Smartwatches are getting better and more personal each year. They are more attached to us and portable than mobile phones. And now that they come with a calling feature, their owners don’t always have to pick up the phone to make or attend calls. These days, smartwatches with LTE connectivity or eSIM like the Apple Watch Series 8 let you make or take calls even when the phone is not connected or in proximity. However, you must ensure the watch has enough battery to power long calling sessions. Say, something like the Apple Watch Ultra or a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro comes to our mind when we talk about smartwatches with both calling functionality and large batteries. Well, those aren’t your only options as the following list will tell you. You get a calling option on watches from different budgets, but of course, not all of them work the same. Apart from a premium few, most smartwatches feature Bluetooth Calling, which means your watch must be tethered to the phone via Bluetooth. Even in those, some only let you take calls and not make them.
Apple Watch Ultra comes in an eSIM model also. It comes with a 542mAh battery that claims to run 36 hours in total. However, the Apple website notes you can get up to 2.5 hours of talk time from an Apple Watch Ultra (Cellular + GPS model) when connected to LTE. Other variables like the cellular network, signal strength, etc also come into play.
Rest, you get aerospace-grade titanium build, sapphire crystal glass display, dual-frequency GPS, car crash detection, emergency SOS, both GPS and more.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is equipped with a 590mAh battery that claims to run for 80 hours or just over 3 days on a single charge. Samsung hasn’t quoted the talk time hours. But, it should also last similar if not more than the Watch Ultra’s estimates.
Among other things, you also get a durable build with a titanium alloy chassis, sapphire crystal glass screen, and IP68 dust and water resistance. Then there is GPS routing, sleep analysis with snoring detection, swimming and several other activity modes, a way to know Body Fat Composition as well.
Google Pixel Watch also features LTE connectivity but has got a relatively smaller battery size of 294mAh. Even though Google claims a 24-hour runtime out of this battery, that’s subject to a lot of conditions. The real-world results would be thus far from Google’s figures, just so you know.
Besides the calling capability and conservative battery life, you are getting Wear OS with the full gamut of Google apps including Google Assistant, Fitbit fitness modes and features, GPS tracking, etc.
Now, the following watches don’t bring the eSIM-based calling capabilities. So, there are two ways to go about this. One we could take a look at smartwatches that are otherwise pricey and packed with features, and comes with only Bluetooth Calling option. Or, check out the lower-end smartwatches that get you Bluetooth Calling without costing a lot. We are taking the first route.
Garmin Venu 2 Plus lets you take calls from the wrist, as long as it is connected to a smartphone. There is a speaker and microphone on the watch for this purpose. Garmin has also stowed in a large battery that is estimated to run up to 9 days in smartwatch mode. It can be charged fast too. The claim is 1 day’s worth of juice from a 10-minute charging.
You also get a voice assistant, music storage, Health Snapshot, Body Battery Energy Monitoring, Pulse Oximeter, Stress Tracking, Sleep Score, heart rate tracking, advanced strength, 25 sports apps, LiveTrack (a real-time log of your location that others can follow along), GPS, Spotify, and music storage.
Certain models of Fossil Gen 6 let you make and take calls whence connected to a smartphone. The company claims a 24-hour battery life claim, and it can be charged up to 80 percent in about 30 minutes.
Fossil has outfitted a circular AMOLED display on the front. The watch is rated 3 ATM swim-proof. Inside, it bears Wear OS software with Google Assistant support and a host of other apps like Google Maps, YouTube Music, Spotify, and Nike Run Club. The bouquet of features includes continuous heart rate tracking, SpO2 monitoring, real-time smartphone notifications, calendar alerts, watch faces, etc.
Amazfit GTR 4 sports call function and 14 days battery life. It also has a round AMOLED display on the front. Inside, it packs dual-band circularly-polarized GPS antenna technology, music storage, sleep tracking, Alexa personal assistant, all-day heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring, 150+ sports modes including swimming, and automatic tracking of 8 sports activities such as Treadmill, Outdoor Running, Outdoor Cycling, Elliptical, Walking, Rowing etc.
You also get the option to import route files, 200+ watch faces, PAI health score, 5ATM water resistance, and the ability to sync the activity data with Strava.
Honor Watch GS 3 ships with Bluetooth Calling feature. It has a 451 mAh battery that is said to run for 14 days in typical world usage. However, if you enable GPS always, then the watch will tick for 30 hours only. Honor says 5 minutes of charging can get you a full day’s battery life.
Besides calling, you also get 100+ workout modes, music storage, a heart rate tracker, a continuous pressure monitor, a SpO2 monitor, dual-frequency GNSS, sleep tracking, and an AMOLED display.
The Honor watch is 44 grams in heft. You can buy it in 3 colours viz. Ocean Blue, Classic Gold, and Midnight Black.
Realme Watch 3 Pro boasts AI ENC Bluetooth Calling with a built-in mic and speaker. Realme mentions up to 10 days of battery life in regular usage from its 345mAh battery. When it begs for a charge, the bundled fast charger can fill in the tank to full in about 150 minutes.
As for the rest of the features, you are getting a 1.78-inch AMOLED panel, 100 watch faces, a calorie counter, a step counter, a built-in GPS with 5 GNSS systems, an IP68 ingress rating, a heart rate monitor, a SpO2 tracker, and 110 sports modes.
Noise ColorFit Pro 4 is already a solid smartwatch which got even better with the Alpha edition. It offers Bluetooth calling facility powered by TruSync which is a brand lingo for single-chip Bluetooth pairing. It is rated to run for 7 days on battery but with BT calling, this will drop to 2 days. There is also InstaCharge technology in the mix which can power up half of the tank in 30 minutes.
The paraphernalia also consists of an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, 100 sports modes, heart rate, SpO2 measurement, an AMOLED display and 150 cloud-based watch faces.
The dual-chip Bluetooth calling smartwatches consist of a primary SoC and an additional Bluetooth chip. The primary SoC takes care of connectivity and the second chip is there specifically for calling. So, you will have to pair the watch twice to your smartphone for enjoying Bluetooth calling. However, in a single-chip BT-calling smartwatch, there is a single chip for both calling and connectivity. This saves battery and hence is considered a more efficient solution.
Which smartwatch is best in India for calling?We consider Apple Watch Ultra or Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro great for calling purposes as they both feature e-SIM cellular connectivity and long battery life to support long calls. So, there are a few important things you need to check before you buy a smartwatch with a calling feature in India. Let’s see what kind of calling facility you get with the following smartwatches. These, according to us, are the top 10 smartwatches with call functionality: