NO.1 F5 Smartwatch: GPS and usability, all in one

No.1 is a chinese company that is specialized in wearables. The company produces smartwatches and rugged smartphones and we have tested a lot of them during the past year. The products have always a good value for money worth and they are worthy of what they are advertised for. The company launched lately a new sport wearable, No.1 F5, a product that is described as a smartwatch-band. That is, it works as a smartband but has the more traditional look of a wrist watch. It provides everything we want from a smart sports band with GPS support and IP67 waterproof rating. In our opinion a smartwatch band is an ideal choice for people that want something more that a simple smartband. It combines the good looks of a wrist watch in small dimensions, low weight,  multiple sport tracking and an extra long battery duration!

I ve used the band for more than a week and i have only good words for it since it covered all my needs with precision AND  without re-charging!

The price is reasonable at 57$ and it worths every single penny comparing it to a simple smart band. It has excellent sales already and with summer just around the corner it makes it a good present for your summer holidays – if you work out, or want to go to the sea.

 

No.1 F5 – Technical Characteristics

• Screen: 0.95 inch, 94X64 OLED, colour touch display with Corning Glass protection
• Chip: NRF52832
• RAM: 64K
• ROM: 512K
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.2
• GPS: build-in GPS with independent GPS records
• For OS: Android / iOS
• IP rating: IP67 (water drops and dust)
• Battery Capacity: 350mAh polymer
• Dial size: 4.40 x 4.40 x 1.30 cm,
• Product size (L x W x H): 25.50 x 4.40 x 1.30 cm
• Weight: 105 grams

Unboxing

No.1 posts its smartphones in the same hard paper white box we have seen in the past. The package weights 197 grams and has dimensions: 10.00 x 8.00 x 7.00 cm. Inside we can find

• the F5 smartwatch with a 350mAh rechargeable battery
• the USB charging cable and
• the instructions.

The charging cable is a USB cable connected to your laptop or charger. I have used both without an issue. It is magnetic and sticks to the watch easily. The manual is in multiple languages and in my opinion it needs a bit more of explanations.

No.1 F5 – Design and characteristics

As we said this has a traditional smartwatch look. The strap is made from anti-allergic silicon with a metallic end. It is a two-colour 20mm strap that can be replaced easily having a special mechanism. THe colour of the strap is back and one of the following: green, gray and red. I have the green-back version. The dial has a 33mm diameter and the watch without the strap has a length of 53mm, a size that is good, neither small in a man’s hand or huge like No.1 F6.

The material of the watch case is a zinc alloy in black colour. The wight is very good for a smartwatch at 105 grams.  Size and weight made a good combination in my hand while typing, house working or exercising. It is bigger and heavier than a simple smartband but the big dial and general feel are good and I prefer F5 around my wrist than a band. The back of the watch has the glass with the heart rate sensor and the battery pins. There are only 2 buttobs in the right side of the watch – in my opinion another button for the large functionality menu  wouldn’t be wasted.

The screen is colored and bright, but you may have issues reading it under the bright sun. On top of the central window with all the information, the panel provides a touch sensitive area that works as a third button.

It is water and dust resistant with IP67 rate. That means you can wash your hands but not swim or shower with it. The best thing in the phone is the battery. As a simple watch it needs charging every 3 weeks! With the GPS sensor ON the duration drops to 12 hours. I didn’t use the GPS other than testing the smart band and after a week of heavy use and notifications the battery is more than perfect for my needs. Do you have a smartwatch that needs charging every night and you got fed up with it? Don’t waste your time, F5 gets you forgetting it needs a charge. The charge from 0 to 100% needs two hours, so charge it in your sleep.

No.1 F4 – Functions

No.1 F5 has a good spectrum of features. There is built-in GPS module that can work independently from your smartphone and record your position for maximum of 12 hours. There is a Heart Rate Monitor that measures your heart rate and by doing that monitors your health condition. There is a Real-time Temperature and Altitude Measure that is very useful for outdoor sports in areas where you need to pay attention to weather changes. There is a Multiple Sports Modes Record for walking, running, cycling, climbing and swimming.

As a simple watch it keeps the dial off saving battery and turns it on when you lift your hand. It is very precise and I ve seen it turning on constantly only in driving when i turn the steering wheel. It provides an alarm, a sleep monitor, a sedentary reminder that i found very useful in the daily 12hour long office hours and a pedometer. The most important for me are a finding phone function and a notification function  that work when in sync with my smartphone. The smartwatch supports multiple languages like Russian, German, Italian, Czech, Japanese, English, French, Polish, Portuguese, Simplified Traditional Chinese, Spanish and Thai.

Pedometer: You can see distance, steps and calories (they precise by setting age/sex/weight). Its data are calculated over a 24h period, are saved at midnight, then start over from the beginning.

Heart rate monitoring: Using the heart rate interface you can see a real time heart rate or in a 16-hour time span.

Notifications: It works with some chinese social media apps that i don’t use and the classic phone + sms.

Temperature: As with the heart rate monitor it provides a real time measurement or a 16-hour temperature change graph.

Barometer: It works as in the Temperature interface with real time and 16-hour graph

Altimeter: Similar here as above but with a 4-hour change graph

Activities: Walking, Running, Climbing, Riding, Treadmill, Basketball, Badminton, Football are the options here. Running, Climbing, Riding can be connected to GPS as to keep in your archive a detail map of your route.

Settings:

• You can see your record and set a new target at each sport activity.
• You can set the sedentary feature (example in a from -to time span set an alarm every 45 minutes)
• You can see the light – deep sleep time in the sleep monitoring
• You can set an all-day monitoring of the heart rate and set an alarm for high rates in an activity.
• You can see the positioning time and signal from a GPS satellite.
• You can set the watch vibration on/off
• You can set the wake up screen when you move your hand
• You can set an alarm
• You can set the date
• You can set the time
• You can set the dial brightness – it has 3 grades
• You can set you rersonall information as sex,age,height, weight (used for the calories calculation)
• You can reset to factory settings and finally
• You can view the firmware version. In the smartphone application you can try for an update in case one exists.

Since this is a smartwatch band, and not a pure smartwatch this means that you need a smartphone to keep an archive for the functionalities described above. To connect with your Android or iOS smartphone you need to follow the instructions described in the manual, thus either scan a QR code or download Hplus application from the App Store or Google Play. When in sync you can see the data recorded during your exercise or a GPS map of your exercise route.

It takes a while to learn how to use the smartwatch – smartphone combination (a third physical button would help), but after a while is becomes routine. F5 can be handy without the phone which is a major advantage on any other smartbands.

Hplus application

The alter ego of the No.1 F5 smartwatch is the Hplus application. The app provides everything that you might need around the use of your F5. Home tab has information over steps, slee and heart rate providing a daily schematic and a weekly graph. Activity tab provides information on the activities taken.

I’ve used GPS on the smartwatch, and synchronised it later with the application. Now i can see the map with my route, the distance traveled, energy spend and duration. Calendar tab shows information per day. Device tab provides a general ui as to set various settings. From this tab we can update the firmware too. Mine tab is used to set personal information, setting a goal etc. The Hplus application is nice to the eye, easy to use and full of features.

Conclusion

No.1 F5 is a hybrid solution trying to bridge the gap between simple but cheap smart bands and complicated and expensive smartwatches. I really like the looks and the two color-strap, while the weight is just ok for me to wear it when I work. It has IP67 certification which makes it durable to wear when washing my hands or sweating after a long jog in the Aegean sun. Synchronization is OK without issues and the smartwatch has no faults like stalling or shutting down.

The asynchronous usage is great when in long duration routes end especially when I don’t want to spend my smartphone’s battery by being constantly connected through the Bluetooth. What is the best feature of this smartwatch band? Its battery life! At last I found a tool to measure my daily exercise routines without having a USB cable around me. Long battery duration in gadgets was something I never knew until I bought my Mi A1. No1 F5 came as a surprise to verify my opinion that a great wearable needs a great battery duration. No.1 has proven in 2017 that is a good wearable manufacturer and F5 is a step towards the correct direction: Cheap durable smartwatches that work asynchronously with excellent battery. Don’t stand there! Go buy F5 now!