Well-built smart watch stands up to more expensive brands.
I’ve been using an Apple Watch for several months now on a daily basis. Before that, I wore a Garmin VivoActive for a few weeks and before that, I had a Garmin Vivofit and Vivofit 2 around my wrist. It’s pretty safe to say that I’ve had a wide variety of experiences with wearable technology and I really like testing out all the new innovative products that have been emerging in the market.
One category of wearable/smart watch that has made it to the market is the budget-conscience smart watch. I find this category very interesting because for the most part, these smart watches cover the essential needs of the smart watch user. This review focuses on one of these smart watches from Gear Best called iRadish Y6 Smart Watch. For the purposes of this review, I am going to call out some direct comparisons to the Apple Watch.
First impressions
When I first opened the watch’s box, I was shocked at how much it looked like an Apple Watch. The coloring is ‘space gray’ and the screen curves off the sides just like an Apple Watch. One side has a small camera and power button in the same placement as the Apple Watch’s power button and Digital Crown. On the opposite side there is a compartment that houses the Micro-USB charging port. The band that comes with the Y6 is a fairly standard, flexible rubber band. It doesn’t come with any extra bands, but by the looks of how it’s attached to the watch body, it seems that any standard watch band could be installed. The Y6 doesn’t weigh much more than the 38mm Apple Watch.
As far as cosmetics go, this watch could easily be mistaken for an Apple Watch at first glance.
Use
For me, these off brand wearables tend to fall short with the software and user interface. When you first power on the watch, you are met with some round icons that again, resemble what you see on an Apple Watch. At this point, the UI is vastly different from the Apple Watch, so I’m going to stop calling out comparisons.
My main mobile device is an iPhone 6. So, naturally, I decided to pair the two devices together for testing purposes. Pairing was very easy. I turned the watch so that it was in pairing mode and then selected it from the menu on my iPhone. The two paired successfully and instantly connected information. I was listening to some music on Pandora through a set of headphones and in the instant that I paired the watch and the phone, music started playing through the watch. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, this watch has a speaker that can be used as a music player. And I actually had full control over Pandora while I was testing out the watch.
One of the features I noticed right off the bat was that you can’t wake the watch from a sleep state by tapping the screen. Because this is a functionality that I am very used to, I found this to be off putting because I really like being able to lift my wrist and easily see basic information at a glance. In order to wake the screen, you have to tap the multi-function/power button on the side of the watch body.
The screen is surprisingly responsive. A very light tap will make a selection on the screen. You can move through the different menus by swiping different directions on the watch face. It’s actually a very intuitive set-up.
Now, for the bit of disappointing news – this watch really isn’t made to work with iOS. It’s very basic functions, pedometer, sleep monitor, etc. won’t be effected by this hiccup, but notification, push reminders, etc. will be. I was able to listen to music, control it, view contacts, and even see call information on the watch, but I didn’t not receive any notifications to the watch. The main reason for this is because it’s controlled by an app that is not available for iOS.
Fortunately, I also have a small Android tablet that I could try this watch out with. I went to the Google Play store and was unable to find the notifier app in the store. So, I was still unable to test out the watch with full functionality. This is actually an issue I ran into with another third party smart watch not too long ago. It was a little disappointing to have such a cool device and not be able to use it completely.
It was still fun to use as a basic wearable and there were some features that I could use through the Bluetooth connection – you just don’t get the notifications from your phone pushed to the watch.
Conclusion
The iRadish Y6 Smart Watch from Gear Best is a fun accessory, but lacks some functionality that you get with more expensive smart watches. Some of the other features of the watch – pedometer, alarm, calculator, speaker, dialer, phone records – are completely functional and make it worth having the watch. I also want to touch on the camera on the side of the watch. It will take still pictures as well as video. Plus it does so very conspicuously. This is a very nice feature and not something I’ve seen on even the most expensive of smart watches. The Y6 goes for $33.66. and you can find it below.
For more information, visit http://www.gearbest.com.
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