Zeblaze GTS Review: A sleek smartwatch that can make phone calls

2020 has been a rough year for most smartphone makers due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is a particular niche of products that shine amidst the pandemic – the segment of wearable devices. Under this category, we can find products like TWS audio earphones, AR / VR glasses, and of course, smartwatches. The latter seems to be catching customers after a long time of existence. The reason? Well, nowadays we have plenty of products in the various pricing ranges giving users a choice. Moreover, even the affordable smartwatches are capable of offering useful features to the user. Zeblaze is a company with a long story in the market of smart wearables. The company’s latest offer under its affordable smartwatch category is the Zeblaze GTS.

The Chinese company focuses in producing high-quality smartwatches for various price ranges. It produces advanced smartwatches that provide a full-fledged smartphone experience, but also produces basic smartwatches with health / fitness-focused features and that also work as smartphone companions. The Zeblaze GTS comes to honor this legacy.

The Zeblaze GTS is a sleek, well-designed smartwatch that comes with a whole set of health/fitness tracking features. However, the great icing on the cake of this device is the fact that it has a built-in speaker. For starters, you can use it to perform phone calls straight from your smartwatch. The device also comes with a lot of relevant features that make it a decent deal for its price. Without further ado, let’s dive in the Zeblaze GTS Review.

Zeblaze GTS Technical Specifications

• Shape: Square
• Dimension: 43 x 37 x 11mm
• Weight: 38 g
• Colors: Body: Black / Straps: Blue, Black, Gray, Purple
• Display: IPS
• Screen Size: 1.3-inch
• Screen Resolution: 240 x 240 pixels
• Compatible Os: Android & IOS
• Sensors: Heart-rate Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer
• Bluetooth: V4.0
• GPS: No
• NFC: No
• ECG: No
• Built-in Speaker: Yes
• Multi-sports mode: 8 Sports Modes
• Heart rate monitor: Yes
• Sleep Monitor: Yes
• Blood Pressure Monitor: Yes
• Waterproof: IP67
• Additional Features: Sedentary reminder, Alarm, Brightness adjustment, Theather mode
• Battery Capacity: 240 mAh
• Charging Time: 1.5 Hours
• Normal Usage: 10 days
• App: DaFit
• Strap: TPU

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Basic Packaging

The Zeblaze GTS comes in a simple and quite small black box with the essentials inside. The retail package includes the smartwatch, the charger (clip), the manual, and the strap based in the color of your choice. Zeblaze has been kind enough to send me multiple straps, so you can have an idea of the multiple color combinations you can create with the smartwatch. An interesting fact is that it’s really simple to detach and attach new strap tramps to a simple switch.

The manual is in English / Chinese and provides quick useful information about the smartwatch. The most important detail is that it directs you to download the Da Fit application on Google Play Store / App Store. The charger is simple and you can attach it to the smartwatch through the pins that are in the bottom part.

The retail package is simple but reflects how the smartwatch is simple to use.

DESIGN AND BUILD QUALITY

The Zeblaze GTS comes with a plastic chassis, but it does not reflect a cheap quality. The product has a decent build and does not look like something that will fall apart within time. The predominant color here is black and you can only change the straps. Thankfully, Zeblaze is offering distinct strap colors to allow you to pick one that better reflects your taste.

The GTS has a minimal design that will resemble other square-dial smartwatches, like the market king Apple Watch. I loved the fact that it’s really easy to change the straps thanks to a quick switch. You can buy compatible straps and give a more custom look to your smartwatch. For the price paid, the device seems to be tough. However, I recommend using a glass protector if you don’t want to scratch the display. I scratched mine and I have no idea how it happened.

The wearable is resistant to dust and water and brings an IP67 certification. It’s interesting to see how an affordable smartwatch can pack this certification while other expensive offers in the market lack it. The straps are TPU and also very comfortable and we have to say that is more durable since your sweat will not bring harm to it with time.

The watch has a single button in the right side that serves to wake the screen, stop alarms and answer calls. On the rear, we can find the charging pins and the heart rate sensor. There is also a small cutout in the bottom left part, it’s the built-in speaker. It will reproduce the audio while you’re on a call.

The watch obviously comes with a built-in microphone allowing you to have phoneless calls. Obviously, everything is based on a Bluetooth Connection. So you will need the phone, but will not need to take it out of your pocket to answer a simple call thanks to the Zeblaze GTS.

The device comes with a 1.3-inch Touch-Screen with 240 x 240 of resolution. The touch response is fast and smooth and it’s easy to navigate through the software and the multiple functions. If you swipe to the right you’ll start to navigate through the health-features, if you swipe to left you’ll see an “app drawer” with icons. If you swipe down, you’ll get a smartphone-like drop-down menu where you can adjust the brightness, get a quick overview of the battery, weather and switch to the Teather Mode.

The latter reduces the brightness and the vibrations or sounds to avoid annoyances while you’re busy or watching a movie.

With a long press, you can get the watchfaces menu. Interestingly enough, there are only five watchfaces included in the smartwatch. However, this number grows to 60+ when you pair it with the Da Fit app.

A Huge variety of Watch Faces

You can select and install various watchfaces straight from the application. There is even a DIY option where you can pick an image and adjust the clock’s color position and other info. The app is getting constant updates and it already has more watchfaces now than the first time I’ve used it.

The wearable connects to the app via Bluetooth 4.0. I know that this isn’t the most advanced standard for BT connectivity right now, but during my usage, I didn’t fall under any kind of annoyances. Through the connection you can get relevant information from your smartphone like notifications, phone calls and all the info generated by the watch will be stored in the Da Fit app.

The app comes with 8 sports modes like walking, running, cycling and etc. However, there is no GPS like more expensive options. But it uses the accelerometer to read your steps and calculate the distance you’ve walked or ran. The watch can read your blood pressure and level of oxygens in your body as well as the heart rate. However, you need to take the results with a pinch or two of salt, after all this isn’t a health certified product. Moreover, it does not come with a SpO2 sensor like more expensive watches, the results are relatively close to that generated by an Oximeter.

The watch obviously can monitor your sleeping times and there is an alarm option as well. Although it comes with alarms, it just vibrates. It can’t use the built-in speaker for alarms nor it does alert you about incoming calls. The wearable just vibrates to notify and this is a pity. It may not be a huge deal for you, but I think that this is a missed opportunity to maximizes the use of a watch that comes with a built-in speaker.

Other features include the ability to remote control your camera and to quick switch, play/pause the music that is playing in your smartphone.

Software and Battery Life

In terms of the smartphone app needed to sync your watch, Zeblaze recommends the DaFit application from Play Store or App Store. It’s really easy to set up the app correctly and once your pair your watch with the device it will get all the info from your smartwatch. Interestingly, it’s through the DaFit app that your watch will get some smart features like Weather Info, Alarms, and Notifications as well as the Phone Call feature. As aforementioned, a big part of watchfaces is downloaded to the watch through the DaFit app. You can determine your profile, gender, age, weight, and height and store important health data in the application. You can monitor your advancements while exercising with the watch.

The main screen shows us the steps, heart rate, and the last sleep session, while we can find sports activities and other settings related to the functionality of the smartwatch. You can also set up which applications will send notifications to the smartwatch.

There are some cool features like a Drinking Water reminder and the whole 24/7 heart rate monitor.

Supported Sports Modes

• Walking
• Running
• Cycling
• Badminton
• Skipping
• Basketball
• Football
• Swimming

Although it comes with Swimming, the watch isn’t exactly waterproof. So I won’t recommend taking it to the pool.

The Zeblaze GTS does not come with the biggest battery available in the market. However, its 240mAh cell managed to provide me a couple of days of usage. In stand by, it lasted more than two weeks. You can easily adapt the battery to your usage, and it’s great to know that you won’t need to charge it every day. After all, we’re used to charging our smartphones, but this can be annoying with smartphones. Charging is done with a special charging cable that has attachable tweezers. As usual, be careful with this charging cable. After it may not be easy to find a replacement depending on the region.

Zeblaze GTS Review – Conclusion

To conclude Zeblaze GTS Review, we have to say that it sits as a decent value-for-money smartwatch. For the price paid, I’ve got a lot of features and an outstanding build quality (apart from the easy-to-scratch display). The water-resistance and the phone call feature certainly are a plus! I can leave my phone in the pocket or bag and don’t need to check it all the time as even calls will come from the smartwatch. The screen is bright and I love the fact that I have a set of watchfaces to select. Everything is completed by stellar battery life. If you’re in the market for a decent VFM smartwatch that supports calls, the Zeblaze GTS is the smartwatch for you. You can find it here: