By Divya Bhati: There are numerous homegrown tech companies that offer smartwatches at an aggressive price point. Some are popular – like boAt, Noise, and FireBoltt – while others are yet to touch the success mark. One such emerging Indian wearable brand is Playfit. Most of you may not have heard Playfit’s name, but after using their latest offering – Playfit Flaunt – I can assure you that the product is decent for the price. However, I do feel that the watch needs some improvements in a few areas. But, overall, a decent job done by a new brand.
Before getting into the review, some bits about the brand. Playfit is currently focusing only on the smartwatch wearables category and offers a range of smartwatches and smart fitness bands at an affordable price segment.
This is the first time that India Today Tech is reviewing a Playfit smartwatch and we are starting with one of its latest offerings, Playfit Flaunt. First things first, the Playfit Flaunt is compatible with both Android and iOS through the Playfit app. However, I did face some sync issues on the watch, which I will talk about in a bit.
What I like is that, even at such an affordable price point, the Playfit Flaunt gets the basics right. The smartwatch offers an Apple Watch-like design and supports features like — voice calling over Bluetooth, an always-on display, fitness tracking features, and a 1.78-inch Super AMOLED display. Now the question is – how does the Playfit Flaunt smartwatch perform in real life? And should you make it your next smartwatch or not? I will answer these questions in this review. Read on.
Playfit Flaunt design
I have been using the Playfit Flaunt for around a month now and every time I see the watch it reminds me of the Apple Watch. However, the design isn’t a complete copy of the Apple Watch but it does give a bit of Apple’s vibe. The Playfit Flaunt comes in two colour options — champagne and black. The one I have been using is the black variant.
As far as the design is concerned, the smartwatch includes control buttons on the sides. The buttons are easily reachable and work just fine. However, the frames do feel slightly cheap for the price. So, I would suggest that Playfit takes the build slightly more seriously in its next smartwatch. Now, I am quite impressed that the smartwatch comes with support for water-resistance with an IP67 rating, which a lot of expensive watches miss out on.
The big rectangular curved display with black silicone strap looks classy and fits perfectly on my tiny wrist. However, the display, in my opinion, can be a bit too large for people with thinner wrists. The screen is also not scratch-proof, which means one needs to be extra careful when using this watch.
I personally liked the fit and the silicon strap is also comfortable to wear all day long, even during workouts. The Playfit flaunt is also quite lightweight. The good thing is, the strap never reacted with sweat and irritated my skin.
Playfit Flaunt display
The company claims that the display of the watch is one of its key highlights, and I surely agree with Playfit on this. The smartwatch comes with a big 1.78-inch Super AMOLED display, which offers 550 nits brightness with an IPS panel. The Always-On-Display also turns out to be right and looks cool. In fact, I am quite impressed to see a brand so new as Playfit offer Always-On-Display at such an aggressive price point. However, I missed the touch-to-wake feature on this one, so every time I had to manually press the buttons to wake up the watch.
During my time with the watch, I really liked the display as it is bigger and gets quite bright in almost all scenarios. So, whether you are out shopping or at home spending the day browsing Instagram, the screen of the Playfit Flaunt is never going to disappoint you. The bigger display also shows notifications and messages clearly, so you never miss out on important updates from your colleagues or family. Another good thing is that the touch on the screen also works seamlessly, which is rarely found at this price segment.
Playfit Flaunt performance and battery
Just like any other smartwatch at this price point, the Playfit Flaunt offers a range of features including fitness tracking, heart rate monitoring, and more. So, if you are a gym freak and fitness enthusiast, this one can be a decent option for you to consider.
I compared the Playfit Flaunt with FireBoltt’s latest offering and both showed similar heart rate and blood oxygen levels. So, I am assuming that the watch does a decent job at tracking the vitals as well as recording the steps. However, I would suggest, if you have a heart or any other health issue, better to check with a medical professional instead of depending on a smartwatch.
I used the Playfit Flaunt with my iPhone 13, while it was easy to set the watch (took just a few minutes), one issue I faced is with syncing. The Playfit app is available on both Google Play store and Apple App store but the app struggled to sync with the watch, especially when the watch was turned off. Every time the watch was switched on, I had to manually sync the watch with the app to set time and track activities and this was quite frustrating. I assume this was some software bug on the app, which Playfit should note and resolve through future software updates.
The Bluetooth calling worked well on this one and the watch synced very well with the smartphone. Calls also turned out to be clear and loud on the watch, which is quite rare in this price segment. You can also take WhatsApp calls using the smartwatch, although I faced a syncing issue here as well. So, overall, the Playfit Flaunt offers a decent performance with some hiccups in some areas.
Coming to the battery, Playfit promises to offer 5 days battery life on a single charge, but I do not completely agree with the company. For me, the smartwatch struggled to last even for one full day when the Bluetooth calling and Always-on display was turned on. Now, without the Always-on display and Bluetooth calling, the Playfit smartwatch lasts for around 1.5 – 2 days at max. So, the battery life is not up to the mark. The charging speed, though, is decent and takes around 3 hours to fully charge the watch.
Platfit Flaunt review: Should you buy it?
The Playfit Flaunt stands out for its big AMOLED display and its iPhone-like design, which makes it look quite premium for its price tag. I also found the Bluetooth calling feature quite stable, and the watch was also able to track vitals like heart rate and steps quite accurately. While Playfit Flaunt gets some bits right, there are few areas where the watch struggles. For instance, the battery life is average and you will need to charge it almost every day, and the compatibility between the watch and the Playfit app is not very smooth.
In my opinion, if Playfit would have worked a little bit on these aspects, the Playfit Flaunt could have easily been one of the best options in the Rs 4000 segment. Right now, the segment is quite crowded with multiple options from brands like boAt, Noise, FireBoltt, Realme, and more, but I believe the Playfit Flaunt makes up for a decent buy.
