With the first glance at the iTouch Watch, you can’t help but wonder if it can compete with the Apple Watch but for a more budget-friendly price tag. While it may be as technologically advanced or feature-packed as other options, the iTouch watch does what it does well, and it covers all the basics without breaking the bank.
If you want to learn more about its functionality, keep on reading as we break it down in this iTouch smart Watch review.
Features at a Glance
- Clock and alarm
- Contacts
- Phone locator
- Step tracking
- Calorie tracking
- Sleep tracking
- Music control
- Smartphone and app notifications
- Rechargeable battery
- Compatibility with both iOS (7.2 and up) and Android (4.4 and up)
iTouch Smart Watch In-depth Review
Design and Display
Let’s start with the design, which is smooth and sleek, with a bit more curve to it than the Apple watch. The mix between black and gold or red makes it appealing for those looking for elegance or an edge, respectively.
Naturally, it comes with a LED screen as opposed to the more advanced AMOLED ones, which is why it’s possible for it to come at such an affordable price.
Looking at the watch, you’ll find the power and home button on the right, and on the left, you’ll find the speaker, mic, and USB on the body of the watch. As for the screen itself, you get three buttons, an OK and answer on the left, a dial and keypad in the middle, and a back button on the right.
Activity and Fitness
The iTouch Watch comes with a sedentary reminder that sends you alerts when you’ve been inactive for a few minutes, which helps you stay more active according to a schedule you set.
It also comes with a pedometer to help you keep track of the steps you take throughout the day, and a sleep monitoring feature that gives you feedback on the quality of your sleep, with history included for even further analysis and getting a better picture of how well you’ve been sleeping.
Smartphone Features
Being a smartwatch, the iTouch Watch comes with some built-in apps, including an alarm that you can set up to 5 different timings, a stopwatch to track your various activities, and a calculator that can prove handy when you’re in a hurry.
And in case you get further away than 33 feet from your smartphone, the watch will send you an alert to bring that to your attention. Think about all the times you’ve had to run back to your apartment, office, or awkwardly to that party because you didn’t remember to take your phone!
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Not only that, but you can reverse the situation, too. If you’ve misplaced your watch somewhere before taking it off to hop in the shower, you can use your phone to locate it. It’s worth mentioning that you should take it off before taking a shower as it’s not water-resistant like the high-end alternatives.
When Bluetooth-connected, the contacts on your phone will be synced to the phonebook on the watch, displaying up to a thousand contacts. From then on, you can make and receive phone calls or even send and receive messages.
However, the latter is only available if the phone you’ve connected runs on Android, while iOS only allows you to view the notification but not respond.
From the call logs app, you’ll be able to check out the history of your incoming calls, outgoing calls, and missed calls. There’s a handy little icon called “Notifier,” which displays your 10 most recent notifications, which proves very useful when it comes to keeping up with your business or social networks.
Also, there’s a music control app that allows you to play music on your device as well as control the music by pausing, playing, skipping, or turning the volume up or down, and a Camera Remote app that lets you record videos or take pictures right through your wrist.
Battery and Charging
The battery on the iTouch is a wild card. Sometimes it can last only an hour, and sometimes it can give you enough juice to finish your walk or run an errand. The same applies to charging, as you could leave it to charge overnight without getting a functioning watch in the morning, which is a huge disappointment.
Typically, the battery and charging deteriorate with time and with more use of the watch, but at least you’ll get proper functionality to cover its price.
Navigation
Now, despite all the positive qualities this watch offers, it’s not exactly the most user-friendly to navigate. Programming, syncing, and navigation are all quite confusing, and the pairing instructions aren’t exactly the clearest.
Connectivity
As mentioned above, there were some compatibility issues with iOS as the watch only allows you to view messages but not respond to them through the watch. However, it’s worth mentioning that compatibility issues with iOS go beyond that, with the responsiveness being quite a disappointment and a lot of data not syncing well.
Syncing and compatibility are much better with Android phones, so, unless you’re an iOS user with a lot of patience, it would be highly advisable to opt for this watch only if you have an Android phone.
This is not to say that there aren’t any syncing issues with Android phones. There still are, as would be expected from a device this cheap, but they’re a lot more bearable and don’t make the watch any less functional.
Pros:
- Super affordable with plenty of features
- Music and camera can be controlled remotely
- Calls and text functionality (with Android)
Cons:
- The band is a little flimsy and prone to falling off
- Compatibility issues with iOS devices
- No heart-rate monitoring
- Lacks GPS
Final Thoughts
At a price that can reach even less than a quarter of an Apple Watch, the iTouch Smart Watch is an excellent alternative. Despite its affordability, it’s quite functional, looks sleek, and does pretty much everything you’d ask of a smartwatch. However, if you’re looking for in-depth activity tracking, you might want to look for another option.