January 26, 2015 at 15:01MyKronoz ZeWatch 2: Between Switzerland and China
“Smart watches from Switzerland” sounds tempting, doesn't it? However, these "Swiss watches" were made in the same China, and their designers were, although real Swiss, but from the category "I'm not a magician, but just learning."
What are we talking about? About ZeWatch 2, a new Swiss company MyKronoz smartwatch. This black shiny beast had the imprudence to fall into our tenacious paws, and now we intend to take it apart in bones in our Mad review.
Specifications:
The watch looks pretty decent. Of course, before the luxury of the legendary Swiss brands, the designers of MyKronoz are like the moon, but against the backdrop of dozens of Chinese counterparts, ZeWatch 2 looks like Darth Vader in a crowd of stormtroopers. The laconic form and the black gloss of the case make a good impression, smoothly turning into the smooth surface of the silicone strap, making the device more like a bracelet than a watch.
It is not entirely clear why a conventional non-touch display needs a glossy surface. The screen turned out to be very easily soiled - you have to wipe it every now and then. In the open air, gloss predictably dampens the brightness of the contrast OLED display, making its contents poorly distinguishable.
Nevertheless, the ergonomics of ZeWatch 2 deserves praise: the watch fits comfortably on your hand, doesn’t squeeze anywhere, does not rub the skin, it feels comfortable even after many hours of continuous use and in the process of active sports. Although sleeping with a watch on your wrist is not too comfortable - it will take a habit.
Yes, and lovers to dive with a watch into the pool or just soak up the end of the day with a ZeWatch 2 shower will not do. The device is completely devoid of waterproofing and probably will not be able to survive even a small rain. What can we say about complete immersion.
Nevertheless, protection against water in smart watches is not the most important thing. Much more relevant to them are compatibility issues. For example, a fresh “Sonevsky” SmartBand SWR10 fitness bracelet without fail requires the presence of Android 4.4 on the host device. ZeWatch 2 is not so finicky. They managed to easily “make friends” even with the weak Sony Xperia M. In the list of Bluetooth devices, the device appeared as a standard headset with the function of relaying music. He connected without any dances with a tambourine: to initiate pairing, it was enough to press and hold the upper left button of the clock.
Holds the connection device tenaciously. If the smartphone and watch diverge over a distance of more than 10 meters, the latter report this with two persistent vibration signals and the inscription “disconnected” - ideal if you are one of those who forget the smartphone wherever he gets. In the presence of concrete walls, joint rupture occurs at a shorter distance. Fortunately, to restore communication does not require additional manipulations - everything happens automatically.
But the ZeWatch 2 mobile app is a serious puncture.
Against the background of a perfectly suitable device, it looks just terrifying: the fonts on the buttons pop out of the frame or overlap each other, some buttons do not work at all. In addition, the need to confirm each time you enter your login and password and synchronize manually with the device is annoying.
Not to mention the fact that for any manipulation you will need Wi-Fi or 3G. All current information, you see, is stored in the cloud, and without a stable connection, you cannot take a single step.
Having finally become disillusioned with the Android version of the application, we decided to install it on the iPad Air. On the tablet, the application looks much more decent: it’s also not the top of design skill, but at least you can already interact with it, but a couple of glitches, like broken buttons, are present here. About the tablet version is not talking.
Now on the content. The application has four tabs: “activity”, “goals”, “reminders” and “settings”. The first tab provides statistics on steps taken during the day, distance traveled, calories burned, as well as data on sleep. In the second tab, you can set your daily rate for each of the above parameters. The third is for creating alarms and alerts. In total, you can create up to 6 "reminders."
The fourth tab provides access to profile settings, adjusting screen brightness and activating silent mode. Here you can set the date and time format. The date and time are set on the clock automatically during the first synchronization.
Having dealt with the application, let's move on to the most interesting - to the supported functions. In the instructions, we found a whole bunch of valuable functions: relaying calls, notifications of missed SMS, voice control support, music broadcasting, customizable alerts and alarms.
Most of the declared options turned out to be affordable and even without special glitches. We couldn’t just cope with voice control: it flatly refused to respond to the traditional “Ok Google!” Even the permission to transmit voice commands from Bluetooth devices set in the settings of Google Now did not help.
As for the relay of calls, then everything happens quite predictably. With an incoming call, ZeWatch 2 immediately takes fire, notifying the user with loud trills and continuous vibration, as well as displaying the caller's number. The ringtone, however, is not borrowed from the phone - instead, an unpretentious 8-bit melody sounds. Sound can be turned off in the application’s “settings” menu - vibration is always enough.
Acceptance and rejection of calls is carried out according to the usual scheme: the green button is responsible for the first, the red button for the second. It is also possible to temporarily turn off the vibration alert by briefly pressing the upper right key, and also call back to the missed number. As for the sensitivity of the microphone and the quality of the built-in speaker, they leave much to be desired. On a noisy street and in the subway, talking on the clock is very problematic.
ZeWatch 2 also features classic fitness tracking features. The gadget can count steps, measure the distance traveled and evaluate the calories burned. All data is sent to the mobile application and verified with user "goals". Statistics can be viewed both on the display of the device itself and in the application. The memory of the latter is extremely short - statistics are stored only a week.
It is difficult to suspect a device of high measurement accuracy. However, it should be condescending. In the end, this is not a specialized fitness bracelet, like Polar Loop, but a universal gadget "for all occasions" with the character of a typical amateur.
As for the sleep tracker, here we were overtaken by deep disappointment. It’s not even a matter of annoying need to press a button every time when you go to bed or wake up to go to the “night mode”. And the fact that out of four test nights, the clock twice independently left this “night mode”, incorrectly determining the total duration of sleep with all the ensuing.
In addition, the device has never managed to transfer the night tracking results to the application. As a result, our sleep statistics have remained pristine.
The most dubious of the declared functions seemed to us the relay of music. It is not clear why transferring music to a weak speaker: even when brought to full power with its sound, it is by no means impressive. But they intercept the audio stream of the clock automatically. That is, if you want to listen to music through a wired headset, with the watch connected, this will require additional manipulations from you.
Finally, about nutrition. The watch is charged using a special clip, a USB connector is used as a source of electricity.
A full charge, according to the documentation, is an hour and a half, but we managed to fill the battery in just an hour. Operating time: due to the low power consumption of the OLED display, which automatically turns off 5 seconds after activation, the device quietly pulls the strap for the declared 3-4 days.
By the way, the absence of the ability to change the time to automatically turn off the display, as well as the need to start any manipulation by pressing the green or red buttons, is very annoying.
Summary
The advantages and disadvantages of the gadget roughly balance each other. Our attitude towards him was formed rather negative: without much enthusiasm, but with complaints: primarily to software developers. The gadget is trying to be an option for those who want to try smart watches in action, but at the same time money is a pity for Pebble. He does it badly: after wearing ZeWatch 2, a newcomer to the world of wearable electronics is likely to curse the entire industry at once.
Pros:
Minuses:
Competitor
Instead of ZeWatch 2, we recommend taking a closer look at Cogito Pop: this smart watch looks like a regular analog one, but in fact it displays notifications using various icons. With their help, you can control the music player on your smartphone and camera. In addition, Cogito's youth watches are waterproof, available in a variety of colors, and work without changing the battery for a year. You can buy Cogito Pop from us at Madrobots for 5,490 rubles. There is also a more advanced Cogito Classic model with a miniature display.
Review author: Andrey Gasilin
What are we talking about? About ZeWatch 2, a new Swiss company MyKronoz smartwatch. This black shiny beast had the imprudence to fall into our tenacious paws, and now we intend to take it apart in bones in our Mad review.
Specifications:
- Size: 59 x 30 x 9 mm
- Weight: 35g
- Communication: bluetooth 2.1 & 4.0
- Compatibility: Android 2.3+ and iOS7 +
- Battery: Li-ion, capacity 130 mAh
- Charging Type: USB
- Battery Life: 3 days
- Charging time: 1 h. 30 min.
- Statistical memory: 7 days
- Display: type - OLED, resolution - 96 x 64 pixels
- Sensors: 3-axis accelerometer
- Operating temperature: -10 ° C to + 60 ° C
The watch looks pretty decent. Of course, before the luxury of the legendary Swiss brands, the designers of MyKronoz are like the moon, but against the backdrop of dozens of Chinese counterparts, ZeWatch 2 looks like Darth Vader in a crowd of stormtroopers. The laconic form and the black gloss of the case make a good impression, smoothly turning into the smooth surface of the silicone strap, making the device more like a bracelet than a watch.
It is not entirely clear why a conventional non-touch display needs a glossy surface. The screen turned out to be very easily soiled - you have to wipe it every now and then. In the open air, gloss predictably dampens the brightness of the contrast OLED display, making its contents poorly distinguishable.
Nevertheless, the ergonomics of ZeWatch 2 deserves praise: the watch fits comfortably on your hand, doesn’t squeeze anywhere, does not rub the skin, it feels comfortable even after many hours of continuous use and in the process of active sports. Although sleeping with a watch on your wrist is not too comfortable - it will take a habit.
Yes, and lovers to dive with a watch into the pool or just soak up the end of the day with a ZeWatch 2 shower will not do. The device is completely devoid of waterproofing and probably will not be able to survive even a small rain. What can we say about complete immersion.
Nevertheless, protection against water in smart watches is not the most important thing. Much more relevant to them are compatibility issues. For example, a fresh “Sonevsky” SmartBand SWR10 fitness bracelet without fail requires the presence of Android 4.4 on the host device. ZeWatch 2 is not so finicky. They managed to easily “make friends” even with the weak Sony Xperia M. In the list of Bluetooth devices, the device appeared as a standard headset with the function of relaying music. He connected without any dances with a tambourine: to initiate pairing, it was enough to press and hold the upper left button of the clock.
Holds the connection device tenaciously. If the smartphone and watch diverge over a distance of more than 10 meters, the latter report this with two persistent vibration signals and the inscription “disconnected” - ideal if you are one of those who forget the smartphone wherever he gets. In the presence of concrete walls, joint rupture occurs at a shorter distance. Fortunately, to restore communication does not require additional manipulations - everything happens automatically.
But the ZeWatch 2 mobile app is a serious puncture.
Against the background of a perfectly suitable device, it looks just terrifying: the fonts on the buttons pop out of the frame or overlap each other, some buttons do not work at all. In addition, the need to confirm each time you enter your login and password and synchronize manually with the device is annoying.
Not to mention the fact that for any manipulation you will need Wi-Fi or 3G. All current information, you see, is stored in the cloud, and without a stable connection, you cannot take a single step.
Having finally become disillusioned with the Android version of the application, we decided to install it on the iPad Air. On the tablet, the application looks much more decent: it’s also not the top of design skill, but at least you can already interact with it, but a couple of glitches, like broken buttons, are present here. About the tablet version is not talking.
Now on the content. The application has four tabs: “activity”, “goals”, “reminders” and “settings”. The first tab provides statistics on steps taken during the day, distance traveled, calories burned, as well as data on sleep. In the second tab, you can set your daily rate for each of the above parameters. The third is for creating alarms and alerts. In total, you can create up to 6 "reminders."
The fourth tab provides access to profile settings, adjusting screen brightness and activating silent mode. Here you can set the date and time format. The date and time are set on the clock automatically during the first synchronization.
Having dealt with the application, let's move on to the most interesting - to the supported functions. In the instructions, we found a whole bunch of valuable functions: relaying calls, notifications of missed SMS, voice control support, music broadcasting, customizable alerts and alarms.
Most of the declared options turned out to be affordable and even without special glitches. We couldn’t just cope with voice control: it flatly refused to respond to the traditional “Ok Google!” Even the permission to transmit voice commands from Bluetooth devices set in the settings of Google Now did not help.
As for the relay of calls, then everything happens quite predictably. With an incoming call, ZeWatch 2 immediately takes fire, notifying the user with loud trills and continuous vibration, as well as displaying the caller's number. The ringtone, however, is not borrowed from the phone - instead, an unpretentious 8-bit melody sounds. Sound can be turned off in the application’s “settings” menu - vibration is always enough.
Acceptance and rejection of calls is carried out according to the usual scheme: the green button is responsible for the first, the red button for the second. It is also possible to temporarily turn off the vibration alert by briefly pressing the upper right key, and also call back to the missed number. As for the sensitivity of the microphone and the quality of the built-in speaker, they leave much to be desired. On a noisy street and in the subway, talking on the clock is very problematic.
ZeWatch 2 also features classic fitness tracking features. The gadget can count steps, measure the distance traveled and evaluate the calories burned. All data is sent to the mobile application and verified with user "goals". Statistics can be viewed both on the display of the device itself and in the application. The memory of the latter is extremely short - statistics are stored only a week.
It is difficult to suspect a device of high measurement accuracy. However, it should be condescending. In the end, this is not a specialized fitness bracelet, like Polar Loop, but a universal gadget "for all occasions" with the character of a typical amateur.
As for the sleep tracker, here we were overtaken by deep disappointment. It’s not even a matter of annoying need to press a button every time when you go to bed or wake up to go to the “night mode”. And the fact that out of four test nights, the clock twice independently left this “night mode”, incorrectly determining the total duration of sleep with all the ensuing.
In addition, the device has never managed to transfer the night tracking results to the application. As a result, our sleep statistics have remained pristine.
The most dubious of the declared functions seemed to us the relay of music. It is not clear why transferring music to a weak speaker: even when brought to full power with its sound, it is by no means impressive. But they intercept the audio stream of the clock automatically. That is, if you want to listen to music through a wired headset, with the watch connected, this will require additional manipulations from you.
Finally, about nutrition. The watch is charged using a special clip, a USB connector is used as a source of electricity.
A full charge, according to the documentation, is an hour and a half, but we managed to fill the battery in just an hour. Operating time: due to the low power consumption of the OLED display, which automatically turns off 5 seconds after activation, the device quietly pulls the strap for the declared 3-4 days.
By the way, the absence of the ability to change the time to automatically turn off the display, as well as the need to start any manipulation by pressing the green or red buttons, is very annoying.
Summary
The advantages and disadvantages of the gadget roughly balance each other. Our attitude towards him was formed rather negative: without much enthusiasm, but with complaints: primarily to software developers. The gadget is trying to be an option for those who want to try smart watches in action, but at the same time money is a pity for Pebble. He does it badly: after wearing ZeWatch 2, a newcomer to the world of wearable electronics is likely to curse the entire industry at once.
Pros:
- good design
- pleasant ergonomics
- compatibility with a wide range of devices (the manufacturer’s website even declared compatibility with desktop versions of Windows and Mac)
- comparatively long battery life
- short charge time
- a large number of functions
- low cost - about 4000 rubles
Minuses:
- terrible mobile application
- low accuracy of measurements
- the abundance of buttons and their inconvenient location
- lack of setting to automatically turn off the display
- complete lack of moisture protection
- inconvenient system of broadcasting calls and music
- the inability to fully use the device in sunny weather due to a glare display
- incorrect operation of voice commands
Competitor
Instead of ZeWatch 2, we recommend taking a closer look at Cogito Pop: this smart watch looks like a regular analog one, but in fact it displays notifications using various icons. With their help, you can control the music player on your smartphone and camera. In addition, Cogito's youth watches are waterproof, available in a variety of colors, and work without changing the battery for a year. You can buy Cogito Pop from us at Madrobots for 5,490 rubles. There is also a more advanced Cogito Classic model with a miniature display.
Review author: Andrey Gasilin
