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Five wearable devices that promise to help you lead a healthier, fitter lifestyle

- Reviewed by TIM HARDWICK

Which fitness smartwatch is king of the workout

Wearables made something of a comeback last year following a turbulent 2016, in which the smartwatch market saw sharp declines across the board.

While Apple maintained its position as market leader with Apple Watch Series 2, it still had to go back to basics for its next smartwatch, avoiding replicatin­g iPhone functions on the wrist and instead renewing its focus on fitness. Its rivals did the same, and global smartwatch shipments have since rebounded.

The most popular devices on the market promise valuable insights into your overall health. They provide a wealth of biometric measures and workout functions to improve your well-being. But with so many competing devices, how do you choose between them?

Here, we compare the health and fitness capabiliti­es of five of the latest smartwatch­es: the Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro, Fitbit Ionic, Garmin Forerunner 735XT, Casio Pro Trek WSD-F20, and Apple Watch Series 3 (with GPS). We reviewed each in terms of design, comfort, tracking features, display, battery life, and app-based analytics. Note: our main focus is on the specific activity and fitness tracking smarts of these devices, but if any of their additional features help achieve that end, we’ve mentioned those too. Let’s see which brand came out on top.

The most popular devices promise valuable insights into your overall health

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