Alcatel ONETOUCH has taken a bold move to join in the smart wearables competition this year. Equipped with fitness tracking capability and smart notifications, the Alcatel ONETOUCH watch is the winner of “iF Design Award 2015”.

Packed in this little red box is the Alcatel ONETOUCH Watch; its watch face measures 41.8mm in diameter and 10.5mm in thickness. Instead of using a squarish watch face design, the round watch face, together with the brushed chrome chassis, creates a classic timepiece.

Taking the watch out of the box, it is noticeable that the glossy watch face has printed “6” and “12” on its bezel insert. This might just save some battery life by using a smaller display screen, while fixing the hours and minutes. On the back, the watch is encapsulated using plastic material with matt finishing touches. Located in the centre is the heart rate sensor, which you can peek through its electronics.

Unbuckling the straps, I noted that the watchband can be easily adjusted by releasing and locking the clasp. Well hidden in the end of the strap is a USB port that allows direct charging. This in return makes the strap not interchangeable. In case you need a USB extension cord, it is also included in the box.

By pressing down the power button at the side of smart watch, the 1.22″ TFT 262k colour display sure looks bright with reasonable contrast of colours. Connecting to my iOS or Android device through bluetooth requires the Alcatel’s ONETOUCH Move app installed in my smart phone.

Pairing the devices together is no hassle at all. By tapping on the watch face, I gained access to the built-in apps such as weather, heart rate and e-compass. The bottom black area on the watch face functions as a back button when tapped. The user interface is simple and not buggy, making it pleasant to use. The watch face is also very responsive to my touch.


 The watch face is fully customisable — you can select between an analog clock to digital clock face either using the in-watch options or through the use of ONETOUCH app. The wallpaper display in the watch requires the use of the ONETOUCH app, which I can choose from a patterned wallpaper to my favorite personal photograph.

Preinstalled in the smart watch, the built-in apps also include the remote control function for my phone’s music and camera. Swiping up the display screen shows all my notifications pinging from my phone. The notifications come in handy for a quick glance but lacks the capability of a quick reply.

 When wearing the watch, there is an inconsistency in the waking up of the watch face when I turn my wrist towards me. I realised that positioning the watch slightly down on my wrist will slightly improve its sensitivity. Alternatively, pressing the power button will also wake up the smart watch. Perhaps Alcatel can consider including in its future update a capability to wake up the display screen by tapping the watch face.

 The Alcatel ONETOUCH Watch aims to be a good fitness tracking device with the use of multi sensors such as the heart rate sensor, accelerometer, altimeter and gryo. Despite its closed proprietary software and a lack of third party apps, this smart watch has a balance eco-system between hardware and software for performing step counters, calories burnt, distance walked and sleep tracking. It’s a good fitness device if you are not picky on the lack of third-party apps.

In conclusion, the Alcatel ONETOUCH Watch is compatible with Android’s Jelly Bean and iOS 7, making it is a good entry point smart watch that is affordable. Packed with a 210mAh battery, this smart watch could last me up to four days with a single charge.

For daily and light sport activity users, the water and dust resistant IP 67 capability makes this watch an excellent package to consider for a fitness device. Additionally, this watch has an anti-loss function to alert me if I am too far away from my mobile phone. One of my wishes is that Alcatel ONETOUCH software developers can provide better software improvements to this smart wearable in the near future.

The Alcatel ONETOUCH Watch is priced at S$248 and available from Qoo10, Lazada, Groupon and Rakuten.

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GIVEAWAY

In collaboration with Alcatel ONETOUCH, we are giving away one Alcatel ONETOUCH Watch worth S$248 to one lucky reader! Here’s what to do for a chance to win:

1. ‘Like‘ the Asia 361 Facebook page and/or Alvinology Facebook page, as well as the Alcatel ONETOUCH Facebook page.

2. Share this post on Facebook and tag up to 3 friends in your post.

3. Tell us why you want to win the Alcatel ONETOUCH watch by commenting below or on our Facebook post.

Contest ends 24 August 2015 at 11.59 pm. The winner will be notified via email or Facebook, and must be a resident of Singapore.