The high-end smartwatches in the market come with bells and whistles like water resistance, cellular connectivity, and bright color displays. However, not all users need these features. If you want a smartwatch that offers at-a-glance notifications along with basic activity tracking, you’re better off saving some money and going for a basic model. An e-paper smartwatch could be the perfect choice. Here are the pros and cons of these devices.

E-paper refers to a display technology that you’re probably familiar with from e-readers like the Amazon Kindle. Instead of offering rich colors, an e-paper display is typically black and white (though color versions do exist) and reflects light like paper does. The result is a fairly flat experience that offers wide viewing angles and is good for reading in direct sunlight. An e-paper smartwatch features this display technology instead of an AMOLED screen or LCD.

The most obvious benefit of a smartwatch with an e-paper display is longer battery life. This technology requires less power than other display types, so you'll have to charge your watch less often. When you look at the best smartwatches from a battery life perspective, you'll see that e-paper options like Pebble's score highly. Depending on your lifestyle and whether or not you tend to charge your tech every night before bed, the ability to go multiple days on a single charge could mean you end up getting more use out of your device.

In addition to great battery life, e-paper smartwatches offer great viewing angles, so you’ll have no trouble seeing notifications on your screen even when you’re in direct sunlight. If you run outdoors often or spend a lot of time outside, this feature could make a difference. You’re unlikely to be reading e-books from your wrist on a smartwatch, so an e-paper display isn’t as essential on this kind of wearable as it is on an e-reader, but it can still be useful.