Smartwatches are some of the most cutting-edge pieces of tech you can get right now, so if you're splashing out on wearable kit, fashion brands are offering something costing a little more for an alternative design.
That's what we've got with the Emporio Armani Smartwatch 3 and Diesel On Axial Smartwatch, the newest gear from two of the biggest fashion brands.
The two new smartwatches have just been unveiled, available in collections with a few different designs and colors. They both build on previous devices, the Emporio Armani Connected and Diesel On Full Guard 2.5 respectively (no, neither conforms to any kind of naming convention), but bring new features and designs to the table.
- These are the best smartwatches
- This is what we thought of Emporio Armani Connected
- And check out our review of Diesel On Full Guard 2.5
The devices are similar in terms of tech, but it's their appearance that sets them apart.
Both devices are coming out in October, so if you're interested, they're coming out just in time to get added to your Christmas list.
Emporio Armani Smartwatch 3
The Emporio Armani Smartwatch 3 runs on Google's Wear OS and is powered by the Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset, which brings with it better power savings and the option of an always-on display - although we're unsure whether that's going to be enabled.
The Smartwatch 3 has 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, and premium features like a microphone, speaker, accelerator, gyroscope, and built-in flashlight.
There are fitness features like an 'upgraded' heart rate monitor, swimproofing, and goal tracking, but this wearable certainly isn't a fitness tracker at heart.
In fact, the selling point is the watch's design. It has a 1.28-inch AMOELD screen, with a sleek stainless steel case. There are few different models, and the only difference between them is the highlights of the case – there's black, silver, gold, green, blue, and red. It certainly has a minimalist look, but that just leaves more room for the screen.
The Armani Smartwatch 3 will sell for $375 (roughly £300, AU$550), so it's a fairly high-end device, but you'd expect that given the name on the branding.
Diesel On Axial Smartwatch
The Diesel On Axial has basically exactly the same specs as the Emporio Armani Smartwatch 3, right down to the 1.28-inch AMOLED screen. It's powered by Wear OS, runs on Snapdragon Wear 3100, and has a range of fitness and lifestyle functions.
The real difference between the two devices is the design, with Diesel bringing a stainless steel case and ring on the top, so it's a bit of a bulky device, but it looks more sturdy as a result.
There are a few different finishes for the devices in Diesel's collection, and there are quite a few differences between each, more so than in Armani's device. You can pick it up with a few combinations of strap and ring color and material, depending on what device appeals to you more.
Diesel's On Axial Smartwatch is a touch less expensive than Armani's, and it'll cost you $350 (around £290, AU$520) when it becomes available.
Although each of the smartwatches certainly looks good, we're going to wait until we're actually wearing them before we can pass a definite judgement, so look out for our Smartwatch 3 and On Axial reviews before the products themselves drop, in order to work out if they're great smartwatches or just good-looking pieces of redundant tech.
