By Md Waquar Haider
New Delhi, Jan 10 (IANS): The year 2020 witnessed the launch of several new smartwatches from various players, ranging from the high-end wearables to the affordable Realme devices, in India.
Realme watch was the most shipped wearable watch device/model in both Q2 and Q3 in India, according to the IDC. Realme watch captured 21.4 per cent market share in Q2 and 24.2 per cent market share in Q3.
To gain a fresh start in the smartwatch segment in new year, Realme has announced two new smartwatches -- Watch S and S Pro — with a perfect mix of sport and style.
This series marks the first time Realme has come up with smartwatches having round dials.
The Realme Watch S is priced at Rs 4,999 in India, while the Realme Watch S Pro's price is set at Rs 9,999.
Let us see if Realme Watch S Pro justifies its arrival in a price segment dominated by the likes of Mi Watch Revolve, Huami Amazfit GTS, Honor Watch Magic, Huawei Watch GT and Fossil Sport Unisex, among others.
The smartwatch comes with a circular dial circular stainless-steel dial featuring analog markings around the bezel.
In terms of dimensions, the Realme Watch S features a 47mm case, which is 12mm thick and weighs 48g.
The watch also comes with a variety of straps to change the look according to users' preferences and these straps are soft on the wrist and offer a comfortable wearing experience.
The watch features dual physical buttons simply placed for convenient access on either hand.
The buttons are used to go back to the home from any screen. While the top crown also functions as a power on or off button, the bottom crown gives direct access to the workout modes.
The Watch S Pro also features a large 1.39-inch AMOLED touchscreen with 450 nits of brightness and 326 ppi.
It also gets an always-on display and an auto-brightness feature, one can also manually set brightness levels, but the ‘auto display' feature works well.
The display also looked good in different light conditions and has access to a total of 108 watch faces, with the option to create your own watch face.
In addition, a 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass layer prevents the AMOLED screen from scratches and damages.
The watch runs on a Realme's in-house wearable OS that offers several useful features. One would need the Realme Link app to enable all features and to view complete health data on a smartphone.
It allows the user to control music set a timer, check weather data, enable a flashlight, uses a stopwatch, set an alarm and more.
The device comes equipped with a 6-axis accelerometer sensor and a Heart rate sensor that provides 24-Hour heart rate measurement and Automated heart rate measurement.
The sensor also measures Resting heart rate, Exercise heart rate, offers Heart Rate Alert, and also takes Blood Oxygen measurement.
The smartwatch offers automatic sleep monitoring and can also track heart rate while you sleep. It can also track sleep duration as well as the different sleep stages, including deep, light and REM.
There are 16 sports modes in total – Outdoor Run, Indoor Run, Walk, Outdoor Cycle, Strength Training, Football, Basketball, Yoga, Cricket, Aerobic Capacity, Badminton, Indoor Cycle, Stationary Bike, Elliptical, Rowing Machine and Table Tennis.
The Watch S pro offers a 5ATM water-resistance rating, which makes it water-resistant for swimming sessions.
It comes with a 420mAh battery which claims to offer up to 14 days of battery life. It also comes with a magnetic charging case that charges the watch to 100 per cent in just 2 hours.
Conclusion: At under Rs 10,000 category, the Realme Watch S Pro is the best budget smartwatch to buy in 2021. It looks highly similar to the Mi Watch Revolve and will definitely challenge it in the fast-growing wearable market.
As health becomes the topmost priority for millions in the social distancing times, wearing a health buddy 24/7 makes perfect sense to go for Realme Watch S Pro.