Strap-on fitness can be yours
Smartwatches seem like they should be the perfect exercise tools. They live on your wrist, you wear them most of the day and they have way more sensors and tech smarts than any normal watch.
Almost all Android Wear watches need a bit of help to monitor the information required to make them a top-tier exercise tracker. Here's our guide to turning yours into an indispensable running or cycling accessory...
1: What it can do and what it can't
Virtually all Android Wear watches lack the one feature that stars in every mid-range or high-end dedicated runner's watch: GPS. This is the transmitter that talks to satellites in Earth's orbit – US-owned ones for the GPS network, and Russian ones if you're lucky enough to have GLONASS too.
2: Picking an app
The main thing to do is find an Android Wear app that hooks into a full-blown Android phone app that supports GPS exercise-tracking. There are several top-quality apps like this that enable an Android Wear smartwatch to function as a second screen, displaying pretty much everything a Garmin Forerunner watch might while leaving your phone to do virtually all of the actual leg work.
3: Downloading and installing
Getting the app set up on your watch is about as simple as you could imagine. Just install the relevant phone app and, once the data is synced (if in doubt put your watch on charge and it should sync), the Android Wear companion app will appear in your watch's app menu.
