The Intex iRist is a work in progress, and the company has made some bad decisions.
The Google-less experience in China can be quite shocking if it is your first time here. You have to be ready with replacements for all your Google services before you enter this country. Your Gmail app will remain lifeless for as long as you're here, while YouTube pointlessly tells you that it can go offline too. It's not like you lose everything though, Chrome still works, and if your alternative is Internet Explorer, then you know how big a boon that is.
What does this have to do with the Intex iRist smartwatch though? It's a very close match. The story is almost exactly the same. Intex is on the one hand, embracing Google's ecosystem, while also saying no to it.
The iRist runs on Android KitKat 4.4.2. The obvious question is why not Android Wear right? The most likely answer is because Android Wear doesn't support SIM cards yet. Having a SIM card though makes the iRist a standalone smartwatch, one of the few in the market. But at what cost?
The Intex iRist can take calls and reply to texts, but it won't, ever, run apps made for Android Wear, unless Google decides to make it possible. Moreover, while Intex says Play Store apps, like WhatsApp work just fine, it's hard to believe to say the least. On the other hand, even if they do, would you really type on 0.5 inch keyboard. In fact, could you? The answer obviously is no. KitKat on the Intex iRist is pretty much the same as it is on the phone, but without an app drawer. You can still pull down from the top to bring the notifications menu out and use quick settings and settings options from there. They look the same, when they shouldn't have. There's nothing here that will make Android easier to use on a 1.56 inch display.
The biggest departure from Google's ecosystem though is in the voice assistant. Intex built a personal assistant for the Intex iRist smartwatch that will will take voice commands from the user. When asked why it didn't go with Google's current voice recognition systems, the company said they've built this smartwatch from the ground up, which means it will work better with the device. Did Intex just say its voice recognition is going to be better than Google's? Good luck living up to that. The demo area was all too noisy to really blame the watch for not understanding what I said, so I'll hold my final judgement till I review this product. It's not an always on voice assisstant though, which automatically is a problem for smartwatches. Having said that, I do agree with Intex when it says Android Wear depends too much on voice, but at the same time, Intex is overselling its keyboard.
Of course the fact that you can use this smartwatch as a standalone device is a good thing, except, if you need a phone, would you really buy this over a smartphone? Would you be replying to texts and emails using the barely half an inch high keyboard? The answer for most is no. By not using Android Wear, which in no way is a perfect OS, Intex has also taken the entire burden of development on its shoulders too. The company has created some of the basic apps, like dialler, gallery, camera etc. for now, but essentially the Intex iRist is running on Android 4.4.2 tweaked to fit this size. That, on 512MB of RAM, should be raising some alarm bells in people, especially considering that Intex wants this to be used as a standalone device that can be used as a smartphone.
The emphasis on calling and being a standalone device seems to be far too much here. A smartwatch really needs to look and feel good, which is an area where the Moto 360 really performs. The iRist on the other hand really looks rather shoddy up front. It's not a well built smartwatch. The dial is thicker than the Moto 360 and shaped like an Apple Watch (incidentally also the two 'competitors' Intex compared this one to, in its presentation), thanks to the addition of both SIM card and memory card slots. The glossy plastic that the device is made out of, along with regular rubber straps, puts it miles away from the other two competitors mentioned here. Smartwatches are perhaps the one segment where the fashion aspect matters much more than the tech, and while Intex has paid attention to everything, it is overlooking fashion. Yes, I'm not a fashion expert, but it doesn't take an expert to get this in this case. The 600 mAh battery is a good choice though, as is the 1.2 Ghz quad-core processor from MediaTek.
To give credit where it's due though, it is heartening to see an Indian company actually make the effort. Spice tried this earlier with the Spice Smart Pulse, but even at Rs. 4,999, that device had its issues. Intex wants to do basically the same thing, and it has come to MWC, Shanghai to do that, a place where it can actually catch a lot of attention, which it did too, by the looks of things in its booth here. The pricing is under question though, if Spice's watch didn't work at Rs. 4,999, what makes Intex think its Rs. 11,999 price tag would be any better? This is where its effort comes in though. Intex can make it worth the price by developing apps for it aggressively, and working on its OS of choice. In fact, the company seems to be taking these things seriously too, given that fact that it has developed its own UI, called IDMOS (Intex Dynamic Mobile Operating System) for its smartphones. It absolutely has to work on development though.
At this point, you might be saying, "but it has a 5MP camera too!" Yes, well, it does. Ever tried shooting with such a camera when you're wearing the device though? Even if you didn't, you're probably stretching your arms out in front of you right now to figure out exactly what it will be like. Simply put, it's not a great experience.
Intex is even bundling a Bluetooth headset with the smartwatch, allowing you to recieve calls and talk to people as well. The fact is, these are things you can do with say a Moto 360 or Apple Watch as well, only you'll need the phone. And the problem that Intex faces is that people actually want the phone, not a standalone watch that replaces the phone. As a first attempt, the Intex iRist is fine, but it's a work in progress. There's potential here, but it's the next version of this watch that will be the one to look out for.
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Prasid Banerjee
Trying to explain technology to my parents. Failing miserably. View Full Profile
