AUXUS RIST : A short review

Weather you like it or not, weather you want it or not, wearable tech is going mainstream. Of the all wearable tech, the one that is getting most attention is the watch. I am not really a fan of wearing watches. I stopped wearing a watch even before I got my first smartphone. With a smartphone however, I had absolutely no need of even thinking of using a watch. Occasionally, I needed a watch when going on long trips, but then the powerbanks and easy access to power source at commute places essentially solved the problem of depleting battery life of smartphones while traveling.

About six months ago, when Spice released a cheap 'watch phone', I gave it a try. It was great for first few days, then one thing really killed it for me: it was not programmable, apart from doing some rudimentary stuff on the web browser. And more importantly there was no health tracking functionality on the device. Eventually, I stopped using the watch altogether. I thought I would never again wear a watch again. I was not particularly interested in waiting for Apple Watch for two reasons: it is going to be quite expensive, and more importantly, it had to be paired with my phone to be truly useful. Although, I feel, only Apple Watch at present (though not yet released) has the best design and functionality for a smartwatch.

During the GOSF 2014,  eBay announced launching of AUXUS RIST - a fully Android based smartwatch and phone - for under 10K. This got me interested and I ordered one of them. Again, falling in the wearable trap! Two things caught my attention: A full Android system with onboard SIM support and a Water proof device. Here is a short review of the device.

Starting up
Starting the device up is surprisingly complex if you are not a geek. It actually requires you to carefully open the device to insert the SIM and SD card using the provided screwdriver. I think this is the first major hurdle in mass acceptance of the device.

The build
The build quality is solid, but quite bulky. But it depends on how you look at it. In terms of sheer material yes, it is a solidly build device. But if you look at it in terms of a device that is to be worn on your wrist, I think it a miss. It is better than the Spice mobile that I had earlier, but that is an understatement. I could easily give this device a miss and still my appearance would be no different. In fact, with the bulk of the device, I would rather give it a miss on day basis.

Battery Life
At best battery life is moderate, lasts for about 12 hours with 3G, WiFi and GPS on. But this is good, if you consider that it is actually a fully functional phone.

Performance
Since the device has a dual core, and 512MB RAM, performance is not much of a problem if you are using only the Google apps. However, if you start to install a lot of third party apps, it is sure to impact performance as is the case with all other Android systems. I have a "slow watch", would rather be a funny and ironic statement to make!

Launcher
The default launcher is no fuss, usable, but has shortcomings - the biggest one is no integration with Google Now. Even though I don't use Google Now on day basis - I like the way it surfaces information for me. I tried installing the Google Now launcher to replace the built in launcher, it works, albeit with a caveat - icons are suddenly too small.

Apps
All of the Google Play store apps are available. None of the apps I tried (particularly health related) had any issue. Have not tried any games - but then this is not the device to play games.

Conclusions
When I got this device I was quite sure I want such a device, and is quite indispensable for my everyday usage. However, after using it for about 3 weeks now, my views have changed. I really don't need a phone on my wrist. About the only reason I would need a SIM on the device would be to have a data connection independent of my smartphone. Also, although the design of the device is quite decent, it is hardly inspiring to carry around every day the weight on my wrist - let alone the need to charge it every day. I would not recommend it for the average you, only buy this is if you are a geek.

(eBay link: http://www.ebay.in/itm/Auxus-RIST-SMARTWATCH-MOBILE-3G-SIM-GPS-CAMERA-ANDROID-WATERPROOF-iberry-/231385146489?pt=IN_Mobile_Phones&hash=item35dfa12479)

Spice Smart Pulse : The watch that I am actually liking, and it is 'smart'

I have been using the Spice Smart Pulse (available on HomeShop18) for 4 days now. After I have switched to using a smartphone, I have never regularly used a wristwatch. And the last time I started to use a wrist watch, I gave up in a day, it was too clunky, and hardly did anything than tell me the time. I have used a watchphone though. That was about 4 years ago, and was from an un-branded Chinese manufacturer. That watch was pretty heavy, almost 100 grams, had a lousy touch screen (needed a stylus to operate), and a worse sound quality. Worst of all it had an unregistered IMEI number. So when I came back to India, that watch was pretty useless. And soon enough it stopped working completely.

So when Spice, a much unknown brand to me, but one that have good presence as a mobile phone company, announced Spice Smart Pulse, I was quite skeptical. With a bit of hunch, I anyway placed the order on HomeShop18 on the launch day it self. I guess I was lucky, as the device almost immediately sold out, and seems to be now listed for a pre-order. The device arrived, few days later. And my first impression has been anything but positive.

This is not the first time a watchphone (or smartwatch, the way you look at it) has been introduced, but Spice has done a good job in executing this. The quality shows off in every aspect of the product, right from the packaging : which is very parallel to how a watch is packed. The build quality of the device (although made of plastic - which is high quality), is pretty good, if not stellar. I was even more impressed with the finish of the device : there are no rough corners or lose plastic, it feels sturdy and a very well made device.

The in-box accessories also seem of high quality. There is a charger + a USB data cable, a Bluetooth head set + charging cable, 2 extra pairs of watch strap, 4 additional pins for the watch strap, and a wired headset.

Biggest advantages:

1. Battery
The watch comes  with a rechargeable 420mAH battery, that lasted for more than 48 hours with a single active SIM card for me. I find that the battery life is pretty good, given that other so called smartwatches have to be charged every day. The charging time is also less: about 1/2 hour. However, since I do not use an Android phone on regular basis, I have not really tested the phone with Bluetooth pairing.

2. Light weight
This one is about 52 grams. And is quite lite to wear. I never had a feeling that I was wearing something strange on my hands. In fact, this is the only watch so far that I actually feel like wearing, unlike others.

3. A secondary phone
Yes, I find this feature of secondary phone extremely useful. Given the battery live advantage over the smartphones in your pocket, this one is a good companion on a travel.

4. The flash
The watch has got a very basic VGA camera, whose quality is quite sub-par. But the most important feature is the flash, which can be used as torch as well. I find this very useful while walking down on dark roads or would be a good tool during night time treks.

5. Capacitive touch screen
The touch response of the watch is extremely good as it uses a Capacitive touch screen. The UI elements are also well designed to provide a reasonably good experience.

6. Pair with Android phones to get notifications
I do not use this feature much, but it works as advertised. The only issue is, there does not seem to be a list or notification I can see. Also there is no way to respond to any notification. There are however other features like remote playlist (fetch the music from your smartphone), and remote capture (control the smartphone camera using the watch). These are basic controls, but they work as advertised.

7. Expandable storage via Micro SD card (upto 8GB)


Disadvantages:

1. The screen is not scratch proof glass (I think). So you need to be careful. Although, I have not actually experienced any issue till now of continuous usage.

2. No apps. It uses some proprietary OS and does not seem to be third party programmable.


Wish list:

1. It should have had a pedometer and a heart rate sensor.

2. GPS + Compass and Maps could have been really good addition.


Update 1: The watch connects to iPhone and WP devices. Though with either of these, the notifications do not come on the watch, except the call notifications, the contacts can be synced.

Update 2: I have been using this watch with my iPhone for quite a few days now. Even with the SIM and bluetooth on, the device is giving about 2 days of usage. Good thing is that iPhone battery life is not noticeably affected. I am basically using this to get call notifications and of course check time while on move. It is far better to use this against pulling your phone from your jeans pocket.

Update 3: I don't have much to say about sun light readability of the screen. Although the time is readable with full brightness for the display. Now I feel that it should have had an ambient light sensor as well.

Update 4: There is a cool new feature in the watch, which you can use to auto poweroff the device at night and poweron in the morning. This further elongates the battery of the device to about 3 days. Overall I am still liking the device. Finally, I would highly recommend this device if you have an Android phone.

Spice smart watch is here

I will be reviewing this 'smart watch' over the week. Stay tuned.