In October, HAYLOU, a company specializing in affordable but quite functional gadgets, introduced a new model of smartwatch HAYLOU Watch R8. What are they interesting? First, the device is equipped with a cool and large AMOLED-matrix with good resolution. Secondly, they have moisture protection, shockproof housing and remain functional at extreme temperatures (range from +55°C to -40°C). Moving on. Third, the Watch R8 has a wide range of functionality, from sports training and measuring blood pressure and stress levels to the ability to answer and make calls. Fourth, they can run for a week with constant heart rate monitoring (if you turn this feature off, the watch will last up to 20 days on a single charge). And finally, fifth, all of these goodies are quite inexpensive. Not bad, is it? Well, let’s get acquainted with the device, because so far everything looks too perfect on paper.
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With a full price of $60, at the time of publication, the Watch R8 can be purchased for just $33 at the official HAYLOU store on AliExpress. As they say, it’s cheaper only for nothing. And that’s considering that the watch has a shockproof case, a great AMOLED screen and a wide range of functionality.
The watch came in a branded cute box of white-orange color. Inside you can see HAYLOU Watch R8 with a complete silicone strap, a charging case with a cable and USB-A at the end and a small insert with a user manual.
Despite its rather democratic price, the HAYLOU Watch R8 has quite a lot of features. Of course, it can do all the same things as almost all similar gadgets on the market: monitor daily activity and remind you to warm up, display SMS and messages from messengers, mail or apps, measure heart rate, oxygen level and quality of night rest, be an assistant during workouts, track a woman’s cycle (although it’s a strange function for a male-oriented device) and so on. But it doesn’t lack for extra chips, either. Among them:
Considering the very cool screen, great battery life, rugged body and keeping working condition at rather extreme temperatures, HAYLOU Watch R8 looks like a very competitive gadget. At the same time with a rather modest price tag. By the way, the quality of voice transmission during conversations with the watch turned out to be better than most budget headsets. Frankly speaking, it surprised me. Yes, the speaker in Watch R8 is a bit quiet, but indoors it is more than enough. The interlocutor hears you well, there is no need to raise your voice or repeat the phrase. Not every Bluetooth headphone offers this kind of functionality. In case you have busy or dirty hands and need to answer an important call, this is a very cool feature.
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The appearance of HAYLOU Watch R8 balances somewhere between austerity and brutality. That is, on the one hand, they are not as massive as some trekking models, and on the other hand, they are a bit large for an intelligent “office” version. However, it is the combination of these two characteristics that makes them well suited for both casual and sporty looks. Considering the dimensions (49.70×56.25×12.50 mm), it can be argued that this is mostly a man’s device – on a woman’s wrist they look a bit too much. But, you have to pay tribute to the fact that with a weight of 85 g (and that’s together with the strap) they are practically not felt on the hand, they don’t get in the way and after a while you forget about their presence.
We have the watch in matte black color on our review, but it is also available in silver. The case is mostly made of metal, plastic can be seen on the reverse side. The screen is probably protected by glass (because the display coating does not feel plastic), but there is no detailed information on this. The device is claimed to be shockproof, and it is also capable of operating in a temperature range from +55°C to -40°C and has a water resistance level of 3ATM. This means that you can keep the watch on while washing your hands or in the rain, but the device is not designed for more serious water procedures, such as showering or swimming.
Around the display you can see a decorative metal bezel with notches and a nice polished texture. I know that such a solution (when the bezel is made purely for beauty) has both supporters and those who do not like it. Such a bezel, although not functional, but, in my opinion, does not spoil the design, but on the contrary – complements it and makes it more interesting. However, everyone has his or her own opinion about bezels that perform a purely decorative function.
Let’s take a look at the ends. The watch is not too thin. To the left of the screen you can see a neat speaker grille and a small panel, behind which there may be sensors and a microphone for conversations, and above it – one of the buttons imitating the crown in a classic watch. There are two more of them located on the right side. Interestingly, they all rotate, but you can scroll only with the upper right one. But we’ll talk about the controls in more detail below.
On the back of the HAYLOU Watch R8, which has a glossy texture, there is a window with sensors and some technical information. Everything here is the same as on all similar devices.
In general, when you hold the HAYLOU Watch R8 in your hands, it feels much more expensive than it costs or looks in a picture on the Internet. This is due to the materials used, excellent build quality, low weight and well thought out modern design that will fit most styles. A solid A for design, but let’s see what else is interesting here.
The screen is just the cherry on this cake. After all, in a fairly budget smartwatch placed a wonderful touchscreen AMOLED-matrix on 1.43 inches with a resolution of 466×466. Yes, in the affordable segment it is no longer news and many manufacturers use OLED-screens, but it is still impressive. After all, we remember those times when for this money you got a dull LCD-display with a very noticeable “grain”, a look at which, frankly speaking, spoiled the mood.
So what do we have? Maximum viewing angles, deep contrast thanks to the very “true” black, pleasant color reproduction and excellent text readability. In the curtain you can find brightness adjustment (5 modes in total), which makes it convenient to use the watch at any time of the day.In the settings, you can also choose to wake up the display by raising your hand and the screen backlighting time – from 5 to 20 seconds. And there is also the Always-on function, which allows you to leave the screen illuminated from 5 to 20 minutes, or in constant mode. As for the sensitivity of touch control, there are no problems here. All gestures are perceived lightning-fast and clearly. And in general, it is convenient to poke your fingers on the screen, because, firstly, it is quite large, and, secondly, it is practically not recessed into the body. My old but still vigorous Samsung Gear Sport is more difficult for me to control, especially on the move, because their display is smaller and, due to the bezel, more recessed.
And a pleasant bonus – dozens of available dials in the app, some of which are already installed on the device. Among them there are both informative and simply cute image ones – in general, there is a lot to choose from. And if you don’t like anything, you can make your own watch face. Of course, the functionality of the dials constructor is not very wide, but still you can create something interesting here. You can change the style of the screen either by double-tapping the display, which opens a carousel with “wallpapers”, or with the help of a functional rotating button, which is located on the top right. To do this, you just need to twist the crown directly from the main screen – the dial will immediately change. By the way, it is more convenient to “re-measure” the whole collection in this way.
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The HAYLOU Watch R8 uses a proprietary operating system, and it’s very similar to those on a lot of other devices. The control here is via a touchscreen and three buttons, one of which is the main one (the power button) and also twists and allows you to scroll through menus faster. It, as already mentioned, is located on the top right. Below it is a button with quick access to workouts, and the one on the left performs the “Home” action, returning to the main screen, no matter how deep you go in the menu.
Let’s dwell a little on the power button. If you twist it from the home screen, the dials will change. A short press gives access to the menu with all available functions – music, weather, smartphone camera control and search, calendar, calculator, timer, stopwatch, voice assistant (works only with smartphone), change menu style, physical activity and so on. A long press allows you to reset the watch, turn it off, or reset it to factory settings.
Let’s see where and what is here using the touch control. The function screens are changed by swiping left or right. There’s a HR sensor screen, physical activity, blood pressure and blood oxygen levels, weather, music control, as well as sleep monitoring, breathing exercises to reduce stress levels and a call menu. Anything you don’t need in your work can be hidden, leaving only the most important and useful.
Swiping from the bottom up opens the notifications menu. And swiping from the top to the bottom brings up the “curtain”, where you can find a lot of useful things. Thus, at the top here you can see the status of connection to the smartphone, a graphical display of the remaining charge, weather, the function of transferring sound from the smartphone to the watch, fast Always-on, alarm clock, brightness adjustment, QR code for installing an application, settings and silent mode. And, if you get buried somewhere in the menu, you can swipe from left to right to return to the previous screen.
In general, the controls are quite user-friendly and intuitive. It can be easily handled without a manual. But I have a few remarks that I think would make the watch simpler and more convenient. For example, I would remove the left button altogether, because the same action (return to the main screen) can be performed by any other button with a short press. And I would also add the ability to program the lower right button. For example, to open a screen with music control or some other function instead of quick access to workouts. By the way, this also applies to the app. In it in general, it is not always clear what lies behind this or that function. Unfortunately, this is a common story among budget gadgets. But let’s hope that software updates will bring fixes for localized versions.
HAYLOU Watch R8 works in tandem with both Android and iOS smartphones. To quickly install the branded app, you can scan the QR code from the instructions, on the screen of the watch itself (the code can be found in the curtain), or use the link below. By the way, when connecting the watch, the app offered me to update the software, so I recommend doing it immediately.
The application interface is quite typical for most devices from the Middle Kingdom. The main screen, which in this case is called “Status”, displays the main activity and health indicators – pedometer, calories burned, distance, heart rate, sleep and stress monitoring, blood pressure, pulse oximeter data and weight.
The Sports tab gives you access to both indoor and outdoor workouts. The watch does not have built-in GPS tracking, so you can use the sensor in your smartphone for cycling, climbing or running outdoors. Here you can set yourself goals for distance, calories lost or time.
Next is a large section called “Device”. Here, as you can guess, are the basic and advanced settings of HAYLOU Watch R8. At the top, you can see the connection status and remaining charge. Below that, there’s a catalog of watch faces and the Custom Face feature, a list of apps from which the user will receive notifications, an alarm clock, Do Not Disturb mode, a “kick” function so you don’t forget to warm up, a choice of units and date settings, backlight time, and activation of the function to turn on the screen when you raise your hand. Vibration mode selection, female calendar, firmware update function, camera control, phonebook (you can add up to 20 numbers) and world time are also here. The watch can also be detached here.
Lastly, there is the “Me” tab, where you customize your user profile. At the top there is a personal user ID number, the ability to set a daily physical activity goal, help and FAQ. Below there is a place for the function of automatic correction of errors in the watch interface – from the font to the firmware itself. Then there are additional account settings, permissions and information about the firmware version.
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The smartwatch is equipped with a 300 mAh battery. The claimed autonomy is up to 7 days with constant heart rate monitoring and up to 20 days with normal use. And these data are very close to the truth. For a week of fairly active use, but without the heart rate monitor on 24/7, I was able to drain the battery by about 30%. It is impossible to say more precisely, because both on the watch and in the application the remaining charge is displayed graphically, without percentages. Will the device last up to 3 weeks on a single charge? In my opinion, easily.
As for the charging cradle, it’s magnetic and locks well onto the watch, and it’s lightweight and compact. It doesn’t take up much space and fits easily into a backpack or bag.
In addition, it is worth noting that charging of the smartwatch is not contact, but wireless. This is very unusual for the budget segment and is more common in flagship models. Thanks to this solution, HAYLOU Watch R8 can be charged using any Qi charger or from a smartphone with reverse wireless charging function.
HAYLOU Watch R8 turned out to be an interesting, functional, attractive and affordable device. They boast a really cool and large AMOLED screen, shockproof case and the ability to work in extreme temperature conditions, from the functions have almost everything that most users need in a smartwatch, as well as a considerable autonomy and convenient control. Considering the price, the Watch R8 just looks like a godsend. I even wish there was a slightly smaller size for a woman’s wrist, because the watch is cool, but it’s still a bit big. However, it looks pretty appropriate on a man’s hand.
I wouldn’t consider it a disadvantage, it’s more of a wish, but I would like a little more protection from moisture, for example, 5ATM instead of “three”. Otherwise I do not have any comments. Therefore, I can safely recommend HAYLOU Watch R8 for those who need a functional watch with a good screen and autonomy, with a very adequate price tag that will not make you take out your credit card.
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