AQFiT is a relatively new name in the world of smart wearables. The company recently launched the W9 smartwatch in Nepal, which supports phone calls over Bluetooth. There are not many smartwatches in the price range that bring this feature. I have been testing the AQFiT W9 for some time now, and I'll be sharing my experience with it in this review.Before we begin the review, let's take a quick look at the official specifications of the AQFiT W9 smartwatch.

AQFiT W9 Specifications:

• Body: 47.5 x 55 x 12mm, Zinc alloy case
• Band: 96 x 128mm, Silicone
• Display: 1.33-inch IPS LCD, 240 x 240 pixels
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0
• Chipset: RK8762C+BK
• G-sensor: G-sensor SC7A20
• Audio: Microphone + Speaker
• Battery: 280mAh (Up to 30 days of standby time)
• Charging: 2-pin magnetic charger
• Companion App: Da Fit (Android | iOS)
• IP Rating: IP67 dust and water resistant
• Price in Nepal: Rs. 10,500

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AQFiT W9 Review: 

Design and Display

• 47.5 x 55 x 12mm, IP67 rated
• 1.33-inch IPS screen, 240 x 240 pixels

Let's start with the design first. AQFiT W9 sports a classic watch design with a circular dial. As such, it is quite big and thick. Thus, it may not look good on people with smaller hands.Coming to the screen, it's big but lacking in quality. First, the resolution here is only 240 x 240 pixels. When you spread it across a 1.33-inch panel, the contents don't look as sharp. Since it's not an AMOLED panel, the colors are muted too. The watch has five levels of brightness, but even at the highest, the screen is difficult to read under bright outdoors.The bezels around the screen are thick as well. There are two crown-like structures to the right frame. Both buttons pack the same set of functions of power/back. I wished AQFiT allowed customizing the action of either of them, but that's not the case here. Getting to the strap, it's removable and I didn't have any discomfort putting it on either.

Watch UI

Moving on, the W9 runs on proprietary software—most likely based on RTOS. Swiping down from the homescreen brings up the status bar. Here, you get some quick shortcuts like settings, brightness, and more.Similarly, swiping up triggers the notification tray where you can view individual notifications or clear them collectively. To the right of the homescreen, we have individual app tiles things like heart rate, SpO2, music control, camera shutter, and more.

Connectivity and App

• Bluetooth 5.0, Da Fit app

AQFiT W9 comes with Bluetooth 5.0 to connect with your smartphone. To make the most out of this smartwatch, you'll need to download the Da Fit app, which is available for download on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store.The app has a very simplistic UI. It opens to a page with a summary of your health/exercise stats of the day. Clicking on them reveals a detailed overview.Likewise, swiping right gets you to the device page, where you can play with settings like watch faces, firmware updates, and more. Finally, there is the user profile page to the left.

Health and Fitness Tracking

• 7 total exercise/sports modes
• 24-hour heart rate, SpO2 monitoring

Moving on, the AQFiT W9 covers all of the basic health and fitness tracking that you can think of on a budget smartwatch. It includes all-day heart rate monitoring, SpO2 level evaluation, sleep tracking, and more.You can activate continuous heart rate monitoring from the Da Fit app. Even so, the watch only records heart rate once every 30 minutes. As expected, there is no continuous SpO2 monitoring here. Plus, the watch takes a while to get the readings out. Still and all, the data recorded by the W9 is in line with other fitness bands that I've used.Sleep tracking is also quite reliable here. It was able to accurately record my time to bed and wake-up time. Plus, it was sensitive enough to recognize if I had woken up in between as well. The watch divides your sleep cycle into Light, Deep, and REM sleep. It even rates your sleep quality into a score. However, you will have to refer to the Da Fit app if you want all the details.Besides these, the AQFiT W9 offers a total of 7 sports modes: walking, running, cycling, skipping, badminton, basketball, and football. It doesn't have a built-in GPS, and there is no automatic workout detection either. You can enable GPS tracking for outdoor runs using the app though.

Call Quality

• Built-in microphone, speaker

On the other hand, the AQFiT W9 comes with a dedicated speaker and mic, which is quite rare in this price range. As a result, you can take and make calls directly from the watch itself. It also has a dialer to type in the number you wish to call. You can even choose numbers from recent call records or favorite contacts.The speaker here is surprisingly loud, and I had no trouble hearing through it. As for the microphone, I would have liked it better had it been equipped with some sort of noise reduction technology or a dual-mic setup altogether.As it stands, my peers complained about my voice not being clear enough. This was the case most of the time when I was outdoors. Thankfully, things were a lot better indoors—but not perfect all the way.

Battery and Charging

• 280mAh battery, magnetic charging

AQFiT W9 features a 280mAh battery. In my usage, I got full 2 days of endurance when using the watch at the highest brightness level and with all the health trackings and notifications turned on. I would also take phone calls from the watch whenever possible. Once it switches to the low-battery mode, it limits health-tracking abilities and other smart features.Even in this power-saving mode, the W9 can go on about 2 more days before needing a recharge. Using the 2-pin magnetic charger included in the box, the watch takes around 2 hours 30 minutes to go from 0 to 100%.

AQFiT W9 Review: Conclusion

Having used the AQFiT W9 for some weeks, I have to say that it has an interesting value proposition. Not many smartwatches in this price range come with a dedicated speaker and microphone to enable phone calls over Bluetooth. Its health and fitness tracking features are also on par with what the competitions are offering. That being said, compromises have been made in the display and battery departments.

AQFiT W9 Review: Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Decent design
• IP67 dust-water resistant
• Supports Bluetooth calling

Cons: 

• Dull-looking display
• Only 2 days of battery life
• Companion app is too basic