Apple Watch vs Sony SmartWatch 3 comparison review: the Sony SmartWatch 3 is a great Android Wear watch, but the Apple Watch is the only choice for iPhone users

Apple Watch vs Sony SmartWatch 3 comparison review. We compare the Apple Watch with the Sony SmartWatch 3, to find out which is the best smartwatch. Find out more in our Apple Watch vs Sony Smartwatch 3 comparison review.

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Apple Watch vs Sony SmartWatch 3 comparison review

We will make no bones about it: Macworld UK is a publication for Apple fans, and as Apple followers we love the Apple Watch. But it is important to get a feel of what the opposition has to offer, and in this case that means reviewing the Sony Smartwatch 3. Sony has long been a good challenger to Apple - a manufacturer of quality products as well as a big brand name. So here we test and compare the Sony Smartwatch 3 and the Apple Watch.

We'd love to know what you think about both products and our review. So do let us know in the comments below.

Apple Watch vs Sony SmartWatch 3 comparison review: UK price and availability

Let's start with the tangible things: how much do they cost, and where can you buy them?

From the get go the Sony Smartwatch 3 is cheaper. So if saving money is your thing, you need to avoid Apple. Same as it ever was: quality costs. The regular model Sony SmartWatch 3 was initially listed at £199, but head over to PC World, Currys or Dixons and you can buy one now for delivery tomorrow for just £129. The same deal is currently available at Amazon, too. And we have to say that it is a good value deal (if you can use the Sony Smartwatch 3 with your phone).

The Apple Watch Sport Edition is the cheapest Apple wearable you can buy, and it costs a lot more than does Sony's. Still, at just £299 Apple's cheapest model is bound to be popular, but prices soon scale up and there are lots of optional extras on which you can splash your cash. You can spend more by opting for the Apple Watch Edition which starts at £479. The most expensive Apple Watch is £13,500.

Right now, you can't walk into an Apple Store and buy an Apple Watch. And you can buy the Apple Watch only from Apple. But you have to pre-order and wait. You can find out more about buying the Apple Watch, here: Apple Watch buying guide and price list | View Apple Watch buying options on the Apple Store.

Apple Watch vs Sony SmartWatch 3 comparison review: compatibility

So that is an open and shut case, right? When one of two broadly similar products cost less than half what the other one will set you back you should buy the cheap one, yeah? Well, no. Not if you are an iPhone user.

Because you can use the Apple Watch only with a recent iPhone, and you can use the Sony SmartWatch 3 only with Android devices. Google is keen to make Android Wear work with iOS, but for now if you want a full-spec smartwatch to work with your iPhone, the Apple Watch is where it is. Read: Apple Watch vs Apple Watch Sport .

Apple Watch vs Sony SmartWatch 3 comparison review: design and build

The square Sony Smartwatch 3 may not be quite as stylish as some circular smartwatches, it does have a certain charm and it can give the Apple Watch a run for its stylistic money. (There is also a stainless steel version that makes the 1.6in square colour screen look much more stylish). The only button is to the right, but you'll rarely need it as the display lights up when you raise your arm or tap on the screen. It's simple to pop out the display unit and swap straps, too. It's easy to adjust the strap for size without cutting. But the Sony Smartwatch can't compete with the Apple Watch in terms of physical customisation.

The Apple Watch comes in two sizes, for men and women, and in three collections. The Apple Watch collection has a polished silver or black case made from a custom alloy of stainless steel; the Apple Watch Sport collection has a 60 percent stronger anodised aluminium case in silver or space grey, with strengthened Ion-X glass; and the Apple Watch Edition collection uses 18-carat yellow- or rose gold, and features equisitely crafted straps and closures. Then there are six strap options: Link Bracelet, Sport Band, Leather Loop, Classic Buckle, Modern Buckle and Milanese Loop.

In terms of watch faces (or 'complications') the Apple Watch has 11, yet Apple claims to offer more than two million ways to tell the time through various customisation options. There's everything from Astronomy and Solar to Modular, Timelapse, Utility, Motion, Photo and even Mickey Mouse.

We feel that the overall look of the Apple Watch is significantly nicer than that of the Sony Smartwatch - and you can change straps of course. But we do like the clasp on the rubber SmartWatch 3 we've been testing, it's much nicer than the clasp on the Sport Band you get with the cheapest Apple Watch. Details are important here.

And here's another lovely design touch: the SmartWatch 3 has an always-on clock face, but presumably to save battery this doesn't have a second hand, just minute and hour. However, when you rotate your wrist the face lights up and the second hand sort of animates into existence (it grows outwards from the centre). It looks really nice. An almost Apple like piece of detailed design.

Unfortunately the response to wrist rotation seems more sluggish on the SmartWatch 3 than it does on the Apple Watch. Not hugely so, but details really matter with personal tech.

The SmartWatch 3 can certainly challenge the Apple Watch in terms of design and build, although we give the edge to Apple for overall look, and the myriad customisation options. See also: Apple Watch vs Motorola Moto 360 comparison review.

Apple Watch vs Sony SmartWatch 3 comparison review: specs and features

We're seeing almost identical specs across all the Android Wear smartwatches with a few little differences here and there. The Sony SmartWatch 3 has a 1.6in LCD Transflective screen, IP68 rating, GPS and a microUSB port. Instead of AMOLED or IPS, Sony has gone for transflective which means the display is still readable - given sufficient ambient light - without the backlight. It's the same technology used in many outdoor GPS devices. There is a 420mAh battery.

Sony has also included an ambient light sensor so brightness can be adjusted automatically, but it doesn't appear to yield any extra battery life.

The 320x320 display has a few more pixels than the circular watches we've seen but there's no real difference in the amount of information shown. The disadvantage of using a transflective display is that while colours look ok square-on, viewing angles are terrible by today's standards. Measuring 36 x 10 x 51 mm and weighing 38 g, the Sony SmartWatch 3 has NFC and Bluetooth, and is Wi-Fi ready. It has a Quad ARM A7 processor, running at 1.2 Ghz. This is paired with 512 MB RAM, and a 4 GB eMMC storage drive.

The 38mm Apple Watch has a 272 × 340 display, which makes for a 290ppi pixel density. The 42mm Apple Watch has a 302ppi pixel density, with a 312 × 390 display. The Apple Watch as a small but high-end smartphone display. This is highly desirable miniature screen.

Apple uses its own S1 chip and has a healthy amount of storage at 8 GB. However, as it stands you can only use 2 GB for music and just 75 MB for photos. Apple doesn't quote RAM. It supports Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, too. There's a heart-rate sensor, an accelerometer, a waterproof speaker and support for wireless charging, although the Apple Watch depends on a companion iPhone for GPS. A digital crown is used alongside touch input to interact with the Apple Watch.

We will get to the presence of, or lack of, GPS in the next section. But in general both of these devices are full-featured smartwatches. Activity trackers and health-monitoring devices, as well as a more convenient window for notifications from- and interactions with your smartphone. See also: Apple Watch vs LG G Watch R comparison review.

Apple Watch poll

Apple Watch vs Sony SmartWatch 3 comparison review: onboard GPS (or not)

So, whisper it Apple fans, but this is an important flaw in the Apple Watch. The Sony SmartWatch 3 has built-in GPS, which is great. The Apple Watch doesn't - relying instead on the GPS chip in your iPhone. If, like us, you think smartwatches are mainly useful for fitness, this is a massive advantage for the SmartWatch. It could be argued that the Apple Watch's stride-calibration process is sufficiently good that really the presence of GPS is just saving you 20 minutes work training the AppleWatch rather than opening up an entire new activity. But still: GPS is an important thing for a smartwatch to have. It allows you to accurately measure your physical activity without lugging around a phone.

It is not all good news for the SmartWatch 3, however. We could find no preinstalled running app, as the native 'Fit' just counts steps. This gets to the heart of the Apple vs Android debate, in some ways, in that there is a multitude of activity tracking apps in Android. But Google's platform requires you to choose one for yourself.

Still, we really wish the Apple Watch had built-in GPS. There, we said it. See also:Apple Watch vs Microsoft Band comparison review.

Apple Watch vs Sony SmartWatch 3 comparison review: watchOS vs Android Wear

This is an Apple-following website, and we make no apology for being more familiar with Apple's software than that of Google. But watchOS is new to all of us.

We found watchOS a little user-unfriendly when first we used the Apple Watch. At first blush we often didn't know which control method to use: choosing from swipe, dial or Force Touch. Perhaps this is a smartwatch issue, however. Android Wear, or at any rate its implementation in the SmartWatch 3, is even harder to master: there's less of a sense of a 'hub' where all the apps are visible as icons.

You can swipe left and view them as a list, admittedly, but we didn't realise this for a while. And in any case the apps are weirdly organised - things appear twice when they are listed in multiple categories, although there's no actual labelling to indicate this. Aspects such as settings and torch and doing a search are given equal space with actual proper apps. It feels a little messy, and counter intuitive.

Voice seems to be more fundamental to Android Wear, which is potentially an advantage but makes it harder to start with. And may be a reflection of our difficulty in using Android Wear that we used voice so much. None the less, Ok Google is much more useful than Hey Siri, although neither is perfect. See also: iPod nano 6G (with strap) vs Apple Watch comparison review.

Apple Watch vs Sony SmartWatch 3 comparison review: battery life

We can't be scientific about battery life at this point but the SmartWatch 3 seemed comparable and maybe even a bit better than the Apple Watch, despite the always-on face. We charged it roughly once every 1.5-2 days, but that was generally because it had conked out completely; whereas we'd charge the Apple Watch every day like clockwork but it was usually on about 30 percent when we put it down for the night.

OUR VERDICT

The Apple Watch wins in terms of customisation, features and good looks, but we do like the Sony Smartwatch 3. On value alone it is a good proposition, it is just a shame you can't use it with an Apple iPhone.