The new Wyze Watch is unlike any other smartwatch. It costs less than $20, which is even cheaper than most budget watches we’ve covered before. The Wyze Watch has smartphone notifications, sleep, and activity tracking, a continuous heart rate monitor. Plus, a few additional features such as blood oxygen monitoring.
At this pricing point, there are no genuine competitors. You could consider the offerings of Amazfit, Huawei, and Xiaomi, though.
In the UK, the Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite costs around £50; however, it’s not available in the United States. Its specifications are identical to those of the Amazfit Bip U Pro. Aside from that, something like the Huawei Watch GT2e, which runs Wear OS and falls into a separate category entirely, would set you back over $100.
The Amazfit Neo, which is often ignored yet provides excellent fitness monitoring in a vintage Casio casing, is a possible exception. However, unlike the Wyze, it is not a full-screen wristwatch.
As a result, the Wyze Watch, now only available in the United States, stands alone. Is it capable, or is it simply too cheap?
Wyze has recognized that there are a few issues, and they’re working on them. We’ll go over that in detail later. The aim is to correct the problem with a software update
Main features
- Tracking your steps and sleep
- Sport mode for activity tracking 24 hours a day, 7 days a week HR monitoring IP68 waterproofing and submersible
- Notifications on your smartphone
- Battery life of 10 days (advertised)
- Wyze smart home devices can only be controlled through a 1.44-inch TFT screen.
- Cycle tracking
Wyze Watch Design
The Wyze Watch isn’t a terrible-looking watch for $20. It doesn’t have the brilliance of the Apple Watch, but it’s also not particularly ugly.
The gadget has a single button for managing the UI, and wide bezels border the squared touchscreen. The silicone strap includes a conventional release mechanism with a heart rate sensor and charger connector on the back.
You won’t be uploading music, installing applications, or anything like that since there’s just 256KB of RAM and 16MB of storage.
With an IP68 certification, the Watch offers excellent waterproofing. Bluetooth 5.0 is used to connect with the app. However, there is neither internal or phone-connected GPS, and voice assistants are not supported.
Display
- TFT LCD panel with a resolution of 1.4 inches (320 x 320 pixel, 16-bit color)
- The display is small and bright, but the bezels are massive.
- Good Touchscreen
Overall, the Wyze Watch 44 display outperforms its price point in terms of display quality.
The touchscreen is snappy enough, particularly when comparing it to the Wyze Band, which features a slick finish and a pressure-based touch UI that made operation difficult and the display difficult to view in direct sunlight. Despite low pixel density, the screen is bright and clear, and it is viewable in direct sunlight.
Wyze Watch Battery Life
Battery life is much less than the advertised 15-minute charge for 25% battery fullness. Wyze claims that the battery will last for at least 9 days. However, it’s about half this, according to users.
The charging period is 2.5 hours to full. If you want to use the watch, you’ll need to detach from the charging pins since you can’t get past the charging screen while attached.
UI
- There are still a lot of kinks to work out
- The user interface is simple and effective (when it works)
- Unlike Wyze Band, there is no Alexa
Even though the interface is the same, it works a bit smoother in wristwatch form than a fitness tracker, and the display is also better. Everything simply makes more sense now.
To enter the app menu, hit the single button once, then click it again to return. Then to access alerts, slide down, and to access fast settings, swipe up. Finally, to adjust the watch face, press and hold the power button. The Wyze app allows you to make a variety of cosmetic modifications, as well as establish exercise goals, get alerts, and more.
While the Wyze Band does provide notifications, reading them isn’t much pleasure. Each line of the tiny display can only fit a handful of words. Things have really improved in this area. Even if you can’t respond or engage with the alerts in any way, you can get the essence from the preview. On the other hand, the watch often disconnects from the smartphone and needs resyncing, so it’s not exactly dependable.
Bugs
There are also a lot of strange bugs. The inactivity warning for “time to stretch” tends to remain buzzing until the watch is restarted. Every now and again, the watch will resume on its own. There are a lot of strange oddities in there as well. When you start a timer, it stays on the screen until it either expires or you stop it manually. That should ideally be running in the background.
When opposed to the Band, one feature the Watch lacks is Alexa functionality. It wasn’t completely hands-free, but it is useful for controlling Amazon-connected devices. This isn’t available; however, if you have other Wyze devices such as cameras, smart plugs, or lights, you can use the Wyze App to create shortcuts. For example, if you’re about to leave home and want to switch on your camera, you may do so with your wrist.
HRM and activity tracking
When comparing the Wyze Watch against an Apple Watch S6 and Whoop Strap 3, it holds its own when it comes to recording a resting heart rate within one beat. There’s no issue at all. There’s also a blood oxygen monitor, though.
When wearing a $20 wristwatch, you expect some compromises, but this watch just doesn’t function sometimes. There is just one ‘sports’ mode, which is basically a running mode with estimated pace and distance (step-based since there is no GPS), time, and live HR. So, apart from HR and projected calories, it’s not really helpful for strength training, yoga, or any other non-step-based exercises.
The GPS mode, when compared to the more basic Garmin watches, is way out too.
When you’ve been idle for too long, the watch, like with the Wyze Band, reminds you to stretch. If you pay attention to it, it’s a pleasant and helpful feature. The vibration simply kept going till the watch restarted the first time I got the notice. This is another problem that Wyze has admitted to us.
Because of its IPX8 water resistance, it’s also ideal for swimming, but there’s no dedicated swim tracking mode. Within the app, you may also create your own exercise goals.
Wyze Watch Sleep Tracking
- Automatic sleep monitoring at its most basic level
- Sleep monitoring has a strange date synchronisation problem
Users say it can take a few days before you see sleep data. The watch shows you how long you slept, and the Wyze app divides it into deep and light sleep, as well as time awake. When it does, data is inaccurate. Nothing like what we’ve come to expect, thanks to Fitbit.
The Wyze Watch is appealing — how can it not be with a price tag of $20? The construction quality is excellent. And it has excellent waterproofing and a display that belies the price tag. Even though it’s just $20, a problematic wristwatch with essential functions like exercise tracking that simply don’t work can’t be recommended.
So, is the Wyze Watch worth it?
That really depends on your budget and if you can live with the drawbacks.
Pros
- Display and construction are both good
- The user interface is simple
- Waterproof
Cons
- Activity Tracking is ineffective
- There are so many bugs
- There is no GPS
Whilst there are no real competitors at the $20 mark, we have a list of the best budget smartwatches under $100 you should check out.
Follow us on social media to stay up to date with our latest articles
      |
Last Updated on November 19, 2021
Maygen is a multifaceted writer, proofreader, and experienced smartwatch industry writing and editing professional.
We appreciate her work, contribution to our blog, marketing skills, editing, and expert writing abilities which are second to none.
Truly adept in content strategy and content creation which has immense contribution to our blog.