The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 took home the crown of our best smartwatch for Android users. Regardless of whether you have a Samsung, LG, HTC, or Huawei phone, this watch is guaranteed to work great with it. It also packs a lot of smart and fitness features, and thanks to an upgrade from a mechanical to a digital rotating bezel, it now looks thoroughly modern, somewhat like a round Apple Watch. At the same time, we remain fans of the older Samsung smartwatches, like the Gear Sport and Galaxy Watch. Those, too, deliver a killer blend of form and function. And since they’re a bit older, they come at more affordable prices. Right now, all three wearables are on sale on Amazon. Save as much as $145 when you get them today.

Samsung Gear Sport – $166, was $300

The Samsung Gear Sport is a brilliant balance of form and function, looking slim and stylish but boasting a healthy number of features. What’s more, it isn’t as expensive as the Samsung Galaxy Watch and Active 2, making it ideal for the budget-conscious crowd. It flaunts the same rotating bezel found on its kin the Gear S3, but unlike the Gear S3, the Gear Sport is smaller and less bulky, giving it a formal look. You can even replace the black silicone strap for something dressier like leather. It is lightweight and comfortable and won’t snag on your sleeve cuffs like larger smartwatches.

The rotating bezel allows you to view apps, widgets, and notifications by rotating it clockwise or counterclockwise. It is fun to use, and even makes a ticking sound like a mechanical watch. Most important of all, it works seamlessly.

Beneath its 1.2-inch AMOLED screen and rotating bezel, the Gear Sport runs on Samsung’s proprietary operating system, Tizen, and is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor with 768MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. Scrolling through the interface is wonderfully smooth and fluid. The 4GB of storage lets you transfer music files to the smartwatch and play them wirelessly via Bluetooth. Just leave your smartphone in your bag. Spotify Tizen also allows you to easily transfer downloaded music to the watch — something an Apple Watch can’t do.

Since this smartwatch is named “Sport” it needs to excel in fitness performance, and excel it does. Using Samsung’s own Health app, this watch can track your calories, steps, distance traveled, stairs climbed, and more. There’s also a widget that you can add to count calories consumed, from which it automatically deducts the calories you burned.

Users need not have any qualms in terms of battery life, either. The Gear Sport can last for days on a single charge. It comes with a wireless charging dock that juices up the watch relatively quickly — from zero to 100% in 90 minutes.

With its sleek design, extensive music playback, and good fitness monitoring, the Samsung Gear Sport is a great feature-packed smartwatch that you should seriously consider. It normally costs $300, but with Amazon’s whopping $134 discount, you can get it for the very affordable price of $166. To make the deal even sweeter, you can get an additional $50 off instantly if you order via the Amazon Rewards Visa Card and get approval, bringing the price even lower to $116.

Samsung Galaxy Watch – $250, was $300

In many ways, the Samsung Galaxy Watch is superior to the Apple Watch. We hit four days on a single charge, it is undeniably beautifully designed, and navigating its interface is fun and easy. However, it presents too much data all at once, Bixby leaves much to be desired, and Samsung Pay isn’t as useful as it used to be. Still, despite its flaws, it is our choice for the best smartwatch for Android users. Right now, the 44mm version of the Samsung Galaxy Watch is available on Amazon for a cool $50 off. Get it for $250 instead of $300. What’s more, you can score an additional $50 off instantly upon approval for the Amazon Rewards Visa Card, reducing the price even further to $200.

This watch also rocks a mechanical rotating bezel and runs on the company’s proprietary Tizen software and a 1.5GHz processor. When it comes to design, it isn’t as modern-looking and minimalistic as the Apple Watch, but it is gorgeous nonetheless. Its watch face is akin to traditional wristwatches, something vintage watch lovers will appreciate. However, it might be a little too big and heavy for some people, especially those with smaller wrists. Fortunately, a smaller 42mm model exists.

The 1.3-inch AMOLED screen is similarly beautiful. The colors really pop, the blacks are rich and deep, and it stays sufficiently bright outdoors. It is protected by Corning’s military-grade Gorilla DX+ glass, which makes it durable and keeps it scratch-free. Two physical buttons can be found on the right side of the watch, and it comes with a silicone band that’s replaceable if you want something fancier like a leather strap.

Navigating the Samsung Galaxy Watch is a hoot. Swipe left and you will see 20 random apps with live notifications, which you can tap for further interaction. Tapping and holding the top button allows you to access Samsung Pay, and pressing the bottom one allows you to access all your apps. We have to mention though that Samsung has removed Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology from this watch, which means you can’t pay anywhere cards are accepted. And while you can double-tap the lower button to ask Bixby (Samsung’s virtual assistant) a question, his responses are pretty limited.

The Galaxy Watch’s fitness tracking, however, is amazing. There are up to 39 workouts that you can track in total, and the watch can detect six workouts automatically, including walking, running, and cycling. The built-in heart monitor is impressively accurate, and all your fitness data gets stored in Samsung’s Health app. The watch can also do sleep tracking (if you wear it in bed, of course), keeping tabs on your sleep time, light sleep, restlessness, and time spent motionless. Sometimes, though, the Galaxy Watch bombards you with so much information that you won’t know what to do with it.

This watch’s battery life is quite impressive. A single charge managed to last for four days. Granted, the always-on screen wasn’t activated, and we used a Bluetooth connection instead of Wi-Fi. When we tested it again with the always-on screen, though, it lasted a still-impressive two days.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 – $255, was $400

This time around, the latest smartwatch from the already impressive Galaxy Watch lineup flaunts a digital rotating bezel (the Gear Sport and Galaxy Watch’s are conspicuously analog, but they’re still great). Looking like a rounded cousin of the Apple Watch, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 boasts comprehensive fitness tracking, a gorgeous display, a wonderfully fluid interface, and two-day battery life. Simply put, it’s one of the best smartwatches that you can buy right now. Get it for $255 instead of $400 on Amazon – a huge $145 worth of savings. And if you pay via the Amazon Rewards Visa Card and get approval, enjoy an additional $50 off instantly, bringing the price down even further to $205.

This smartwatch is primarily a fitness wearable, but it looks more versatile. It’s pleasantly minimalist, with a black aluminum body that will look good in the gym and at the office. The Active 2’s 1.4-inch screen has a pixel resolution of 360 x 360, and it is stunning and exceptionally bright. The blacks are deep, colors pop, and text is plenty sharp. And even if you set the screen brightness to just three (on a scale from 1 to 10), it’s still bright enough to be seen outdoors even with direct sunlight. There are a couple of buttons found on the right edge for further navigation, and with an IP68 rating, this smartwatch can be submerged in meter-deep water for about half an hour.

As mentioned earlier, the main highlight of the Active 2 is its digital rotating bezel. It’s not as satisfying as the “clicking” mechanical rotating bezels of the Gear Sport and Galaxy Watch, and it makes the watch a fingerprint magnet, but it’s fun and easy to use nonetheless. The Tizen interface also remains fluid and well-organized. Apps and notifications are presented in an orderly fashion (we still prefer the Wear OS’s single-file list view), but we hated the fact that you can’t connect the Active 2 to your computer to transfer music files. Everything must be done over Wi-Fi via a web app interface, and that can get tedious, especially if you don’t have a fast internet connection. Twitter, YouTube, and Google Translate are all onboard, although we have no idea who would want to watch a video on a super tiny screen.

All the basics in fitness and wellness tracking are present in the Active 2, plus plenty more. Walking, running, swimming, cycling, rowing, elliptical training, and dynamic workouts are automatically tracked, and you can measure your stress levels with heart rate data and choose to receive reminders to stand, stretch, or go for a quick stroll. The Samsung Health can give you weekly summaries of your wellness trends, including your sleep patterns, activity levels, and heart rate information. We have to mention though that this device lacks a functional electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor. It’s there, but it hasn’t been cleared by the FDA yet, making it useless as of now.

Finally, with light usage, you can extend this watch’s battery life up to two days, making it possible to do sleep tracking, unlike with the Apple Watch Series 5.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 ranks alongside the Galaxy Watch as the best smartwatch that you can buy for Android. Get the 44mm version of it on Amazon for the discounted price of $255.

Looking for more? Visit our curated deals page for more smartwatch, fitness tracker, and Apple Watch deals.

Editors’ Recommendations