In December 2023 (I think) a new thin watch was launched, 9% thicker, 8% wider and with 21% larger display than the T8.
I got it 2024-02-27. The verdict is: Disappointment!
Lastest updates: 2024-03-09, back in box!, 2024-03-28 References to T8 Mini
It is not a successor of the T8, I believe it is another company “Funost Tech” (YouTube channel here), and the TN88 looks more like a classic watch, especially the band arms, for the standard pin 20mm bands. Though it do use identical charging distance and ‘polarity’.
I have been quite pleased with the T8 and bought many, so you might start with browsing the TL;DR part of that review.
Compare with T8 Mini and T8 Classic
But let us start with a little spec compare
The 42.6 is the glass only!! [*]
| Property | TN88 | T8 Mini | T8 (Classic) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | ø40.0×6.95mm | ø43.0×6.9mm | |
| Thickness with protrusion |
8.50mm | 8.05mm | 7.8mm |
| Full case length | 53.0mm | 46.0mm | 48.0mm |
| Watch case weight (less band) |
26.44g | 23.86g | 27.09g |
| Display | 1.43″(36.3mm) 466×466 | 1.19″(30.2mm) 390×390 | 1.32″(33.5mm) 360×360 |
| Display coverage | <61% | 57% | 61% |
| Bezel ring (under the glass) |
3.1mm | 3.4mm | 3.3mm |
| Protrusion width (sensor) |
~24mm | ~19mm | ~19mm |
| Band width (std. pin) |
22mm | 18mm | 20mm |
| Case material | 316 stainless steel | 304 stainless steel | 304 stainless steel |
| Chips | JL7013A VP556ER LC09A |
JI7013A6S DA267-LGA12 VC30F-S |
RTL8762 SC7A20 VC32S |
| Release | 2023 December | 2024 April | 2022 (August?) |
| App | Da-Fit | Da-Fit | QWatch Pro |
| OS min And/Ios | 5.0/13.0 | 5.0/13.0 | 4.4/9.0 |
| Hart Rate Monitoring | 5/10/20/30 min or Off, + spot | 5/10/20/30 min or Off, + spot | 5 min or Off, + spot |
| Other feature diffs | BP on demand only SpO2 on demand only Speaker (when off!), Mic (when off!), Dial Call, Voice Call (when off!), AI voice assistant (when off!) |
BP on demand only SpO2 on demand only |
BP Monitoring SpO2 Monitoring |
The only monitoring the TN88 and T8 Mini offers are sleep, steps and heart rate.
I was pleasantly surprised that it despite the substantially larger size and the use of steel, it’s slightly lighter ~0.65g (or ~2.4%) . But it does not feel like tin-can thickness.
The 304 vs 316 steel means less Nickel and less risk of reaction, I had a slight irritation, but not enough to the skin got red. Just a light ‘burning’ feeling, mainly by the band, so the case could be ok.
Specs.
I found a spec-table here:
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Model Number: | TN88 |
| Place of Origin: | Guangdong, China |
| Moq: | 1 Piece |
| Certification: | RoHS, CE, FCC, etc |
| Warranty: | 1 Year |
| Master Chip: | TN88 |
| G-Sensor: | JL7013A/VP556ER |
| Heart Rate Sensor: | LC09A |
| CPU Clock Frequency: | Dual-Core 2*192MHZ |
| System Memory: | 256MB |
| Screen Resolution: | 466*466 |
| Screen Display : | 1.43 Inch AMOLED Ultra Clear Screen |
| Battery Capacity : | 3.7V/180mAH |
| Standby Time: | 15 Days |
| Bluetooth Version : | BT3.0+BT5.2 |
| GPS Positioning: | Support |
| Strap Of Type: | Milan Steel Strap + Silicone Strap, Leather Strap |
| Frame Size: | 3MM |
| Body Size: | The 42.6 is the glass only, and the 6.5 a lie!! [*] |
| Wirstband Size: | 160-250MM |
| Steel Strap+Silicone Strap Color: | Golden Blue, Gold Light Green, Roulan Orange, Silver Steel, Green Purple |
| Genuine Leather Strap Color: | Dark Green, Light Brown |
| Compability System: | OS13.0+, Android 5.0+ |
| Waterproof Level: | IP67 |
| Bracelet Material: | 316 STEL+Steel Strap Leather Strap |
| Heart Rate Monitoring: | Support |
| Sleep Monitoring: | Support |
| Blood Oxygen Monitoring: | Support |
| Female Health: | Support |
Stainless steel 316 contains about 10% nickel, so should be hypoallergenic. If I get a rash that alone would have killed any enthusiasm left over the TN88 quickly…
Many listings have features in images, and not as text, I found a list here
Calendar, Alarm Clock, Remote Control, Sleep Tracker, Fitness Tracker, Passometer, Call Reminder, Answer Call, Push Message, Message Reminder, Dial Call, Heart Rate Tracker, Activity Tracker, Heart Rate Monitor, Breath Monitor, Music player, Sedentary Reminder, AI voice assistant
I stroke out the one that isn’t there…
(On the battery 200mAh is printed on the box)
Variants
The case exists in three variants gilded, steel with gilded ring and steel. (The last two offered with a number af bands out of the box, that you obviously can replace at will, as it is std. 22mm pin bands)
I ordered it here, for €28 including shipping (€35 also including local Danish taxes), the other I ordered from another seller a bit more expensive to get it quicker, and that is the one I got first, though not quite the variant I ordered.
Before ordering I considered this variant I found looking very appealing, with integrating band ends, butterfly clasp and everything
(I only found that variant for sale here at a shop with about double prices on all, but offers a wide number of variants!)
But on second thought I reflected that it might look fairly ugly when the display is off, as faked here:
Had it been black with the same golden ornaments, I think it might have looked really nice. Tried to fake that somewhat with simple inversion tools (all plus hue). Though it ended more gun metal than black….
I found this video, in the Funost channel and I noticed that the TN88, unfortunately have the glass sticking out slightly (though very little), increasing the risk of scratches if you have it upside down, e.g. for charging, so the display will get any ‘beating’ from sharp dust on a table. e.g. ash. Sort of defeating the purpose of using a steel case… But of course this is normal for proper watches too, so helps in making it look more like a real watch, so pros and cons….
In contrast the T8 got the metal sides a hair over the glass, reducing the risk of scratches.
Protrusions and holes
The sensor protrusion is an about 24mm wide round island with slanted edges (from images about 20s into the above video, including the below).
An oddity I have not seen before is that the charging contacts got a small protrusion island too, of about 15×6mm, and about half the height. I bet this was added with the sole purpose of claiming the thing as a bit thinner. Seems a bit silly, but maybe it was to just to get the bragging rights over the T8?. You do not notice any tilt by this on the arm. But combines with the about 50% larger protrusion the Tn88 does not ‘sink into’ the arm (as the T8 do), and thus have the watch hoovering slightly. Though it is not as bad as e.g. the E600, easily catching a shirt sleeve.
Note also the two small round holes and a slit on the back. The slit is the speaker, and at the least one of the round holes is a mic. It is a rather weird that you have to take it off for using the mic/speaker, and you really can not hear the alarm when it goes off on the arm. You can not select to turn the alarm sound off, though it does have a (weak) vibrator also. If your arm is so thin that it starts curving well before the speaker-slit (and this watch thus grossly oversized), the sound might work though…
It might be argued that the holes sits fairly protected during normal wear, but a thin argument for a very weird placement. I think it would have been much better if they had been placed at the case ‘ends’, so they were protected by the band attachments, and not blocked by the arm.
ADD: The thinner T8 Pro has placed the speaker and the mic exactly like suggested…
(Do not get fooled by the the image above on the side opposite the crown. These are just reflections, not speaker holes)
This video looks like pure rendering (with exaggerated display size), but have nice clear details. (e.g. the holes)
Unpack
Here som images from unpacking
And next to a T8
[*] Actual size
I measured the actual size and their ads are grossly fake!!!
- The least possible diagonal is 46.5mm. The advertised 42.6mm is the glass disc only!
- The real thickness is 8.50mm !!!
- The thickness at the thinnest outside the protrusion is 7.50mm, so even that is 15% larger than advertised!
- The thickness at the charging protrusion is 8.10mm
I found similar measuring from a screendump before I got it. Added some pixel-counts (as usual click to enlarge), so 1.43″*408/322=ø46.0mm, and it told that it is the glass disc only that is 1.43″*378/322=ø42.6mm! So the least width-related number we can find is the radius from the center to the left edge, so the (in some places) advertised 46mm are less fake than the 42.6….
Sensor arrangement
There ara quite some mimicry going on here. I’m pretty sure the majority of the huge protrusion is just ‘decorative’ to make the sensor arrangement look more like some of the more advanced ones!
Only the central about 5×2mm seems active. I might be wrong and it is not for visible light, but I highly doubt it!!
Here a close-up macro (and a crop from the centre), click to enlarge.
There are two green leds in the white area in the crop, if there are other colours too, they are outside the visible spectrum.
So I guess this is as primitive as it gets, and perhaps that is what is reflected by the limited options…
Dial update
With an analog dial, the TN88 should be praised for (like the T8 Mini) moving the minute hand every ten second, and not just every one minute like the T8 (classic). Also the seconds hand is moving fluently, and not just every second, making it look more like real hands.
And the TN88 also update the logical image before showing, so no “show previous time”-bug here!
Charging and Stamina
I have not discharged it fully, but charging from 61% is with 140mA, and as the battery is 200mAh, we should expect it to do a full charge in less than two hours.
As new I obviously played quite a lot more with it than I would in daily usage, yet here after about 19h after charge, it is at 96%, so looks like a fairly good stamina. I’m not sure I will wear it long enough to actually measure, maybe I will give it away long before that…
A short time measurement: 10:00 87%, 15:00: 85%, next day 14:00 80%, so that indicates something like 6% per day, so should last beyond two weeks, and this is with the heart-rate monitoring interval set at the least coarse 5min setting. So that is acceptable, though strangely far below the six weeks of the older T8 model with a slightly minor battery (same 5min heart monitoring but also doing hourly BP and SpO2 monitoring).
Blood Pressure
This can only be done with spot measuring not monitoring, but as it seems to always claim 140/90, it simply is not working!! One time in at the least twenty attempts, I got a 140/87, so it is not just fixed. Though very incorrect.
SpO2
This can only be done with spot measuring not monitoring, and has returned numbers between 96% and 99%, so it might well be correct.
Heart Rate
It can monitor every five minutes (or coarser 5/10/15/20/30/off), and seem to be reasonably correct. You pull the red dot under the graph to read values, oddly the plot in the app got no Y-axis values, but that is an app deficiency and not be blamed on the watch!
(Note the minor app-oddity handling “now” by pulling the graph to zero, it does the same before/after charging)
Sleep
It seems to give a realistic picture on both the the sleep period, and a plausible image on details. Will obviously require longer time than one night to say for sure
Minor (app?) bug
I turned off the watch 2024-02-28 shortly around 18 o’clock, and turned it on again 4 days later.
Have a look at these dumps, and note how it clearly indicates no data for the three intermediate days.
But for 20240303 it simply copied in the old data!!! Here a little collage to make it more clear
The sleep data was also just copied over, note that the only difference is the date:
What the partial circles are supposed to represent I do not know, it was on the arm on the night after the 27th and after the 3rd.
Conclusion
Physically It has a fairly good fit if your arm is big enough, and in that aspect better than the vast majority.
So if you just want a smart watch and do not care about the health aspects of one, it might be an interesting device for that use case.
That they added mic and speaker that only works when you take the watch off, does not exactly count in its favour. It is just utterly stupid.
But it is on the big side for my arm, and with the limited monitoring I personally find it close to pointless!
It should obviously get some credit for being thin, and had the cheaper and thinner T8 of better quality not existed I would have thought all the deficiencies was the compromise for the size. But that is not the case. The ONLY places where the TN88 is better than the T8 (IMHO) are purely cosmetic, that I like the shape of the band attachment arms better, and that i prefer the way the seconds hand is animated on the TN88. So the verdict is not kind.
My personal conclusion is that I can not recommend.
The app is uninstalled, and the watch is back in its box, waiting for a new owner, If I can find one….
Rating: 4-5/10