Ordered some cheap (<£40) smart watches from AliExpress in the late fall of 2022. and 2023.
First I was surprised that it was even possible to get smart watches in decent sizes, though we do not see them ‘in the west’.
Many, but not all, I bought were crap, here a collage of the crappy ones:
The same watches appear under different names (which seems quite common for Chinese smart watches)
I started by ordering these
Gen6 This is ‘branded’ “LIGE”, though the box in unbranded, here the model id called “Gen6″, it is 1.28” (32.5mm) display in a ø45.4mm case
Max9, branded “Senbono”
Gen 6
The Gen6 is ø45.4mm and 50.9mm long including the band attachment arms. Many smart watches have a protrusion, on this it covers almost the same area as the display, so does not make sense to talk of the thickness outside this, so the thickness is 12.8mm.
In the advertising images the display is grossly exaggerated, it only covers 51% of the surface and about 66% of the flat part of the glass.
Here from the box, with the actual watch on top showing the same face:
And another showing how far from advertising images like e.g. this it actually is:
The display is IPS 240×240, that is 188PPI, and no real black.
The software has an annoying bug you often have to restart the watch to reconnect. It boots quite quickly, so that helps..
The SZOS App is designwise VERY ‘inspired’ by the Huawei Health app – or at the least we could be kind and say the share the same origin…
Unfortunately the watch does not offer any other monitoring than sleep-monitoring. Though it do seem to take one SpO2 measurement when you wake up.
You can manually measure Heart-rate, SpO2 and blood-pressure. though.
Despite this the 220mAh battery only last about a day, but it charges rather quickly. It MIGHT get slightly better after the battery being exercised a bit – though I doubt it.
The software/app offers a LOT of watchfaces (500+) AND they added a really nifty feature to that. To ANY of these, you can swap the background with an image from your phone, keeping the active element
It even got a speaker and a microphone. You can even upload music to it from the App.
Got NFC
It is fairly good ’rounded’ so despite it being huge, it does not feel enormous. The mesh band is also a nice design. Notice on the edge image above how there are no bulb in going from the watch attachment arms to mesh. I had not seen that this good on any smartwatch (Similar on the T8 and RA18 I got later).
MAX9
Claimed dimensions ø44mm, 10mm thick, including protrusion.
Real dimensions ø45.2mm, Length including the arms 49.7mm, 11.8mm thick (10.4mm outside the ø23mm protrusion).
Display 1.32″ 360x360pixels IPS.
Homepage here.
The advertisement images are clearly faked, to make the display coverage look bigger.
It can record the Heart-rate every 10. minute (or even coarser), Blood pressure and SpO2 on demand (Heart rate also possible), Each measurement takes about 15s.
The software is OK, but the options for dials are not good. Four fixed (rather horrible). One fixed digital where you can replace the background image, and finally ONE custom ‘slot’, where you can download one of 45 available (currently).
A nice detail: if you LONG press the button while the screen is off, nothing happens. That is nice for say a jacket or the like accidentally pressing it.
Reboot is fast, about 3-4s.
Unfortunately the band as well as the case seems to contain enough nickel to cause skin irritation after a week. I thought that even cheap watches stopped using that years ago…
It charges with 0.15A, 5v, and the battery is 260mAh (I assume 3.6V), Stamina is rated to “5-8days”, and it seems plausible. With my usage it was roughly 10% per day
T8 & R18
Moved the text on these very interesting THIN devices to a separate post here.
ADD: I ended buying many T8, about a score…
ADD Here a summery of those I bought in 2023 until Christmas.
All no good!
Three simple ones with GPS, that we hoped might work on a dock super inaccurate, could be 2km off!!! Pure crap – but the were cheap (the prices includes 25% tax)
(All three listings since gone)
I think this was bought to get something smaller for a lady (listing also gone)
I think the listing details claimed it smaller than it was, not sure, forgotten about it…
Tried this “Bluetooth Call Smart Watch Screen Always Display1.04 inch AMOLED Screen Fashion Ladies Smartwatch Metal Body Small Screen Watch”, 2023-08-22
Was very simple and felt cheap…
Then this
Pure crap, listing no longer available.
Then this “F12 Curved Screen Smart Watch Men Women 2.02″ Smartwatch Sports Waterproof Wrist Watches Fitness Bracelet Men’s Wristwatch Clock”, 2023-09-29
Big clumsy heavy crap.
Can not self regulate the power, charger needs to be below 1A! (That was a new one!!)
Then this “AMOLED Touchscreen Bluetooth Call Smart Watch Woman Sport Fitness Tracker Weather IP68 Waterproof Female Smartwatch NX7”, 2023-11-28
Felt cheap, might still be around in a box somewhere….