Realme Watch 2 Review – Not much has changed, still a decent entry-level fitness tracker

Page 2 covers health tracking, price and alternative options and my overall opinion.

Last month, as part of the Realme GT launch, the company announced its new affordable fitness trackers, the Realme Watch 2 and Watch 2 Pro.

The Watch 2 is almost the same as the previous generation, they have improved the battery and increased the number of activities, but it retains the same RRP, making it an attractive low-cost fitness tracker.

The Pro model increases the screen size considerably, to 1.75-inch, which is 56% larger than the standard model. It then has a 390mAh battery allowing it to achieve 14 days of use. The most impressive feature is the built-in GPS, making this the most affordable GPS fitness tracker I am aware of.

Realme Watch 2 vs Realme Watch Specification & Features

• Display: 1.4 inches IPS LCD, 600 nits. 320 x 320 pixels,
• OS: Proprietary
• IP Rating: IP68
• GPS: None (uses assisted GPS on your phone)
• Sports Tracking Options: up to 90 sports profile options(up from 14)
• Health Tracking Features:
  • All-day heart rate
  • Sleep tracking
  • Steps
  • Calories
  • SPO2
• Features:
  • Phone Notifications
  • Music control
  • Camera shutter control
• Battery: Up to 12 days(vs 7-9)

Design

You need to give this watch some leeway due to its price; however the pictures you see online paint a prettier picture than in real life. The watch feels and looks quite plasticky. The screen has massive black bezels, which give it a bit of a dated look to it. walking past you could While I wouldn’t say this looks great up close, the overall design is quite neutral and pleasant, adopting an Apple Watch aesthetic. I doubt someone could tell this is a cheap £50 smartwatch with a passing glance.

The actual display itself is OK though, it has a similar pixel density to the Honor Watch ES / Huawei Watch Fit. The main issue I had with it was visibility in sunlight, you can reduce this issue by manually dialling up the brightness at the cost of the battery, but apart from that, it is good.

The watch has a button on the side, this will wake or shut off the screen, with all the other functions do via touchscreen. I would prefer some sort of physical control to get into the apps and start activities.

App and Watch Interface

The watch interface runs well, it is a feature watch like Huawei/Honor/Xiaomi/Zipp etc. You can’t install apps on it or customise it, but this keeps the costs down and the battery life up.

The app is basic but functional, providing you with all the stats you need. Within the settings, you can customise various features including notifications, health reminders, camera control, find my phone and more.

You can sync with Google Fit but no other external service. This is to be expected on a watch at this price point, but syncing to other services such as Strava would help differentiate them from the crowd.

Outdoor Fitness Tracking

This will use your phone GPS to track your activity, similar to the vast majority of affordable fitness trackers. If the connection between your phone is interrupted for whatever reason, the watch stops accuratly tracking. This happened my first two times, with a 5K (3.1m) run that tracked at 1.83 miles and a 4.5-mile walk that tracked as 3.5 miles.

This issue is almost certainly due to the battery management on many phones. Allowing the app to connect to location all the time, allowing it to run in the background and allowing it to launch automatically reduces the problems. You can also have a permanent icon running in your notification bar to force the app to stay alive, but I find unnecessary notifications infuriating.

With the app connectivity issues working, the watch tracked outdoor activity reasonably accurately. Typically within 2% of the distance my Garmin tracks.

I found that when the GPS hasn’t tracked properly, you don’t get a plotted route, once I fixed these issues, runs and walks had the route overlaid against a map.

There is no heart rate graph plotted; you are only told the amount of time in each zone. Without the graph, it is difficult to tell what peaks and troughs the HR suffers from, however, the average heart rate is roughly similar to Garmin (and I normally wear a dedicated heart rate strap with that).

Even though this increases the number of exercises compared to the last generation, there is little meaningful difference. The watch doesn’t do anything differently, it just categorises your activity better.

James Smythe( Editor-in-chief )

I am James, a UK-based tech enthusiast and the Editor and Owner of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Passionate about all things technology, my expertise spans from computers and networking to mobile, wearables, and smart home devices.

As a fitness fanatic who loves running and cycling, I also have a keen interest in fitness-related technology, and I take every opportunity to cover this niche on my blog. My diverse interests allow me to bring a unique perspective to tech blogging, merging lifestyle, fitness, and the latest tech trends.

In my academic pursuits, I earned a BSc in Information Systems Design from UCLAN, before advancing my learning with a Master’s Degree in Computing. This advanced study also included Cisco CCNA accreditation, further demonstrating my commitment to understanding and staying ahead of the technology curve.

I’m proud to share that Vuelio has consistently ranked Mighty Gadget as one of the top technology blogs in the UK. With my dedication to technology and drive to share my insights, I aim to continue providing my readers with engaging and informative content.