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Puma Smartwatch Review: This Smartwatch Isn't As Atheltic As It Looks

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Puma Smartwatch Review: This Smartwatch Isn't As Atheltic As It Looks

"The Puma smartwatch looks good, but it doesn't work."

Slim and sporty design

built-in GPS

Sharp, bright screen

Slow and sluggish

Bad battery life

Uncomfortable

Too expensive

As the third largest sporting goods manufacturer in the world, Puma is a big brand, but the simply named Puma Smartwatch is the company's first foray into the world of smartwatches. The Puma Smartwatch is manufactured by the Fossil Group and has familiar specifications and the Google Wear OS.

Puma has monitored the sporty design and offers its own app with some deeper fitness features than typical Wear OS watches, but it's also one of the slowest and flawed ones we've tested – a high price for fitness.

Design and comfort

The Puma smartwatch definitely looks like this. It is slim and very light with a striking paint job that contrasts black with daylight yellow. This is a smart watch that is hard to ignore. It is reminiscent of the Fossil Sport, but there is only a single crown and the flanking buttons that you would normally find on Fossil smartwatches are missing.

Simon Hill / Digital Trends

A smooth, perfectly round, beveled aluminum dial is held from black plastic that extends from the tabs and has cut-off parts to achieve the eye-catching two-tone look. The crown is also yellow with the Puma logo.

The Puma Smartwatch has a silicone strap with a black latch and the Puma logo is embossed at the end. Because the Puma Smartwatch is light and slim, it slips easily under the cuff and rarely gets stuck – which can be a problem with an oversized watch like the Diesel On Axial.

However, the daylight yellow prevents it from fitting in. The Puma Smartwatch looks out of place with a buttoned shirt in an office environment or even with a casual outfit in a bar. This is a smartwatch that wants to go to the gym or run.

I was expecting the silicone wristband and light weight to result in a smartwatch that's comfortable and easy to forget you're wearing, but in fact I found the Puma smartwatch a little uncomfortable. The structured silicone band is a little stiffer than other silicone bands I've worn.

On the positive side, it grips your wrist and the oversized end of the strap ensures that it never comes loose even during a hectic workout. Although you can easily change the band, it can be difficult to find an alternative that fits your body. There are four dials designed by Puma, all of which are a bit boring. Aside from the ubiquitous Puma logo, they don't really match the rest of the design in terms of color or appearance.

The 1.19-inch AMOLED display looks good in a 44 mm case and is sharp, bright and legible in most lighting conditions.

Simon Hill / Digital Trends

The Puma smartwatch has a distinctive look that fits the brand, but it feels a little cheap and looks bad in non-athletic environments. In some markets, there are less eye-catching color options for white and rose gold or black and gray, which may offer a bit more stylistic versatility.

Software and performance

Wear OS looks good, but it doesn't work well. This is a complaint I had with the Michael Kors Access Lexington 2 and it's a complaint my colleague had with the Fossil Gen 5, but it's worse with the Puma Smartwatch. There were many random freezes when using this smartwatch, which were often left behind when the screen was swiped, and loading apps was consistently slow.

The Puma smartwatch is equipped with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor, but unfortunately someone made the wrong decision to use 512 MB RAM instead of 1 GB. The difference in daily use compared to Wear OS smartwatches, which I recently tested and which have 1 GB RAM, is pronounced. Using the Puma smartwatch is frustrating. It is slow and has to be reset far too often.

Simon Hill / Digital Trends

The rotating crown works well and is the best way to get close control when trying to swipe up or down a list. You can also install a number of apps from the Play Store, from shopping lists to music controls to all kinds of fitness options. Although there are more choices than ever, the overall level of polish and functionality isn't very impressive and still fades compared to the Apple Watch's special app store.

The Puma Smartwatch has a microphone, so you can use Google Assistant from your wrist. However, there is no speaker, so the answers are in text form. There is also support for Google Pay so you can pay from your wrist, which is sometimes convenient.

Internally, the Puma Smartwatch has 4 GB of storage space for music and apps. Most other current versions of Fossil have 8 GB.

GPS and app compatibility

As an outrageously sporty device, the Puma smartwatch has to shine in the fitness department, and I think it does too. You’ve integrated Google Fit for basic tracking. There's also a heart rate monitor, built-in GPS, and water resistance from 5 ATMs that you can swim with.

While Google Fit is enough for casual coaches to track their progress every day, more serious athletes may want to try the PUMATRAC app installed on the Puma smartwatch. However, you also need to install the companion app (for Android or iOS). on your smartphone. With PUMATRAC, you can leave your phone at home and track your heart rate, distance, pace, altitude and calories with the Puma Smartwatch. It's also packed with workouts, allows you to create a fitness workout plan, and even offers coaching.

Simon Hill / Digital Trends

I found that the Puma smartwatch was generally good for fitness tracking, but in some cases it had trouble getting a GPS fix and sometimes it couldn't sync with the Google Fit app on my phone will. There was no obvious reason for it. Heart rate, pace, and distance data all seem to be pretty accurate.

Battery life

Puma is optimistic that the smartwatch will offer a 24-hour battery life, but I've never come close to that. It got me through an average day, but only by switching to battery saver in the evening. If you are a very light user, you may be taken to bedtime. If you want to track your heart rate and get lots of notifications or use other apps, you can expect the steam to go out in the early evening.

The charging cradle has a magnetic contact and stays nicely in place. Charging only takes about an hour, but you will likely still have it charged overnight.

Simon Hill / Digital Trends

Price, availability and guarantee

The Puma smartwatch costs $ 275 (or £ 249) and can be purchased directly from the Puma website or from various retailers. It comes with a standard two-year warranty that covers defects in material and workmanship under normal use for the period from the date of purchase and lasts for two years.

Our opinion

The Puma Smartwatch is a well-known Wear OS device from Fossil, which is disappointed by the lack of memory and offers even more faulty performance than your usual Wear OS device. Poor battery life is also not an advantage. It looks sporty and has a good range of fitness tracking features, but is too expensive for what you get.

Are there alternatives?

If it's primarily a fitness tracking watch you're looking for, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 is the best choice. Depending on the size chosen, the price is almost exactly the same at $ 280 or $ 300. It has better software, more comprehensive training tracking, and better battery life.

For iPhone owners, the latest Apple Watch is the obvious choice. Starting at $ 400, it's much more expensive, but superior in every way. If that's too much, consider Apple Watch Series 3, which costs $ 200 or $ 230 depending on the size you choose. It's still a better option than the Puma smartwatch.

How long it will take?

It offers water resistance up to 50 meters, but the Puma smartwatch has an aluminum case and plastic eyelets. It is therefore difficult to say how well the shocks can withstand. It should take a couple of years.

Should you buy one?

No. There are better options for the same money or less.

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