Rs. 9,995, timexindia.com
Timex is known for its conventional watches but compared to other brands, their smartwatch strategy has lagged behind the competition. Timex aims to change it with the introduction of iConnect that brings smart features in a decent looking package at a competitive price.
Round dials on smartwatch give an illusion of wearing a conventional watch with smart features and Timex iConnect is just that. The simple design boasts a circular touchscreen display, a clickable crown on the right-hand side and microUSB port on the left that’s hidden with a cover. The heart-rate sensor is at the bottom. While we like the design approach, iConnect is big the iConnect however, is not without design flaws. We found our review unit’s display alignment to be slightly off. Although this didn’t hamper the usability of the watch but doesn’t shine a positive light on Timex. Another design decision is the inability to change straps, which means you’re stuck with one colour.
The watch is easy to use with its simple user interface. There are four pre-installed watch faces that can be changed quickly and easily. However, you cannot download newer ones. When it comes to activity tracking, it can track steps, distance, calories burned. The heart-rate sensor works like a charm and can even track sleep, provided you’re okay wearing a big watch while sleeping. The watch allows to accept or reject, SMS and even comes with additional bells and whistles like an integrated calculator, calendar, anti-lost and trigger button for the smartphone’s camera. Interestingly, the camera shutter button doesn’t activate the default smartphone camera app but instead, opens up its own from the iConnect app. This means the picture clicked with the watch loses out on the improvements the default camera brings.
Let’s talk about its app – iConnect. It’s a free app available on iOS and Android and the first thing we noticed is how inspired the app is from Fitbit. We don’t mind the banality of the app but the thing we couldn’t let go is the bad optimisation. The app is a battery hogger and during our use with Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10+, it drained the battery of the phone, leaving us dry in just five hours compared to easy full-day operation without the app.
RATING 2.5/5
WE’RE IMPRESSED Feature set
WE’D IMPROVE App
THE LAST WORD Timex iConnect could have been a good smartwatch experience for a first-timer but the battery draining app and the overall quality makes it difficult to recommend.