper" is perfectly visible in bright light and has a very low power consumption: it requires electricity only when the image is changed, while a still image remains visible even when the power is completely turned off. Memory LCD screens, in turn, with the same advantages, are almost as good as classic LCD panels in terms of refresh rate, but for a number of reasons they are not widely used.

— Transflective. A specific type of LCD panels that can work both due to its own backlight and due to reflected light. In bright external light (for example, in the sun), such a screen effectively reflects it and does not require a separate backlight — however, it is still included in the design and turns on in low light. This type of operation can significantly reduce power consumption compared to traditional LCD screens, where the image is not visible without backlight; in addition, good visibility in bright light is also an important advantage. The main disadvantage of panels of this type is their high cost; in addition, they are made mostly monochrome.

- LTPO. OLED and AMOLED matrices with an adaptive refresh rate that varies over a wide range based on the tasks performed. When rendering dynamic frames, screens with LTPO technology automatically raise the refresh rate to the maximum values, while viewing static images, they automatically reduce it to the minimum. At the heart of the technology is a traditional LTPS substrate with a thin TFT oxide film on top of the TFT base. Dynamic control of the refresh rate is provided by controlling the electron flow. The key benefit of LTPO screens is their reduced power consumption.

The material from which the transparent cover of the display is made.

— Plastic. Inexpensive, moreover, quite durable and impact-resistant material: even with a strong impact, the plastic is more likely to crack than crumble into fragments. At the same time, scratches easily appear on such a surface, and over time it inevitably becomes cloudy. Because of this, plastic is found predominantly in inexpensive wearable gadgets.

— Glass. In this case, it can mean both classic silicate glass (the same as, for example, in windows), and some original types of impact-resistant glass that are not related to Gorilla Glass(see below). Regular glass costs more than plastic, but not by much, and it looks better and stays clear longer due to its scratch resistance. The main disadvantages of this material are fragility and a tendency to crumble into sharp fragments upon impact. Impact-resistant glass types are devoid of this drawback to one degree or another, but they are also more expensive. According to the price category of the gadget, you can quite accurately determine what kind of glass it uses — ordinary or shock-resistant.

— Sapphire. The coating made of synthetic sapphire is used exclusively in premium-class gadgets — this is due to the complexity of its production and, accordingly, the high cost. On the practical s...ide, sapphire is extremely scratch resistant (it is only possible to scratch such glass with a diamond or special tools), but at the same time it is fragile and easily breaks from impact.

— Gorilla glass. A family of shock-resistant glass types created by Corning and widely used in modern electronics, including wearable gadgets. In addition to strength, Gorilla Glass is also distinguished by good scratch resistance, while being relatively inexpensive (by the standards of such a coating), which has led to their popularity. However, the specific properties of such glass depend on its version; Here are the options that are relevant for modern wearable devices:

• Gorilla Glass v3. The oldest current version was released in 2013. Nevertheless, even such a coating is noticeably superior to traditional glass (not to mention plastic) in terms of transparency and scratch resistance.
• Gorilla Glass v4. Version released in 2014. A key feature was that the development of this coating focused on impact resistance (whereas previous generations focused mainly on scratch resistance). As a result, the glass turned out to be twice as strong as in version 3, despite the fact that its thickness was only 0.4 mm.
• Gorilla Glass SR+. The first version of Gorilla Glass, designed specifically for smartwatches and other miniature wearable gadgets; presented in 2016. According to the creators, the scratch resistance of such coatings approaches those of sapphire glass while maintaining the main advantages of Gorilla Glass — high strength and transparency. In general, for this material, superiority over "alternative options" is claimed by 70% in terms of strength specs and by 25% in terms of optical properties.
• Gorilla Glass DX. Another type of glass, specially designed for wearable devices. It was released in 2018 at the same time as the DX+ version (see below). Of the key improvements in Gorilla Glass DX, in particular, increased anti-reflective properties and an increase in the contrast level of the visible image by 50% are announced; the latter, among other things, allows you to reduce the actual brightness and, accordingly, the power consumption of screens without compromising image quality, which is especially important for miniature wearable devices. And this material differs from the DX+ type coating, on the one hand, by lower scratch resistance, and, on the other hand, by higher anti-reflective specs.
• Gorilla Glass DX+. Almost the same as the original version of DX, related to the same specialization — wearable wearable gadgets and other miniature devices. At the same time, DX + has a higher scratch resistance, but has slightly worse anti-reflective specs. Otherwise, these types of coverage are almost identical.

Bezel-less are displays in which the case or bezel does not occupy the usable area of the front panel, or it is minimized. In terms of design, bezels have both pros and cons. One of the most important reasons for adding substantial bezels to your screen is physical protection. The bezel-less display is very easy to scratch or damage when dropped. On the other hand, the frame takes up space on the screen, and this is one of the reasons why the frames in modern smartwatches are minimized, making the gadget more compact and stylish.

The model name of the processor (CPU) installed in the watch. Knowing this name, you can find detailed data on a particular CPU and evaluate its level and general capabilities. This is especially important due of the fact that these capabilities depend not only on the basic specs (number of cores, clock frequency), but also on specific design nuances.

The amount of own storage provided in the design of the watch/bracelet. This memory is used for permanent storage of various information: call log, received SMS and other messages, additional applications, data on physical activity for a certain time, etc. The larger its volume, the more data can be stored in the device without the need to clean it to free up space. On the other hand, in the operation of smartwatches, large volumes ( 64 GB, 32 GB, 16 GB, even 8 GB and 4 GB) are not always required, capacious drives are quite expensive, and replaceable cards installed in corresponding slot (see below).

The method of charging the battery provided in the gadget.

— MicroUSB. Charging via standard microUSB port. The main advantage of this option is the ability to charge from any microUSB cable or charger with such a connector, not necessarily branded. On the other hand, the connector itself is quite large by the standards of wrist devices and can significantly affect the increase in the dimensions of the gadget.

— USB type C. A compact version of the USB interface with a reversible design that allows the plug to be inserted in either direction. The USB type C specification provides for a number of advanced power options - in particular, various fast charging technologies have been developed for this connector.

- Branded connector. Charging via a cable that connects to the watch using the original proprietary interface. The other end of the cable, as a rule, has a standard interface - most often USB, which allows you to use any computer port or network adapter with such a connector for charging. Branded connectors can be smaller than microUSB, and fit better into the layout of the clock. However, for charging, as a rule, you have to use only original accessories, including branded cradles-stands, which are intended mainly for permanent stay in one place.

- Wireless. The main advantage of wireless c...harging technology is the absence of any connectors - which is important, given the miniature size of wrist gadgets. At the same time, this method takes more time and significantly affects the cost of the device. Note that wireless charging is not contactless: the corresponding chargers can take the form of a stand or platform on which you need to put the watch, or a magnet attached to the back cover of the gadget, etc.

- Magnetic. Charging via a cable with convex metal contacts that are magnetized to the connector on the back cover of the wearable gadget. The magnetic contact group has no gaps, which improves the dust and moisture protection qualities of the smartwatch, and the charging plug itself is attracted to the magnetic connector, eliminating the need to look for the correct position for connecting the cable.

- USB A connector. The presence of a built-in connector allows you to connect the gadget directly to the charger, laptop, power bank without using additional cables.

The time that the gadget can work on one battery charge (or the supplied battery) in normal use.

Normal mode, as a rule, means working with a relatively low load. At this time, the display can display some data, and basic functions can also work (counting steps, periodically checking heart rate, etc.), but in any case, power consumption is low. Therefore, the operating time in normal mode can be quite impressive, up to several weeks, or even months. However, when choosing, it doesn’t hurt to also pay attention to the stated time in active mode (see below) — especially if a long operating time is critical, or you plan to use the gadget intensively. The actual autonomy of the device will most likely be somewhere in between these two values, depending on the actual load. If only the time in normal mode is indicated for the gadget, you should choose with a certain reserve.