The budget smartwatch segment is already flooded with numerous options from Amazfit, Noise, Redmi, and a lot many other competitors. BoAt Xtend smartwatch is launched at a fairly cheap price considering its feature set and overall appeal. But is it worthy enough of replacing your fitness band and moving on to a full-fledged smartwatch? Read this boAt Xtend Smartwatch review to find out how well the boat Xtend smartwatch stacks against other economical smartwatches and if it’s worth your money or not.
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Boat Xtend Smartwatch Review: Design
It is good to see that brands are trying to make an earnest effort into styling budget smartwatches as well. The boat xtend smartwatch outshines in this department with a flat and square design that is dazzled up with different color combinations. Some might even compare it to the Apple Watch 3 because of its square design and the single control button that looks like the crown on the Apple Watch. But the Apple Watch 3 lies in the top echelon of premium smartwatches while the boat xtend is an entry-level smartwatch.
The boat Xtend smartwatch is very lightweight in design and weighs just 40 grams including the weight of the silicone wrist straps. Out of the 4 available color schemes, the Sandy cream, and olive green look premium in design and finish. The golden one looks a bit tacky and considering the polycarbonate design, its color may wear off from the sides after prolonged usage.
Display
The display of the boat Xtend smartwatch is comparatively larger than other offerings of the budget segment. It sports a 1.69” color LCD with a capacitive touch experience and offers five levels of brightness adjustment. At peak brightness, there is no problem while using the smartwatch under direct sunlight. The colors do look a bit washed away at peak brightness but pose no problem in navigation. It is a TFT display that does not support always-on display mode which is not possible to squeeze into such a tight budget.
There are over 50 watch faces to choose from and users can even set custom images as watch faces. However, to choose a watch face you must be logged in as a registered user. The boat Xtend smartwatch supports adaptive brightness but does not have a dedicated sensor for it. Instead, brightness can be programmed to turn up or down to a certain level according to the time of the day.
Boat Xtend Smartwatch Review: Battery Life
boat Xtend smartwatch comes with a 300 mAh battery that claims to provide a battery life of almost seven days on a complete charge, and around 4 to 5 days on heavy usage. If you use the smartwatch with all the sensors and tracking features enabled, you can expect not more than 3 days of battery life. The smartwatch chargers via a magnetic pogo pin charger that can refuel the battery in 2 hours.
It does not support fast charging and the charger can detach from the smartwatch if you use it in a hanging position from the wall socket. It would be safer to charge it by laying it flat on a table, to avoid the risk of unnecessary falling. The watch and its features are inaccessible while it is in charging mode and can only be interacted with by detaching it from the charging pin.
Xtend boAt Smart Features
boat Xtend smartwatch is packed with smart features and includes a few surprising ones such as Alexa built-in and SpO2 sensor which is uncommon in budget smartwatches.
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Alexa Built-in
boat Xtend smartwatch comes with Alexa built-in and can be used to directly issue commands to every smart device in your home that supports Alexa integration. You have to just press the side-mounted button and hold it for a few seconds to invoke Alexa. After that, you can input your voice query and watch Alexa take over control and perform your commands. You can even ask questions from Alexa and the result is displayed in this smartwatch itself.
The only letdown is that this best budget smartwatch does not have an inbuilt speaker due to which you cannot hear the search result in voice format and have to manually read the output text every time.
Also, go through Best Smart Thermostats for Alexa
Boat Xtend Smartwatch Review: Health Tracking
The boat Xtend smartwatch has numerous health-tracking features that include heart rate monitoring, stress monitoring, blood oxygen level monitoring, sleep tracking, menstrual cycle tracking, and a few other tracking features as well. Most of these features work flawlessly and produce results within the margin of error of any budget smartwatch. Including a spo2 sensor in a smartwatch priced at just 3500 is something you don’t see every day.
The spo2 sensor is not just another useless addition and produces fairly accurate results upon comparing it with a medical-grade pulse oximeter. The data logs of all these health-tracking features are displayed on this smartwatch as well as the companion app offered by boat. All of the above-mentioned health tracking features can be toggled on and off using the companion app and should be used judiciously because they contribute to swift battery drain.
Also, read Best SpO2 (blood oxygen) Smartwatches that you can buy.
Fitness Tracking
Fitness tracking on the boat Xtend smartwatch is acceptable as it comes with 14 sports modes and can even track daily workout activities. The accuracy of the step counter is a bit off, as it tends to count more steps than a user takes in a session. Accessing the fitness tracking menu is quite easy and you do not have to press the button repeatedly to enter into a specific sports tracking mode. The smartwatch is water-resistant to up to 5 ATMs and can be used for swimming workouts. Unless you are thinking of diving deep into the ocean, this smartwatch can repel water effectively.
Boat Wave App
The Boat Wave App is a neatly designed app that can be used to access the contents of your smartwatch. Registration is a prerequisite for using the Boat Wave App and you cannot set faces without it. All of the features of the smartwatch along with the logged data can be viewed inside the app in beautiful graphical and pictorial formats. There are no advertisements in the app and the users need to scan the QR code of their smartwatch to pair it with the smartphone.
Problems with boAt Xtend Smartwatch
The boat Xtend smartwatch is not a powerhouse and sometimes struggles to keep up. The input lag is visible while using this smartwatch but that is partially due to the TFT display too. The font size is tiny despite the big display and needs to be increased to be easily viewable from a distance. One more minor problem that I encountered was the inaccuracy of the step counter that can be fixed with a software update. Overall, there are some persistent issues in the boat xtend smartwatch but most of these issues except the display responsiveness can be fixed with software updates.
Why Should you Buy the boAt Xtend Smartwatch?
The boat Xtend smartwatch is a very economical alternative for any new user who wants to upgrade from fitness trackers to a smartwatch. This budget smartwatch is available at a very compelling price which attracts a lot of prospective buyers. Its feature set perfectly complements the price point at which it retails and finding a smartwatch with Alexa built-in is next to impossible at this price range. The fitness tracking and health tracking capabilities are accurate enough and can double up as your fitness companion.
You may find many other budget smartwatches at this price point but very few of them come with a dedicated spo2 sensor and Alexa built-in. If these are your two topmost priorities, you can go for the boat Xtend smartwatch without any doubt. However, if your budget is up to 5000 then there are a few reputed options such as Xiaomi and Amazfit available in the market.
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