Realme TechLife Watch S100 review: a budget wearable that works, mostly

I won’t get into the numbers, but the fact is that wearables, especially budget-centric ones, have taken off in a big way. Pandemic or not, people getting more aware and focussed on their fitness is a good thing. It’s very tough for a new device to differentiate itself and stand out from the herd in a crowded market though. And right at the outset, it becomes clear that the Realme TechLife Watch S100, manages to do that fairly well… all thanks to one feature that it boasts. Read on.

• From a design standpoint, the Watch S100 looks fairly staid and plain Jane… especially the black colourway I have with me on my wrist. Its black rubber straps (20mm interchangeable ones with quick release pins) and a fairly standard-looking rectangular case mean it won’t turn any heads when you’re out and about. That said, it’s quite lightweight and extremely comfortable to wear for long periods of time. It’s IP68 rated too.
  
  
• While its 1.69-inch, 240 x 280 pixel display isn’t of the AMOLED variety, it’s still quite vibrant and at 530 nits, quite bright too. It’s easy to read and highly responsive to touch as well.
  
  
• The wearable offers the usual smart features, including weather, alarm, stopwatch, timer, music control, remote camera shutter, phone finder, etc. As can be expected, it mirrors notifications from a paired smartphone too… though there’s no way to interact with them.
• The health and fitness features on offer include a heart rate monitor, SpO2, sleep tracking, sedentary reminder, drinking reminder and breathing training. There’s support for 24 sports activities, but this is a budget tracker, so you don’t get niceties like auto workout detection.
  
  
  
  
• One of the most standout features of the Watch S100 has to be its skin temperature and body temperature monitor. The device can measure the temperature of your skin and body on demand, and also display historical data in the app. As you’d expect, this feature can be quite handy in current times. And based on my tests, it’s reasonably accurate as well. The measurement of other physical and health data seems fairly accurate too, and I don’t really have any complaints in that regard.
  
  
  
  
• The device syncs with your phone using the Realme Fit app, and here’s where some improvement is needed, I think. While there are no issues with how the data is represented, or with syncing, I think the app could do with some refinements when it comes to the wording, or how certain things are written. A few examples of this are mentioned below:

Under sedentary reminder: “For a long time not active, the device will vibrate to remind”

Under drink water reminder: “If there is no water for the duration, the device will vibrate to remind”

• The watch also has a few minor software-related niggles. For example, while you do get an option to specify temperature units, the same setting applies to both skin temperature as well as weather. I’d like to see my skin temperature in Fahrenheit and weather in Celsius, but unfortunately, I don’t have that option on the Realme TechLife Watch S100.
  
  
• On the positive side, there are quite a few options available when it comes to watch faces. You can make a custom watch face using an image from your phone gallery as well.
  
  
• The device uses a charging cable with two pins that attach magnetically to the pogo pins on the back of the watch for juicing up. The battery life is quite good and you can expect the device to last you about a week to 10 days on a single charge.

Verdict

The Realme TechLife Watch S100, for its asking price of Rs 2,499, is a decent option if you’re looking for a budget fitness tracker. It could do with some software improvements, but that said, offers a decent set of health and fitness features and good battery life too. The inclusion of the skin temperature monitor helps it stand out and is a useful feature to have too.

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