Monday, December 8, 2014

U8 Pro (U8Pro or UPro1 or U Pro1) Smartwatch Review

I purchased a U8 Pro Smartwatch a few weeks ago. Based on my research, this watch is also sometimes advertised as a U Pro Smartwatch.

I was interested in something that would alert me in real time about calls that I was receiving on my smartphone since I often miss calls when my smartphone is either in my backpack or in my pocket and I either don't hear the ringing or feel the vibration from an incoming call until it is too late.

I considered getting a bracelet that would alert me of incoming calls but since the cost between one of the bracelets and a U8 Pro or U8 Smartwatch wasn't that much, I opted to go with the smartwatch. The main difference between the U8 Smartwatch and the U8 Pro Smartwatch (which is what I purchased) is that the U8 Pro Smartwatch will also work independently as a cellphone. Since the price difference between the U8 Smartwatch and the U8 Pro Smartwatch was under/roughly $10, I opted just to get the U8 Pro Smartwatch. In order for the U8 Pro Smartwatch to function independently as a cellphone, it requires a miniSIM card which is inserted into the watch underneath the battery.


The U8 Pro Smartwatch has the following features/icons: Call (which allows you either to make calls when connected via bluetooth to a smartphone or make calls if you have an active miniSIM card inserted into the watch), Messaging (which allows you to send text messages either independently if using a minSIM card in the watch or send text messages when connected via bluetooth to a smartphone), Phonebook (which shows you the local/watch's phone numbers or the phone numbers on your smartphone via bluetooth), Call History (shows you the watch's call history or the call history of your smartphone), Image Viewer (views the images taken using the smartwatch), FM radio (allows you to listen to FM radio as long as you use the included earphones which also function as an FM antenna), Audio Player (which allows you to listen to the music from your smartphone), Camera (which allows you to take pictures with the smartwatch), Alarm (allows you to set alarms), Stopwatch (pretty self-explanatory), Settings (which allows you different sound profile settings and configure some of the independent phone features of the watch), Bluetooth (to connect to your smartphone), Notice (to get notifications from your smartphone sent to your smartwatch), Anti-Lost (alerts you when you are away from your smartphone), Pedometer (estimates the number of steps that you've walked), Personal (allows you to set personal data for a more accurate pedometer calorie display), Car Theft (I'm not sure what this does), Find Phone (I'm not sure what this does since it didn't work with my smartphone), Remote Capture (allows you to use your watch to take a picture remotely on your smartphone), and Sleep Monitor (monitors your sleep patterns). Some of these features will only work with Android phones such as the Remote Capture and the Notice applications since they require an Android application to be installed/configured on your Android smartphone.

Even though the U8 Pro Smartwatch will work with almost all bluetooth enabled smartphones, in order to get the full functionality of the device, you will need to have an Android smartphone since some of the features will require the BT Notifier application to be installed on the phone. The instructions that came with U8 Pro Smartphone aren't very good to say the least. It makes mention of downloading a mode.apk file from ftp://221.231.140.226 with the username "uwatch" and the password "good123". However, the QR code that is produced on the watch when trying to use a feature which requires the application to be installed on an Android phone is:


I've used the above application *HERE* as well as the 2 files that I obtained from the above FTP site *HERE* and *HERE* and all of these Android applications work relatively well with the smartwatch. I also tried using the application on the Google Play Store called "Mediatek SmartDevice" with relatively good results as well.

In terms of the functionality of the smartwatch, I find that it works relatively well. The notifier application on the smartwatch will notify me of Facebook posts, Android BBM messages, e-mails, and any other Android application which uses the standard Android notification area on the upper left corner of the Android phone. The watch will notify me via a vibration and/or a sound. The amount of information that is received on the watch varies but in most cases, I found it lacking and I needed to use my Android phone to see what exactly the particular notification was regarding in detail. The reason for this is that depending on the notification APK program that I was using on my Android phone, I was either presented with 1 line on the watch showing me the name of the application that I was receiving a notification or sometimes 2 lines showing me the name of the application as well as the sender of the message. Also, a lot of the smartwatch's applications which depend on the Bluetooth Notification APK file on the Android phone will work sometimes or will not work at all. For example, when I got the Remote Camera feature to work properly, a few hours later, it would not longer work. I could get it to work again by rebooting my smartwatch but during times that I might want to use the Remote Camera capability, having to reboot the smartwatch before doing so is a nuisance. Most of my testing was on my LG Nexus-4 running stock Android 4.4.4. After upgrading my LG Nexus-4 to Lollipop (Android 5),  the smartwatch's features which depended on the BT Notification app no longer worked (ex: Remote Capture) and the smartwatch notifications became limited to only phone calls and SMS (it no longer would notify me of e-mails, Facebook posts, Android BBM messages, etc.)

One of the things that I didn't really like about the smartwatch was that in order to see the time when the watch's touchscreen was off, I would have to push the button on the side of the watch. I discovered that it would turn on if I turned the Pedometer function on when I abruptly moved my hand in a fashion similar to me trying to look at the time but this only worked approximately 50% of the time.

I tested the Pedometer function of the smartwatch and it seemed to be relatively accurate. It calculated the steps that I took and the moment I stopped, the number of steps didn't increase. I also tested the Sleep Monitor but I'm not sure how accurate it was since when I kept it on during a 24 hour period, during part of the day that I was at work sitting in front of my computer and typing, according to the chart on the smartwatch, it mentioned that I was in a "light sleep" mode.

The watch has 4 faces in order to tell the time which you can easily toggle through.

When the smartwatch is linked to my Android phone, all the sound produced by my Android phone was relayed to my smartwatch similar to my smartwatch functioning like cordless/wireless speakers.

In terms of battery life, I find that based on my usage, the watch lasted for over 24 hours. Of course this will depend on how often you receive notifications on the smartwatch and how often you check your notifications on the smartwatch. I generally will turn off the bluetooth function on my smartwatch in the evening to preserve the battery since I don't want to be notified of things like Facebook messages while I sleep.

I find that the vibration is noticeable on my wrist when I receive a phone call. I mainly purchased this smartwatch in order to be notified of phone calls and it does this well. The other features are a bit of a hit-and-miss.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

43 comments:

  1. Thanks for your initial review. Do know if there are operating instructions to complement the vague ones provided with the smart watch

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Raoul Hurley for reading my blog and for placing your comment. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any well written instructions for the smartwatch. I'm still not even sure what some of the smartwatch apps do like the smartwatch built-in car theft app.

      Delete
  2. Thanks for the review. I have this watch and i have a problem with it. I forgot to charge the battery and it shut down itself. After charging and turning it on, it is asking for a password. It is not a SIM password nor my Phones password. It might have put itself to a reset mode and probably asking for a reset password. I can't find the password anywhere. I tried all the standard combinations like 0000, 0001, 1122, 1212, 2121, 1234, 9999, 9876, 6789, 2014, 2015 and a lot more and i can't find the correct one. I have contacted the seller (geekbying.com) and they are contacting the factory (as they are saying) and sending me one password to try in an e-mail. It's been a month now that I'm not using my watch. Any idea? Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you "All about flying" for taking the time to read my review and post yoru comment. Unfortunately I'm not sure what the code is. Maybe someone else who reads my blog will be able to assist you. My watch stopped working last month (would no longer charge).

      Delete
  3. I just received a watch like this from a friend it will not power on or charge any suggestion

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Phillip Pitre for taking the time to read my blog and post your comment.

      Sorry for the delay in posting a reply. Unfortunately the same thing happened to my watch last month and I was unable to fix it.

      Delete
  4. this smart watch u8 drive me crazy , it connects to bluetooth sometimes , disconnect always ,unstable best thing is to reset it before connecting , but no rules , but phone calls better than messages , if you know good apk
    i use one of yan cuncin it is very sensitive with s3 galaxy or what

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Bahgat Mohamed for taking the time to read my blog and post your comment.

      I had very similar results with my watch when it was working. The bluetooth would sometimes disconnect without any reasons (while the phone was actually in my pocket). When I set the theft alarm, it would ring when the phone was actually still in my pocket. It got so annoying that I just turned off the theft alarm and didn't use it.

      However, my watch stopped working about one month ago (I could no longer charge it).

      Delete
  5. i have one u8 smartwatch and it vibrate on calls really fine, but on messages it doesnt vibrate, just turn the light on,

    Any suggestion to solve it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you marco magalhaes for taking the time to read my blog and post your comment. My watch didn't have the same problem as the problem that you described so I don't have any suggestions. However, my watch stopped working approximately one month ago (it would no longer charge and because the power ran out of the battery, it currently no longer powers on).

      Delete
    2. Hi. I know its been a while since this was posted, but have you found a solution? I'm having the same problem.

      Delete
  6. Please notify me if there is some suggestion thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Terry Jallorina for taking the time to read my blog and post your comment. I'm not sure what type of suggestion your are looking for since you didn't post any question. It is possible that your earlier post didn't make it to my blog since any comment that has a URL link is automatically deleted.

      In terms of my smartwatch, it stopped working approximately one month ago. It would no longer charge and when the power from the battery ran out because I could no longer charge it, it now no longer powers up.

      Delete
  7. why wont the phone work when the watch is connected by blue tooth. the watch works fine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Brian England for taking the time to read my blog and post your comment/question. Sorry for the delay in my posting a reply.

      Unfortunately, my smartwatch stopped working approximately one month ago and I hope you had better luck with your smartwatch.

      When it was working, I didn't experience the problem that you described where the phone would stop working. My phone would occasionally freeze up regardless of whether my smartwatch was connected to it so having my smartwatch connected to it via bluetooth made little difference in terms of the freezing up issue with my phone.

      Sorry I couldn't be of more help and sorry for the late reply.

      Delete
  8. mine got stuck on "Charging Complete" after the second day and wont doing anything else, including shut down, none responsive completely

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Anthony Austin Sr. for taking the time to read my blog and post your comment/question. Sorry for the delay in my response.

      Unfortunately my smartwatch stopped charging approximately one month ago. My only suggestion for your problem would have been to deplete the battery charge (or remove the battery) and then put the battery back in and see if this fixes your issue.

      Delete
  9. Can anyone help me setup my pedometer? That's the only thing I bought the phone for and is the only thing I can't get to work!! Thanks in advance for your help...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Cassandra Secrest for taking the time to read my blog and post your comment.

      My smartwatch stopped working approximately one month ago so I won't be able to walk you through how to set up the pedometer. From memory, all I had to do was go into the Pedometer icon and then activate it. It would then calculate my steps. However, it was not accurate (in my opinion). I compared the number of steps with what I manually counted and what was produced/displayed on this smartwatch and it wasn't accurate when I compare it with the number of steps displayed on my Fitbit device.

      Delete
    2. Pedometer counts steps even when sitting still. Not accurate at all.

      Delete
  10. I just got this watch, love it so far but when Ianswer calls on it they ccan'thear me. Or hear me through my phone. And it wwon't let me send texts from the watch? I thought I'd be able to do so? Any help? I'vebeen looking for some form of a manual but ccan'tfind aanything

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Stephani salley for taking the time to read my blog and post your comment. Unfortunately I never used the smartwatch to answer phone calls. I used it mainly to notify me of incoming calls when the phone was in my pocket.

      Prior to my smartwatch no longer functioning approximately one month ago, I did notice that when I answered the phone call, the call would be transferred to the watch regardless of whether I "answered" the call on the watch or on the phone.

      Delete
  11. can help me pls my message and camera cant working?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Marinel Santamaria for taking the time to read my blog and post your comment/question.

      My smartwatch stopped working approximately one month ago.

      However, prior to that, the message function was working but the camera would only work sometimes. I wasn't using my smartwatch to take pictures so having the camera work only sometimes didn't really bother me that much. I bought the smartwatch mainly to notify me of phone calls and text messages (as well as to know what time it was and set alarms).

      Delete
  12. Thank you for his review. I have the same problem when upgrade android to 5.1, no more notifications except call phones and SMS.
    Same solution?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Leandro for taking the time to read my blog and post your comment.

      My smartwatch stopped working approximately one month ago. I could no longer charge it and once the battery was depleted from the charge, I could no longer power it on again.

      However, you are correct that it isn't fully compatible with Android 5.x. Once you upgrade to Android 5.x, the only notifications that appeared were phone calls and SMS. I don't know of any solution to this since it would require the app manufacturer to update their app.

      Delete
  13. Please do you know factory code for reset ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Willy Safh for taking the time to read and post your comment/question on my blog. Unfortunately I'm not sure what the factory code for reset is for this smartwatch. It wasn't included in the small manual and my smartwatch stopped working approximately one month ago.

      Delete
  14. i have the same watch...work well.. when i trying to add more ringtones.. select from file, but it require insert memory card....so let me know how and where is memory card slot..... & how to add more clock faces..thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Atul Srivastav for reading my blog and taking the time to post your comment/question.

      Unfortunately, my smartwatch stopped working approximately three months ago so I'm not able to answer your questions.

      I never installed additional clock faces on my U8 Pro when I was using it.

      Delete
  15. I've downloaded all the BT notification apps and I can still only make phone calls and play music. What am I doing wrong. I want to be able to check other messages. Text or fb messenger. ????

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you "Unknown" for taking the time to read my blog and post your question/comment.

      Unfortunately, my smartwatch stopped working approximately three months ago so I'm not in any position to test anything or answer your question.

      However, while I was using my U8 Pro, it only worked for notifications when my Android phone was running Android 4.x. My LG Nexus-4 at the time was running KitKat which is Android 4.4. When I upgraded my LG Nexus-4 to Android 5.x (Lollipop), the only smartphone notifications I received on the watch were for phone calls and SMS. The reason for this is that Lollipop handles notifications differently and based on my limited usage, I don't believe that the BT notification apps are fully compatible with anything about Android 4.4 (Lollipop).

      I'm sorry I couldn't be of any more help but maybe some other readers of my blog will be able to answer your question.

      Delete
  16. What is the best BT app for android 4.0.4

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi there, thanks for an excellent review, much appreciated, I have one question re the pedometer function - I would like to know what the second figure is after 'Steps' my watch shows 'Steps' 'Kcal' and one other reading, it is this one that I do not understand, cheers

    ReplyDelete
  18. So I have been watching so many youtube videos trying to figure out why I cannot access my messages or camera, I can make phone calls and see all my contacts but when I click on messages it tells me "install bt notifier in remote" someone please help me! thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. install BT Notification from the Google play store or Mediatek Device APP then use the app to link the watch and you will be able use the other functions

      Delete
  19. Having a Smartwatch makes your life so comfortable. In fact you can avoid unlocking your Mobile phone to check whether if there are any important messages or calls when you are busy attending a meeting wearing a Smartwatch. You will definitely love wearing on your wrist and receiving notifications to your wrist really makes you feel super cool. What not you can listen to music, record, check call history & messages, monitor your sleep and take some lovely photographs using a Smartwatch.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The vibrate function not working. Thanks for the help.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Im having a bit of trouble with my U8 smart watch and was hoping that i could get some kind of advice/help. So i have evetything connected my contacts come up on the U8 smart watch, i receive incoming calls, i can make out going calls, and i can also hear any sounds comming from my Android Smartphone. The problem is I can't see any text messages, and i can't write any text messages, but when a text message is received on my Android smartphone i hear the notification come through on the watch.
    Does anyone know what the problem is? And is there anyway to get the text messages to show up on my U8 Smart watch. Thank you in advance for any help or advice i receive.

    ReplyDelete
  22. My u8 smartwatch is showing the google contacts alongwith the phone contacts..... Although in my phone the contacts are shown as device only... so how to fix it means I want my watch to show only device contacts.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I have a u80 smart watch, everything works good except the pedometer - it was showing my steps but now only the timer. I gave the apps and it is all turned on - do you know how I can fix it?

    ReplyDelete
  24. This smart watch only seems to offer text messages as read only. I have not been able to figure out how to respond to text message on the watch.

    ReplyDelete