With the Prowatch ZN, domestic smartphone manufacturer Lava has entered the wristwatch market. Being the first in its class, the company’s debut smartwatch boasts Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. A high-accuracy PPG sensor is also included with the Lava Prowatch ZN for continuous heart rate, fitness, and blood oxygen monitoring. Along with these advantages, the watch also comes with several necessary features that can be purchased for just Rs 2,599, such as an always-on display, Bluetooth calling, a selection of watch faces, and more.
Design and display
The Lava Prowatch ZN is made of zinc alloy, which feels sturdy and lightweight, and it sports a classic circular dial design. The right spine has a few buttons. Like the ones found on high-end Apple and Samsung smartwatches, one of them serves as a spinning crown. You can easily navigate between menus, apps, and watch faces with the crown thanks to its excellent haptic feedback.
You can use silicon or metal straps with the Lava Prowatch ZN. The watch came with silicone bands, which at first did not feel very pleasant against my wrist but soon warmed up with continued use. The garment is appropriate for extended use and goes well with practically every outfit. Even when I used the watch to monitor my sleep cycle during the night, I had no pain.
Features
In terms of functionality, the Lava Prowatch ZN can monitor your blood oxygen levels, steps, heart rate, sleep, and sleepiness. It also has more than 110 sports modes for practically any kind of exercise, such as elliptical training, basketball, cycling, hiking, and outdoor walking and jogging. Additionally, there are more than 110 watch faces; eight of them may be saved on the watch directly, and the remaining ones can be viewed through an app that works with it.
In addition, the Lava Prowatch ZN has a built-in game, smart notifications, a calculator, music playback controls, a stopwatch, a timer, an AI voice assistant, a speaker grille a microphone for Bluetooth voice calls, and more. The wearable has an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. This guarantees that the watch is suitable for swimming and other activities involving immersion in water up to a depth of 1.5 meters for a maximum of 30 minutes.
Connectivity between UI and apps
The industry-standard swipe user interface (UI), which is quite easy to use and understand, is included with the Lava Prowatch ZN. The button located on the right spine’s bottom part allows you to switch to the sports mode instantly. In addition, the key can start and stop the active sports mode. Conversely, the spinning crown not only makes it easy to navigate through the menu but also doubles as a back button.
However, the Lava Prowatch ZN can only be paired with Android phones via the ProSpot compatible app. The app requires logging in with certain information, such as the user’s name, weight, height, and purpose of the transaction. Once this is complete, the app will download a home screen that displays all your health data collected over an hour on a map. You can continue working with maps to dive into the details. Additionally, the app offers several tabs called My Goal, Settings, and Profile, which work as advertised.
Although the overall appearance is good and easy to use, a modern design could be used to improve it. Additionally, the app is slow in uploading and retrieving data from the smartwatch. Also, the app could not retrieve my sleep information. These problems are not serious and can be resolved by updating the software. I used version 2. 5 on my device.
Both battery life and performance
A Realtek chipset powers the Lava Prowatch ZN, which is further enhanced by VC9202 and VP60A PPG sensors. It is said that these PPG sensors can measure heart rate, sleep patterns, and fitness levels with accuracy. That information, however, cannot be applied to medical conditions. You should only use it to get a broad understanding of your activity stats. I discovered that the watch didn’t match the number of steps shown on the treadmill by about 160 while I was running. This disparity in figures is common among smartwatches, particularly those that fall within the lower price range.
Regarding battery life, the Lava Prowatch ZN claims to have an 8-day battery life under typical use. With Bluetooth calling, this time is reportedly cut to two to three days, and the Always-on display further depletes the backup. Fortunately, I never needed to use the Always-on display feature because I could accomplish my goals and get the job done with the raise-to-wake gesture. Amazingly, the wearable gave me about 5–6 days of battery life when used regularly. The wearable monitored all of my activity throughout the day, including sleep and an hour-long workout, even though I didn’t use it much for calls.
The Lava Prowatch ZN can be fully charged from 0-100 in around an hour once it is completely exhausted. The box includes a compatible charging cable that snaps onto the watch’s rear via a magnetic attachment. However, a power adapter featuring a USB Type-A connection must be bought independently.
Verdict
The Lava Prowatch ZN dazzles with its unique spinning crown, display, and overall aesthetic. For the price, the wearable also has a full suite of health-tracking capabilities. Still, its health tracking could be more accurate. More improvements should also be made to the user interface and app connectivity. Nevertheless, the wearable offers reasonable battery life and performance. It also has a user-friendly design, allows Bluetooth calling, and has a good selection of sports modes. Lava is off to a promising start in the smartwatch market with this. Therefore, the Lava Prowatch ZN is unquestionably something to think about if you’re looking for a reasonably priced wristwatch with respectable features for less than Rs 3,000.
