There are lots of great benefits to using a smartwatch or fitness band. They can encourage activity, deliver data to you in a convenient and unobtrusive way and they can let you take your music with you without carrying a phone.

But they can also be used to keep spy on people - and that's getting German authorities riled up. An entire class of smartwatches are designed specifically for parents to keep track of their kids. Germany's Federal Network Agency says devices with GPS tracking capability and integrated cellular comms constitute unauthorised transmission systems and have banned the devices.

Wearable tech is still finding its feet in the market. While there are some clear use-cases such as in health and exercise for smartwatches, and in security in the case of cameras, there's still quite a bit of scepticism when it comes to many of the devices on the market. Despite that lack of clear use-cases, Gartner forecasts the number of wearable tech devices in the market to almost double by 2021.

The Huawei Watch 2 is the first smartwatch in Australia that supports 4G, and that's just one of its many tricks. Running Android Wear, it's simple but powerful. This is the first watch you can use properly without your phone in Australia -- and that comes in handy more often than you'd think.

One of the perils of smart devices is that many rely on their respective company's online servers to function, and sometimes those companies shut down. Which leaves you with an expensive paperweight. Luckily Pebble has had the foresight to update their smartwatches after being acquired by Fitbit last year.

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When you buy an Apple product you buy into the ecosystem more than with any other company, but that doesn't mean you're stuck with only what they offer. If you're a lover of wearables you'd be remiss to overlook Android Wear, even if you've chosen iOS as your primary mobile platform.

If there's one thing I love about the possibility of wearables, it's swapping in new watch faces. While many companies either prevent users from making custom watch faces or require some decent coding skills, Android Wear has a few workarounds -- and they're awesome. If you want to make your very own, custom watch face that nobody else has, read on. Even iOS users can do it!

It might be getting a bit long in the tooth, but the original Pebble smartwatch is still a decent gadget. If you're looking to pick one up, Dick Smith currently has them on sale for $99, but with a coupon code, you can get that down to a reasonable $79.

Smart watches are fine, but they really don't capture the DIY spirit. Over on Instructables, user benhur.gonvalves shows you how to build a smart little watch using an Arduino that comes packed with a pedometer, temperature reader, compass and more.

Dear Lifehacker, I am quite a small guy with a very small frame, and that means I have small wrists. I'd love to get a smartwatch but I'm worried that the wristbands and faces will look ridiculous and/or won't fit. Any recommendations for a more compact smartwatch?

An update to Android Wear means that it can now find your Android Smartphone simply by asking it.

For the past few years, wearables have been tipped as the "Next Big Thing" to hit the technology market. Unfortunately, the reality has failed to meet expectations due to a glut of overpriced products that lacked style and functionality. In the second half of the year, this could finally be set to change. This week, the biggest names in mobile computing converged on Mobile World Congress 2015 to unveil their latest wearable creations. Here are the highlights.

If the current crop of smartwatches just isn't of interest to you, the custom route may be more your style. Eschew all the big brands and build your own smartwatch from off-the-shelf components.

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Dear Lifehacker, Is Android Wear any good? I haven't been sold on other smartwatches, but Android Wear seems pretty cool. Can you actually do anything useful with it, though? I think they look nice, but I'm not sure what the killer new functionality is.

Have you ever thought that that what you really wanted to do with a smartwatch was browse the web? If so, today's your lucky day, as Wear Internet Browser lets you do just that.