Ticwatch S Review - A best wrist buy
A quote from Michael Althsuler reads that: "The bad news is that time flies. The good news is that you are the pilot. " Maybe this is theinspiration that follow most of wearable devices with Android Wear operating system including the interesting and economical TicWatch Sport produced by the company Mobvoi than in the turn of poco time is making its way among industry rivals. And thanks to the collaboration with the store GeekMall.it we are pleased to review for you.
The package comes in a nice tin cube with graffiti-style drawings that run along all sides as well as on the cap, immediately turning on the feeling of having to do with a fresh, juvenile product in short, something coming from the future for the use of our present. Inside we find our Ticwatch S in good view, while lifting the internal hardcover we find the instruction manuali (absent the Italian language) and the USB proprietary cable with magnetic connection which is well established once anchored to the pins of the clock. Please note that there are currently no spare parts for this cable and therefore I recommend you keep it very carefully.
Ticwatch S where the S stands for Sport, as the name suggests it is aimed at sportsmen but also to all those looking for a look that does not necessarily remember a classic wristwatch. This is why the company used a simple design which consists of one case from 45mm in diameter and 13mm in thickness all in polycarbonate highly resistant to scratches and dents which houses a microphone on the left profile andonly physical button on the right one useful to recall some functions and access the menus. The box is enriched by one minute ring made of metal instead, in black color with silk-screen printed numbers in acid yellow. The second ring also turns out slightly raised compared to the circular display allowing a further safeguard of the latter from road accidents.
Also the strap is made of TPU with velvet effect completely iintegrated into the body and which therefore will not be substitutable. There are good numbers of holes to fit each wrist size and the closure is well established thanks to double loop despite the buckle is plastic. The materials used therefore make it the Ticwatch S is extremely lightin fact we weigh only 45,5 grams which contribute to an excellent wearability and ergonomics on the wrist, also given by the shape of the bracelet that wraps around the wrist. To be honest when I saw that the test specimen was in white color I immediately thought that after 2 days of use the Ticwatch became a gypsy on my wrist, but I changed my mind because after almost two weeks always on my wrist the color remained immaculate.
The choice of materials has also proved to be further apt in virtue that the smartwatch enjoys one IP67 certification, ie resistant to water and dust, factors that over time would damage materials considered more premium. At the mental level of those who wear this device, it is not a thing to be underestimated, as we will not have the fixed thought of ruining our gadget during use especially during intense sports sessions in which the sweating becomes excessive.
Returning to the upper part of the body we find a excellent multitouch capacitive display from 1,4 inch with technology OLED and resolution 400 × 400 287 dpi covered with a scratch-resistant glass which translates into a pleasure for the eyes thanks to the total absence of the pixel grid, if not from really close distance, and aexcellent readability even under direct sunlight seen the very wide brightness gap offered by the screen. Too bad it is both absent a brightness sensor which therefore will oblige us to set the value manually depending on the situation in which we find ourselves. The viewing angles are perfect allowing you to view the contents of the display without necessarily flipping the wrist towards themselves. But aa lack follows a plus given by Always-On function that will allow you to keep the display active using only the black and white colors, thus always at a glance now, progress of the activity, notifications etc .. Of course at night the display can be turned off so as not to have a I'm going to disturb your sleep.
No shortage instead sensors such as that of proximity, accelerometer, gyroscope, compass and optical heartbeat reader that is under the box to keep company 4 magnetic pins for charging and the various writing related to certifications and sensors. The heart rate is detected quite accurately, certainly we are not at professional levels, but certainly superior to competing products of the most famous brands. Excellent is the Integrated GPS inside our Ticwatch, a truly indispensable tool in sporting activities, so the signal is fastened without interruption.
Our small wrist assistant offers a hardware consisting of a chipset MediaTek MTK MT2601 dual core at 1.2 GHz supported by 512 MB of RAM e 4 GB of internal memory useful for transferring songs, images but above all to install the countless applications Third parties available on the Play Store and designed specifically for Android Wear devices. Furthermore, at the level of connectivity we find a module WiFi b / g / n, Bluetooth 4.1 Low Energy while it is absent the NFC chip instead much sought after in devices of this type, but in my opinion not essential.
The TicWatch S is finally powered by one battery from 300 mAh that according to the supplier should guarantee 48 hours of autonomy. Values not too far from reality as our wearable manages to provide at least 1 day and a half of activity considering a Bluetooth connection always active with the smartphone, sometimes even with WiFi, constant reception of at least 200 notifications, always active display in Always-On mode and honestly little sport activity. Values that however are completely variable, for example, giving priority to the GPS, leaving out the reception of some notifications, or deactivating the Always-On display etc .. However the day is widely covered Whereas in the evening you can put the device safely in office since there is no sleep monitoring. The autonomy may seem short but it is a price that all the devices in this category pay, even the most expensive Apple Watch. Instead, it takes about 90 minutes for a full charge from 0 to 100 using the cable supplied with magnetic connection to a battery charger with 1A output.
What makes the Ticwatch S attractive and very competitive compared to the various smartwatches in circulation is the presence of the Android Wear 2.0 operating system on an 7.1 Android base although some news speak of a future update to Android Oreo 8.0. This means having the maximum in the management of notifications as well as the fact of being able to exploit applications designed specifically for this system that give a productivity and usability worthy of a smartphone.
Notifications will be possible answer with a tiny keyboard with which to draw even emoticons by choosing but above all it will be possible responding vocally thanks to the Google assistant integrated into the software. Through the latter we could do research, send messages, ask the weather situation and why not be told a joke. Too bad that the feedback returned is only for display and not for vocal. But who knows maybe a future update will change things, then hope is the last to die.
Unfortunately, there is the absence of an integrated SIM which would allow you to take advantage of some applications stand alone regardless of the connection with the smartphone, such as Telegram. Therefore WiFi connection with our smartphone becomes a must for all those situations where we really want to use the smart features offered by the Android Wear system. This does not mean that you can use the Ticwatch S to answer incoming calls on your smartphone even though I have personally found one definitely undertone sound at the volume level at times kneaded while our interlocutor reports a rather clean sound. However it does not consider it a real flaw since I doubt whether a user makes personal calls via speakerphone in public places making the whole conversation feel to strangers. Promoted then the sound in environmental conditions that facilitate the use, as in the car (not at high speeds) or at home etc ..
Do not miss the chance to customize the system thanks to the use of watchfaces in which the artistic touch of the company is quite evident, which offers decidedly appealing skins with the possibility of further customization at the level of widgets offered. But personalization also passes through the countless apps on the Play Storand also including nice games that with the touch only manage to make free time pass in a pleasant way. What is missing is a direct connection with the smartwatch via PC, which obliges us to find alternative solutions for the transfer of music and images, such as the installation on Ticwatch S and smartphone of theMusic Player for Wear application.
But the main course is given by the activity tracking as I remember our Ticwatch S is born for the mainly sporting users. Surely the Google Fit app is very useful already pre-installed in the system through which to monitor physical activity and heartbeat. But if you do not find yourself with the Big G app or simply prefer something simpler Mobvoi offers its own customized suite consisting of three applications: Fitness, Health, Heart Rate.
Fitness will allow you to start a sporting activity related to running, walking, treadmill, bicycle or free activity useful for activities where more sessions are required interspersed with pauses, such as abs, weight lifting etc .. For this last activity the GPS will not be active and the screen will return the BPM value and the serial number addressed. For other activities we will be provided with the information about the time elapsed, the distance traveled, the BPM value of the heart, the calories burned, the driving speed and the average time per km / h. Furthermore the Ticwatch S after 15 seconds of inactivity will automatically enter pause.
Health instead is a sort of graphic memo of the daily activity detected by Ticwatch that through the concentric rings provides us with data on steps taken according to the set objective, daily activity goal (at least 30 minutes between fast walking and physical activity) and movement target (250 steps every hour for 9 hours a day) . From every single screen by swiping from bottom to top we can also have the detail of the timetable in which we performed the set tasks.
Finally Heart Rate that will simply allow get the measurement of our heartbeat every time we feel the need to do it. All the data collected by the Ticwatch turned out to be decidedly precise on a par if not higher than that offered by the competition.
This does not mean that you can install applications with Runtastic, Runkeeper or Strava. It should be noted that the sports activities monitored by our Ticwatch S will consume a lot of energy with the risk that within 2 / 3 hours you may find yourself dry autonomy. At the level smartphone side software we find theTicwatch application by Mobvoi which will keep track of the data collected by the suite installed on the wearable, allowing you to view the map of the route taken during an activity, while it is not possible to view the history of heart measurements made manually.
Altra indispensable application is Android Wear through which you can change the watchfaces on the fly, make screenshots of the dial of our wearable gadget and act on some settings but above all useful for the first configuration of the Ticwatch S. Really excellent company support that releases frequent updates via OTA aimed at optimizing the software as well as correcting some small bugs. Consider that within 2 weeks I received well 3 updates.
In conclusion Ticwatch S is offered at a list price of 199 euro while our good Geekmall manages to lower the price to 159 euro but taking advantage of our fantastic discount code XMTODAY5 the Ticwatch S will be yours at 154 euro only for all three colors including Knight (black), Aurora (bright yellow) and Glacier (white), the version we tested. If we consider a Italian support and warranty of 24 monthsa fast delivery within 2 / 4 days with Bartolini courier and the possibility of payment via PayPal, surely it is a gadget that you can not and should not let you escape.
The Ticwatch S did not stand out for quality or features better than other similar products the strength is a very competitive price and a young line, fresh and pleasant to the eye but also practical in use. Good materials, excellent display, very interesting features offered ... well let's admit it is a real pleasure to be guided by your watch through Maps to a romantic restaurant without having to bring out the smartphone and maybe while checking the notifications and listen to a bit of music.
Perhaps the category to which the Ticwatch S belongs to today could be seen more as a whim than a necessity, at least for most users, but at a super competitive price the whimper becomes within everyone's reach considering that Valentine's day is near, and our sport watch it fits the wrist of an HE but also that of a LEI therefore all on Geekmall.it
