Fire-Boltt Sphere Watch review: Rugged build, average accuracy, impressive battery-life
Toward the end of last year, we had our first encounter with the brand Fire-Boltt when we reviewed the Hulk, a fitness watch that frankly had no relatable traits of the legendary superhero. While it was packed with features, it had a handful of bugs and the accuracy wasn't up to the mark. The company has been launching a new watch every second week since, and we have lost track of which model is which. And then came the Sphere. One look at it and there was no doubt in our minds that this was a watch worthy of the name Hulk. No, it's not green, though you do get a green variant of this watch. The Fire-Boltt Sphere is a rugged fitness watch that boasts of a shock-proof exterior and a large AMOLED display in addition to features like Bluetooth calling, heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring and solid battery backup. Their Hulk couldn't smash the competition, but can this Sphere roll them over? Let's find out.
Shock and water-resistant metal body, but bulky and fairly heavy
The Fire-Boltt Sphere has a large circular frame with two physical buttons along the right edge. The company claims that the watch has a metal body that is shock-proof as well as scratch resistant, and also carries an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. That rating does make it rain-proof and water-resistant for up to 30 minutes in 1.5 meters deep water but not swim-proof; so do not dive in a pool wearing this. Coming back to the build, it is noticeably sturdy and the metallic gray rim around the screen makes it look classy despite the watch being on the bulkier side. It weighs close to 75 grams, which relatively speaking, is twice as heavy as most fitness watches. This watch is meant for those with beefier arms, and it does look out of place on leaner wrists. We got the black variant for review which largely has a matte finish and doesn't attract smudge marks. Weight and size aside, the bundled silicone straps feel comfortable around the wrist and do not cause skin irritation even after prolonged use. However, it is far from comfortable to wear overnight. The straps have a standard 22mm width and are easily replaceable with any third-party straps of the same width. It has a standard locking mechanism with the Fire-Boltt branding only on the buckle and at the back of the watch. The SpO2 and heart rate sensors can be found at the back, along with the charging points. The top physical button serves multiple purposes. It can be used as a power button with a long press or to turn the screen on and off or as a Home button with a quick press. The other physical button brings up the workout menu when pressed, and can also be used to pause or end an activity.
Large round display, simple interface with some interesting UI elements
The display resolution is what sets the Sphere apart from its other circular siblings. It has a large 1.6-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 400x400 pixels. The screen is quite sharp and the color reproduction is very good. The maximum brightness is rated at 600 nits, and the screen does get quite bright at peak. You get five levels of brightness, of which 2 is good enough indoors, and 4 suffices outdoors even when it's sunny. The company terms the watch as scratch resistant, but there is no mention of any specific scratch-resistant glass or oleophobic coating on the screen. The good news is there wasn't a single scratch on the screen after using the watch for almost a month. There were hardly any smudge marks either, so I didn't need to wipe the screen frequently. You get a nice collection of watch-faces that can be downloaded and transferred from the companion app. You get seven slots on the watch of which you can have five faces of your choice. However, each watch-face takes over 90 seconds to transfer from the app to the watch, which is quite slow. You can either press the physical button or flick your wrist to wake up the watch screen. Things generally work as expected. The user interface is simple, lag-free and offers some neat customizations. One can swipe down for settings, swipe up to check notifications, swipe right for the apps drawer and swipe left to cycle through widgets like steps count, heart rate, sleep data etc. Within a menu, swiping right takes you to the previous screen. The watch offers you six presentation styles for the apps drawer ranging from a simple list to circular bubbles. Certain watchfaces let you jump to the specific widget screen like steps count or heart rate when tapped on the home screen.
Can track multiple workouts, but tracking is not too reliable
The company seems to have shifted from the Da Fit app to QWatch Pro to sync the watch with it. The new app is not too different, but just more irritating at times as it keeps asking for too many unnecessary permissions. Feel free to decline many. The app is basic with limited data analysis, but simple to grasp. Other than watch-faces and setting up personal info and goals, it shows you daily activity progress, previous workout data, heart rate chart, sleep data and SpO2 level. You also get weekly and monthly data for certain parameters. Basic sleep monitoring works well when it comes to the duration of sleep, though wearing this watch to bed is a task. The watch tracks the quantum of deep sleep, light sleep and awake time. Strangely, there is no REM sleep information here which was available on the Hulk. The breakup of deep and light sleep for the previous night is available on the watch itself. The Fire-Boltt Sphere can monitor various fitness activities ranging from walking, running, cycling, free training and their variations. It can also track certain popular sports. Given that this is a budget watch, it would be foolish to expect accurate tracking or deep analysis of workouts. Just like the Hulk, the steps and distance tracking are way off the mark here too. It mostly errs on the lower side of the count. And the irony being, it is off by 10-12% generally, but when you start the walking workout, the number is at least 20% lower than actual, which is unacceptable even for a watch without built-in GPS. Again, the culprit here is the pedometer which reports fewer steps during walks and runs and messes up the distance calculation. To mitigate that, you can add a few inches or centimeters to your height that you enter in the app to reduce the margin of error.
Bluetooth calling feature, surprisingly loud speaker, impressive battery backup
The watch supports all day heart-rate-monitoring at intervals of five minutes to an hour. It does a fair job but doesn't seem to increase the tracking frequency as high as it should during a workout. The SpO2 sensor does a decent job and returns a reading in about 20 seconds. The reading is typically a point or two lower than an over-the-counter oximeter, which is fine as it is meant to be indicative and not replace the clinical equipment. Beyond fitness, you get the usual set of features like music controls, weather, notifications, camera shutter etc. The messages are perfectly legible on the watch's large display, but you cannot reply back. It also supports Bluetooth calling functionality. You can make and receive calls directly from this watch. It has a built-in mic and speaker, and the latter is surprisingly loud. But you have to hold the watch closer to your mouth for the other person to hear you clearly. Needless to say, the watch needs to be synced with your phone to route the call. The battery backup of the Fire-Boltt Sphere is quite impressive courtesy of its 600mAh battery. Strangely, the company quotes a conservative battery estimate of eight days in classic mode. In reality, it managed to easily last for two full weeks with a standard load that included very little calling, screen brightness set to level three most of the time, notifications limited to SMS and email, six hours of total fitness activity, two SpO2 readings per day and three nights of sleep tracking during that period.
Not the most accurate, but there's a lot to like
The Fire-Boltt Sphere is priced at Rs. 3,499 with a one year warranty. The price is pretty neat for a watch with a rugged build, large round AMOLED display and Bluetooth calling. Add to that solid battery backup, thanks to which, you may have to charge this watch only twice a month unless you use the calling feature too much. Erratic steps tracking can be a deal-breaker for some, and so can be its size and weight. But there's a lot to like about it too, and the overall package is more than decent for its asking price. As for competition, there are quite a few with rectangular dials. But if we stick to round dials, there's one that comes to mind straight away, and that's the Boat Watch Primia that we reviewed last year with an equally good round AMOLED display and similar features, including Bluetooth calling. The price is similar too and the design is a bit more elegant without compromising on the heft. We are in the process of reviewing another couple of options which we will tell you about shortly. Stay tuned.
