Realme Watch Review - Android

The Realme Watch is the company’s first proper smartwatch after releasing the Realme Band. Knowing Realme, we expect them to push more IoT products in the future.

But in the meantime, here in our Realme Watch review, we’ll check out what this device has in store for us.

Design and Build Quality

It’s no secret that the Realme Watch is very reminiscent of the prominent Apple Watch. it features a 1.4-inch colored touchscreen that’s protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

But for its price of only Php3,990, we’re not surprised that the main chassis and back panel are made of plastic. The sides have a shiny finish that makes it look like metal, just like the Apple Watch.

Going with plastic was actually a good choice as it made the device really light. This thing only weighs 31g and just like most smartwatches, it’s relatively thick at 11.8mm — a tad bit thicker than a normal smartphone.

On the left side, you can spot the single physical button that lets you power on/off the device, go back, and turn on/off the display.

However, the button feels a bit cheap and makes a loud plastic-y sound when pressed, which makes us doubt its durability.

The Realme Watch ships with a black rubber strap, with a pin-and-tuck closure just like Apple’s. If black is too boring, you can also get it in Blue, Red, and green.

You can remove the strap with the one-button on the back, no need for screwdrivers or any special tools.

On the bottom, you can spot the charging pins and the heart rate monitor. There are no physical holes or cutouts present, which allowed it to have an IP68 certification for water and dust protection.

This means it’s practically waterproof so you can go swimming with it.

Connectivity and Compatibility

The Realme Watch connects to your phone via the Realme Link app, which only works on Android 5.0 and up. This is a bad news for iOS users who are looking for a cheaper Apple Watch alternative. Hopefully, it gets iOS support in the future.

Realme Link is intuitive to use and a great way to tie all Realme accessories together. The Watch uses the fast and power-efficient Bluetooth 5.0 to connect to your phone.

The pairing process is pretty fast and seamless. You can scan the QR code on the setup process on the Watch to download the Realme Link app, but we find it’s faster to just download it before you start.

Software and Features

The Realme Watch UI’s interface is pretty clean and easy to get used to. It’s intuitive and a breeze to navigate thanks to the touch screen. However, it’s a bit laggy when compared to other smartwatches, especially when you’re swiping fast. But nonetheless, it gets the job done.

Since it has a colored screen, you can choose from different watch faces. There are six options preinstalled on the screen, which you can switch by long-pressing the current watch face. The pre-applied watch face is complete with time display, date, weather, calories burned, and step counter. More options available in the app.

However, I did notice that the screen is prone to accidental touches when I cross my arms. Thus always ending up shuffling from different watch faces.

Swiping up reveals all the installed apps and features. There’s the Workouts tracker that includes Outdoor Run monitoring, Walk, Indoor Run, Outdoor Cycle, Aerobic Capacity, Strength Training, Football, Basketball, Table Tennis, Indoor Cycle, Elliptical, Yoga, and Cricket.

Simply pick the exercise you’re about to do and hit record before you start. It can record your calories burned, heart rate, and workout duration. For activities like outdoor running, the Realme Watch will use your smartphone GPS to record the pace and distance.

You can press the side button to pause the workout, and tap ‘Resume’ if you want to continue, or hit ‘End’ if you’re finished. You’d get detailed information on your activities via the smartphone app.

Users can also set their daily steps goal from 3,000 to 30,000. Depending on what watch face you use, there can be a widget showing if you’re close in achieving it. But if you’re not paying attention, the watch will notify you once you do.

Just like most budget fitness watches, I notice that the tracking is pretty close to being accurate. It’s rare to see a wearable that tracks with 100% accuracy, but they provide ample enough of data to record your progress.

However, the steps counter tends to track hand movements, which count steps even if you’re sitting at your desk or driving a car. A pretty common issue on devices like this.

Going back, next to the Workouts section is the SpO2 monitor, which monitors the oxygen saturation in your blood. Realme takes pride in its accuracy, which is comparable to a professional oximeter.

Next to the SpO2 monitor is the Heart Rate monitor. You can enable the 24-hour heart rate monitoring in the companion app, where it will run the sensor at 5, 10, 20, or 30-minute intervals.

You can also have it alert you if your heart rate is getting too high or too low, a feature in other smartwatches that’s proven to save lives. A full report of your heart rate is seen on the Realme Link app.

We’ve compared it with other more expensive smartwatches, and the heart rate measurements we saw are pretty much similar.

Meditation App

The Activity Record section is basically an outline of your accomplished workouts. Below that is the Sleep Monitoring, which lets you analyze your sleep quality and patterns.

Thanks to its sensors, it can now when you fell asleep and woke up. It also knows how long you’re deep asleep, light, and in REM condition.

Other than its activity tracking, it also has normal smartwatch features. For one, you can control the music on your phone so you don’t have to take it out. Use it as a remote camera shutter, find your phone and vice versa.

It also has regular watch features like a stopwatch and alarms. There’s the Meditation app that guides you in proper breathing if you want to relax for a while. You can also ask the Realme Watch to remind you to drink water.

18/07/2020 10:52 AM

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