The Fire-Boltt Atom sports a 1.3-inch AMOLED screen. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express/WideCare)

Every other day, smartwatch manufacturers in India introduce a new product. There was a time when the Indian smartwatch market was dominated by Xiaomi and Amazfit, but now, the budget segment is flooded with several options from Noise, BoAt and Fire-Boltt. The new Fire-Boltt Atom is a smartwatch that largely caters to those who want a good display and design. But can it compete in the overcrowded sub-Rs 4,000 price segment? Here’s our take.

Fire-Boltt Atom: What’s good?

The Fire-Boltt Atom sports a 1.3-inch round AMOLED screen with a resolution of 360 x 360. I found the display is crisp and usable even under direct sunlight. The touch response and viewing angles are good. I used the watch to check time and notifications, and visibility was not a problem.

The Fire-Boltt Atom seems inspired by Samsung’s Galaxy Watch series. The shape and even the button placement are the same as the Galaxy watches, but that’s not a bad thing. The build quality is good given the price. I accidentally bumped the watch against walls, railings and other things, but there are no visible scratches or dents.

The strap that comes with Fire-Boltt is really comfortable. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express/WideCare)

The strap that comes with the Fire-Boltt Atom is comfortable and is one of the best straps I have ever used. It is soft and you won’t feel itchy even if you wear the watch while sleeping, and it leaves no marks if worn for hours on end.

Fire-Boltt Atom did not lag or encounter any hitches or freezes during my usage. Similar to other smartwatches in the price segment, swiping down from the home screen gives you access to quick toggles. Swiping right opens up the app drawer, swiping left lets you browse through tiles, and swiping up shows you notifications.

The Fire-Boltt Atom comes with Bluetooth Calling functionality, which is becoming a standard in the sub-Rs 5,000 smartwatch segment. The audio quality of this one is good. I could clearly hear the person on the other end, and the reverse is also true. This is one of the best budget smartwatches if you are looking for a watch that can make calls.

I wore the watch during my night and day strolls, and the step count was on par, if not the same, with some accurate smartwatches and fitness bands like the Galaxy Watch 4 and the Honor Band 6. While the SpO2 sensor readings were not the same compared to medical-grade equipment, the watch was pretty close. The heart rate monitor is a hit or miss. If you are resting or doing a workout, the watch can accurately measure your heart rate. Like other budget smartwatches, it struggles when you are cycling or jogging.

Similar to the Samsung Galaxy watch series, it has two buttons on the side. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express/WideCare)

Fire-Boltt Atom: What’s not good?

While the watch itself is fine and has good sensors, the company’s app, called Da Fit, lacks several features. The app requires users to input their basic information, like height, weight and birth date. But for some reason, the height is in inches and the weight is in lbs. This is really frustrating since I had to convert these to feet and kg. I could not see an option to change this in the app. My workouts are by default recorded in ‘yards’ instead of meters. This again left me confused.

The first tab provides information about your steps, sleep and workouts in a single window. I noticed it lacks any in-depth information and left me with no ideas on how to improve my sleep quality or fitness. While some might welcome Fire-Boltt’s move of not forcing users to create an account to use the watch, this can be frustrating, as your health data will be wiped out if you clear the app data, reinstall the app or pair it with another phone.

The Da Fit app gives no recommendations on how I can improve my health. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express/WideCare)

Fire-Boltt Atom has some odd typos as well. When I opened the ‘Always-On Display’ settings, there were three options -’Close’, ‘Digitail Clock’ and ‘Analogue clock’. If you are wondering what ‘Close’ means, it is the toggle to turn off the always-on display. While the Da-Fit app has a huge collection of watch faces, most look similar, and I struggled to find a good one.

Another gripe I have with the Fire-Boltt Atom is that when I get phone calls, sometimes the audio is automatically diverted to the watch, even when I had my earphones paired. This was frustrating to deal with.

The sleep tracking is not that good either. I compared it with other affordable smart bands, and the results were somewhat off. The FireBoltt Atom suggested I was sleeping when I used my phone while laying down in bed.

The FireBoltt Atom heart rate monitor is a hit or miss. (Image Credit: Anurag Chawake/Indian Express/WideCare)

Fire-Boltt claims the Atom can last up to six days on a charge, but in my experience, the watch barely managed to get past day four. And if you turn on the always-on display, the watch barely lasts a day and a half, which is disappointing, but then expected, given these are known to drain battery life.

Fire-Boltt Atom: Should you buy it?

Fire-Boltt Atom does well on design, display quality and some fitness parameters. At Rs 3,799, this is slightly more expensive compared to other options from the company. The display is one of the best I have seen in a budget smartwatch, and the built quality is solid. Also, the built-in microphone and speaker are one of the best in the segment. But it seems like the companion app is half-baked. There are not many watch faces to choose from, and the health stats are not detailed. If only Fire-Boltt improves the Da Fit app and optimizes the battery life, the Fire-Boltt Atom would be one of the better budget smartwatches.

News Article Source:- Indian Express