Home
News
You are here

I bought my first smartwatch in 2016. Here are the only 3 features that actually matter.

A decade on my wrist: What 10 years of smartwatch reviews taught me about "premium" tech.

0comments

By Mariyan Slavov

Published: Apr 20, 2026, 9:13 AM

Add as a preferred source on Google

This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.

One of the most comfortable smartwatches I've ever worn | Image by PhoneArena

I bought my first smartwatch back in 2016. It was the Samsung Gear Fit 2, and it was a fitness watch. Now, exactly ten years later, I realize that little has changed in the way we use smartwatches.

And strangely enough, modern smartwatches aren't that different from their distant relatives when it comes to the features that really matter. Is smartwatch innovation stalled? And what exactly are these core features?

Some are quite obvious, while others might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about smartwatches.

Comfort

The curved plastic body of the Gear Fit 2 makes it very comfortable to wear | Image by PhoneArena

This might be one of the most obvious ones, but it's often neglected in many reviews. My Gear Fit 2 was extremely comfortable to wear, mainly due to the curved OLED display and the body that followed the curvature of my wrist.

Even today in 2026 there are some smartwatches that are big, bulky, and way less comfortable than the Gear Fit 2. The weight was also a huge comfort factor with this fitness watch.
The Gear Fit 2 weighed just 28 grams, thanks to its plastic body and lightweight strap. It was a joy to use, and I remember often forgetting it even was on my hand.

I'm not saying modern smartwatches are uncomfortable per se, there are lightweight models that feel very similar. That said, I've never seen such a comfortable curvature on any watch ever since.

So, my obvious advice here is to try the smartwatch on your hand before you buy it, if you can, of course. I can't stress this enough. You will be wearing this thing all the time, and if it's even slightly uncomfortable, your experience will be ruined.

The always-on display feature is a must-have

No always-on on the Apple Watch SE was a shock for me | Image by PhoneArena

I used to think that this was just a waste of precious battery, but my views on the subject changed dramatically mere months into using a full-fledged smartwatch (the Gear Fit 2 was more of a fitness thing for me, and I wore it mainly for exercise tracking purposes).

The shock came back in 2020 when I joined PhoneArena and took the Apple Watch SE for a spin. It was a great piece of tech with a lot of cool features, but the lack of an always-on feature drove me crazy.

The lift-to-check feature is not only quite annoying but also useless for all the times you just want to glance at the watch and check the time. A smartwatch is still a watch after all, and telling the time remains one of its core features.

But using an Apple Watch made me realize another thing.

Battery life doesn't matter that much (for normal everyday use)

Charge every night is okay, as long as you don't want to track your sleep | Image by PhoneArena

One of the reasons I was reluctant to get into Apple's ecosystem and use Apple Watch devices specifically was the battery life.

18 hours on a charge was quite limiting in my head, but in reality, the Apple Watch SE taught me that 18 hours could suffice. The disclaimer here is your nighttime routine. If you want to go to bed with your smartwatch on, 18 hours longevity results in a very inconvenient and hectic charging experience.

But for me, it didn't matter. I can't sleep with anything on my wrist (or fingers), so I charged the Watch SE overnight.

Of course, battery life is important, and if you want to track your sleep, it's much more useful and comfortable to have a smartwatch that lasts at least one full day on a single charge. That's also true if you're an active person that does a lot of sports.

The point here is that short battery life shouldn't be stigmatized on smartwatches. I was guilty of that, but now I'm willing to go easy on smartwatches that can do at least a full day on a charge. Now let's talk about another very important topic that can also be quite controversial. The price.

More money mostly buys you premium materials

The Huawei Watch Ultimate in its two iterations. Ultra premium | Image by PhoneArena

When it comes to smartwatches, my own experience shows that the premium price tag is mostly tied with the way the smartwatch is built. That's especially true nowadays when even the most basic fitness bands can do most, if not all, of the things a $500 smartwatch can.

I came to this conclusion after years and years of smartwatch reviews and also watching friends and family members using smartwatches around me.

Once the honeymoon period ends, people all default to just the basic features of a smartwatch — checking the time, getting notifications, and passively tracking their health and activities.

Yes, a built-in GPS is nice if you often leave your phone during exercises, and an NFC chip is also quite convenient if you want to make things extra easy and not take out your phone while paying for stuff.

But most of the features you'd use on a daily basis are covered by a $49 fitness band. The aforementioned NFC and GPS features can be found on a $199 smartwatch. It's mostly premium materials, as the price goes up from there.

I used an ultra-premium $899 zirconium alloy watch with a titanium strap and sapphire glass. But my girlfriend's Xiaomi Band 10 kind of offered the same experience, feature-wise, once I stopped using the fancy apps and tinkering with exotic features.

I love my watch!

The Huawei Watch GT3 Pro ceramic edition lived on my wrist for years. Because I just loved it! | Image by PhoneArena

Finally, let's talk about design. At the end of the day, nothing of the above matters if you don't like how your smartwatch looks and how it looks on you specifically. Just like normal watches, it's also a fashion statement and an accessory to your style.

From all the smartwatches I've tested and owned, the ones that spent the most time on my wrist were the ones I thought looked best.

You can browse "best smartwatch" picks and articles all day and bury yourselves in specs and features, but for me, a smartwatch that looks great and is comfortable to wear fits the bill every time. What about you? What are the most important features in a smartwatch for you, and am I completely off the mark with mine?

$20 /mo

$25

$5 off (20%)

Offer Ends 6.1.2026 at 11.59pm ET. New members get $5/mo off the $25/mg Visible plan, $35/mo Visible+ plan, or $45/mo Visible+ Pro plan for the first 12 months. Promo code FRESHSTART required at checkout.

Buy at Visible

View Full Bio

Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.

Read the latest from Mariyan Slavov