Dizo Watch D Pro review: a budget smartwatch that deserves a second look

Here's my take on the Dizo's new budget-focused smartwatch - Dizo Watch D Pro

• By Ashish Kumar -
Published On: February 18, 2023

Realme TechLife's first brand Dizo has been making waves in the Indian market with its affordable smartwatches. The OEM offers a range of good feature-rich smartwatches that are priced as low as Rs 1,999. The latest to join the lineup includes Dizo Watch D Pro and D Ultra. I got my hands on the Dizo Watch D Pro review unit, and after playing with it for well over a week, I believe it is a good budget smartwatch marred by some niggles. Read my full account of the Dizo Watch D Pro in this review:

What's good

• The Dizo Watch D Pro may sport an uninspiring design, but it has done a commendable job with its build quality. The wearable is fashioned out of an aluminium frame, which makes it light and robust. Furthermore, it has a curved plastic back and 22mm silicone straps, which make the watch comfortable to wear all day long. The straps don't itch or bite and have quick-release pins to swap them with other straps of similar size. The watch sports a crown on the right that can do a bunch of things, including powering the device on/off, pulling up all the pre-installed apps, and jumping to the home screen. The device has a speaker grille and a microphone around the back, which doesn't get muted. Apart from that, the wearable is IP68 rated, which means it ican be taken to the shower with no worry.
• The Dizo Watch D Pro packs a large 1.85-inch display that bears 240x280p resolution, 600 nits brightness, and a 60Hz refresh rate. It's an LCD screen with 2.5D curved tempered glass on top and thin bezels on all sides to ensure that the watch is not bulky. The screen offers easy readability. It is responsive to the touch and bright enough to be legible under direct sunlight. That said, the brightness has to be adjusted manually as there is no auto-brightness support on the watch. The display also comes with raise to wake, which is a bit slow to respond, but it works every single time for a quick time check and more.

• Performance is another highlight of the Dizo Watch D Pro, which is powered by the D1 chipset. It's the first-ever smartwatch SoC from the company and promises to offer smooth scrolling and a seamless experience. After using the watch for almost a week, I felt that was exactly the case. The wearable did not stutter or slow down to anything thrown at it. Switching between screens, launching apps, and running different workout modes was quite a breeze on the Watch D Pro.
• On the fitness front, the Dizo Watch D Pro is packed to the brim. There are over 110 sports modes to choose from. Outdoor run, outdoor walk, indoor run, indoor walk, outdoor cycle, indoor cycle, free training, rower, elliptical, and hiking are pre-installed on the smartwatch. But these can be removed and replaced by other modes through the compatible Dizo Health app. Besides that, the wearable has health-tracking features such as dual heart rate sensors and SpO2. It can also monitor sleep and keep track of steps walked, distance covered, and calories burnt throughout the day. However, it is worth mentioning the wearable is not a medical device, and per the company, the data should only be used for reference. 

• Moving on, the Dizo Watch D Pro comes with Bluetooth voice calling for users to make or receive calls from the wearable as long as it is connected to a smartphone. The watch needs to be paired with the handset via Bluetooth separately for the voice calling to work. I found the watch's speaker and microphone quality acceptable for the price range. The speaker is loud enough to be heard in a quiet environment. I had no trouble understanding what the person on the other end of the line was saying. The microphone sounds a bit muffled, but it gets the job done.
• The Dizo Watch D Pro's battery life is also up to the mark. The wearable lasted for me for the full claimed period, i.e. six days with the Bluetooth voice calling enabled, on a single charge. Without the voice calling feature, the Dizo watch is rated to last up to 7 days between charges. Given the price, this is a decent battery life for a smartwatch. As for charging, the device uses a proprietary charger that takes close to 2 hours for a full charge.

• The Dizo Watch D Pro comes with the company's Dizo OS pre-installed to take care of the software side of things. The OS has some issues, but it is intuitive, and the interface is user-friendly. The controls and features are just a few swipes away, while the pre-installed apps can be pulled through the physical toggle on the right spine. The wearable supports several preset watch faces, as well as art filters and animations to customise the dial. The OS allows users to customise all in-app watch faces, which cannot be more than five. Besides that, the Dizo OS packs some nifty features, such as do not disturb mode, sedentary reminder, drink water reminder, phone notifications, alarm, stopwatch, and breathing exercises, among other things. There is also a smart glance feature on the left of the home screen that offers a daily brief of the weather and sleep, along with alarm, heart rate, and SpO2 information.

What's not so good

• The physical toggle on the right fascia of the Dizo Watch D Pro is not very responsive. I had to press it more than once to initiate action at times. Furthermore, the button feedback could have been better. It feels so muted that I wouldn't even know I have been holding down the button. The OS also had a few issues in the form of bugs. The Dizo OS software version 0.9.2.22 kept the watch ringing/ buzzing even after a call had been answered on the smartphone. Additionally, there would be occasions when the wearable might not show a workout summary. This happened to me twice over the course of this review, and my heart almost skipped a beat when I saw a blank summary of the workout. But, the good thing is that the workouts are recorded and saved on the smartwatch and the app. The watch also kept sending me false sedentary reminders for being seated for too long.
  

• The Dizo Watch D Pro step count is precise, while the heart rate sensor and SpO2 monitor are reliable, if not accurate. Be that as it may, I did notice the watch measuring heart rate while resting on the table, which isn't surprising since many wearables in the budget segment do the same. That said, the Dizo watch's sleep and distance tracking could have been better. The sleep tracker would show me sleeping for hours when I was up in bed streaming web series or movies on my smartphone. Apart from that, the distance shown on the watch while I was running or walking was nowhere close to reality. It would either fall short or exceed the actual distance covered.

• The new Dizo smartwatch pairs with a new Dizo Health app. The latter is available for download on Android mobile phones and iPhones via Google Play Store and App Store, respectively. I had the Dizo Health app version 1.0.2 installed on my iPhone. The app offered easy pairing with the smartwatch via the QR code. The UI looked very basic, but it was easy to use. However, there were some connectivity issues. The watch would often get disconnected from the app while using the in-app GPS to track outdoor running and walking. Speaking of the in-app GPS, which is basically your phone's location, it did a very shabby job tracking my route. Despite giving the 'Precise location' access, the app would capture my location miles away from the actual track. Moving on, the app took aeons to sync data from the smartwatch. I had to wait a minute after launching the Dizo Health app to see the latest results, which was quite frustrating. The issues can, of course, be fixed with future software updates, but nothing is certain for now.
  

Verdict

The Dizo Watch D Pro is selling in India with a sticker price of Rs 2,699. This puts it up against several smartwatches in the segment, including GOQii Stream (review) and Boat Wave Edge. They both come with Bluetooth voice calling and tons of sports modes. However, the wearables are not as sturdy as the Dizo Watch D Pro. The GOQii stream even packs a smaller display and has a shorter battery life compared to the Dizo smartwatch. Additionally, the former's step tracking is a bit iffy.

The Dizo watch also has a fair bit of issues with connectivity, OS, and sleep and distance tracking. But if you are looking for a light and robust watch with Bluetooth voice calling, a large screen, and lots of sports modes at a budget price, then the Dizo Watch D Pro would be a good buy.

Editor's rating: 3.5 / 5

Pros

• Light and comfortable
• Step tracking is accurate
• Large touchscreen display
• Lots of sports mode

Cons

• Sleep & distance tracking could be better
• Connectivity issues
• OS needs improvement