Remember when you thought smartwatches were the coolest new thing on the market? I know I do, but it’s been a few years since then, and smartwatch technology has moved on. Amongst a whole host of new features and updates to the latest set of smartwatches is some with the functionality of an embedded camera.
These cameras typically speaking are visible at the bottom or top of the smartwatch, but vary product from to product. If you’re an avid smartwatch wearer and always on the go with a need for a picture here and there, then this might be a good option for you as it allows you to quickly snap pictures from your wrist.
In this article, we’ll dig into everything you need to know about smartwatches with cameras and pick out some of our favourite products based on their descriptions, functionality, reviews & of course pricing.
It’s a long guide, so use the links below to navigate to the section you’re most interested in:
- Our top smartwatch with a camera choice
- Why buy a smartwatch with a camera?
- How do you use the camera on a smartwatch?
- Can the cameras record videos, or just take pictures?
- Advantages & Disadvantages of a smartwatch with a camera
- How to connect the camera smartwatch with your phone
- How do you delete smartwatch camera photos?
- Our best smartwatch with camera picks
Our top smartwatch with a camera choice
We’ve spent endless hours trawling the internet, reading hundreds of product descriptions, scrolling through countless reviews & looking in detail at all the functionality of some of these smartwatches with cameras, just to find you the best buy.
In our rather humble opinion, out of all the research we’ve done we think the best watch to make our list is the:
Although we like to think all 5 watches we have highlighted later in this article are great buys, there is a range of prices and they are suitable for a variety of different people.
Why buy a smartwatch with a camera?
Because who doesn’t want the latest tech of course! Yeah, you’re right, that’s not a proper reason. Although it’s a bit of a luxury item there are actually several functional reasons you should invest in a smartwatch with a camera and some of which you might not have even considered. We’ve put together a bit of a shortlist for you to look over and to help aid your decision on why buying a smartwatch with a video camera is, in fact, a good purchase:
- Quick photos on the go: Sometimes you don’t have your phone on you, or maybe you’re a little bit lazy and just don’t want to take it out your pocket. Whatever your reason is, not to worry, just a quick click on your smartwatch to activate the camera and off you go! It’s a convenient option for those who lead a busy life & value every second.
- Harder to lose than your phone: It’s on your wrist, compared to your smartphone which is likely in your pocket, it’s much harder to lose something attached to your arm.
- Better than your standard smartwatch: Well this one is obvious, so you’ve got a smartwatch, but what is it lacking? A camera of course!
- Multiple other functions: As with any smartwatch, there are multiple other functions and apps that are often included, which makes them far better than it’s quartz counterpart.
All in there relatively inexpensive, and to have a camera on your smartwatch won’t set you back an awful lot in comparison to a standard smartwatch, you may, in fact, be surprised.
How do you use the camera on a smartwatch?
It’s relatively straight forward, and much like if you were going to be using your smartphone to take the photos. There will be an app that you can access on the watch for the camera, in which you can launch. The camera is typically facing towards you on top of the watch, perfect for selfies!
Some of the cameras you have to click in order to take a photo, but others will have a button in which you can use.
Can the cameras record videos, or just take pictures?
You might be wondering whether the camera that is attached to the smartwatches can do more than simply take photos, there’s no particularly straight answer as it varies between product to product. From what we’ve seen throughout our in-depth research is that most products will take pictures as well as record videos, although these are typically limited to “small” videos, which will be due to the limited memory in these devices.
Advantages & Disadvantages of a smartwatch with a camera
Just like with anything there are both advantages and disadvantages to having a smartwatch with a camera. We’ve summarised some of the positive and negative features of this new technology for you below:
Advantages:
- It’s easy to access notifications quickly, and you’re less likely to miss them as your wrist is buzzing. It’ll reduce the number of times you need to take your cell phone out your pocket for those pointless notifications!
- You can answer a phone call from your wrist, you’re less likely to miss it, again because your wrist will be buzzing.
- Take quick pictures – It’s much faster to take a picture from your wrist than take your phone out, unlock it and open the camera
- You can of course often record videos
- A lot of smartwatches also have some great apps that can help you track your fitness, including weight, nutrition, exercise, amongst several other things.
- You can often add additional apps like calculators, alarms, music and games.
Disadvantages:
- The watch does have a small screen, so you need to work with less area when it comes to clicking the apps, although that isn’t too tricky to get used too.
- It can’t fully replace your smartphone.
- It’s another thing that you have to charge when you go to bed.
- Generally the cameras are only good for quick pictures and videos, the quality won’t be as clear as your smartphone.
How to connect the camera smartwatch with your phone
If you’ve never had or used a smartwatch you may not know that it connects to your cell phone directly, so it can cross-reference information such as texts, phone contacts & calling out.
If you’ve bought yourself a smartwatch, you might be struggling to figure out how to connect it to your smartphone. Don’t panic, the process is very easy and straight forward and you don’t need to be a tech wizz in order to do it.
- Read the manual firstly, it may require you to download a specific app
- Search for the device in the app or using bluetooth
- Click on the device and pair, you will be given a code that should appear on both devices, type in the code in the relevant device & confirm
- The device should pair and provide you with a confirmation message
- You might have to enable notifications, this should pop up, but if not you can do this in your phone settings
- You might also be prompted to share your contact & other information with the smartwatch, which you should allow
- Success!
How do you delete smartwatch camera photos?
We’ve touched on the fact that smartwatches typically don’t have a large amount of memory, which can mean if you are taking lots of photos you need to free up some memory from time to time in order to take more.
It’s an easy and straight forward process to go through your photos and delete them. You can often do it from the watch screen by simply visiting the gallery, pressing and holding on the photos until the option to select & delete appears.
Depending on the smartwatch you have bought, the photos might also be stored within your phone automatically, and you might be able to delete them on your smartwatch, by using the app you have used to pair it with your phone.
Our best smartwatch with camera picks
Well, hopefully, you’ve read our buying guide & are clued up on everything that you need to know about smartwatches with cameras. Not to worry if you haven’t, we’ve done all the research for you & picked out the best products that we could find, offering a product description and some of its main features for you below.
Keep reading to find out more:
Android Smartwatch Touch Screen Bluetooth Smart Watch for Android Phones Wrist Phone Watch with SIM Card Slot & Camera, Waterproof Sports Fitness Tracker Watch for Men Women Kids
Suitable For?
This product is aimed at both adults & children, but sorry iOS users, this is an Android-only device.
Product Description
This product has some amazing reviews, is an Amazon choice product and currently has 5 stars. This product offers a highly sensitive touchscreen with its curved HD finished and 240×240 resolution. The stainless steel surface and lamination also makes this watch extremely comfortable and importantly, has anti-sweat features which can cause discomfort. It’s also waterproof so don’t be scared to wear it out in the rain.
In the description, they also mention that this has a 500Mah battery, which can last 3 days on this device and only requires roughly 45 minutes to charge, so the battery isn’t something to be concerned about. The sound quality of the device is also fantastic, easy to hear and loud.
It’s Bluetooth enabled and extremely easy to pair with your android cell phone. Furthermore, it comes with a lifetime worry-free product guarantee.
Main Features
- Hypersensitive glare resistant screen that has a HD 1.54 inch screen
- It has a long last battery life of around 3 days, and takes only 45 minutes to charge
- It’s waterproof and durable in design
- It’s very easy to connect to your smartphone and works seemlessly when paired
- Offers a great sound quality with clear cell phone calls
Padgene DZ09 Bluetooth Smart Watch with Camera
Suitable For?
This watch is primarily aimed at adults & is compatible with the majority of Android phones and iOS devices, although on Apple devices there is a limit in functionality.
Product Description
This product by Padgene is made of excellent materials, which mean it’s quality and durable. It’s also fairly small in size if that’s your preference, with it’s 1.54″ highly sensitive screen, encompassed in the acrylic measuring 43.5mm x 40mm x 9.8mm (W – D – H).
It offers a lot of functionality and can sync with apps such as Twitter, Facebook, push messaging, time schedule, email, news & many more! However, on iPhones it is limited to phone anti-lost alert, clock, pedometer, camera, music play, phone book and call & answer.
This smartwatch with a camera also boasts a decent battery with 380Mah, which allows for 120 hours of standby time. It has a RAM of 128M, ROM of 64M and expandable storage with supporting up to 32GB.
One thing to note is that the watch doesn’t connect to your cell phone directly, you need to install the app (Fundo, FunRun or BTNotification) to get full functionality.
Main Features
- Small in size compared to some other products
- 0.3MP camera
- Supports both Android and iOS device connections
- It has a standby time of 120 hours and charge time of 3 hours
- It can support up to 32GB external storage – helps for pictures!
TICWRIS Andriod Smart Watch, GPS Android Smartwatch, 4G LTE with 2.86″ Touch Screen
Suitable For?
This watch is for tech loving adults with Android phones.
Product Description
As you can see, this is the most expensive product in our list, but we felt that we had to include it because of its superior features in comparison to all the others.
With this smartwatch, you don’t need to connect it to your phone if you don’t want as it supports it’s own SIM & 4G network with most networks. You can call your friends directly from your watch & even use the internet to browse or power the sat nav.
There are tons of features including face recognition unlocking, satellite navigation so you’ll never get lost, heart rate monitor for fitness, and easy internet browsing. There are also several more features like an app store, sound recorder, calendar, voice search, sync function for music, map, weather updates, messaging, heart rate measurement, pedometer and more.
It’s also got a very impressive specification with a 3GB RAM & 32GB ROM coupled with its 2880 mAh battery and 2.86″ large display. On top of that, the camera isn’t half bad either, boasting an impressive 8MP, more than high enough quality for those selfies.
Main Features
- Supports 4G network – including popular networks like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and many more
- It has a large 2.86 inch display with a fantastic 480×640 resolution
- 8MP Camera makes it far superior to most smartwatches with a camera
- Long battery life with it’s 2880mAh battery
- It also has a built in heart rate sensor to improve your work out, resting, walking, breathing and general health
Smart Watches with Camera Bluetooth Watch with SIM Card Slot Cell Phone Watch Smartwatch for Android Samsung Phone iOS XS X8 10 11
Suitable For?
This smartwatch is a good choice for both children & adults, it works for Android and iOS devices, although much like other devices the iOS devices might have limited functionality.
Product Description
This smartwatch is offered at a great price & has several functions that you might be interested in, along with the camera of course. It’s a multi-functional device with several options including to call & text, get push notifications, Facebook and Twitter notifications, sleep monitoring, pedometer, sedentary remind, remote photos, alarm clock, two-way anti-lost safety function, amongst several more features!
It’s extremely easy to connect to your smartphone and the voice functionalities and speakers within the watch are clear and very loud so listening to music or making calls through your watch without any issues!
The design is fantastic as well, coming with a Nano TPU85 material anti-sweat strap and stainless steel surface making it easy and comfortable to wear. It’s also waterproof and resistant to the rain, so wearing it outdoor won’t present any issues. The battery is also great – at 500mAh which will last around 2 days, it also comes with a free backup battery.
Main Features
- Multi-functional smartwatch with several features
- Long lasting battery life – boasting a 500mAh battery which can last an average of 2 days
- Compatible with most Android devices & has partial compatibility with iOS devices
- Stainless steel finish, with a great anti-sweat strap
- Very easy to connect to your cell phone
Sazooy Bluetooth Smart Watch Support Make/Answer Phones Send/Get Messages Compatible Android iOS Phones with Camera Pedometer SIM SD Card Slot for Women Men (Black)
Suitable For?
This watch is more aimed towards adults but might be suitable for teenagers as well, it also works with Android and iOS.
Product Description
This smartwatch is everything you need on your wrist, it’s a mini-phone! You can connect it via Bluetooth and it can be used to make calls, answer & dial. It is also easy to view messages and reply to them straight from your wrist.
It can also be used as an independent phone with a slot for a SIM, but only supports 2G / 2.5G, so it might be pretty slow for internet usage if required. It’s compatible with most phones, including all the well-known ones such as the Samsung S7, S8, S9, S10, Google Pixel and Pixel XL, LG, Huawei, HTC to name but a few.
There are several functions available within the watch including an exercise mileage counter, pedometer, sleep monitoring, Whatsapp, Twitter, internet surfing, image viewer, sound recorder, music player and of course, what this article is about, a camera which boasts 0.3MP.
It’s also got a reliable and good battery with 280mAh so can last the test of time. It’s a comfortable addition to your wrist with a Nano TPU85 strap and stainless steel surface, similar to a few of the other options within our list.
Main Features
- Compatible with iOS & Android – will work with majority of phones
- Multi-functionality including some great apps
- 0.3MP camera for taking quick photos
- Comfortable strap
- Independent SIM card slot so can be used without having to connect it to a phone as well
