Smartron tband is the first-generation fitness tracker from the Hyderabad-based company. This adds to the line-up of their smartphones, notebooks and the efforts of the company could help them in the direction of IoT that they are placing their bets on. The Smartron t.band did a pretty good job at design, looks and the app for the most part.
The Smartron t.band also comes with some very innovative features including the Blood Pressure and ECG functionality that we’ve never seen on any fitness band here before. Despite the good design and a good user experience on the app, we weren’t completely satisfied with the overall usage of the Smartron t.band. While we really liked our initial impressions of the device and I was very much excited to see if the Smartron t.band Blood Pressure monitor actually works well, the hiccups in the app connectivity make it very difficult to use.
The tband comes with an OLED display and a touch-sensitive logo placed under the display that helps us navigate through the menus. The Smartron t.band comes for a price of Rs 4,999 which puts it in competition with the Garmin and Fitbit fitness trackers. Throughout our testing of the Smartron t.band, the tracking of the footsteps was very well done. The reading in the number of steps deviated by less than 5% on each day and the distance shown was almost the same as displayed on out Samsung S9+.
The tracking on the t.band gave results that were very similar to the Lenovo HX03F that we happened to test alongside the t.band. The Smartron t.band features a heart rate sensor, a Blood Pressure monitor, and an ECG monitor, while the heart rate sensor is now present on even the most basic of fitness trackers, the Blood Pressure Monitor, and the ECG monitor is what sets it apart from the rest of the competition.
The Smartron t.band connects to the app on the phone to give you a better control on the settings and functionality, you can use this to set the interval at which the heart rate needs to be monitored and the watch will automatically keep a log of your heart rate throughout. There is also a running mode in the watch that can be accessed using the touch button and the t.band will actively monitor your health statistics throughout the fitness activity, this mode also adapts the display to show the more important statistics at the moment.
Unlike the Lenovo HX03F that had a fairly convenient way of charging, the Smartron t.band uses their own proprietary charger which is good for one reason, the watch can be charged without removing the straps. Talking about the straps themselves, they are very comfortable and the material is very well picked.
The Smartron t.band for that matter was one of the very few fitness trackers with a rubber band that I could use for prolonged periods without causing any irritation, the straps also come with a quick release mechanism and can be easily changed on the go if you ever want to. The battery charges fairly quick and lasted us about four days on regular usage with the heart rate tracking set to automatic and 5 Blood Pressure measures, 2 ECG measures each day.
While we really liked the design of the app, the connectivity wasn’t something we were impressed with. The app kept get disconnecting on the first day and while connectivity issue finally got resolved on the second day, all hell broke loose on the third day when the watch received an update and the device would get disconnected in less than 10 minutes of usage. This issue resulted in us not being able to scrutinize the app for very long and could be a major hindrance for someone who wants a seamless experience. The interface, on the other hand, is extremely good and every info is displayed in a very user-friendly manner on the first page of the app. You can then navigate through the different selections to check the activities.
The Watch also gives you a stress and fatigue score when you measure the ECG monitor a this can easily be accessed on the app by moving to the ECG section, the Blood Pressure section of the app also keeps a track of the previous readings. To measure the BP monitor, you need to navigate to the BP mode by tapping on the touch-sensitive button and once you reach the BP mode, hold on to the sensor for three seconds to start the monitoring, you need to keep the finger on the sensor for the 30 seconds that it takes to measure your blood pressure. The process is very similar to measure the ECG in which case it is required to keep the finger pressed for 120 seconds for the tracking to be done successfully. While the Blood Pressure monitor was fairly accurate for most cases, the failure rate in the measuring was very high and we often ended up with a message telling us to try again as the measurement had failed.
The Smartron t.band also comes with an inactivity reminder that reminds us in case of inactivity for continuous periods, you can set a time period between which the inactivity reminder should be allowed to run. The based OLED display on the device also notifies you in case of incoming calls and SMS messages on the connected smartphone. This feature can also be turned off in the settings of the app if you do not want to be disturbed. The watch also actively tracks your sleep automatically and gives you a rating base on your sleep pattern, we sadly got “insomnia” as a result for each day we tested out the device. The app also gives you an overview on how many hours you were in deep sleep, light sleep and awake.
Final Verdict
While, as mentioned, there is a way to track the Blood pressure and there are not many in this price range that will offer that feature, but the Smartron tband won’t be making it easy for you to measure the blood pressure because the software annoys you with that unintuitive experience. Otherwise, for the regular health tracking and the fitness tracking, the Smartron tBand is a good buy, while the fact also remains that it will face a tough competition from the likes of Lenovo HX03F and the Xiaomi’s Mi Band series if the extra health tracking features are not required.
Great review with detailed analysis of each feature, thanks