Zeblaze Ares: A feature-packed fitness tracking watch

The Zeblaze Ares was released in early 2021 in China but only arrived in the global market, including Bangladesh, six months later in July 2021. 

If you are looking for a cheap and retro-looking fitness tracking watch, this might just be the gadget for you. 

Price: Tk2,200

Where to buy: Daraz, PC House BD, various shops in Bashundhara City and Rifles Square 

Display (Rating: 4.5/5)

The Zeblaze Ares comes with a 240x240 pixels 1.3 inch IPS LCD display.

You can access more watch faces through the GloryFit app and customise them according to your preference.

Build quality (Rating: 4.5/5)

The watch is made out of plastic with a rugged outlook and with 20mm silicone straps.

It is water-resistant up to 30 metres which survived my testing in the rain, water from washing hands, and one unplanned water spill.  

Functions and apps (Rating: 4/5)

It can track your steps, 24/7 heart rate, deep and light sleep, and blood pressure. You can manually choose activity tracking from 13 sports modes.

It does not come with built-in GPS to track outdoor activities but it can track with GPS if connected via Bluetooth to your phone.

The Ares's Bluetooth 5.0 has been reliable and responsive with milliseconds of delay when receiving notifications. 

Speaking of notifications, you have the option to read them but not respond to them.

From the GloryFit app, you can choose which apps can display notifications on the watch. Whenever a notification, SMS or call comes, the watch vibrates.

You can set alarms, use it as a stopwatch, set calendar reminders or usual reminders.

It has a sedentary reminder which makes the watch vibrate and inform you if you are sitting too long without much movement during daytime.

And you can choose a time from one to three hours for that.

GloryFit app (Rating: 3/5)

The interface looks straight out of iOS from 10 years ago. It contains all the settings and statistics of your walks, runs, sleep quality, heart rate, blood pressure along with alarms, reminders, and watch faces.

Battery life and charging time (Rating: 4/5)

The Ares houses a 170 mAh battery that lasts up to seven days of usage with all features turned on. Your mileage may vary depending on how often you use the dedicated activity tracking functions. 

You can charge it with a magnetic charger which comes in the box. A full 0-100% charge takes about two hours. 

Specifications

• Size: 41*46*11mm
• Weight: 33g 
• Strap width: 20mm
• Display: 1.3" Inch Screen
• Resolution: 240 x 240 pixels
• Sensors: Heart-rate sensor, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer
• Bluetooth version: Bluetooth 5.1
• Battery: 170 mAh
• Charging time: 1.5 hours
• Battery life: 15 days (Power-saving Scenario); 7 days (Typical Usage Scenario)
• Water resistant: 30 metres
• App: GloryFit
• Compatibility: Android 4.4 or iOS 9.0 and above
• Smartphone notifications
• Weather forecast