Timex IQ+ Move: Smartwatch or fitness tracker? A bit of both (Tech Review)

Fitness trackers have become a fad of late, with young- and middle-aged Indians sporting these devices at the park, in the gym and on the streets.

Sensing the momentum, Timex has launched IQ+ Move -- a regular-looking wristwatch with capabilities of a full-fledged fitness tracker.

With the Rs 9,995 device, Timex has tried to lure customers who refrain from wearing digital fitness trackers.

Although there are multiple variants available in the market, we tested the one that had a silicon strap.

Here is what works for IQ+ Move.

The watch is light and wraps around well on the wrist. While the dial is elegant, the green colour that peeps from the strap holes gives a sporty look.

The most irritating thing while wearing a watch in summers is rashes caused by the strap. Thanks to a well-built, grainy strap, the watch never bothers you with any such problem.

Apart from the green-coloured hands, there are two things noticeable on the dial -- one is the "Activity sub-dial" and the other is the "Perfect Date".

The features can only be accessed through the multi-function crown, including pairing with an app, checking the date and turning on the backlight.

To set up the watch, you need to download the Timex Connected app (available on Android and iOS app stores). Fill in the details and you are ready to go.

IQ+ Move tracks the users' sleep, distance, steps and calories burned.

To test the accuracy, we used the watch with Xiaomi's Mi Band 2 activity tracker. The data displayed by both the devices were almost similar.

IQ+ Move, however, had an upper hand in registering sleep patterns accurately.

It stops measuring your sleep when you wake up once. If you sleep again, it will start afresh. On the other hand, Mi Band 2 keeps counting the break under "sleeping hours".

Timex IQ+ Move is claimed to be water-resistant up to 50 metres.

What doesn't work?

The smartwatch does not have a heart-rate scanner, something similar to what we saw in the Asus ZenWatch 2. Also, syncing the watch with the app took a lot of effort. It only displayed the information in the app.

Conclusion: The elegant IQ+ Move is comfortable to wear, easy to handle and a smartwatch-cum-fitness tracker that targets people who needed a device that not only goes with their style but also tracks their fitness goals.

(Sourabh Kulesh can be contacted at sourabh.k@ians.in <mailto:sourabh.k@ians.in>)

--IANS

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