Realme Watch S2 review: design, AI, and more
In this Realme Watch S2 review, we tell you whether the smartwatch is worth buying for its asking price starting at Rs 4,999 or not.
The Realme Watch S2 marks the company’s first smartwatch release in India since 2022, succeeding the original Realme Watch S, which debuted three years ago. The Watch S2 boasts all the essential features expected in a 2024 smartwatch, including a robust design, slim bezels, an AMOLED display, impressive battery life, Bluetooth calling, and various activity trackers. Although the watch runs on a proprietary OS and does not support third-party apps, it is infused with AI capabilities that can be used to create watch faces, optimise battery performance, and analyse workouts.
In this Realme Watch S2 review, we tell you whether the smartwatch is worth buying for its asking price starting at Rs 4,999.
Table of Contents
Design and display
The Realme Watch S2 features a circular design with a rotating crown and a tactile button on the right edge. The crown protrudes slightly, but its positioning prevents it from digging into your wrist during push-ups or other activities. Crafted from stainless steel with a primer coating, the watch combines a premium look with rugged durability. It is IP68 water and dust-resistant, making it suitable for swimming and use in the rain.
The wearable is rated to withstand temperatures from -40 to +70 degrees Celsius, can endure depths of up to 5 meters underwater, and features a screen hardness of 7H. During our two weeks of usage, we didn’t encounter any issues with its durability; it endured regular wear without any visible scratches on the display or the body.
The Watch S2 has been launched in three colour variants: Metallic Grey, Midnight Black, and Ocean Silver. We received the Metallic Grey variant for review, which features steel bands similar to the traditional watches. A tool kit is provided with the variant to adjust the band, per your wrist size. The watch looks svelte with the steel bands for sure. However, if you are getting the watch to track your workouts, silicone bands would be a more comfortable option. Both types of bands feature quick-release pins, making it easy to swap them with any other bands of a similar size. With 41 grams of weight, the smartwatch is comfortable to wear all day long.
The Realme Watch S2 features a large 1.43-inch circular AMOLED display with a resolution of 466 x 466 pixels, 500 nits peak brightness, and a pixel density of 326 ppi, along with visible bezels. Although the display lacks auto-brightness, it becomes sufficiently bright for outdoor use under direct sunlight when manually adjusted through the quick settings menu. The display is highly responsive to touch and delivers vibrant colours with crisp text. It even supports always-on display (AOD), which can be scheduled and customised with different faces.
Features and app connectivity
The Realme Watch S2 boasts an array of features, including a Super AI engine powered by ChatGPT 3.5, which allows users to create AI watch faces with a voice-controlled image generation feature via the Realme Link app. This app is available for download on both Android phones and iPhones. At the time of writing this review, version 3.19.731 was the latest version of the app for iPhones. The AI watch faces perform as advertised, generating designs based on voice commands with the assistance of your internet-connected smartphone. Additionally, the watch features AI voice assistance, enabling you to interact with it and get your queries answered.
Moving on, the smartwatch features 150+ cloud-based watch faces, 110 sports modes, and vital tracking abilities such as heart rate, blood oxygen level, sleep and menstrual cycle. The wearable also offers Bluetooth connectivity and up to 4GB of storage to store MP3 music files which can be played locally. The Watch S2 can double up as a remote camera shutter as well with the paired smartphone.
Performance
The Realme Watch S2 delivers a seamless performance, free from any lag or stutter while switching between screens and apps. The animations are incredibly smooth, providing a very satisfying experience. Additionally, the Watch S2 offers an intuitive UI, with all controls, sports modes, and vital information just a few swipes away. Pressing the rotating crown takes you to the app drawer, which is customisable and can be arranged from four presets. The crown also functions as a home button, but despite its rotating capability, it doesn’t provide any additional functionality, which is a bit disappointing. The tactile button below the crown on the right spine opens up the workout modes.
It was quite difficult for me to track my workouts with the watch, owing to those metal bands that would bite my wrist if I wore it tightly to get accurate readings. Silicone bands would be a better fit here. Be that as it may, I was mighty impressed with the Realme Watch S2 step tracking. It produces near-accurate results with roughly 2-3 ghostly steps per 100 steps walked. Based on the steps walked, the watch estimates calories burned and distance covered, though these might not be entirely accurate since there is no altimeter to track elevation changes while climbing stairs or walking uphill that would burn more calories. This is a shortcoming that many budget smartwatches have, which makes it excusable for the Watch S2.
Besides step tracking, the Realme Watch S2’s sleep tracking is also pretty reliable. However, its relatively large form factor and weight might not be comfortable for everyone to wear while sleeping. The watch monitors various sleep stages, including deep sleep, light sleep, REM (rapid eye movement), and periods of wakefulness. It then generates a comprehensive sleep score, providing insights into the quality of your sleep and identifying areas where you excelled or could use improvement.
Furthermore, the Realme Watch S2 comes with SpO2, heart rate, and stress monitor. Although I can’t vouch for their efficacy, it is good to have them onboard. However, it is worth noting that their data cannot be used for medical purposes. The watch also offers Activity data, which provides a summary of all your activities done throughout the day. It further allows you to adjust goals for which you get constant reminders upon completion.
Speaking of reminders, the watch offers sedentary alerts to prompt you to move when seated for too long. The Watch S2 also analyses all the collected data and provides a rough estimation of the wearer’s body energy, which can be viewed via the app. According to the company, this feature helps estimate how much energy you have available for work or exercise.
While it all seems to be working fine for the Realme Watch S2, there is still room for improvement like the UI, which still has a few limitations and customisation options. The watch also doesn’t feature built-in GPS which would have given it an edge over its arch rivals. But if you can live without these features, the Realme smartwatch is worth considering given that it also delivers solid battery life.
Battery and calling
The Realme Watch S2 is rated to provide up to 20 days of battery life depending on usage, it lasted around 16 days for me. This was with regular use, keeping the smartwatch connected to my phone round the clock for notifications, and tracking vitals, workouts, and sleep. Even with heavier usage—such as an always-on display (AOD), maximum brightness, and constant heart rate tracking—the wearable should last at least a week.
Once the battery life is drained, the Realme Watch S2 can be charged via a compatible cable that attaches to the back of the case magnetically. The cable can be plugged into any USB Type-A port to recharge the device from 0 to 100 percent in around 70 minutes.
