It seems like a long period of time considering that Puma authorized its 10- year collaboration with the Fossil Group – as well as, after 18 months of the job, we currently have the initial item of a package from the brand-new duo, the Puma Smartwatch.
The plain name does not provide excessive away, however, expectedly, Puma’s initial venture right into the globe of smartwatches concentrates mostly on exercises as well as tasks.
That’s a hard location to contend in nowadays, with the Apple Watch Series 3 as well as Fitbit Versa 2 securing the budget plan end as well as the Apple Watch Series 5 staying the undeniable leader of anything over $200
The Puma Smartwatch beings in the center of this pack. It’s $275, running Google’s Wear OS as well as debuts with GPS, heart price monitoring as well as a swim-proof style.
Does it do sufficient to validate its area amongst the sports-focused smartwatches? We’ve been coping with the Puma Smartwatch in order to figure out.
Table of Contents
Puma Smartwatch: Design
We initially saw the Puma Smartwatch back at IFA in September, as well as our first impacts were good – this appeared like a strong initial initiative from the style group.
Puma Smartwatch: Key specifications
- Works with Android as well as iPhone
- 44 mm watch case1.19- inch AMOLED display screen
- 11 mm thick
- 16 mm straps
- Available in 3 colors
- Snapdragon 3100 processor
- Built-in GPS
- Heart price screen
- NFC payments
- 24 hrs battery life.
That was with the white version, which includes a rose gold trim around the bezel, though there’s likewise a black variant with a grey bezel as well as, our testimonial version, the enough-to-blind-you yellow.
Picking up this version is, clearly, an endure choice, however bear in mind the bands are compatible. You can just look around for a much less snazzy band if you simply desire that yellow/black bezel.
In regards to specifications, however, all 3 versions coincide. You obtain a 44 mm face (so, not the most effective for those with a little smaller sized wrists, however likewise not a leviathan), a 1.19- inch AMOLED display screen (with the alternative for an always-on display) as well as an 11 mm thick situation that’s likewise water resistant to 5ATM.
That’s slim, matching around the very same density as something like the Fitbit Versa 2, which likewise implies you should not locate on your own capturing it on key-boards, doors as well as, well, anything else life tosses at you.
Like the remainder of the Wear OS clan, Puma’s watch has little style attributes to assist it stand apart from the remainder of the pack. The bezel is accentuated with the famous Puma logo design, which is likewise matched by the very same information on the nearby side.
When we had an additional experiment with the Puma Smartwatch at the sporting activities brand name’s head office in Nuremberg in October, the style started to advise us of the Fossil Sport as well as Emporio Armani Smartwatch 3.
This is most likely Fossil Group’s impact in the style procedure, which, when we asked Puma’s international imaginative supervisor, Torsten Hochstetter, was called a “very 50-50” collaboration.
In all, we assume this is a strong style for energetic customers. It still does not always blow us away, however it does attain precisely what it lays out to, which’s staying light, yet tough, for exercises as well as everyday usage.
And there can be much more development in style in future tools, though Hochstetter showed it’s unclear whether Puma will certainly be with very same annual cycle as the remainder of Fossil Group’s companions.
“We need to get feedback from this first watch. Things evolve so quickly and we just need to spend our time really making sure that whatever we put out there is true to what Puma is all about,” he claimed.
Puma Smartwatch: Features as well as Wear OS
It might feature a graceful style, however there’s still a commendable quantity of attributes secured inside the Puma Smartwatch – GPS for place monitoring, NFC for contactless settlements as well as a heart price screen.
This ought to come as not a surprise, clearly – these attributes have actually been common in Fossil Group’s companions considering that the last generation, however they’re still crucial in a fitness-first smartwatch.
Unfortunately, however, as we explain with every watch running the software application (as well as there’s whole lots), Wear OS is simply not an excellent experience.
It’s certainly ended up being much more quick as well as effective with the intro of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 3100 cpu, however it’s an unlike what you obtain with Apple, Fitbit as well as even more.
And this isn’t always an objection of the applications, watch deals with or even more low-level smartwatch features – all that things is great, as well as possibly on the same level with just about Apple.
This is truly much more concerning physical fitness as well as wellness monitoring, which is kept back by the mind-numbing use of Google Fit as well as the countless mate of on-watch (Google Fit Workout, Google Fit Workout, Google Fit Breathe) as well as smart device cronies (Google Fit as well as Wear OS by Google) called for to obtain one of the most from it.
Again, duplicating what we’ve claimed in various other evaluations, points are certainly much better than a number of years back, however there’s much excessive focus on Move Minutes as well as Heart Points.
If you appreciate rest monitoring, your relaxing heart price or really wish to choose some wellness as well as task objectives (like, claim, you can on Fitbit), Google Fit can not do a lot for you.
There’s still an exceptionally doubtful equilibrium in between simpleness, which is required when you’re making a task watch intended greatly at informal flashy kinds, as well as thorough everyday task comments, called for to maintain individuals spent over the lasting.
As we claim, points like Google Pay, Google Assistant as well as Tiles are excellent attributes we can deal with, however the Puma Smartwatch – as well as any type of various other flashy Wear OS watch – has an innately reduced ceiling because of Google Fit’s restrictions.
Now, you can make the debate the Puma Smartwatch ought to likewise have the very same brand-new attributes as Fossil Gen 5, also, however, truly, that’s the addition of an audio speaker as well as some a little boosted internals. It ought to certainly have the most up to date attributes, we simply do not consider it a dealbreaker in this circumstances.
Puma Smartwatch: Tracking
In this area, we commonly flaunt a couple of charts contrasting just how the watch contrasts to a competing tool – in this situation, we were checking the Puma Smartwatch versus the Fitbit Versa 2 as well as Apple Watch Series 4.
However, such is the berserk nature of existing day Wear OS as well as Google Fit, our 2 trial run with the tool have actually seen us run into 2 various, yet just as tragic, troubles.
First, GPS. We were checking the Puma’s place precision versus the Apple Watch Series 4. To do so effectively, the tools require to be far from a phone as well as tackled a run. Basic sufficient? .
Wrong. While Apple’s smartwatch has the ability to separately locate a signal within around 5 secs of suggesting you wish to begin an exercise, the Puma Smartwatch can not.
It took about 2 mins of checking out the ‘Acquiring GPS’ tag for us to shed persistence, prior to beginning the run without signal and afterwards obtaining a buzz on our wrist a min or two later on.
Potentially, this was to show it had actually located the signal – nonetheless, if it can not, range will certainly still be approximated. We’re still uncertain whether it tracked via the accelerometer.
GPS disparities – or simply flat-out rejection to function – isn’t simply an issue in this watch; basically every tool considering that the arrival of the Fossil Group’s Gen 4 has actually had problem with this. Which’s not to claim every tool will certainly experience the very same problems, however it’s certainly something to bear in mind.
However, this is likewise worsened by the 2nd trouble – syncing.
Post-workout, we would certainly have normally had the ability to inspect if the Puma tracked our place, however whatever workout we did track on the watch declined to sync via to Google Fit on our phone. This is a brand-new trouble, as well as one we’ve not come across prior to on a Wear OS tool, however we can not claim we’re stunned.
We checked the Puma Smartwatch with an apple iphone, which unquestionably isn’t as pleasant with Wear OS as Android smart devices, however, truthfully, this truly should not be a problem, either.
For what it deserves, the information the Puma Smartwatch did gather (which we can see on the watch) appeared bang in accordance with both smartwatches we checked versus. Typical heart price was within 1-2 BPM of the Fitbit, as well as place was within 0.1 kilometres of the Apple Watch.
Puma Smartwatch: Battery life
One of the plus factors in the most up to date generations of Wear OS – as well as likely because of the much more reliable Qualcomm cpu running the program – is the brand-new battery settings.
Obviously, just how much juice you obtain is about just how greatly you’re making use of the tool, as well as this still can not get to the week-long criteria established by the similarity Garmin as well as Fitbit, however it’s excellent.
It implies that you can have the option to go with large usage as well as bill it support the very same day, or you can remove back attributes like heart price as well as the always-on display screen as well as obtain a number of days.
You can likewise produce a personalized setup, if, claim, your use is relatively constant as well as you wish to make it through a specific duration without needing to bill it.
We located it to have deal around 24 hrs in common usage, however the truth there’s currently alternatives available to tune the tool to your practices is a great function.