Let me tell you about smartwatches.
You may still be waiting for your Apple Watch to arrive.
But we've been running ours-- all 6 of them--
through a battery of scientific tests,
along with its main smartwatch competitors including the Asus
ZenWatch, the LG G Watch R, Martian Notifier, Motorola Moto
360, Pebble Steel, Samsung Gear S, and Sony SmartWatch 3.
We know any Apple product comes with a lot of buzz.
And the buzz and marketing around the Apple Watch
may boost the entire smartwatch sector
by getting people excited and educated about the technology.
One estimate says that by 2018, 330 million smartwatches will
have been shipped worldwide.
That's up from only 4 million in 2013.
How to choose?
Here at Consumer Reports we've created a new ratings category
to help you make an informed decision.
And if you're a Consumer Reports subscriber,
you can head to our smartwatch ratings page for full details.
As soon as you're done watching this video, of course.
Earlier we gave you a preview of the Apple Watch's performance
in our initial tests.
Now here's a more in-depth look at how the Apple Watch stacks
up to its competition.
For our step test, we mapped a route
around our Consumer Reports atrium
that our testers followed wearing a smartwatch
and carrying a manual click counter.
The data was analyzed by our statisticians who
found both versions of the Apple Watch
were accurate and comparable to most
of the other watches we tested.
The most accurate was the LG G Watch R.
As part of our ease of use testing,
we look at how well you can read the display
in bright and low light.
Both versions of the Apple Watch were excellent in low light
but didn't do as well in bright light.
That goes for most of the other watches we tested.
The Pebble was the only watch that
was excellent in bright light, but it
didn't do so well in low light.
We also look at how easy it is to use different functions
like the clock, the alarm, email, messaging
and notifications.
The Apple Watch and most of the other watches
performed well here.
We also found the Apple Watch was
very easy to pair especially because we were able to do it
using the camera on an iPhone.
Other watches weren't quite as easy
but still did well in our test.
With scratch testing, we put watches
under our abrasion tester and use
picks calibrated to the Mohs Hardness
Scale, a scientific standard.
The stainless steel Apple Watch was the only smartwatch
we tested with Sapphire Crystal, which makes its scratch
resistance comparable to that of a high end conventional watch.
It didn't scratch even when we used the hardest pick we have--
which rates at a number 9 on the Mohs scale--
just under diamond.
That means if you accidentally brush it against most surfaces,
you won't scuff it.
The Apple Watch Sport made with Ion X Glass scratched
when we used the number 8 pick-- that's about as
hard as a masonry drill bit.
The face should hold up about the same as most smartphones
and most of the other smartwatches
we tested-- since many are made with a similar type of glass.
When it comes to water resistance,
Apple isn't really saying in plain English what depths
the Apple Watch can withstand.
But in a footnote on its website,
Apple says the watch has a water resistance rating of IPX7
under IEC Standard 60529.
It's a mouthful, we know.
We also know that it means the Apple Watch should withstand
3 feet of water for 30 minutes.
In our test, we check watches to see if they're still
working as soon as they come out of our pressurized tank
and then again 24 hours later.
Both versions of the Apple Watch ultimately passed our test.
But the first Apple Watch Sport we tested
did not work at the 24 hour mark.
In order to find out whether this
was a consistent failure of the model,
we tested two more samples of the Sport.
Both functioned out of the tank and at the 24 hour mark,
so we determined that the Apple Watch Sport ultimately
passed our test.
One watch didn't pass our water immersion test:
the Sony SmartWatch 3.
Two different samples of this watch failed.
We checked the Apple Watch's heart rate measurements
against our highest-rated heart rate
monitor here at Consumer Reports, the Polar H-7 Heart
Rate Sensor.
Apple Watch's heart rate sensor uses what's
known as photoplethysmography.
Photo, plethys-- photoplethysmography.
Try saying that three times fast.
It's a technology that lets the watch take your heart
rate while still moving.
That's what those green lights are on the back of the watch.
Wearing both the Apple Watch and the reference heart monitor,
our testers hit the treadmill and periodically reported
their heart rate reading on the Apple Watch.
We found the Apple Watch to be very accurate
compared with the reference.
Although we haven't tested for it,
the sensor may not work if worn over certain tattoos,
not seen here.
With the testing done, we compiled
and analyzed all the data.
Our top-rated smartwatch: the stainless steel version
of the Apple Watch.
And since it failed our water immersion test,
the Sony SmartWatch 3 landed at the bottom of our ratings.
Want to see where the rest of the pack came in?
Our smartwatch ratings have the complete rundown.
Check them out at ConsumerReports.org.
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