5 things we want to see from wearables in 2022 review
we want everything
2021 was a year full of growth for the wearables market. Google and Samsung debuted the co-developed Wear OS 3 platform. Garmin released multiple wearables with compromises that were hard to find. Coros launched a watch with 60 days of battery life, no solar charging required. But for as many wins as the wearables market had this year, we’ve still found a handful of key areas that could be improved upon in the new year. Here are five things we want to see from wearables in 2022.
Some of the most popular smartwatches today — the Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, or anything running Wear OS for that matter — can really only last a day or so with “normal” use. That’s not good enough, and we should expect more out of our wearables. Apple is the easiest to pick on in this category. The first Apple Watch was rated for 18 hours of use. The Apple Watch Series 7, which launched seven years after the first-generation model, is still rated for 18 hours of use. Sure, it charges faster and can do more things, but day-long battery life is just not a good experience — especially after you’ve used a wearable that doesn’t need charging every day.
1. Longer, multi-day battery life
Apple is the easiest to pick on in this category. The first Apple Watch was rated for 18 hours of use. The Apple Watch Series 7, which launched seven years after the first-generation model, is still rated for 18 hours of use. Sure, it charges faster and can do more things, but day-long battery life is just not a good experience — especially after you’ve used a wearable that doesn’t need charging every day.
Garmin, Huami, Coros, Xiaomi, and Fitbit all offer great battery life out of their devices. Real-time operating system (RTOS)-based wearables are much more power-efficient than watchOS and Wear OS, but these platforms oftentimes sacrifice features for longer battery life. It’s an unfortunate decision wearable buyers need to make when choosing a new smartwatch or fitness tracker, but we’re hoping it doesn’t have to be this way one day. Apple and Google should focus more on battery life in 2022. It’s a bigger selling point than either of them think.
If you want to dig into data recorded from your Huawei Watch GT 3, you’ll have a hell of a time getting anything of use out of the clutches of Huawei Health. Granted, the app does make it easy to view some of your data in easy-to-read graphs and charts, but that’s beside the point. Many people prefer third-party services like Strava or MyFitnessPal, and some companies straight up don’t let you share anything with those services.
It’s not just data exporting problems that we’ve run into this year. The redesigned Xiaomi Wear app is pretty, but also not a good fit for Xiaomi users in the United States. There are translation and conversion issues still found throughout the app today.
3. More transparency on health sensors
It’s not unfeasible to think that some sly marketing tactics could entice buyers into thinking they’re getting a powerful blood oxygen sensor that rivals the one on the Apple Watch, where in reality, they’re getting a simple sensor that’s little more than a novelty. For this reason, we tend to give plenty of praise to companies that go through the trouble to get their sensors medically certified before going to market. Fitbit, Withings, and Apple are particularly good in this regard.
4. Fewer ecosystem lock-ins
Fitbit is probably the worst offender in this regard. Buying a new Fitbit usually requires you to use the same cable that shipped in the box with your tracker. The Fitbit Sense and Versa 3 use different charging cables from the original Versa, Versa Lite, and Versa 2. The Fitbit Charge 5’s charging cable is different from the Charge 4’s, which is different from the Charge 3 (and so on). Same with the Inspire 2, Luxe, and other basic fitness trackers. If Fitbit puts out a new wearable, they’ll design a new charging cable around it. Not good for the environment, Fitbit!
Xiaomi is in a similar boat, though it only switches charging cables every few generations. Not all companies are this way. All Apple Watches use the same magnetic charging cable. Fossil and Skagen watches use the same cables, too. So do (most) Garmin watches and Coros wearables.
In a perfect world, we’d have one standard wearable charging cable across all companies’ devices. That’s probably too much to ask, so at the very least, we’re asking for Fitbit, Xiaomi, and other notable wearable makers to stick with one charging cable.
You tell us: What do you want to see from wearables in 2022?
Those are our biggest gripes about wearables in 2021 and what we hope to see from certain devices in 2022. Did we hit on one of your main complaints? If so, cast your vote in the poll attached below. We’d love to hear your thoughts on where you think the wearables market should head in the new year.
In a perfect world, we’d have one standard wearable charging cable across all companies’ devices. That’s probably too much to ask, so at the very least, we’re asking for Fitbit, Xiaomi, and other notable wearable makers to stick with one charging cable.