ASUS VivoWatch: Fitness watches never looked this good

Priced at Rs 11,500, the watch is a good bet

I've always loved watches, even when they were not in fashion. Now, with the wearables craze truly upon us, I'm lucky to try out many of them, though I'm not always happy with how they look. Not so with Asus.

As I unpacked the Asus VivoWatch, a fitness watch, the first thing that struck me was the elegant design (well, it had the "ASUS" label prominently displayed on the face but that was about it). The watch sports only one button, the home button. Swiping sideways, it displays alarm, heart rate, UV index and steps and calories. Swiping up, one can access sleep and exercise data, and Asus' Happiness Index score, where one gets a score out of 100.

Switching on exercise mode, I went for a run. The glowing red light below the screen alerted me (when I pushed myself for a sudden dash) that I was near my maximum limit - else the light stays green. A caveat: The exercise mode only supports running.

This watch can track sleep without manually switching on sleep mode and I happily wore it to bed. Trouble is, I woke up a few times; this watch is flat on the underside and so the moment it slipped down to the bony part of my wrist, I woke up in pain. Sleep tracking, though, was as accurate as it can get.

The HiVivo app displays a lot of information since heartbeat is tracked through the day, but the data can't be exported to third-party apps.

The VivoWatch alerts one to calls and stays shows the time, date and charge - always. And it looks equally good in the gym and the boardroom. In the week I used it, I didn't need to charge it a second time with the puck.

Thus, if you want a good-looking watch which is also a quite accurate fitness tracker and has fabulous battery life, the Asus VivoWatch, at Rs 11,500 is a good bet.