health watch that would have been nice – Firstpost

Execs:

Sturdy but light-weight metallic alloy physique, elegant design

IP68 rated mud and water-proof

Sharp AMOLED show with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 safety

Pretty correct well being monitoring for the phase

Constructed-in GPS, altimeter, barometer and compass

Bluetooth calling

Good battery backup

Easy and responsive consumer interface

Effectively priced, 2 years guarantee

Cons:

App wants extra depth, additionally calls for too many pointless permissions

Health and well being knowledge goes lacking from the watch at occasions

GPS lock can take a substantial period of time

Just a few bugs that want fixing

Ranking: 3.8/5

Value: Rs 3,999

Final 12 months, we reviewed the Prowatch ZN, Lava’s debut health watch, which was surprisingly good for its asking worth. The Indian tech model has retained the great parts of that watch and added a couple of extras to its successor, the Prowatch X, which we are going to take a look at intently right this moment. Doesn’t it warrant the bump within the price ticket? Let’s discover out.

Elegant design, light-weight but sturdy construct

The Lava Prowatch X appears to be like fairly elegant in a darkish gray aluminium alloy physique with a matte end, and also you get a selection between silicon and stainless-steel metallic straps; we received one with the previous for overview and the latter is Rs 500 costlier. They’ve commonplace 22 mm width and might be changed with any third get together straps of the identical width no matter the fabric. The silicon straps match effectively and don’t trigger pores and skin irritation even after carrying the watch all day.

Nothing in regards to the construct or design suggests this can be a finances watch. It could possibly simply cross off as one thing extra premium. The Prowatch X is extremely gentle, not simply as in comparison with its predecessor but additionally with respect to different watches with a metallic physique and a dial this dimension. Regardless of its low weight, the construct is kind of strong and the watch feels sturdy. Surprisingly, there is no such thing as a seen branding anyplace besides behind the watch, which clearly gained’t be seen when you put on the watch.

The watch is IP68 rated mud and water-proof. Whereas it might probably simply deal with a couple of splashes and dips, that doesn’t make it swim-proof as the corporate claims. So don’t overlook to take it off earlier than leaping into the pool. The SpO2 and coronary heart price sensors are positioned on the again, together with the charging pins. There are two bodily buttons on the suitable aspect – one serves a number of functions, whereas the opposite acts as a shortcut for various exercises.

Sharp AMOLED show with slots for a number of watchfaces

The Lava Prowatch X retains the sharp and vibrant 1.43-inch round AMOLED show. It has a decision of 466 x 466 pixels and a rated peak brightness of 500 nits – a drop of 100 nits from the Prowatch ZN. The display additionally retains Corning Gorilla Glass 3 safety in opposition to scratches, which is nice to have. There have been completely no scratches on the display after greater than a few weeks of use. The display doesn’t entice many smudge marks both, which is nice.

You get 5 ranges of brightness of which degree 3 is shiny sufficient indoors or in low gentle, however you could push it to max below shiny daylight for optimum legibility; no auto brightness adjustment right here. You’ll be able to activate the display by flicking your wrist or by urgent one of many buttons; each work fantastic. Flick to wake function might be turned off throughout your sleep hours or in a darkish room like a theatre. All the time-on show (AOD) can also be accessible, nevertheless it takes a toll on the battery life. It’s greatest to go away it off and flick your wrist as an alternative.

You get three or 4 watchfaces preinstalled on the watch and you’ve got slots for putting in fairly a couple of of your selecting from the ProSpot app. I put in 5 of them and the watch didn’t complain. You get a good assortment of digital and analogue faces, and a few with health knowledge like steps rely, coronary heart price, energy burned and many others. The obtain and switch course of was pretty brisk.

Uncomplicated and responsive consumer interface, however the app wants some work

The consumer interface is kind of easy and lag-free. Swiping down on the house display reveals a fast settings menu, whilst you can test notifications by swiping up. Swiping left or proper allows you to cycle by means of widgets like every day exercise progress, well being parameters, sleep or climate knowledge and many others. Clicking the highest bodily button brings up the apps drawer from the place you’ll be able to select completely different capabilities of the watch. You’ll be able to go for a listing or a dialpad sort interface.

The highest button may also be used to leap to the house display from anyplace whereas the opposite bodily button lists health actions when pressed. Earlier than you begin utilizing this watch, you could obtain and set up the ProSpot app and sync the watch with it. It is just accessible for Android as of now. The app is pretty fundamental, which is nice for rookies, however may have executed with a bit extra depth. It continues to demand too many permissions, a few of them irrelevant, and refuses to perform easily until all of them are granted.

Aside from watch settings and watchface library, you get entry to every day exercise progress, exercise knowledge, coronary heart price, sleep knowledge, SpO2 and stress ranges. Tapping on them shows extra info however with restricted depth. Satirically, there are a few further tidbits seen on the watch however not within the app like breakup of exercises in numerous coronary heart price zones. The app must be a bit extra detailed with the evaluation of well being and health knowledge.

Additionally, an previous bug continues to exist the place among the health knowledge vanishes from the watch if not synced regularly with the app. One other unusual factor I seen is that some knowledge on the watch and the app state various things. As an example, the restoration time on the watch after a exercise is at all times on 16 (no items acknowledged), and it’s invariably zero on the watch. Extra stuff for the QC division to look into.

Greater than first rate efficiency however with a couple of quirks

The Prowatch X can monitor completely different health actions starting from strolling, operating, biking, core coaching and yoga to pilates, dancing, cricket and extra. Throughout indoor exercise monitoring, often the guts price sensor stops working in the course of a exercise for no purpose; in all probability a fault with our unit, however one thing the corporate ought to test on. The watch additionally affords to trace swims, however as I discussed earlier, with an IP68 ranking, I wouldn’t advise going swimming with this watch, except the corporate forgot to say 3ATM or 5ATM water resistance ranking which might make it swim-proof.

The Lava Prowatch X additionally has built-in GPS to trace walks and runs extra precisely; one thing lacking in its predecessor. The accuracy is spot on with GPS on, whereas there’s a 10 to fifteen% margin of error with out it. Now, having a GPS module is a good factor on this finances however the one here’s a bit temperamental. At occasions it takes 5 to 10 minutes to get a lock, regardless of updating the AGPS knowledge from the app, and drains the battery greater than the precise GPS utilization does in half an hour.

On the intense aspect, as soon as it will get a GPS lock, the connection stays robust so long as you might be outdoor, and the gap monitoring is correct. The battery drain can also be manageable with it knocking 7 to eight factors off per hour of GPS use (not counting the time and power required to attach). The pedometer on this watch is fairly first rate. The steps rely is essentially correct and often doesn’t register false steps even when in a practice or a automobile on a bumpy street.

The watch has a HX3690 PPG sensor that may monitor your coronary heart price all day. It could possibly additionally monitor your stress ranges at common intervals based mostly on coronary heart price variability. The SpO2 sensor on this watch does a great job by way of velocity and accuracy. You get a studying in 15 to twenty seconds if you happen to maintain your hand regular, which is at par with a medical oximeter with a single level variance at most. You additionally get a one faucet studying of your coronary heart price, stress and Oxygen ranges at a go in about 35 seconds. After all, these are simply reference values and never meant to interchange medical devices.

Sleep monitoring is usually a hit or a miss on this watch, particularly the beginning of the sleep cycle. It might recommend I fell asleep an hour or two after I hit mattress, which appeared a bit off. The monitoring did get higher after the preliminary couple of makes an attempt. It gives details about completely different sleep levels like gentle sleep, deep sleep, REM and awake time, the small print of which can be found within the ProSpot app. Additionally, make it some extent to sync this watch every day with the app and switch the well being and health knowledge. Else, a few of it tends to go lacking after a few days.

There’s Bluetooth calling and a bunch of additional sensors

Like most health watches as of late, this Lava watch additionally helps Bluetooth calling function. You can also make and obtain calls from the watch itself so long as it’s synced with a smartphone with an energetic connection. The built-in speaker and mic do a good job when indoors or in quieter locations, however the speaker sounds a bit tinny. In noisy areas, you will have to carry the watch nearer to your face for higher name readability.

You additionally get notifications and messages from numerous apps in your telephone that you just give permissions for. The messages are completely legible on the watch display however you can not reply again. Aside from the above, you get the standard set of options like music controls, distant digicam shutter, climate alerts and in addition a calculator. The watch additionally has a built-in altimeter, barometer and compass to seize extra particulars of varied actions.

Good battery backup with restricted calling and GPS utilization

The Lava Prowatch X has a 300 mAh battery that claims to final 8 to 10 days on a full cost with regular utilization. And that declare is kind of correct, particularly if you don’t take pleasure in an excessive amount of calling from the watch. Throughout my testing it went on for a bit over per week with 5 minutes of every day calling, display brightness set to three, notifications restricted to SMS and e mail, three hour-long indoor exercises, two hours of whole GPS utilization, two SpO2 readings every day and 5 nights of sleep monitoring, which is kind of good.

It could possibly even transcend the stipulated 10 days if you don’t take pleasure in any GPS utilization or calling from the watch. It takes about an hour to cost the watch absolutely utilizing the bundled charging cable that plugs into any commonplace USB-A charger. No complaints about that.

Value and Verdict: health watch that may be nice with a couple of fixes

The Lava Prowatch X is priced at simply Rs 3,999 (with silicone strap) and affords a 2-year guarantee, together with one time free watch alternative. The value is spectacular for a chic health watch with a metallic alloy physique, built-in GPS, a pointy AMOLED show with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 safety, Bluetooth calling, pretty correct well being monitoring, a bunch of additional sensors and good battery backup. The extra guarantee is at all times welcome.

These are an exquisite set of the components however a terrific dish continues to be a software program replace or two away. Sure, the watch continues to be very a lot buyable in its present state given its aggressive pricing, but when the corporate really manages to repair all its shortcomings which might be largely software program bugs than the rest, the Prowatch X might be arguably the most suitable choice on this phase. For now, that honour goes to the
Redmi Watch 5 Lite that provides just about all the important thing options of this Lava watch however in an oblong kind issue and for a couple of tons of much less.