I’ll admit I’ve become a smartwatch addict, especially the “cheap” ones. The Zhizhi is the fourth one I’ve bought in the past three months and I was pleasantly surprised how well this one works including its accuracy. I’ve discovered these off-brand smartwatches behave differently depending on if you’re using Apple or Android. I have the advantage of trying them on both platforms since my work cell is Apple and my personal is Android. Certain features in the applications work better on one or the other, but in terms of this review, it’s strictly on Android since its my primary phone.
Bluetooth connectivity is rock solid just as long as you follow their instructions correctly. I can be on the other side of my house or in the basement one floor down and it’s still connected and functional. Once going out of range and reconnecting it only takes approximately 15 seconds to do so. One or two of the other smartwatches typically never reconnect or need re-paired all the time. The screen is very clear, easy to read, responsive and the fonts used give it an expensive look. The dial face choices are some of the best and most functional I’ve seen yet. The Zhizhi is the only one out of the others that can display the time, date, heart rate, calories burned, steps taken AND the current weather conditions without overcrowding the screen or looking visually “tacky”. Phone calls to/from the watch work very well and there’s plenty of volume, but you might have to hold the watch a bit close to your face for the other person to hear you. The weather forecast is simplistic but accurate. It shows the current temperature and conditions. One of my other watches displays a five day forecast but isn’t as accurate. Blood oxygen readings are spot on, I’ve compared it to my finger reader and both report the same. Sleep monitoring has been very good, the watch actually knows if I get up to relieve myself and knows exactly when I fall back asleep, it’s kind of creepy really (hahaha). Steps taken seems acceptable for a rough estimate, it would be better if the application allowed to adjust stride length like one of my other watches. Blood pressure, all I can say is this Zhizhi is one of the best bar none and here’s why. In the FitCloudPro application you can calibrate it against an accurate reading from a wrist or arm band blood pressure device. To do this click “Me” in the application. Click your name or nickname at the top. Scroll to the bottom and turn on “Private Reference Mode” then set SBP and DBP to the readings of your accurate device. Once I did this the readings from the watch have been within 5% of my Omron arm band blood pressure machine. That is simply unheard of in a $30 smartwatch. There’s plenty of exercise modes to choose from which I can’t comment on since I’m only interested in steps taken while walking.
Notifications are flawless, and I will add that the FitCloudPro app allows notifications from literally EVERYTHING if you choose to do so. Go to “Device” then “Push Notifications” scroll down to “More Reminders”. In there you can choose any application installed on your phone in addition to the standard listed apps. This is great if a particular application you use isn’t listed. FitCloudPro also has a dark mode! Lord Jesus and baby Jesus why don’t other smart watch apps have this option?? It’s so much easier to read and none of my other smart watch applications has it, good job Zhizhi! The only minor issue I’ve found with FitCloudPro is I can’t get it to auto-start. Not a big deal, there’s plenty of free auto-start applications on Google Play.
There’s plenty more the Zhizhi smartwatch can do but I’ve only highlighted a few things that sets it way ahead of the others in my opinion. The only other watch that equals it but doesn’t monitor blood pressure is the Deeprio Revv which allows quick text replies on Android. It also does everything well except the weather forecast gets confused as to where your current GPS location is sometimes. I was so impressed with the Zhizhi smartwatch I bought a second in case I break mine or it’s discontinued.
Genie - Research Bot
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