Nothing built its brand on products that stand out with unique designs. Its sub-brand, CMF, however, gets a more basic look, and offers customers solid basics at extremely affordable price. This is exactly the case with the company’s latest smartwatch, the Watch Pro 2.
This time around, it gets a much smaller display that’s round instead of a square, along with a diminished battery life, so I’m not exactly sure how this is an upgrade from the original Watch Pro other than the interchangeable bezel. That being said, note that I’ve never used the previous iteration.
What Am I Looking At?
The Watch Pro 2 sports a round 1.32-inch 466×466 AMOLED display with a peak brightness of 620 nits, a 60Hz refresh rate, and support for auto-brightness. It’s encased in a metal body while the top half of the bezel is actually interchangeable with other colours, with some bezels being flat and others having a rounded lip.
It gets a single rotating crown for navigation but this also doubles as a home button. For fitness, it comes with 120 sports with auto recognition for some activities, along with on-device GPS for better tracking. Health-wise, it’s equipped with sensors to monitor your heart rate, sleep, stress, and blood oxygen levels.
CMF claims that the smartwatch can last up to 11 days with normal usage, down from its predecessor’s 13-day battery life, while heavy usage can get you up to nine days. Additionally, it comes with built-in speakers and microphones for Bluetooth phone calls and has an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.
What’s Good About It?
My favourite thing about the Watch Pro 2 is the software. Its UI is clean, minimalist, and fast, making you forget that it’s a budget smartwatch. On top of that, it works surprisingly well with iPhones, which is not something you see often with non-Apple smartwatches. I get notifications on my watch exactly at the same time as my phone, music controls work flawlessly, and the camera shutter button feature is even compatible with the iPhone’s camera app.
The display could be a little brighter but it’s good enough to use in most outdoor situations and both the touchscreen and the crown work very fluidly. It’s also a very light smartwatch so I don’t feel much of a strain on my wrist even after wearing it all day.
Customisability is obviously a key feature for this watch, on both the hardware and software sides. The minimalist in me loves the designs of the over 100 watch face options in the CMF Watch app, with some having customisable accent colours. Moreover, it takes very low effort to change the strap and the bezel, making it easy to match it to your outfit or preferences.
As for the battery life, it regularly lasted me seven to eight days. While this falls short of its advertised 11-day usage, it’s nothing to scoff at as some smartwatches still have a two-day battery life.
The presence of built-in GPS also makes it easy to go for a quick run if you don’t want to bring your phone along, although that’s not really a need that I’ve personally had. One fun thing about working out with the Watch Pro 2 is that it offers warm-up exercises for activities like running or cycling with instructions.
What’s The Catch?
For what it is, I don’t really have any major issues with the Watch Pro 2. A minor complaint would be that its step counter is just a smidge inaccurate, usually overcounting the steps and calories burnt compared to my phone or an Apple Watch, but it’s nothing extremely imprecise.
There’s also the issue of its automatic detection of certain workouts. For example, if you go on a walk and forget to set the workout on the watch, it’ll take maybe 12 minutes of walking before it detects what you’re doing and suggest tracking the activity.
Lastly, while the ability to take calls on the watch can be useful, it lacks the ability to dial phone numbers. If you want to initiate a call with someone, you first have to go into the app on your phone and add them to your favourites.
Should I Buy It?
My verdict for the Watch Pro 2 is that while it doesn’t have any quirky or outstanding features, it offers solid fundamentals and is a good choice for anyone looking for something basic and affordable. However, even though I think RM339 is a fair price for the watch, RM99 for an extra set of bezels and straps is a bit too steep just to change the aesthetics, I don’t recommend getting that.
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