Do smartwatches fit your lifestyle? Is it something you would like to strap on to your wrist? For anybody new to the world of smartwatches, it is important to get a fair experience of the device without spending an extravagant amount. A brand that has been making all the right noises in the last few months is Dizo, which is a Realme TechLife partner brand, and this in turn means that there is a minimum degree of finesse to its products.

There are several inexpensive standalone smartwatch brands, like Amazfit, which has done brisk business for some years. And then there are affordable offerings from established brands, like Realme, Oppo and Xiaomi. Dizo is a new brand and it is constantly coming up with a slew of products, like the new Dizo Watch R, which I have been using for a few days alongside my regular go-to brand.

Instead of aiming to be an inexpensive smartwatch, Dizo has taken the quality-over-price route, which is a sensible move. Since first impressions matter, you won’t be disappointed with the 1.3-inch sharp AMOLED display which has good 360x360 resolution and brightness, besides offering excellent touch sensitiveness.

At first I thought the watch could be controlled via the Realme Link app but after a few tries I realised that one has to download the Dizo app, which we will discuss later. The pairing process is simple and it hardly took us two minutes to go through the registration process.

Soon I was out in the morning sun, swiping through the features. The 550nits display is bright enough while the controls hardly take a minute to master. Almost everything is controlled via the top button on the watch while the lower one is exclusively for workouts, which are in plenty. Since it’s 5ATM water resistant you can easily go swimming.

When it comes to heart rate monitoring or step count, the results matched my regular smartwatch. There is also blood oxygen monitoring but it’s a feature that’s now present on almost all smartwatches. What impressed me more is the overall selection of features, including the extensive list of watch faces. Over the past seven days, the battery has fared well and I am yet to drain out the battery, even after keeping brightness level to maximum.

To the app, it’s well-designed but somehow I am missing the in-depth analysis that I get on apps from Samsung or Apple. Further, it’s about having one more app on the phone. I would have appreciated had Realme Link been available for Watch R.

If it’s build and quality you want to know about, the Watch R has got it right. There are all the usual features, like music and camera control, muting/rejecting calls, smart notifications and so on. But there is no app store here, so you need to be satisfied with the apps that come preloaded. Easy on the wrist and pocket, Dizo Watch R offers a good introduction to the world of smartwatches.

Device: Dizo Watch R
Price: Rs 3,499 (introductory price; will be sold on Flipkart starting January 11, noon onwards)
High notes
l Bright AMOLED screen
l Easy navigation
l Good battery life
Muffled notes
l No extra apps can be loaded
l There is room for improvement on the app