Vivo Watch has launched, comes in two sizes and complete fitness tracking
After much speculation, Vivo has unveiled its first ever smartwatch. The device comes in two different sized models and a plethora of fitness sensors.
Chinese-based Vivo Communication Technology is a smartphones, smartphone accessories and software maker. It is owned by BKK Electronics, the same outfit that oversees Oppo, Realme and One Plus.
They’ve been around for just over a decade. Its name stems from the Esperanto language and means “Life”. The company is currently rated amongst the 10 largest smartphone makers in the world.
Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets
Vivo is now looking to expand its portfolio of products. Just like Oppo and Realme, the company has turned its sights to wearables. Oppo recently came out with its first smartwatch, Realme unveiled its first fitness tracker and smartwatch. Now its Vivo’s turn.
Vivo Watch – design
The company has released earlier an official promo video (below) which reveals Vivo Watch in all its glory. So we knew what to expect. For starters, there are two iterations – a 42mm and 46mm dial.
The sporty looking device has a round shape, a 316L stainless-steel chasis, along with two physical buttons on one of the sides. It comes across as a Garmin, Samsung or LG smartwatch, but nothing like the Apple Watch lookalikes we’ve seen recently.
The bezel is a separate story. Apparently it is made of precision ceramics which took nearly two months to complete. The whole process involves heating the steel to 1400℃. This results in hardness that is 4 times that of stainless steel.
Around the edges is a chronograph, while the underside of the fairly chunky body shows the sensors. There’s also a quick release mechanism that can be seen on leather and fluoro rubber strap options.
The 46mm larger iteration comes with a 1.39-inch AMOLED screen with a 454×454 pixel resolution. The smaller 42mm has a 1.19-inch AMOLED screen with a 390×390 pixel resolution.
When it comes to straps, there’s a choice between Nappa leather and Fluoroelastomer. Vivo says the leather strap is made from a bull’s head skin, which apparently offers natural texture and smoothness.
Other specs, price availability
As far as internal specs, there’s the standard gamut which includes an accelerometer, air pressure sensor, geomagnetism, pulse oxygen, heart rate and ambient light. Satellite positioning is also there and it supports four global positioning systems including Beidou.
This sounds like a nice list of sensors and they combine to allow users to track 11 different types of sports such as running, cycling mountaineering and more. Swimming is also an option thanks to 5 ATM water-resistance.
Other specs include NFC for mobile payments, JOVI voice assistant, remote control for camera and support for music playback.
Some had expected the watch to run on WearOS and they were not completely wrong. The platform is the company’s proprietary FunTouch OS. Vivo has essentially developed its own user interface on top of the Android operating system.
The 46mm edition has a 478mAh battery that can keep the thing going for up to 18 days. The 42mm iteration manages to squeeze in a 226mAh battery which is good for half as much.
It looks like another smartphone maker has dipped its toes into the smartwatch market. Xiaomi and Oppo have done this in recent few months. The watch goes on sale in China on September 28 at a price starting at 1,299 yuan (around 190 US dollars) for the 46mm model. No word yet on international availability.
Source: Vivo
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