11 of Today’s (and Tomorrow’s) Hottest Smartwatches

Today’s smartwatches are like early cellphones: big, clunky, overpriced and underpowered. A recent Fixya report inventoried the product category’s many problems, ranging from “untrustworthy batteries, to troublesome speakers and unresponsive /no voice controls, to more obvious problems like screen notification issues and a serious lack of real estate.”

And yet, admit it; you’re curious. Maybe you already bought a smartwatch or plan to soon. Perhaps you think it’s only a matter of time before the kinks are worked out — or Apple releases its rumored watch and blows the competition away.

Here’s a look at the hottest smartwatches released since the summer of 2013, when we released our last report, as well as a notable few that should debut later this year.

Chipmaker Qualcomm released its Toq smartwatch in September 2013 and recently lowered the price from $350 to $250. The Toq is among the few smartwatches that responds to voice commands. Using Nuance’s voice-to-text software, you can create and respond to text messages by speaking into the smartwatch. To do so, you tap the touchscreen’s microphone icon to activate voice control, and you have about 10 seconds to record your message. The Toq sports a 1.55-inch color display (Qualcomm’s Mirasol) that uses natural light instead of backlighting. Toq pairs with Android via Bluetooth 4.0, and you can use it to accept or ignore phone calls, read text messages and more. It’s available in black, and there’s a limited edition white model.

Motorola’s Moto 360 is another Android Wear-based smartwatch that’s coming soon to a wrist near you. Unlike other current smartwatches, the all-metal Moto 360 has a circular face (a customized OLED) that more closely resembles a traditional wristwatch. The watch’s OLED screen can show a perpetual black watch face as a screensaver when the device isn’t in use, which reportedly requires much less power than some other watch screens. Motorola (which is owned by Google) has been mum about specs, including its secret charging method (wireless?), but it released a YouTube teaser video. The watch will offer multiple band options.

Availability: July 2014 release.