ET Review: Spice Smart Pulse

Price: Rs 3,999

NEW DELHI: There’s a reason why smartwatches are not catching on as fast as the makers would like — they’re too expensive for what most people consider an unnecessary gadget. If you want to test the waters, Smart Pulse is available at a more palatable price of Rs 3,999. The box includes the watch, two extra bands, charger + cable & a Bluetooth (mono) headset.

The Smart Pulse is not really a smartwatch per se — Spice is taking a different approach — they took a regular watch-phone (many examples are available in the market) and added an app that allows it to send notifications to an Android phone. Obviously, you need to install the Spice BT notifier app in the phone as well (downloadable from www. spicesmartphones.com).

Operation is basic — it is a simple Java-based operating system. While the colour display is not the sharpest or richest, you can hardly complain at the price. It is a capacitive touchscreen though, which helps because there are lots of really tiny buttons you need to press. Under the 1.5-inch display are three capacitive buttons for menu, home and back.

Pop open the back cover and you see the removable 420mAh battery – under that are two SIM card slots (micro ‘master’ SIM slot and a mini ‘slave’ SIM slot – Spice terminology) and a micro SD slot. Obviously, it’s a tight fit. The camera and LED flash are on one side while the other side has a micro USB port and power button. You can make and receive calls/texts quite easily though the Bluetooth is recommended because the volume is quite low. We could manage 8 to 10 hours of battery life with two SIM cards installed. You could also choose to use it without a SIM — just for notifications.

Spares are cheap — extra straps are `99 each and a spare battery is `199. The biggest problem is that the device is not waterproof (open USB port and no weather seals). This is a huge oversight for a wearable device — plus, there’s no warranty for water damage (we checked). Spice should include a rubber plug on the USB port. If you can spend more, check the Gear Fit or Gear 2 Neo.