Realme TechLife Watch R100 Review: Premium looking smartwatch for first-time users

Realme TechLife Watch R100 is the latest entry from an Indian company in the budget segment. Due to the traditional look of the watch, the circular dial was an important deciding factor when buying a smartwatch. Many buyers prefer a circular look, but finding a good display at an affordable price is less common. I’ve seen Samsung, Fossil and Amazfit smartwatches, all of which violate Sub-R. 5,000 barriers. Sure, Noise, Fire-Boltt and BoAt offer some interesting products in this price range, but lack the trust of best-selling smartphone brands.

Knowing this, Realme launched the Realme TechLife Watch R100. This is a smartwatch sold by Rs. 3,999, as you can imagine, a large 1.32 inch circular dial. We also promise to provide activity tracking and solid companion apps, but can we prove that we are a strong competitor to fierce competition? Check it out in our review.

The watch R100’s circular dial is surrounded by a premium aluminum bezel reminiscent of the first Samsung Galaxy watches without a rotating bezel. It easily stands out from the ocean of smartwatches in this price range and certainly turns a few heads. There are two types, black and gray, and the former is available.

The paint is easily scratched and the corners of the unit are worn out after just one week of use. There are two buttons on the right side of the Watch R100. The buttons at the top give you quick access to the clock menu from your home screen and also act as a back button. One of the buttons is for accessing activities and making selections on the screen. Both require a great deal of force to activate and have excellent tactile feedback, so you can always be confident when you press them.

The strap can be attached to the watch using spring-loaded pins. Realme currently only pairs this with a silicone strap, but you can connect a compatible aftermarket 22mm strap. I tried connecting the strap of the original Galaxy Watch, and it worked fine.

The Watch R100 is IP68 certified for its dust and water resistance, which is very impressive considering the price. We took multiple showers with it, and it’s working absolutely well.

The Watch R100 is illuminated by a 1.32 inch (33.5 mm) circular LCD display with a resolution of 360 x 360. Enough to hide individual pixels and bright enough to be read in harsh sunlight. However, it is not very responsive. In fact, swipe gestures can be frustrating because you have to repeat them over and over to move on to the next screen. For some reason, the connection between the touch input and the display may be perceived as broken.

The gap between the display and the glass is also quite large, so you can expect glare from the screen on a sunny day. Also, because it is a liquid crystal display, it is not very lively and the light bleeds at night, so you cannot enjoy the dial of a dark clock.

The clock face itself is cool. Some of them are informative and colorful, others are just decorative. At any time, the watch can store up to 8 watch faces. These can be changed from the app.

To set up your Watch R100 for the first time, you need to pair it with the Realme Wear app. The process is simple, except that it takes a long time to complete the update. Unfortunately, when I tried it, it failed once in the middle, so don’t lose hope until you succeed.

This app is easy to use and has 4 tabs at the bottom: “Home”, “Exercise”, “Device” and “My”. The first tab shows vital signs such as heart rate, steps, calories burned, and sleep at a glance. The second tab shows a map of where you walked, ran, or hiked. The third tab shows information about your device and allows you to tinker with settings such as notifications, incoming calls, and watch faces. Finally, “My” is where you can see medals, send questions and suggestions, and check for updates.

Other features of the watch include “find your phone”, control the music played on your phone, and event reminders from Google Calendar.

The representation of the data in the app is minimal but effective and very similar to what you see in the Mi Fitness app. The clock, on the other hand, has a very large screen, so all your workout data is displayed neatly and at wide intervals. But the way it manages real estate sometimes seems futile. For example, notifications occupy the entire screen rather than appearing above the menu. This interferes with doing important things such as tracking workouts and can sometimes be really angry.

You’ll also receive unwanted notifications, such as when YouTube changes songs with autoplay, or when you receive a call (even when routed through your smartphone or Bluetooth headset) and the entire duration of the call rings. there is. This is probably the most frustrating thing about watches. Because if you try to dismiss it, the clock will hang up.

But despite the low price, the fact that this watch can make phone calls will be interesting to buyers. I can’t say anything about the quality of the speakers and microphone, but if you can’t reach for your cell phone, you’re done. I love the timely hydration alerts and breathing techniques. But I still can’t reply to the message. This is a shame.

The watch also comes with Alexa integration and must be enabled within the app. You can check the weather, set alarms, create reminders, and more.

When it comes to tracking your health, the Watch R100 can track your heart rate, steps, SpO2 and sleep. Realme claims to offer over 100 sport modes. In reality, that’s kind of truth, but almost all modes measure only activity duration, calories burned, heart rate, and in some cases GPS coordinates of activity using smartphone sensors. All of these modes must be manually activated, and the interface and data representation of each of these modes is similar. This is fine for walking, running and cycling, but not so much if you are exercising in a gym where certain exercisers need to count. Also, depending on your heart rate and SpO2, you will not be able to track in real time when to move from light training to heavy anaerobic training.

The step counter is a bit slow to start, but with decent accuracy. Compared to the Garmin Instinct 2S Solar, the Watch R100 was off by about 4-5 steps. This is fine for a watch at this price. Heart rate tracking is also slow, but it will be accurate when it detects your presence. Sensors are not fooled by inanimate objects. The SpO2 tracker was off by 5 notches when compared to the pulse oximeter, which is quite inaccurate and is not recommended for use in an emergency.

The 7th is the official battery life claim by the Realme TechLifeWatch R100, which makes sense given the type of sensor the Watch R100 packs. However, it was surprisingly expensive in real life and could not be killed in about 9 days after use. To charge, you can use a bundle cable with a magnetic pogo connector on one end and a USB Type-A connector on the other end. It takes less than 2 hours to fully charge.

With Rs. The 3,999 Realme Tech LifeWatch R100 is perfect for first-time buyers looking for a stylish yet affordable smartwatch with a circular dial. It offers a great, bright LCD display, IP68 certification, two weeks of battery life and, more importantly, the ability to make phone calls. Sport mode and activity tracking are a bit basic, but if that’s not your main goal, this can solve the problem. In addition, you can earn the trust of a well-established smartphone brand that has a proven track record of promoting timely updates.

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