Realme fitness band launched with cricket mode and 10 days battery life

Realme’s first fitness band was officially launched earlier today. It comes with a heart rate sensor, multiple sports options including cricket and great battery life.

Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets

The gizmo was originally teased by India CEO Madhav Sheth at the Realmi 5i launch event a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, this only gave us only a glimpse. Sheth took the fitness tracker out of his pocket and put in on his wrist during the presentation.

But as of today the fitness band is available to buy on the Realme India site. International availability is yet to be announced.

The IP68 water-resistant band is made of silicone and comes in a few color options including Yellow, Black and Olive Green. There’s a 0.96-inch color display on-board with 80 x 160px resolution that fits 64 characters, and something akin to a capacitive button along the bottom for navigating. The screen has changeable watch watches, and the core unit can be removed from the silicone band. In terms of design, the tracker reminds very much of Fitbit’s Inspire fitness tracker.

As far as other specs, the thing tracks steps, distance, activity as well as heart rate and sleep. The band will remind you to drink water in order to stay hydrated, and move if you’ve been sitting on the sofa for too long.

The fitness band also has smart functionality such as an alarm function, music playback control and whether info. The accompanying LinkSmart app will shows notifications from social media, Messenger, WhatsApp, SMS and more.

There are 9 sports modes to choose from including bike, ride, walk, hiking, climbing, yoga, fitness and spinning. In addition the band offers a special cricket mode, specially made for India.

Charging is done by sliding out one end of the silicone band. This reveals a USB-A connector which can be plugged into a USB port. We’ve seen this before on a number of products. It offers the convenience of there being no cords to lose or get tangled in. The 90mAh battery provides an excellent 10 days of life on a single charge.

Realme as a brand has only been around since 2018. But it is part of the larger BBK family that also entails OnePlus, Oppo and Vivo. It was actually a sub-brand of OPPO Electronics Corporation for nearly a decade until its separation last year. The outfit now has about a dozen smartphones in its portfolio in addition to accessories such as a power bank and earphones.

According to CEO Madhav Sheth, Realme doesn’t want to be seen only as a smartphone band. There’s lots of anticipation about other product categories.

“We have got some outstanding products in our portfolio, like the Realme Buds Wireless, Realme Buds Air, and the power banks, and even Realme PaySa as a financial app. You will see many more products coming soon…. ” he said.

The company’s first effort on the fitness tracking front is initially targeted at the Indian market, followed by China. Realme continues to expand its reach geographically so may follow this up with a wider international release. A smartwatch is also in the works due for release shortly after the fitness band.

Xiaomi Mi Band is currently one of the best budget fitness trackers around. A hot item in Asia, it also sells well in the US and Europe. There are lots of other low-cost fitness bands coming from Asia, but they are mostly from smaller brands. An inexpensive Realme device should bring some compelling competition in this space.

The tracker is available for INR1,499 (which is slightly more than $20) on Realme’s website. From March 9th it will be available at other retail outlets, including Amazon.

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