Realme Watch S Pro Review: An excellent first attempt at a premium smartwatch

Last month, Realme announced the Watch S series in India, adding two new models to its smart wearables’ lineup. The Realme Watch S followed the same blueprint as the Realme Watch, offering a whole lot of smartwatch at a very reasonable price. The Watch S also brought several design tweaks across the board, increasing the value proposition of the Watch S (Review). But apart from the Realme Watch S, the company also unveiled a ‘Pro’ variant of the lineup, making it the company’s first ‘premium’ smartwatch.

The Realme Watch S Pro’s price in India is set at Rs 9,999, double of its vanilla counterpart. But the big question here is how good the Realme Watch S Pro is and whether it can hold its own against other premium smartwatches from Xiaomi, Amazfit, etc. So, without any further delays, let’s take an in-depth look at the Realme Watch S Pro.

Design and Build

First off, the premium design on the Realme Watch S Pro is quite evident. The watch has a 46mm stainless steel case, an upgrade from the aluminium case on the Watch S, with two buttons on the right that control its functions. The watch has a sharp-looking all-black matte finish with a default 22mm silicone strap that feels pretty comfortable on the wrist. The Watch S Pro is on the larger side, although it looks a bit smaller than the Mi Watch Revolve. The Watch S Pro also comes with 5ATM water resistance.

Display 

The Realme S Pro sports a 1.39-inch AMOLED display with 454*454 pixels resolution and a 326ppi, an upgrade over the LCD panel on the Watch S. There’s a slim bezel within the case and a thicker bezel around it. The Realme Watch S Pro features a peak brightness of 450 nits, while the screen also has an ambient light sensor for automatic brightness adjustment.

You can also activate the ‘Always On Display’ feature from the Settings and adjust the duration for the time it should remain visible. The display is also protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3, which is excellent to prevent scratches during daily use. The watch has five brightness levels, although we left it on ‘four’ during the vast majority of our testing.

Performance and Features

In terms of features, the Realme Watch S Pro has a lot to offer. The Watch S Pro has 15 different modes, including outdoor running, indoor running, outdoor walking, indoor walking, outdoor cycling, spinning, swimming, basketball, yoga, rowing, hiking, elliptical training, cricket, strength training, and a free workout mode. To recall, the vanilla Watch S didn’t come with a swimming mode. Swimming mode on the Realme Watch S Pro takes into account stroke data, average stroke frequency, and average pace.

Apart from the various sports mode, the Watch S Pro arrives with a slew of hardware and software integrations. The smartwatch features a geomagnetic sensor, a 6-axis accelerometer, a gyroscope, a heart rate monitor, and a blood oxygen monitor. The Realme Watch S Pro was quite accurate when it came to monitoring sleep tracking. Heart rate tracking was also on point for the most part. The Watch S Pro calculated a resting heart rate of 62bpm, while the Mi Watch Revolve measured 65bpm. I saw a similar variation during workouts. In terms of tracking steps, I’d say the Watch S Pro is pretty accurate for the most part.

However, I wouldn’t rely too much on sleep data as it wasn’t always consistent with the quality of my sleep cycles. The Realme Watch S Pro also has a built-in SpO2 sensor, but you are expected to take readings manually, so I wouldn’t put too much weight on it. Another issue I found with the Watch S Pro was the unreliable GPS reception. When partaking in outdoor activities, there were times when the watch took time to lock on to a GPS signal. Overall, the Realme Watch S Pro handled the basics very well but did struggle a bit in the more advanced tasks.

Software

Realme’s premium smartwatch also comes with the companion Realme Link app, which is available for Android and iOS. The app has over 100 unique watch faces, which are easy to pick and sync with the watch. The app also gives you the option to use an image of your choice for the watch face, although these custom images are only limited to digital watch faces. Apart from the watch faces, the Realme Link app also provides access to fitness tracking data collected by the watch.

It also allows you to set sedentary reminders and water reminders. You can use the ‘Find My Phone’, and smart notifications feature using the app. You can access permissions for various apps, including the camera app. Apart from controlling notifications and providing comprehensive fitness data, I found the Link app to be pretty easy and convenient to use.

Battery Life 

The Realme Watch S Pro packs a 420mAh battery, which the company claims can deliver up to two weeks of battery life, with the company striving to deliver 14 days by default. In my testing, the battery didn’t quite live up to the 14-day hype but lasted for about ten days, which was quite impressive.

In this test, auto-brightness was turned on by default, while I worked out or played badminton for an average of one hour and a half-hour a day. The auto-brightness feature and notifications, including water reminders, were turned on. The Realme Watch S Pro also comes with a magnetic charging dock and takes around two hours to charge to 100 percent.

Verdict

At Rs 9,999, the Realme Watch S Pro has a ton of cool features, an excellent build quality, great battery life, and a reliable display. If you are looking for a good premium smartwatch under 10,000 rupees, then the Watch S Pro is worth consideration.

In terms of competition, the Mi Watch Revolve might be a good alternative, with a few more features and a slightly better display. Despite lacking a couple of features and somewhat unreliable GPS, the Realme Watch S Pro has most of the bells and whistles of a premium sub-10K smartwatch. And apart from that, it also boasts impressive battery life and has a subtle minimalist design. The watch also lacks a speaker or microphone, but as far as the first attempt at a premium smartwatch goes, Realme has done a pretty good job here.