GT08: Apple Watch for the Poor



    In the wake of the widespread sales of Apple Watch, the Chinese "uncle Liao" could not stay away and not try to do something of their own. The range of “smart watches” on a variety of online stores ranges from an “absolute clone”, which they will try to steam in the alley at half price from real Watch Sport, to an “original design” that is vaguely reminiscent of an ancestor and pretending to be its development.

    What came into my hands is closer to the center of this spectrum. The watch is clearly similar to Apple (both in appearance and menu), but does not contain the nibbled logos, has a slightly different layout of controls, and is sold in a store under its own name (GT08 / EG08). I was terribly interested to see what can be blinded for $ 68$ 55 dollars, and can it look decent (that is, so as not to be ashamed to put on your hand and leave the house). Spoiler: you can call them without a phone!

    But first things first.

    Declared Specifications


    ... declared by the seller. The manufacturer could not be found.
    Wireless: GSM 850/900/1800 / 1900MHz, Bluetooth 3.0 , NFC (seller’s first blatant lie)
    Interface: English, Chinese Russian, German etc. (seller’s second and last blatant lie)
    Screen: 240x240 TFT
    CPU: MTK6260A
    Memory: 128 + 64 MB, + MicroSD ( up to 16 gigabytes )
    Battery: Li-po 350mAh (enough for 2-3 days)
    Color: black
    Functions: sleep tracking, camera, pedometer, phone calls, contact synchronization, call answering, phone search, phone book, music player, calorie counter, call notification;
    Case: stainless steel, moisture protection NO;
    Strap: rubber
    Weight: 62 g
    Package dimensions: 10.5 x 10.5 x 9 cm
    Package weight: 235 g
    Price: $ 67 (with all kinds of coupons it’s also $ 54; about 1/6 of the cost of real Apple Watch)
    Compatibility: Android + Bluetooth 3.0. There is no iOS support. The manufacturer warns of possible incompatibility with custom firmware such as MIUI.


    Unpacking and appearance



    The watch comes in a square box consisting of two halves in the shape of a prism.


    Inside there is a (suddenly) watch on a soft


    surface: The package is simple: a watch, a flat MicroUSB cable, a 350mAh battery, instructions in English and Chinese and a film (!) On the watch glass (I don’t think anyone will use it):


    To the outside There are no complaints about the watch, it looks decent. Nothing creaks and does not play, no plastic burrs. Honest glass on top, honest aluminum on the sides.


    Behind - honest plastic:


    Above the TFT-touch screen of 240x240 pixels, you can see the eye of the front camera:


    On the right side there is a single physical button in the form of a wheel (rotation is purely decorative, lists cannot be scrolled):


    On the left side, masquerading as a button, there is a plug for the MicroUSB connector: it is needed to charge the battery and connect to the computer (mass storage device). The holes of the speaker (bottom) and microphone (top) are visible on the same edge: The


    plug sits tight, but it certainly won’t get wet:


    As, however, the back plastic cover: it sits tight, but the gap under the nail (to remove the cover) is quite large , and water will seep into it without any problems. However, nobody promised moisture protection:


    Here, under the cover, the inscription “3D SOUND” is visible in the best traditions of Chinese technology. Slots for SIM cards and MicroSD are hidden under the battery. Yes, this watch can be used as a full-fledged telephone, media player, voice recorder ... like in spy movies. This will be a little later.


    Watch functions


    I went over the menu items in this video. In the text - further:


    Dial: There are three kinds of dial. You cannot add new ones.


    Camera : can take pictures with a resolution of up to 640x480 and video 320x440. She can not find any useful application, exceptional pampering.
    But an application that can broadcast an image from a smartphone’s camera to a watch’s camera, and take pictures with it, may turn out to be useful. To do this, the BTNotification application must be installed on your smartphone, which I will discuss below.



    Example video from a watch camera:


    Example photo:


    Calls : using the watch, you can make and receive calls via the watch’s SIM card, or use the watch as a Bluetooth headset for your smartphone.

    The number can be dialed, either select the contact from the installed SIM card, or view the address book of the smartphone (when connected via Bluetooth).

    At the same time, you can make / receive a call by the clock and talk. Yes, right through the clock: either by speakerphone, or by putting them to your ear. It is uncomfortable and looks strange, but it is possible. I suspect that primary and secondary school students will be delighted with such a “spy” function :-) A notification of an incoming call can be either a vibration or a melody (pre-installed, or an audio file to your taste).

    Note: the first idiotic act of the developers is, by default, with an incoming call, the sound goes to the clock. Yes exactly. You received a vibro notification on your wrist, took out the phone, clicked the “Answer” button, put the phone on your ear, and ... hear the voice of the interlocutor on your wrist. However, this is solved by disabling the "Voice" for the clock in the Bluetooth settings on the smartphone.

    SMS : As with calls, you can receive / send messages via the SIM card in hours or via Bluetooth via the phone. For a set of messages there are keyboards in English and Chinese (both full QWERTY, which is very difficult to get into with your fingers, and the good old digital T9). There is no Russian input, but the Cyrillic is displayed without any problems.

    Music: you can control the standard player of the phone, or play music directly on the watch (broadcasting from the phone via Bluetooth), or listen to what is recorded on the memory card in the watch (the watch sees a 16 GB card without problems).

    Calendar : just a calendar. You can add a reminder of an event. But in the absence of synchronization, creating events on such a small screen is not a great pleasure. However, it is worth recognizing that the screen resolution is quietly enough to display the entire month.

    Alarm clock : alarm clock. Able to ring and vibrate. It is unlikely that someone will seriously sleep in this watch, but for a reminder of something during the day, they are not bad.

    Pedometer : counts steps. It starts manually, it can work in the background. Compared withXiaomi MiBand counts about 15% fewer steps. It’s hard to say which of them is lying stronger :) It is theoretically possible to synchronize with only one fitness application, about it below:

    “Applications”: the bold minus of this watch is a few similarities to “applications”, such as QQ and WeChat (Chinese messengers), which they can try to turn on only if they have a SIM card (none of them succeeded in launching), a browser (with the Google Chrome icon) that also works only on GPRS of the internal SIM card, as well as the Chinese fitness app “FunDo”. The latter simply caused pain, because the design is purely knee-Chinese, and normally it never worked (force close every 5 minutes). It would not have been better than all this.

    Reminder "of lingering":a function that should remind you to get up and stretch. Cannot work simultaneously with step counter.

    Calculator : you can quickly calculate something. It works flawlessly.

    In addition, the watch has a pair of labels completely incomprehensible to me: “Radio” and “Sputnik”. The first one asks for “plugging in headphones” for playback, which is difficult to do in the absence of a connector for them. The second, in the absence of communication with the smartphone, it is simple to install the BTNotifier application, and in the presence of this application displays the only inscription “Clear” and the “Exit” button. His appointment remains a mystery to me.

    Battery : Holds a charge for two to three days of normal use. At least in some ways the fake circumvented the original! : D

    Smartphone app


    BTNotifications ( link to * .apk ) is the most problematic part of the device. The Chinese application responsible for call forwarding / access to SMS / camera and other things is done poorly. My Android 5.0 may be the case, but the application is very unstable and often crashes.


    Basic functions (such as receiving or sending calls, smartphone phone book, etc.) are available without the application, but for sending SMS, for example, or for remote control of the camera, it is necessary.

    Yes, with this application it is possible to receive any notifications on the watch, up to pulling out the stylus in Galaxy Note, not to mention WhatsApp, Vkontakte , etc. ... You can individually enable or disable the display of notifications from each of the phone applications, including system ones.

    conclusions


    As I said in the first part of the review, the impression of the watch is twofold. On the one hand, this is an excellent (for this price category) iron version: it does not creak or hang anything, no gaps. The case is real, not painted metal; the screen, although it has mediocre viewing angles and resolution, is covered with glass and accurately responds to touch (you can even type on a QWERTY keyboard!). It looks much better than most “pieces of electronics” worn on the hand and called a “watch” (just look at what’s sold on AliExpress for “smart watch” and you’ll understand what I mean).




    But software execution leaves much to be desired. It would seem that is it really impossible to allocate extra two or three thousand green pieces of paper in production so that the programmer works more diligently? But from this a much more functional product could be obtained.

    At this stage, this is a stylish accessory for those who are not embarrassed by the Chinese origin and clear allusions to their “mastermind”. Basic functions - notification of calls, SMS - the application somehow performs. Of course, you should not compare with various Moto360s and magnificent LG watches here, at least because of fundamentally different price categories.

    Personally, at first the device seemed to me complete nonsense, but on the second day of wearing, I realized that not everything was so bad, and, perhaps, I will not part with them yet. In the end, they can be presented to a younger brother who will be delighted with such a spy device.

    And below - a survey on the topic of your attitude to wearable crafts from the Middle Kingdom.

    Only registered users can participate in the survey. Please come in.

    What do you think of such “inspired by other people's ideas” devices?

    • 8.1% Negative: do something your own! 67
    • 17.5% Neutral: anyway. 145
    • 52% Neutral until a fake is tried to pass off as the original 429
    • 22.2% Positive: more fakes, good and different! 183

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