Top 9 Standalone Smartwatches with LTE Connectivity to Replace Your Phone

Apple sought and succeeded in beating the unbeatable with the sequel to the Apple Watch 4. The Apple Watch 5 sports a beautiful titanium finish and uses ingenious technology in its ‘always on’ display. This latter advancement was a fantastic solution to the annoyance of getting your watch to activate its screen when you’re looking at it.

Unfortunately this does hit your battery quite hard, but of course you don’t have to default to this mode. As standalone watches go, the Apple Watch 5 beats them all with a stunning design, impeccable connectivity and a sleek cellular functionality.

Everything else that was astounding in the Apple Watch 4 is still present. iOS is a brilliant interface. The cellular technology is fantastic and very easy to use, causing you not to need your phone at all. It’s not hard to understand why Apple Watch’s are the most popular standalone smartwatches out there, and why this one tops the bunch.

Why we love it: the latest iteration of the Apple Watch sees some amazing additional refinements making it the best standalone smartwatch on this list.

A glorious design update when compared with Apple Watch 3 with more powerful features. Upon its release, the Apple Watch 4 really did exceed expectations of what a wrist device can deliver. Although nearly doubling the price of its predecessor, the Apple Watch 4 is an incredibly good smartwatch with reliable cellular connectivity.

The design of Apple Watch Series 4 is breathtakingly sleek and futuristic. Building on top of the familiar Apple Watch 3 form, Watch 4 managed to innovate beyond screen size. With a 30% larger screen than the previous model, the case of Watch 4 seems even slimmer and more lightweight.

The display size comes in 40mm and 44mm, with a vivid, crisp full-color display thanks to the LTPO technology. The watch is now able to fit in much more information in a tiny watch screen, making it easier to view detailed infographs and navigate app interface (which iOS handles easily). Clicking the digital crown is a very pleasing experience as the haptic feedback is super fast and responsive.

Why we love it: this iteration of the Apple Watch represents the best design in the Apple Watch series.

The rugged design of the Ticwatch Pro standalone smartwatch combines a durable appearance with a sensible look. The stainless steel bezel is lightweight and built to last with a shock-absorbing design.

The smartwatch’s layered design is more than just an interface choice. The Ticwatch allows the user to switch between a fully smart interface with color AMOLED design, and a pared-down LCD screen with an incredible 30 day battery life. Though the latter version can’t utilize smart functionality, it is a fantastic feature that helps the user to have a customizable experience.

The Ticwatch Pro 4G’s cellular characteristics allow for smooth and fast connectivity, allowing you to receive calls and receive messages too. The phone watch also sports a WearOS interface enabling hassle-free usability with plenty of amazing third party apps to choose from. 

Why we love it: this standalone watch provides an ingenious energy-saving mode, and is undeniably attractive.

The Galaxy Watch Active 2 promises you freedom from your phone with a beautiful round design not unlike a hybrid watch. Calls, texts and notifications all appear on the smooth circular watchface, devoid of a bulky, annoying bezel.

Samsung has evidently put a lot of thought into the workout side of this smart fitness watch. It provides you with relevant exercises, and prompts and inspires you in real-time. Guided breathing sessions are included in this fitness tracker to help you to destress. Even the watch’s design is moulded to help the accuracy of the heart rate monitor. 

Being a standalone smart fitness watch, the Galaxy Watch Active 2 will allow you to make calls, texts and receive notifications independently from your smartphone. GPS and Samsung Pay are even included, further pushing this watch as a fantastic standalone watch with great fitness capabilities. 

Why we love it: this fitness tracker combines a beautiful design with cellular functionality and effective features to keep you active.

Samsung Gear S3 is another high-end LTE smartwatch with sim card. It’s made for the modern connected lifestyle: whether you are out for a grocery run, a business meeting or a hike up the mountain, you can use the watch to pay for purchases, take phone calls, and track your activities.

The watch design features a rotating bezel that lets you easily navigate between apps. The 1.3” display is always on, reducing the need to wake the device to check the time. You can also change straps to go from sleek business-casual style to a rugged outdoor adventure look.

Apart from being able to take phone calls and receive SMS on a cellular network, the S3 watch boasts advanced GPS and health tracking. What’s noteworthy is that it’s compatible with both iPhones and a huge selection of Android devices. It’s pricey though – retailed at $349.99 from AT&T –  but the reviews are pretty positive.

Why we love it: this watch includes an ingenious bezel design ensuring a spectacular ease of use.

Trusted smartwatch producer Garmin impresses here with the Vivoactive 3 Music. The addition of the cellular functionality adds to an already packed list of features on this watch, including music storage, over 15 sports modes and Garmin Pay.

The watch itself is fantastic for running for a number of reasons. One of these being the advanced music functionality that allows you (with Bluetooth headphones) to listen to stored songs directly from your watch. Other reasons include the integration of VO2 max and Garmin’s own ‘Elevate’ heart rate technology that both allow you to keep a watchful eye on integral indicators of fitness and performance.

The watch itself uses the always impressively understated Garmin style to deliver a modest but powerful look. You can also count on durability with the use of Corning Gorilla Glass. With the vivoactive 3 Music, the company really does combine a multitude of features, with a confident style and design.

Why we love it: listen to music on the go and benefit from a number of fantastic fitness features.

Apple might be dominating over half of the smartwatch market right now, but Samsung’s Galaxy Watch with LTE is filling the gap for alternative choices – and a very attractive one too.

Armed with LTE connectivity, the brand-new Galaxy wear is certainly a strong challenger watch for Apple Watch 4. It comes in two sizes and three colors: 46mm (silver) and 42mm (midnight black & rose gold), so there is an option for everyone. With a stainless steel case and Corning Gorilla Glass protection, the Galaxy Watch is a very sturdy watch that denotes durability.

With its round face and watchhand design, Galaxy watch is pushing hard for a sophisticated “real watch” look. The always-on, full-color display makes it function like a real wrist watch too: you don’t need to flip your wrist or press a button to check time. Compared to Apple Watch Series 4, its 4-day battery life is very impressive, thanks to the energy-efficient super AMOLED technology.

Why we love it: Samsung offer a sophisticated design that still packs a cellular punch.

The first thing to mention about Huawei’s only appearance on this list is the battery life. The company gives the estimation of a whopping 14 days based on typical user habits on a single charge. This means that the watch could easily reach over that if you were more sparing with your usage. 

It’s a wonder when a standalone smartwatch can stay awake for more than two days, let alone two weeks, so this is definitely something to note. This is yet another smartwatch that combines a sensible ‘classic’ watch design with advanced digital functionality.

Huawei instils its powerful technological know-how into the sleep monitoring, heart rate tracking and fitness coaching available in the watch. This means accurate location tracking, precise fitness direction and reliable sleep statistics are available to the user.

Why we love it: this watch incorporates an astounding battery life alongside impressively powerful features.

Providing a standalone experience that’s a bit more like a ‘stand alongside’ experience, the Amazfit Verge may rely on a smartphone connection, but is worth a mention simply because of its price. The watch does allow you to answer calls straight from your wrist, but only with your smartphone nearby and connected.

Third party message notifications are supported, like that of WhatsApp. The Amazfit OS is also fairly impressive for a company that is quite small and unknown compared to Apple or Garmin. Using the watch is as smooth as any of the big name devices and the Verge also includes 12 sports modes, almost equalling that of the higher end Garmin models. 

Heart rate monitoring and a great fitness app on your smartphone are included as well. When you look at the cheap price for this watch, it’s safe to say it’s an innovative device for those on a budget. 

Why we love it: this watch delivers some great functionality for a fraction of the price other watches.