I should mention that this post is not sponsored by Wish in any way. I just wanted to try the service out and see what I could get.
The N88 is one of a gazillion cheap Chinese smart devices on the market that can be easily bought on websites such as AliExpress and Wish (where I purchased mine).
My initial plan when I made my order on Wish was to see if I got anything I actually ordered and if they even worked at all. Well this story has turned into a full review of one of the three devices that arrived. Now the FCC ID on the back of this device calls it a X9-PRO smart band made by Shenzen Niyajia Technology Co. Ltd. Catchy right?
If you are curious the other two things I ordered from Wish include another smart watch that is simpler with a digital face rather than a full on LCD face. The other was a quadcopter which hasn’t arrived yet.
I gotta say I was impressed by the box the N88 came in. It looks premium even if it is rather relaxed on showing anything on it including much for branding. Sliding off the top reveals the N88 in all it’s glory. Under the watch there is a USB cable with a magnetic charger end for charging the watch. No wireless charging here but for the price who cares? We’ll get to that in a moment.
Let’s talk about the watch. The face itself is similar to a Fitbit Versa in size though perhaps a bit narrower. The display is off by default unless you shift your wrist to look at it. It then turns on for about five seconds to show the time/date and depending on your selected theme your last read heartbeat, how much energy you have burned and steps you’ve taken that day. The layout I use is the same as in the headlining image to this post. All the information you need at a glance if you are tracking your health.
The LCD screen is actually very good. I am not sure on the technology but if I had to bet it is an IPS panel as you can easily read the display from all angles. Not bad. It is not a touch sensitive display though and the instruction booklet does not inform you on how to use the watch itself other than showing you how to hook the watch up to their health app on Android or iOS. More on the app in a minute.
There is a small touch sensitive button below the screen and using it is very easy. A single tap will wake up the screen. Continually tapping will scroll you through various health stats including blood pressure. There is also a stopwatch which can be controlled by holding down on the the sensitive button and it will bring up the stop watch. Then by tapping quickly it will start the count. Tapping quickly again will stop the count and tapping quickly again will reset the count. To get out of the stopwatch all you have to do is long press the touch button and it takes you back to your selected clock. You can change your clock theme by long pressing the touch button as well. Pretty intuitive though initially confusing when trying the first time without instructions.
One of the biggest claims to fame here is the battery life. Move over more expensive watches, we have a winner. This watch claims to have 7 days active use and 25 days standby. I can vouch for 3 days of normal use and you are down to one bar of battery life. I have no idea how long that last bar lasts but regardless colour me impressed once again. My old Motorola 360 could barely eke out a ten hour day which is considerably less than my work day.
Now the reason soon becomes apparent why it lasts so long. While the pedometer doesn’t take any real power, and the calories burned are just a function of a calculation using the pedometer, Measuring heartbeat and blood pressure with the included LED sensors on the bottom of the device do take a lot of energy when they are used. So to minimize this the watch takes snapshots of your heart beat every five minutes and to get a blood pressure reading you have to manually initiate that from the app on your phone. This takes about 30 seconds and you can see some live readouts on your phone while it does it’s thing.
It is worthwhile to note that the method this watch and similar watches use to get your blood pressure is not technically approved by any medical outfit but I can say with confidence that the multiple times I have used the function it comes within a few points of where I should be during that time of day. I am really impressed by this function. Of course I am not advocating that you stop seeing your doctor or going to the drug store to get your blood pressure taken properly. It’s just a neat tool.
The pedometer is a great addition but it suffers greatly when in a turbulent environment such as the transport truck I drive. Often by the end of the day it has registered almost 15000 steps which is just not true as much as I would love it to be. Since this happens the calories burned is also incorrect. Thankfully I have other apps to track that.
It’s also nice to see that they included a band that not only fits a large man’s wrist but can also be switched out for any band you like as it uses a standard watch band connection. Another thing my Motorola 360 couldn’t do.
The app is easy to use but be aware it wants access to everything. Most of it can be revoked after installing however. The app itself is a near copy of the Google Fitness app which is really no surprise. The Chinese are good at copying if nothing else though in this case I think they have a good product in the watch.
So we come to the best part of the show. How much? If I have intrigued you so far you are going to be racing for Wish and buying a N88 yourself as soon as I put this price down. It’s $34 CAD. Add ten to twelve dollars shipping and you have one hell of a good deal. Can I recommend this watch. I can’t not recommend it. It’s incredible value.
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