Smartwatches – and wearables, generally – are a perplexing new addition to the technology market that generally offer gimmicky features at an incredibly expensive price tag – often to consumers who aren’t quite sure they need one.
The Metro Watch, produced by South African firm Metro Digital, looks to blow this curve by offering a slew of competitive features at an even more competitive price. Will the first South African made smartwatch be enough to stop the clocks? Let’s find out.
The Metro Watch is one of three smartwatches produced by Metro Digital, and represents a step in-between the company‘s Metro fitness tracker (which competes with the likes of the Jawbone UP3) and the Metro Droid, which is an Android wear smartwatch that takes on the likes of Motorola’s Moto 360.
Housed in an attractive 58mm aluminium shell, the Metro Watch is both a companion wristwatch to a smartphone that’s capable of relaying calls, messages, notifications and media playback and a standalone device which can run independently through an inserted SIM and MicroSD card.
Running on a proprietary operating system, the Metro Watch additionally offers a built-in pedometer, sleep monitor, browser, FM radio, calendar, radio, as well as a phone finder, and features a built in 2 megapixel camera.
In terms of competition, Metro Watch swims against the current – retailing at low R1099, the Watch competes directly in an all-together lower price bracket – the sports watch market – but offers features and functionality traditionally reserved for more powerful wearables such as the Samsung Gear S or the Apple Watch.
Its most direct competitor is the Sony Smartwatch ““ which, priced at around $97 dollars at retail, functions strictly as a companion device followed closely by Samsung’s Android Wear Galaxy Gear Live, which retails for approximately R2,000.
Beyond functioning as a standalone device ““ a rarity at this price point, and something traditionally reserved for the likes of the Galaxy Gear S ““ the Metro Watches‘ feature set punches well above its weight.
On the wrist, the Metro Watch is fairly light, weighing in at 55g, and feels no more noticeably different than wearing a steel analogue wristwatch. The screen size – for quick glances – is a great size and fit.
The Metro Watch sports an aluminium frame which is available in either silver, gold or black. While it doesn’t feel crisp to the touch, the frame itself is pleasant to look at, and on the silver model review unit I used attracted much attention from passers-by. The plastic strap is comfortable and ergonomic, and despite not having the appeal of a steel strap, is easy to wear.
In use, the Watch, running on its proprietary operating system is a mixed bag of sorts; detailed menus hark back to Nokia’s halcyon Symbian days, while the main menu, which can be reached by swiping upwards on the screen, feels similar to what one might expect from the Microsoft Band.
The Metro Watch’s display feels overcrowded at times by the onslaught of information provided by the Symbian-style list menus, and stands just at the precipice of being too small to adequately manoeuvre through. If your fingers are larger than most, you may have an issue here; I found the Watch easiest to navigate while I was seated, rather than moving.
The Watch sports three faces ““ two analogue, and one digital, with an unchangeable background. I preferred the digital background as it more closely resembles the rest of the design decisions used throughout the Watch; the analogue faces felt slightly out-of-the-water in comparison.
At the main menu, the watch offers the time, in addition to quick call, pedometer, and settings access, in addition to a small status bar at the top which – despite once again resembling Nokia yore – functions similarly to Android. The icons at the top most bar of the screen are incredibly small and can be difficult to distinguish from a cursory glance.
In terms of use, call and SMS functionality was useful, and the Metro Watch possesses a useful microphone for remote or native calls which picks up sound up to approximately a metre away – this means that it’s quite possible to have a comfortable conversation seated with the Watch approximately at arms’ length away. Further, the Watch offers a decent speaker which delivers crisp, audible playback, and can support a headset through an audio-jack to MicroUSB converter.
The Watch’s pedometer, which on some occasions lagged slightly, was moderately accurate and a good rough indication of the total steps taken, though an accurate and precise sports band this is not. The sleep monitor was simplistic, and is overall not a compelling complement to the watch‘s fitness functions, simply giving a report on the quality of sleep based upon abject movement.
The Metro Watch performs well as a media device; The FM radio and video, audio and image playback where welcome additions, which performed well either connected to a smartphone or running independently through a media card. The 2 megapixel camera was surprisingly a great addition, but is placed awkwardly on the top slant of the display, rendering video capture an awkward process while on the wrist. Thankfully, remote capture can be effected by Bluetooth – thus the Metro Watch can function as an able remote shutter for a smartphone camera.
Battery life – compared to other smartwatch contenders – is impressive ““ the Watch carries a 450 mAh battery which, in use, will last approximately up to two days – I managed to eek out an impressive three and a half days out by disabling push notifications and simply using the Watch for calls.
While we’re on the topic, push notifications – which can be configured from an Android phone only, as iOS doesn’t support notification pushes beyond the Apple Watch – where a great asset, despite looking slightly unattractive, and were useful for remote turn-by-turn navigation or to quickly glance at a text message. I found the Watch an invaluable asset whilst driving in this regard, as I was able to keep abreast of my phone by simply glancing at my wrist.
Overall, the Metro watch is – despite its shortcomings – the most appealing smartwatch available in South Africa; at this price point, you’re unlikely to find any comparable smartwatch which offers the same breadth of features, standalone capability, or battery life.
With the smartwatch market an intense space with ultimately little actual consumer interest, the Metro Watch keeps ahead of the time by positioning itself at a unique entry point and offering all – and even more – of the features its rivals have.
The biggest issue the Metro Watch faces is a clear design direction; while the Watch offers great media and standalone features, Symbian style menus, dense information display (in the case of the calendar) and different design directions detract from a smooth finish.
However, if you can look past this, the Metro Watch is an able smartwatch that contends well in a field littered with well designed yet ultimately expensive and gimmicky products. For users desperate for a smart wristwatch, for a brand independent smartwatch capable of running as a companion or standalone device that‘s uniquely affordable, this is an ideal smartwatch to purchase.
Score: 8/10.
Pre-order the Metro Watch here: https://metrodigital.co.za/watch/
Follow Bryan on Twitter: @bryansmith1138
