UPDATE 12/25/2018: Watch 9 firmware v0.40 is out, I am not sure what it fixed but I have to pull the battery out and re-insert it as it keep saying battery is low until I do so.
I’ve picked up the Lenovo Watch 9 recently. Based on the description, it looks like a decent watch from a reputable brand. Lenovo claims this is a “smart watch”, but owning a few Wear OS watches, the RMB 129 asking price is a little too good to be true. Let’s see how well this goes.
Get the watch: http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/NvzJ2FQ
Get the temper glass protector: http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/mi6aYVF
iOS App: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lenovo-watch/id1352195888?mt=8
Android App: http://3g.lenovomm.com/w3g/yydownload/com.pmpd.dmap.lenovo/3030
English Manual: http://lazymocha.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/20180515-114615-20.jpg
I picked up the black color from Aliexpress for USD $25 shipped, white color wasn’t available until now. It arrived in about 20 days by SingPost. The box is a lot smaller than I thought and it is very minimalistic. The box is made of of cardboard, it holds the watch in the center and there is only a small piece of instruction to download the app. The app is available on both iOS and Android. This will be tested on my iPhone 6s.
The watch 9 is quite heavy and thick, it weights about 58g. The body is made with zinc-alloy, bottom is stainless steel; it feels solid and does not feel cheap at all. The silicone strap is a little too soft and it looks easy to replace the pins and the straps at a later time. The glass is claimed to be sapphire glass (I doubt the quality) but I picked up a couple of tamper glass protector instead.
The reason I picked this watch is the analogue movement without an LCD. Watches with LCDs tend to last only a day and Lenovo says this can last a year with just a CR2032 battery. In another word, this is an analogue watch with connectivity features. The bottom could be open easily with a flat head, and the battery is cheap to replace, this alone is excellent value.
The manual is in Chinese and I’ve uploaded the English translated. Without the app, the watch is useless.
After I downloaded the app, I paired it almost immediately by pressing and holding the only button as the LED blinked. The app fortunately is in English and even some translation is slightly broken, it is not bad at all. The first thing required is to create a Lenovo China account, once done then I used the calibration option to sync the time to the phone. It is fun to see the needles moving continuously on its own when setting.
The watch is basic, it shows the time and will vibrates and track health data. The vibration is strong enough that I have not missed any notification so far, but it seems to work only with a few apps. The health data collection on the other hand is not that great; it is not even accurate. I think my Xiaomi band 1S collects more accurate data. After a few hours of use, the silicone band has lots of dust specks on it.
So far, this is what the watch can do… tells time and vibrates. ????
I have not used all the options within the app, but I am getting some notifications, silent alarm and camera remote are working well.
Overall, I am very satisfy with the quality of the watch. I hope Lenovo can keep investing in the app to increase the usability of the watch. For under $30, I think this offers great value even without all the “smart” stuff. It is study and time will tell about the 5 ATM water resistant.