For all
budget smart watch lovers, Spice smart watch is something that you are waiting
for. Spice smart watch outshines others by its 2 in 1 functionality as a smart
phone as well as a smart watch. Other than being a smart watch, this is
actually a phone on your wrist. Sound’s
crazy, right? But what’s more crazy is that the smart watch is priced just at a
budget price tag of Rs 3,999.
Basically, while hearing “smart watch” it
sounds like running on Android or iOS. But the Spice smart watch is actually
powered by Java based operating. As far as the price is concerned, one cannot
expect everything at this price point. Then how does this Watch come to be
smart? Well, let’s check it in the detailed review.
DESIGN AND BUILD QUALITY
Coming to the physical overview, Spice
smart watch is just an exact photograph of the Samsung Galaxy Gear in terms of
design. The build quality is not pretty good. The body is totally made of
plastic except on the front with a metallic touch along with some fake screws
that adds to its beauty.
On the left is the micro USB port used for
both charging as well as listening music
and a power button. Interestingly, this watch comes with built in camera and
LED flash towards the right. To the front, above the display is the tiny speaker
and the capacitive touch buttons and a mic below it are placed at the bottom.
Added to these is the interchangeable
bands. The bands are made of rubber and you could easily replace bands as per
your choice. But I recommend changing straps from a watch shop rather than
doing it yourself.
DISPLAY
Moving on to the display, Spice smart
watch features a 4cm (1.5 inch) capacitive display along with 240*320
resolution. The touch feedback is pretty good at this price point. But you
would need tiny fingers to touch with ease. The display is totally
disappointing in terms of the viewing angle. Viewing angle is not at all good
during sunlight and the display completely fades out during outdoors. What I
felt awkward is that everytime you want to check time, you have to press the
power button.
SOFTWARE AND PERFORMANCE
Diving into the software and the other
features that it offers, this tiny smart phone runs on Java based operating system,
but can be paired with your Android smart phone using Bluetooth connection. However,
all these features are fruitless due to the inability to handle Android applications
or other 3rd party apps on this smart watch.
The dual SIM support makes it capable to
use it as a stand alone phone. Other features that add to the standalone phone include
access to browse the web, make calls and to read and write SMSes. A Bluetooth
headset is also included in the box to help calling easier.
To get all the notifications on your smart
watch, all you have to do is to install an app called BT Notifier on your
Android smart phone. You can use it to make calls, send and receive messages,
view call logs, access social media notifications, remote camera capture and to
stream music. Also, the watch attempts to bring some basic apps like world
clock, alarm, free games etc.
Coming to the performance section,
everything was fine and we haven’t faced any issues yet and the hardware
performance was in good health.
CAMERA
The VGA Camera with an LED flash is
basically a plus point for spice budget smartwatch. First, in order to take
photos you have to navigate to multimedia -> camera. Even you can also
record videos. The user interface of the camera is awful. One cannot expect
much from this camera. But it does take some decent shots during daylight.
Although camera on a smart watch sounds
good, but to make use of it in practical use is a Herculean task. It doesn’t
have a camera switch and it is very hard to tap on the button on the display to
take a shot.
BATTERY LIFE
Since day one when the smart watches
launched in the market, battery backup is a common problem but somehow spice
managed to overcome. Spice smart watch is powered by a 420 mAh battery that
could last for up to 2-3 days of rough usage on a single charge. But when the
watch is connected to your smart phone, the battery juice gets eaten up and you
can hardly get one day usage on a single charge.
VERDICT
To tell you the truth, basically after 1-2
weeks of usage, I was very much excited about the features that it can offer.
If you are the one who is insane about the wearables in the market, but can’t
afford one, I recommend this budget spice smart watch that could definitely
meet your demands. It has a dual SIM support, expandable memory slots, seamless
music streaming and finally what? A
camera that helps you take some secret photos. Everything at a very reasonable
price.
Compared to other smart watches available,
what adds to it is that it doesn’t even require a smart phone connection to
work. Just give it a try J
PROS
- Dual Sim
- Standalone Functionality
- Responsive touch screen
- Cheaper
CONS
- Heavy
- Battery backup
- Poor display
- Fixed functions
Ganesh Sankar is the founder and owner of digipan. He loves sharing whatever he knows in the field of technology including how to guides, tip and tricks and much more.
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