itel Unicorn Max smartwatch review: sophisticated design, feature-packed

itel is popularly known for offering value-packed smartphones on a budget, but lately it has started to dip its toes in other consumer electronics categories such as earphones and smartwatches. Its latest offering includes a smartwatch worth Rs 1,999 with cutting-edge hardware. The smartwatch, namely, the itel Unicorn Max, boasts a metallic body, a large AMOLED display, and tons of built-in features to assist in day-to-day activities.

But does itel deliver what it promises at this aggressive pricing? After using the watch for over two weeks, here’s my itel Unicorn Max review.

Table of Contents

Design and display

The itel Unicorn Max comes in a long and relatively narrow box. Inside, everything is laid out nicely in compartments, which include the smartwatch, a metallic strap, the magnetic USB-A charging cable, a tool to adjust the length of the strap, and a user manual.

Since the strap was too long for my wrists, I adjusted its length using the dedicated tool that came with the watch. While I found the tool straightforward to adjust the length, regular watch stores may also be able to assist you with the strap. To adjust the length, you just have to place the strap on the tool, push out the needles from both sides of the clasp, and then reattach the links to make the strap shorter.

Moving on to the design and build, the smartwatch features an all-metal body, including two buttons on the right side. Both buttons are satisfyingly tactile and large enough for easy pressing. The top button serves as a back button to navigate to the previous menu, while the bottom button provides quick access to Sports mode from anywhere in the UI.

Sitting between these two buttons is the rotating crown, which can be used for scrolling up or down within the UI. The crown also produces a satisfying click sound when pressed or rotated. It even helps with changing the clock face, which I found highly convenient.

On the back of the itel Unicorn Max, you’ll find sensors for heart rate and SpO2 monitoring, along with a small speaker slit and a tiny microphone hole. The watch supports Bluetooth calling and can even play music through its speakers when connected to your phone. For protection against dust and water, it carries an IP68 rating, allowing you to use it comfortably in the rain, during workouts, or in dusty environments.

During my two weeks of usage, I found the weight on the higher side (as it weighs 55 grams), though it wasn’t a cause of concern in the long run. It’s not the heaviest, as premium smartwatches like the Apple Watch Ultra 2 (61.4 grams) and Samsung Watch Ultra (94 grams) weigh much more. Do note, the increased weight of premium watches is understandable as they pack more sensors and hardware for better durability.

One of the major highlights of the itel Unicorn Max is its 1.43-inch AMOLED display, which comes with 466 x 466 resolution, 1,000 nits of brightness, and 60Hz refresh rate support. As for the experience, the AMOLED display produces vibrant colours and deep blacks, making the on-screen content lively with great contrast levels. Even under direct sunlight, the screen is legible at full brightness levels and lives up to the high “1,000 nits brightness” claim.

The screen resolution is more than sufficient, and I did not face issues with the viewing experience. The watch also supports Always On Display (AOD) and adapts to the clock face when it kicks in. You can schedule AOD, which can help preserve battery.

However, it’s worth pointing out that I couldn’t get the display to turn on by double-tapping. It can turn on only using the raise to wake gesture or by pressing the rotating crown. This isn’t a dealbreaker, but it definitely adds to the extra level of convenience. Furthermore, the itel Unicorn Max doesn’t support auto-brightness, so you’ll have to manually adjust the brightness according to the environment’s lighting.

App experience

To get the most out of the itel Unicorn Max, users can install the iPulse app from the Play Store or App Store on their smartphone. What I found particularly interesting is that the watch works straight out of the box, thanks to its custom Real-Time Operating System (RTOS). This means the app mainly serves to view health data on a larger screen.

I tested the watch with a OnePlus 12 (review), and the app ran smoothly. To get started, you’ll need to sign up by creating an account in the app, grant the necessary permissions, and then link the watch to the app via Bluetooth.

Here are the key features of the app, along with my experience using them:
In my two weeks of usage of the watch, the first week was smooth sailing until the start of the second week, when the app occasionally started to crash in the background. This used to happen when the watch was reconnected to the phone after being idle for a while, and at times even when opening the app.

Performance and UI

Running at the core of the itel Unicorn Max is a dual-core processor. The watch showed no signs of lag or jitters when navigating through the software, opening apps, or using the touchscreen. This is a huge plus point, considering the price of the smartwatch. However, the animation can be a tad janky when scrolling pages using the crown.

Navigating the software is equally easy and works with swipe gestures. From the main screen, you can swipe down to access the quick settings, swipe up to view notifications from your phone, and swipe right to switch through various pages such as activity tracker, heart rate tracker, SpO2 tracker, weather, etc. and finally, pressing the crown summons the app drawer. Some key apps include Flashlight, Calculator, Voice Recorder, and Music Player.

Now let’s take a look at the various activity and health monitoring features the watch offers:

Once tracked and saved, every metric can be viewed with the supported app (iPulse) on the smartphone.

Overall, the itel Unicorn Max performed reasonably well during my review, though a bug auto-switched the time format (from 12-hour format to 24-hour format), which can get annoying to fix all the time.

Battery and charging

The battery endurance was impressive on the itel Unicorn Max. On a full charge, the watch lasted five days with AOD enabled for 12 hours a day, Bluetooth enabled, and connected with the phone all the time. As for charging, it took me around one hour to completely charge the watch.

Charging the watch is simple – just attach the cable to the back, where magnetic pins securely hold it in place. However, the USB-A charging cable could have been a bit longer, especially for situations where the adapter is positioned higher up, increasing the risk of the pins loosening from the watch.

Verdict

The itel Unicorn Max is well-built, featuring a sleek metallic design with a steel strap, an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, and Gorilla Glass protection, covering all the key aspects of durability. The display, which is crucial to the smartwatch experience, is vibrant and offers sufficient brightness even under direct sunlight. The battery is well-optimised, lasting up to five days even with Always-On Display (AOD) enabled.

The watch can continuously measure heart rate, monitor SpO2 levels, and track sleep, making it an impressive offering at just Rs 1,999. However, the main issues lie with the iPulse app and occasional notification glitches on the watch, both of which can be unreliable. Hopefully, future updates will resolve the app’s crashing problems. Overall, the watch performs well as a standalone device but tends to run into issues when connected to a phone.

Editor’s rating: 7.5 / 10

Pros

Cons

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