itel Unicorn Review – Smartwatch cum Pendant

In the crowded world of budget smartwatches, standing out can be tough. Enter the itel Unicorn, an intriguing addition to the market priced at just Rs 2,899 but you can get if for Rs 2,580 on Amazon. What sets this device apart is its unique design, allowing it to transition from wristwear to a pendant. Curious to know more? Let’s dive in.

Design and Display

Unboxing the itel Unicorn reveals a circular watch face without straps attached. Inside, you’ll find a leather strap and a plastic bag containing a metal chain with a golden finish and metal connectors. These connectors let you attach the straps or chain to the watch, adapting it to your style or mood. This design echoes the Apple Watch’s band mechanism, utilizing mechanical buttons to insert or remove connectors.

The watch’s champagne gold polish and overall metal quality are decent, although the durability of the finish over time remains to be seen. The left side of the watch case features a speaker, while the right houses a functional crown and a multifunction key above it.

The itel Unicorn sports a 1.43-inch AMOLED display with up to 500 nits of brightness, ensuring vibrant, clear visuals. The curved design provides a 3D look, though it occasionally leads to false touches. Despite the noticeable bezel, the display is responsive, and the Always-on Display (AoD) feature supports both analogue and digital watch faces.

Features

The itel Unicorn offers a suite of features typical for affordable smartwatches. These include Bluetooth calling, notification mirroring, weather updates, alarms, stopwatch, timer, phone finder, remote camera shutter, and music playback control. Fitness features encompass heart rate monitoring, step counting, sleep tracking, SpO2 levels, stress tracking, breathing exercises, female cycle tracking, and support for over 110 sports activities. Additionally, it includes a voice assistant for tasks like launching apps and setting alarms.

UI and App Connectivity

The watch’s interface is driven by swipes. Swiping right reveals the app drawer, which can be navigated using the crown. Swiping left shows widgets, while upward and downward swipes display notifications and quick settings, respectively. Pressing the crown turns the display on and off, and rotating it on the home screen cycles through different watch faces. However, the easily rotating crown can sometimes switch watch faces unintentionally.

The itel Unicorn syncs with your iPhone or Android smartphone via the OnWear Pro app. The app is straightforward, divided into health, exercise, and user profile tabs. The health tab provides a snapshot of your physical activity, vitals, and sleep data, while the exercise tab lets you initiate workouts. Numerous watch faces are available for download, some of which are free, although a few have a price tag. The app’s interface and data presentation are typical of budget smartwatches.

Usage, Performance, and Battery

The itel Unicorn’s interface is fluid and responsive, with no noticeable lags or freezes. Bluetooth calling performs well in quieter settings, and activity tracking is satisfactory, with most parameters falling within an acceptable margin of error. It’s important to remember that smartwatch data should be used as a reference. Battery life is impressive, lasting about a week on a single charge.

What We Think

The itel Unicorn’s ability to switch between a wristwatch and a pendant makes it a unique and interesting option. While it might seem gimmicky, it offers users the flexibility to choose how they wear it. Despite its design focus, the Unicorn delivers reasonably well in terms of functionality. At Rs 2,899, it’s a stylish, affordable smartwatch worth considering.