Koala recently launched their latest smartwatch in the Philippines, the Flexfit Smartwatch. It’s a good-looking wearable with a premium design, lots of features, and an enticing price tag of PHP 2,990.00. Check out our review below.
Design and Display
The unit that we received boasts a Jet black color and a magnetic Milanese loop that resembles the famous Apple watch band. As a fitness watch, I appreciate the magnetic mechanism since it would be hard and almost impossible to detach the wearable from your arm during workout and intense movements.
It features no physical buttons that greatly improves the durability and longevity of the wearable. You’ll have to interact through swipes and simple touch to navigate through the simple user interface.
The 1.3-inch display is easy to look at even when you’re outside. Because of its form factor, it highly resembles Apple Watch and it feels premium as compared to other smartwatches. The touch interface is accurate as the user interface is big enough to cater all finger sizes.
The fit is very comfortable and it is not heavy enough to cause strain even when you’re wearing the watch for long period of time. The screen itself feels very durable and minor bumps from everyday movements didn’t lead to any damages nor scratches in our week of use.
All in all, even with the cheap price tag compared to other smartwatches, the wearable feels solid and premium.
Pairing Experience
The Koala Flexfit is very easy to pair through Da Fit app in both iOS and Android operating systems. After pairing the smartwatch, we immediately received an update to make the setup easier and faster.
Fitness
The Flexfit features a simple process to help you when you’re working out. You just to go to the training app, select your activity and start the timer. You’ll have 8 options: Walking, Running, Cycling, Skipping, Badminton, Basketball, Football, and Swimming. This serve as a way to track your activities, no need to open the phone and quite handy if you want to zone out and just focus on your training.
Health Statistics
For those health conscious out there, the Flexfit Smartwatch offers multiple stat monitoring: heart rate monitor, blood pressure and oxygen monitor
Every time you measure each of those stats, it will be viewable in your Da Fit app so you can keep track of the changes happening in your body. The app also displays some analysis to inform you of each metrics. Overall, these metrics are usually found in some high-end wearables and it is nice that Koala is bringing theses stats at a lower and budget-friendly price point.
Battery Life
Charging the Flexfit smartwatch is done via a proprietary magnetic port. The cable is quite short so you’ll have to mind the location of where you charge it. Additionally, we strongly advice that you keep this cable safe as it is unique and may be difficult to find one.
As for the battery life itself, Koala advertised the Flexfit to last 15 days of regular use and up to 25 days standby. So far upon receiving the wearable and using it for one and a half week straight, the battery is still around 50 percent. We are fairly confident that the smartwatch will last to the advertised time.
Features
What we liked the most are watch faces available as you’ll have a large number of options to choose from. There are only three available through the smartwatch itself but you’ll have a plethora of faces available in the smartphone Da Fit app.
As for other features of the smartwatch, you’ll have all of your smartphone notifications reflected on the wearable. The look of the notifications are a bit lackluster and we personally think that it needs a bit more design improvements.
You can also control the camera shutter for groupies and navigate through your music with rewind, play/pause, and forward controls.
Conclusion
Koala’s Flexfit Smartwatch is a great buy for those wanting to try wearables. The battery life is good that you won’t have to worry about charging and there are plenty of stats that you can track if you’re a fitness buff. With the price tag of under PHP 3,000, it’s a pretty choice among the available smartwatches in the market. You can purchase the Koala Flexfit Smartwatch for PHP 2,990.00 (originally PHP 3,290.00 until December 31, 2020) on their website here.
Specifications
Screen: 1.3-inch IPS Capacitive Touch Screen
Display Resolution: 240×240 pixels
Support System: Android 5.1 and above, iOS 9 and later
Bluetooth: Version 4.0
CPU: 32-bit ARM Cortex M4
Battery: 200mAh
Working time: Up to 15 days regular use; Up to 25 days standby
Charger: Magnetic Pogo Pin
Charging Time: About 2 hours