[Review]No.1 S9 Smartwatch with NFC – Goes Beyond the Basics

Here in smartwatchspecifications.com, every day we are in a quest to bring our fans the best smartwatch in the market. It is not just featured pack wearable that we introduce here, we also brings “affordable” smartwatch, one of the main consideration by consumers when buying their own smartwatch.

With regards to this, we have another smartwatch that fits the above details, good features, elegant design and affordable price. The product is one of newest smartwatch by No.1, in the affordable category, of course

No.1, one of the leading smartwatch maker did not disappoint its fans again with the affordable No.1 S9 SMARTWATCH.

 Here we are going to provide you a review of the said smartwatch, an in-depth review of the No.1 S9 smartwatch, we will provide you some details about the wearable its specs and where you can buy the smartwatch.

Design and Looks

When it comes to design, the No.1 S9 is one of the best looking smartwatch of No.1 under $50 dollars, the smartwatch sport a stainless steel body with that is just 65 mm thick and with a measurement of only 10 cm x 8 cm. The smartwatch is comfortable to wear, even looks good on someone with small wrist.  Both black and silver has a gear design on the bezel, but I like the effect more on the silver color which pops-out the gear bezel design. There are two protruding buttons, a home button and power button adding a classic taste to the smartwatch.

The smartwatch comes with User Manual and USB Charging Cable

The shiny finish makes the No.1 S9 look elegant, classy, luxurious smartwatch, It looks great especially with the leather strap with stainless steel buckle. If you are not a fan of leather strap, I think that if I remember it correctly the smartwatch is also available in stainless steel mesh. It seems like it doesn’t have an interchangeable band at first, but checking it out, you can change it with the use of special tools. I wish that the No.1 S9 strap has quick release strap, which makes it easy to interchange it with other compatible third party watch strap. So far the No.1 S9 looks like the affordable popular No.1 G6 but far more better in terms of design and specs.

Display Screen and Hardware

Stainless Steel Body with Gear Crown Bezel

The screen is 1.3” inch IPS LCD with a 240 x 240 pixel resolution, not that sharp compared to other offerings of No.1 with higher resolution, but the 240 x 240 is not that bad either, still it provide good graphics which is readable indoor or outdoors. Inside its belly, the No.1 S9 is powered by MTK2502C processor, a new and fast processor from MediaTek that is power efficient, we see it run in other several mid-range wearables.  The S9 runs a proprietary O.S if I’m not mistaken making it fast even it runs the 2502C processor.

According to its specs the S9 runs the second generation green light heart rate sensor which is more accurate compared to other HRM. It is also equipped with gyro sensor providing additional data for pedometer, and other fitness options included in the No.1 S9. But I guess the best -selling feature of the No.1 S9 is the NFC feature included, the S9 has built-in access control system NFC signal receiving module. This feature in the smartwatch allow the user to have access to a certain location without the need of bringing in additional keys, it is also useful in exchanging VCards, no need to bring out your phone just to transfer your personal information such as mobile number, just your No.1 S9 and its all set.

Uses second generation green light heart rate sensor

Another feature that No.1 also promoting for the No.1 S9 is the double battery life, it is said to last twice more than the previous smartwatches by No.1, well I tested for a few days and seems like it can really last several days or  more, compared to other brand of smartwatches including some popular wearable of No.1. With its 380 mAh battery, the smartwatch standby time can last up to 3-5 days.

Features and Software – The UI is pretty basic, accessing its menus is simple, just swipe from right to left and you will prompted to the main menu of OS. The apps/options are arranged in grid orders, with four set of icons in each page. I guess the UI smartwatch needs more polished, it is pretty basic so far but it does its job, an easy access to the apps.

Just like the No.1 G6, the No.1 S9 has several preloaded watch faces, from dials to digital faces it also has an additional watch faces that we like that is preloaded already in the smartwatch. If you are not contented with the watch faces in S9, no worries as there are hundreds of available .vxp watch faces available for download in this website, watchfaceup.com, created and submitted by graphic artist, developers and hobbyist, watch faces are free to download and with different styles to personalized your No.1 S9. See our instructions on how to install the .vxp watch face in your No.1 S9.

Because the smartwatch don’t have a SIM card slot, it functions as a companion smartwatch for your smartphone, but don’t underestimate the features of the No.1 S9, the wearable includes a pedometer, heart rate monitor, an all-day activity tracking record as well as sedentary and sleep monitor. When synced with the your smartphone via Bluetooth connectivity, the smartwatch can also receive notifications from social media apps such as Facebook, Twitter etc. I maybe not a fan of how the S9 provide notifications, but anyways it is still able to provide information in a readable simple way and that is the most important part.

FundoWear Support App

Support App – I have stated this before that I hope No.1 should have their own support app for its wearables, just like in the No.1 F1. With this No.1 can optimized, add more features and options in the support app do OTA firmware updates than just rely on third party companies for the support app. Right now the apps available are FundoWear, MediaTek SmartDevice which each app has its own features and options. But I love using the FundoWear it has more options compared to MTK SmartDevice, you can download the app via QR code available in the smartwatch.

NFC in No.1 S9, Does it Matter?

The NFC tech is barely new to the wearable world, right now only a handful of smartwatches do have this feature, most can be found in the high end smartwatches. But is the NFC feature really useful in smartwatches particularly in the No.1 S9? For me based on experience, I think it is really a useful feature, although I don’t advice the feature for payment systems as of now. It is very useful for ID, transfer of Vcards to smartphone, security for establishment and a lot more, no need to take out your phone, just store the information in your smartwatch and you can use the NFC feature to transfer data fast.  You can check the recent video of No.1 S9 for NFC feature https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tvjahzLVfc . So if you are one of the tech savvy people who usually uses NFC, the No.1 S9 will surely suit your taste.

My Take on No.1 S9

The No.1 S9 smartwatch is wearable that is fit for those who are looking for an affordable circular smartwatch, it might not be that impressive compared to an Android smartwatch when it comes to UI and features, but will surely provide the basic needs of those who want to have a companion smartwatch for their phone.

The wearable in terms of features and specs are good considering the price of the smartwatch. If you are looking for a companion smartwatch, I think this one of the best in the market, the addition of NFC makes really goes beyond the basics.

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Jo Di Calivo -Blogger, Tech Guru, providing the current news on wearables particularly on smartwatches, smartbands. And loves to go fishing on spare time.