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PUBG New State Review: Worth Switching From Battlegrounds Mobile India?

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PUBG is a name that is quite familiar with almost everyone now, not just India’s youngsters. The mobile version of the game has grown to massive popularity since it came out in 2018, a year after the official release of the PUBG PC version. But after PUBG was banned in India players had to look for different games — though the craze for one of the most popular battle royale games on mobile never died. Earlier this year, Krafton curated a special edition for Indian mobile gamers, Battlegrounds Mobile India, also known as BGMI.

With BGMI, nothing major was changed compared to PUBG except for some elements here and there. It was essentially PUBG with a new coat of paint. But that’s not the case with PUBG: New State. With it, Krafton gets to re-introduce the PUBG moniker in India, and in a new avatar that is going to catch the eye. But can PUBG: New State rope in the gamers that belong to the BGMI camp? What new things does it have to offer? I played the game for around a week, read on to find out about our take on the new entrant in mobile gaming — PUBG: New State.

PUBG New State: visual appeal

On the graphics front, there have been some changes that Krafton has incorporated into PUBG: New State. Visually, the game looks much better than its counterparts. The graphics, details in the grass, walls and their texture along with the player mechanism provide a realistic look and feel to the game.

PUBG: New State currently offers a bunch of graphics settings starting with Lite, Medium, High, Ultra and Extreme. The lite option is the new introduction. As for framerate settings, you now get Low, Medium, High, Very High, Ultra, Max and Extreme — which is not accessible at launch. In my experience, loading time on the first boot has increased. I tested this on the iPhone 12 and the Realme 6 Pro. The iPhone 12 was able to extract Ultra + Max, whereas, the Realme 6 Pro maxed out at Ultra + Very High. In our testing, the back of the phone (on both devices) was a bit warm to the touch after playing the game for around 15 minutes or so.

In the early days with PUBG: New State, I stumbled upon some server issues as well, though these were later fixed after the game was taken down for maintenance a couple of times. Besides that, I also came across a bunch of bugs such as the “open door” button on vehicles not appearing, drones getting stuck in trees, cars getting stuck right in the middle of the map, and in some cases, I also found the waiting time in the lobby to be interminable.

A couple of new graphic options were added into PUBG: New State
Photo Credit: Robin John/Gadgets360

PUBG New State: new battlefields, new beginnings

With PUBG: New State, everything has a new look. Starting with the UI, the way they have polished the lobby, the character models, et cetera. Unfortunately, you cannot port your old account from the previous versions of the battle royale game into PUBG: New State. You’ll have to start from scratch. Talking about starting from scratch, you can now log in using your Facebook account, as well as your Google account. However, you can no longer use your Twitter credentials to log in.

PUBG: New State brings two new maps, namely Troi and Erangel 2051. As for Team Deathmatch (TDM), you get to see just one map as of now: Station. Erangel is by far the most popular map among PUBG players— it’s a classic after all. Erangel 2051, as the name suggests, is based in the year 2051 with all the cities similar to the earlier versions. But, this time around, parts of the buildings and walls are broken. It’s meant to be the aftermath of the multiple battles that have taken place in Erangel.

The entirely new map Troi is also very well designed and welcomes chaos just like any other map in the PUBG franchise. Troi brings in a bunch of new cities for the battleground gamers to hop into, namely City Hall, Graveyard, Factory, and Garrison. This is also an 8×8 km map similar to Erangel. During my time of play, I saw a bunch of players dropping down into “The Mall”. It’s likely that this place is the equivalent of “Pochinki” from Erangel. You also get some fun locations such as ‘Trailer Park’ which has ramps over the place so if you are ever under unwelcomed enemy attacks, you can use these to run them off in style. Although I always managed to fall face-first from my bike, but that’s a story for another day.

The Exhibit Hall sits right in the heart of Troi and provides you with an ample amount of loot in order to take down the enemy teams. It has an open roof and you can just envision the number of battles that can take place. Interestingly, though not surprisingly, Troi has bulletproof glasses which you can use to take cover under enemy attacks. You can differentiate them from normal glasses by looking out for blue tints on the bulletproof ones. A bunch of them have been laid down in the Exhibit Hall and Laboratory in PUBG: New State.

One thing I loved seeing in PUBG: New State is the name of all the cities floating across the map during the start of a game. So, you could see Pochinki, Rozhok, School, and every other city’s name from a bird’s eye view while seated in the plane. Thanks to this, it’s now impossible to confuse two cities that look somewhat similar.

The bird’s eye view from the plane now shows you the name of cities
Photo Credit: Robin John/Gadgets360

With Troi, you also get to experience a bunch of new vehicles— and not just any vehicle, these cars and bikes are futuristic. Don’t follow? Well, to start with, they run on batteries instead of fuel — as you would expect cars and bikes to be running on in the year 2051. Not just that, cars also have auto-pilot. The driver gets the option to toggle between manual and auto-pilot mode in PUBG: New State.

However, it is not fully controlled by AI, the driver will still have to steer around the map — the PUBG: New State AI just accelerates on its own. Battery-operated cars are naturally less noisy when compared to their gassy counterparts but it’s still audible at close range. Also, if you are outside the zone and driving an EV, the amount of battery consumption increases.

In case you get bored of driving around the map in your new auto-pilot car, you can always choose the trams. These trams run around the battlefield in PUBG: New State and are very helpful if you are stuck in a dire situation. I have found these to be useful for taking cover as well. Although the trams are really slow, then again, that’s how they are supposed to be.

PUBG New State gameplay

Moving on to PUBG: New State gameplay. The player movement and gun mechanics all seem to be quite similar to the previous iterations of the battle royale game, PUBG Mobile and BGMI. That being said, they have definitely made some changes that cannot be overlooked.

For starters, the gameplay now looks and feels a lot like the PC version of PUBG. This is something I previously mentioned in our PUBG: New State first impressions. If you are ever stuck in a battle and need to run away from your enemies, you can roll to take quick cover. Double tapping the crouch button initiates this—you can also add a separate button for the same. This can be enabled in the settings.

With BGMI, every gun you picked needed a sight of some sort, be it Red Dot, Holographic, or any of the major scopes. But with PUBG: New State, they have changed things around a bit. You get the red dot sight pre-equipped with all the guns. For me, that was good, since I always preferred the red dot over the Holographic sight thanks to the minimalistic reticle. They have also introduced a new sight which goes by the name of ‘Viper’. It’s somewhat similar to the red dot and looks quite innovative. Pretty much following the theme of PUBG: New State.

The new shoulder-fire technique in action
Photo Credit: Robin John/Gadgets360

PUBG: New State also brings along with itself a new technique for quickfire. You can now use the shoulder-fire option if you do not wish to scope during combat. This gives a more realistic feel to close combat. This helped me control the recoil and my spray patterns a bit better than before. However, it does take you some time to get accustomed to this new feature. You can of course switch between hip-fire and shoulder-fire in the settings if you prefer to go the old route.

PUBG New State: guns galore

If you get stuck in a situation wherein you are out in the open without any cover? In PUBG: New State, you can take the help of a deployable shield that will provide you with cover. This has proven to be a lifesaver when running out wild in the open and an enemy team is trying to gun you down. You get two variants of shields: one with a single shield and another with a three-door shield. Both are quite effective.

PUBG: New State also brings a bunch of new melee weapons such as a hatchet, wrench and shovel. You can also throw these at enemies to keep them at bay— if thrown properly, it can cause some serious damage.

As for weapons, you can find all the same guns and weapons with just minor additions to the inventory in PUBG: New State. The DSR-I is a bolt-action rifle that uses the same ammo as the M24, the 7.62mm. The firearm does look a bit taller when compared to Kar98k or M24. The sound it makes after a bullet is shot is also quite immaculate. Of course, it’s not as satisfactory as the AWM. DSR-I can be found on the ground and not in specific loot boxes, so you’ll have plenty of time to choose between the 7.62mm trio.

Dyneema Vest makes its way into PUBG: New State with some minor tweaks from the developers. The Dyneema Vest provides you with more protection against short and mid-range weapons that use the 9mm, 5.56mm, and .45ACP. However, everything has its pros and cons. With Dyneema Vest, you are more vulnerable when under fire from a gun that packs in the 7.62mm, 12 Gauge and of course, the .300 Magnum. Along with this, they have also added gun customization kits. With these kits, you can change the way a gun operates.

For example, the double-barrel S685-6 can be customised in a way that it fires both the bullets in a single shot. Whereas, you can also decrease the horizontal recoil of the Mini 14. The best part about this is that you can change the fire mechanics of a gun in PUBG: New State. I picked up an MK47 Mutant and applied the customisation kit to it, and it went from burst mode to auto, which I prefer in most circumstances. There are a tonne of other customisations you can do with the horde of guns the game provides.

PUBG New State: up for some shopping?

By now it’s pretty clear that PUBG: New State is set in the future. Nothing at this point can shock you, right? Well, that’s what I thought. We now have drones. To be precise, you now have a ‘Drone Shop’ wherein you can buy ammo, medical kits, EV batteries, and essentially everything required in an emergency. But along with that, you also get to buy flare guns, both red and green (more on that later).

You can buy items from the shop using drone credits which you can find laid down across the map. After adding the necessary items to your cart, the player can then go ahead and place the order. A drone, emitting blue smoke, hovers above you and drops a case with your items in PUBG: New State.

You can buy necessary items from the Drone Shop
Photo Credit: Robin John/Gadgets360

If you were wondering if this transaction can attract enemies, then the answer to that is a solid, yes! The drone does make some noise and the blue smoke can lure nearby enemies. On the other hand, you can also use this in PUBG: New State to lay down traps for enemies that you think might be camping nearby.

The shop also lets you get hands-on a ‘Scout Drone’ that can help you fish out enemies that might be hiding inside a building. If you are well-versed with the idea of Crypto — a legend in Apex Legends, for those who know what I mean — you know how this goes. However, unlike Crypto’s drone, this one does not cause any damage and is purely for scouting purposes. It’s perfect to plan out an ambush on anyone in hiding.

PUBG New State: back, back from the dead

PUBG: New State brings with itself a new recruit system. A normal squad of players consists of four people. If you wipe out an enemy squad, all the players will be knocked down instead of finished, unless you willingly do that. You can then go ahead and pick a player and revive them. Once the revival process is done, the player now belongs to your team. The player not only joins your team but can also join the voice…

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Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw (MKT5133) Wear OS Smartwatch Review: Flashy Smarts

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There still exists a strong divide between smartwatches and traditional mechanical or digital wrist watches. Tech companies such as Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi have developed feature-filled, capable smartwatches and fitness trackers that are accessible to people the world over, and this has naturally shrunk the market for traditional wristwatches. Few traditional brands have been willing to adapt to the need for modern devices. However, one traditional wristwatch maker that has put in exactly this kind of effort is Fossil.

American company Fossil Group licenses and manufactures wristwatches and smartwatches under various familiar fashion brands apart from its own, including Armani, Diesel, and Michael Kors. The latest product from the company in India is the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw smartwatch, which is priced at Rs. 24,995 onwards. Powered by Google’s Wear OS, is this designer smartwatch the best you can buy for less than Rs. 30,000? Find out in this review.

The crown of the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw controls power and voice assistant functionality, and can also be turned to scroll

 

Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw design

Most smartwatches tend to look a certain way, and are designed around comfort since you need to have them on your wrist practically all day long to track steps, heart rate, and sleep. Of course you need to be able to check and respond to notifications as well. Such watches usually come with rubber straps, for a snug and comfortable fit. Unlike them, the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw looks and feels just like a traditional mechanical dress watch, with a large metal casing and dial, metal link watch strap, and a crown and buttons on the right. Indeed, many people who saw the watch on my wrist commented that they did not think it was a smartwatch at first glance.

The Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw is available in a single 44mm dial size, and four colours – two-tone (dull gold and silver), rose gold, gold glitz, and rose gold glitz. The price of the smartwatch in India starts at Rs. 24,995 and goes up to Rs. 32,495, depending on the finish you choose. The two-tone and rose gold variants are the lowest priced.

Although Fossil’s marketing suggests that the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw is a women’s smartwatch and the rose gold review unit that was sent to me was quite eye-catching, I didn’t feel awkward wearing it, and I think it can be worn by anyone regardless of gender.

That said, the metal strap and casing of the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw makes it somewhat too heavy to wear all day, and I found it uncomfortable to wear while sleeping or working out. This isn’t a problem I have with traditional smartwatches such as the Apple Watch.

The metal strap also meant that I couldn’t get a snug fit, and so the gap between the sensor and my wrist interfered with the effectiveness of the heart rate and SpO2 sensors. It is possible to replace the 22mm strap on the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw with an aftermarket option, but that would change its whole look and take away from its formal and sophisticated design.

The Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw smartwatch has a 1.28-inch round AMOLED display, and Bluetooth 5 for connectivity with the source device. Powering the device is the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100+ processor, with 8GB of internal storage. There is an optical sensor at the bottom for heart rate and SpO2 readings. It also has built-in GPS and Wi-Fi connectivity, plus other key sensors such as an accelerometer, compass, altimeter, ambient light sensor, and pedometer.

The circular AMOLED screen has an ‘always-on’ mode for watch faces

 

The touchscreen can be used for for navigation, and there’s also the crown which controls power and Google Assistant through long-presses, opens the app drawer or goes to the home screen with a short press, and scrolls through menus when rotated. The two buttons on the side can be customised to open certain apps or perform certain functions. To go back a step, you need to swipe from left to right on the screen.

The built-in speaker and microphone on the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw let you use it for voice commands and phone conversations when connected as a wireless ‘headset’ using Bluetooth. This also allows for audible alerts when receiving notifications. The smartwatch is rated 5 ATM for water resistance, and charges using a magnetic charger which is included in the box.

Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw software, interface, and app

Like other smartwatches from the Fossil Group, the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw runs on Google’s Wear OS operating system. Usefully, this doesn’t mean compatibility is limited to Android. Wear OS has companion apps that allow it to work with iOS as well, and the smartwatch can work as a standalone device to some extent, too.

The Wear OS app on Android or iOS handles the connection between the smartwatch and your smartphone that’s paired using Bluetooth. Wi-Fi connectivity allows it to function even when it isn’t connected to the smartphone, for tasks such as updating its firmware or specific apps, or to fetch data from select apps, when you’re within range of a known network.

I used the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw smartwatch paired with a Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ (Review), and connection stability wasn’t a problem for the most part. A key advantage with Wear OS is that notifications are synced with your smartphone. You’ll get notifications on your watch for all apps that are allowed to show them on your phone, and disabling notifications for a particular app on your phone also ensures they won’t appear on the watch.

Wear OS is a fully functional platform for smartwatches, with its own version of the Google Play Store and native Google apps such as Keep, Maps, Translate, and YouTube Music, to name a few. You can install more apps through the Google Play store. Popular options available for Wear OS include Spotify, Microsoft Outlook, and Shazam.

The sensor at the bottom of the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw is used for heart rate and SpO2 tracking

 

Although certain aspects of the operating system can be customised by manufacturers including the watch faces and some of the pre-installed apps, the core experience is stock Wear OS, including the settings and app menus, notifications, Google apps, and Google Fit for fitness tracking and data analysis. I quite like the general look and feel of Wear OS, particularly the notification shade and app drawer, which are similar to their look on Android smartphones.

Watch faces are a major customisation factor on Wear OS smartwatches; the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw has a good number of preinstalled options that go well with the aesthetic of the watch and are in keeping with the Michael Kors brand image in general. The watch faces have bright colours, conspicuous logos, and catchy animations.

Impressively, there are around 70 Michael Kors watch faces available to use, all of which are well designed, and many of which have customisable complications. Switching between watch faces that are already stored on the watch is quick and easy, while the others can be selected and transferred to the watch from the Wear OS app.

Google Assistant is supported on the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw, and works as expected. The built-in speaker is used for relaying verbal responses and playing sounds, and the screen provides visual prompts or information. On-device functions such as the setting of timers and alarms worked fine, but I strangely wasn’t able to place calls from the watch with voice commands – Google Assistant just stated it was unable to do so.

The Michael Kors Access app on the smartwatch allows some customisation, such as accessing social media, selecting and syncing new watch faces, and more. However, I found the app to be slow and clunky, with many functions either taking too long or not working at all. You won’t miss much if you ignore this app entirely, since most of its key functions can be accessed through the Wear OS companion app on your smartphone.

Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw performance and battery life

Much like other premium smartwatches such as the Apple Watch series and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw is designed to be an everyday wristwatch. The traditional watch-like design and second-screen functionality form the core of the usage experience with this device, but there are some fitness and health-related features too.

The metal strap on the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw looks great, but this means that the smartwatch isn’t comfortable enough to wear all day

 

That said, my experience with its health and fitness tracking functionality wasn’t too good. Heart rate tracking was accurate when compared to the readings from an Apple Watch Series 5 and a medical-grade pulse oximeter when sitting still. However, if measured while moving around, the loose fit meant that readings were all over the place, often much higher than my actual heart rate. SpO2 readings on the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw were quite inaccurate too when compared to the pulse oximeter, and this wearable often either took too long or failed to produce a reading altogether.

When tracking steps while walking and manually counting to 1,000, the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw detected 1,051 steps – an error margin of around five percent. Over a longer workout, the Gen 6 Bradshaw detected around 1,045 steps per 1,000 that the Apple Watch showed when both were worn simultaneously.

Distance estimation indoors, without GPS active, was oddly lower than that of the Apple Watch despite the Michael Kors device counting more steps; it estimated a distance of 1.02km when the Apple Watch detected 1.1km. Outdoors, with GPS active, the watch measured 1.04km for a walk that Google Maps estimated to be just under 1km. GPS tracking was a bit iffy, and this device sometimes didn’t lock on to a GPS signal despite being outdoors and under clear skies.

The Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw does somewhat make up for these shortcomings with decent sleep tracking, and by functioning well as a smartwatch. Notifications were pushed in a timely manner and were easy to read and react to quickly. Information was clear and concise, and Google’s Find My Device functionality worked well, among other things. Although not quite as seamless and smooth as an Apple Watch, the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw does objectively perform well and works without any significant or glaring issues.

You can also use the device as a handsfree speakerphone for calls using Bluetooth connectivity. Audio wasn’t very loud because of the small speaker on the watch, and the microphone wasn’t exceptional either, but this is a useful feature to have on a smartwatch for occasionally answering calls if you’re unable to pick up your smartphone.

Battery life on the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw was quite poor, even for a full-featured smartwatch such as this. With basic use that didn’t involve GPS connectivity or the speakerphone functionality, I was unable to get even a full day’s worth of battery life. The device discharged its fully-charged battery in around 13-14 hours even with a static watch face. With workout tracking and a few short calls, the battery level dropped even quicker, forcing me to charge this device at least twice a day.

Verdict

Most smartwatches look like, well, smartwatches. From big rectangular screens to animated watch faces, many models simply aren’t trying to pass off as traditional watches. Many premium smartwatches don’t look old-school enough for some people, and that’s where the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw comes in. It has all the charm and style of a mechanical wrist watch, while offering modern smarts and functionality. This is a good-looking smartwatch that won’t feel out of place even with formal clothes.

However, there are some big drawbacks to the Michael Kors Gen 6 Bradshaw, including iffy fitness and health tracking, and sub-par battery life. It doesn’t quite deliver the ‘wear-all-day’ smartwatch experience that you can expect with devices such as the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch. Instead, consider this something you might want to grab for a few hours a day when you’re out and about.

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Fitbit Versa 4 Review: Ordinary Hardware, Excellent Premium Service

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Fitbit’s many achievements in its field has, to some extent, turned the brand name into something of a household term for wrist-worn fitness trackers. However, the concept of the fitness tracker itself is losing a bit of steam as smartwatches have now become affordable enough to make these smaller, fitness-focused bands somewhat obsolete. However, for fitness enthusiasts, a dedicated tracker that fits in their budget is still a worthwhile proposition. Fitbit continues to work towards winning over this demographic, thanks to its combination of traditional hardware and ever-improving software.

While the premium segment is now largely dominated by smartwatches with decent health-tracking capabilities, Fitbit remains dedicated to the idea of a smarter and better fitness tracker. The Fitbit Versa 4 is priced at Rs. 20,499 in India and promises a smartwatch-like experience, but does not shy away from its fitness-first credentials.

The Fitbit Versa 4 has an AMOLED screen, with various watch faces including Premium options as part of the subscription package

 

Fitbit Versa 4 design and specifications

Fitness trackers and bands once followed a distinct look, characterised by basic, narrow screens and a generally compact form factor. However, the preference towards large screens on wearables have seen modern fitness-focused wearables more closely resemble smartwatches, and this is the aesthetic that the Fitbit Versa 4 goes for. It has a square AMOLED screen which dominates the front, an aluminium casing with a matte finish, and a single button on the right side of the device.

Although the specifications of the screen aren’t officially stated by Fitbit, it is sharp and quite nice to look at, especially if you use a watch face with a black background. Waking the screen works with a press of the button or the lift-to-wake gesture, but tapping the touchscreen won’t work until the device is active. You also have the option to use the always-on display mode to see the time, set the screen timeout duration, and choose between three brightness levels, depending on your preferences.

The bottom of the watch has the charging contact points and the optical sensors for heart rate and blood oxygen measurements. There is also an altimeter in the Fitbit Versa 4, which is used by the device to count floors when climbing stairs; unfortunately the actual altitude data can’t be accessed easily or directly.

In India, the Fitbit Versa 4 is offered in four colour options, with the colour of the smartwatch matching that of the straps in all cases. These include a black strap with a graphite coloured casing, ‘Pink Sand’ strap with a copper rose coloured casing, ‘Beet Juice’ with a copper rose coloured casing, and ‘Waterfall Blue’ strap with a platinum coloured casing. While I liked the blue-platinum colour combination of my review unit, I personally felt that the all-black option looked better.

Strap comfort itself is a subjective point, and I did face some issues with it during my time with the Fitbit Versa 4. A somewhat tight adjustment did cause some skin sensitivity issues, while a loose fit was comfortable but affected the readings from the optical sensors. I was fine with the attached small strap, but there is an additional large strap included in the sales package. Also included in the box is the charger for the Fitbit Versa 4, which attaches to the bottom of the watch magnetically and plugs into a USB Type-A port for power (you’ll need your own adapter or connect it to a laptop).

In terms of specifications, the Fitbit Versa 4 is water resistant up to a depth of 50m, and can therefore handle significant exposure to water without much risk of damage. For connectivity, the device uses Bluetooth 5, and has an in-built speaker and microphone which can be used to communicate with Alexa for voice assistant functionality, and to receive incoming calls from the paired smartphone. The device also supports satellite location tracking through GPS and GLONASS.

Fitbit Versa 4 software, interface, and app

Many popular wearables are OS or platform-specific, and Fitbit’s acquisition by Google has led many to believe that the device and app requires an Android phone to work, or works better on Android. This isn’t really the case though; the Fitbit app works on both Android and iOS and Fitbit remains device agnostic in this regard. I primarily used the Versa 4 with an iPhone for much of this review, and all app-based functionality worked as expected.

The Fitbit app handles the connection between the Versa 4 and the paired smartphone, and also synchronises with the tracker to collect and analyse data. This itself isn’t special — every smartwatch and fitness tracker does this — but where Fitbit truly sets itself apart is in the quality of its analysis of the data. The app generates detailed graphs and statistics based on the data the Versa 4 collects, including various data sets that come as part of the Premium subscription.

The Fitbit app (available on iOS and Android) is the key to the overall experience, and the Premium subscription unlocks various interesting data points

 

Fitbit Premium offers an assortment of additional data and statistics that go beyond the basics of fitness, health, and sleep tracking on the Versa 4. This includes detailed data sets on points such as breathing rate, resting heart rate, oxygen saturation, heart rate variability, and detailed sleep profiles, among others, all with your own performance based on personal and typical ranges.

You can also generate a health report in PDF format, which gives you a comprehensive break up of how you’re doing in terms of health and fitness. Some specific metrics such as Readiness Score, Sleep Profile, snore and noise detection, and more are available only with the Premium subscription. You also get access to video workouts and healthy cooking recipes through the Premium subscription.

While the idea of paying a monthly subscription fee after already having spent over Rs. 20,000 on the Versa 4 itself may seem a bit excessive, it’s worth mentioning that I found the Premium service to be considerably better in terms of data analysis compared to the competing free options I’ve had a chance to try. Six months of complimentary Premium subscription comes with the Fitbit Versa 4 upon activation, after which it is priced at Rs. 99 per month or Rs. 999 per year. This is quite reasonable for what’s on offer, in my opinion.

The Fitbit Versa 4 itself comes across as a bit basic for a device that costs over Rs. 20,000. There is a simple on-device operating system with screens displaying basic data including steps taken, sleep hours, heart rate, weather, and tools such as alarms, timers, and stopwatch. You can also control basic device parameters such as always-on display and DnD mode, access Alexa on the watch (once set up through the app), set up Fitbit Pay (not supported in India for now), and view notifications from your smartphone.

Watch faces (called ‘Clocks’ in the Fitbit app) for the Fitbit Versa 4 can be downloaded and synced through the app, with plenty of good options available for free or as part of the Premium subscription. While I preferred the Fitbit-developed, AMOLED screen-friendly options, many might like the seasonal and curated watch faces as well.

The Fitbit Versa 4 is rated for water resistance up to 50m

 

Other in-app options include setting up Alexa for the Versa 4, on-wrist calls from the paired smartphone, and setting up specific device preferences including daily fitness targets and account settings. I did have occasional issues with data synchronisation, sleep and SpO2 stats took a while to update in the app, and there were minor bugs including one affecting distance tracking, but nothing was too serious or caused any long-term hassles during my review. Food, water consumption, and manual weight tracking can be maintained within the app as well.

Fitbit Versa 4 performance and battery life

Practically every smartwatch, regardless of price, can serve as a fitness tracker, although the accuracy and quality of the analysis of data collected varies. Where the Fitbit Versa 4 hopes to set itself apart is in its focus on fitness tracking. There are some smartwatch functions such as the ability to take calls on your wrist and view notifications from the paired smartphone, but the Versa 4 is, above all else, a fitness tracker at its core.

The core data collection by the Fitbit Versa 4 is largely similar to what most fitness trackers provide, and accuracy is reasonably good as well. The tracker has the ability to store up to seven days of detailed motion data on device, which will be retained until the device is synchronised with the app on your smartphone. Daily totals can be stored for up to 30 days on device.

Step tracking on the Fitbit Versa 4 was decent enough in our 1,000-step test. The device measured 1,020 steps where I manually counted 1,000 steps while walking at a moderate pace — an acceptable error margin of two percent. At a brisk pace, the Versa 4 slightly undercounted steps, with a similar error margin of around two percent. Satellite location tracking on the Fitbit Versa 4 worked well for outdoor exercises, with the device measuring 1.01km for a distance stated by Google Maps to be 1km, during an outdoor walk.

Although it is ideal to manually start workouts directly from the Versa 4, the device can automatically detect exercise and initiate the detailed tracking itself. It handles this well, although it is sometimes a couple of minutes late to initiate the tracking. In all cases of exercise tracking, it is also able to detect when you are in cardio and fat burn zones based on your heart rate, categorised by Fitbit as ‘Zone’ minutes which can be set as a daily goal.

Heart rate tracking takes place every five seconds ordinarily, and once per second during an exercise routine, with these readings affecting the measurement of ‘Zone’ minutes. While resting and sleep heart rate tracking was fine, I found exercise and major activity heart rate tracking on the Fitbit Versa 4 to be a bit unreliable, thereby affecting accurate measurement of ‘Zone’ minutes and other parameters.

I generally found tracking to be fine up to around 130bpm, but higher heart rates (common during intense workouts) caused the Versa 4 to slip up. This also affected other overall readings such as cardio fitness score and heart rate variability, since measurements during heavy activity were generally unreliable. Some others such as skin temperature variation and overall skin temperature didn’t seem to show any reliable readings even after many days of use.

The Fitbit Versa 4 has a speaker and microphone built in, and can be used to receive calls from the paired smartphone or communicate with Alexa

 

Blood oxygen tracking on the Fitbit Versa 4 is not on-demand, as is the case with most smartwatches and fitness trackers that have the feature. Instead, this metric is only shown after overnight sleep, and can be seen only with a watch face that supports showing it, or through the app. This also tended to show lower readings than what a decent SpO2 monitor showed during daytime measurements but this is expected, and still provides a decent outlook into your blood oxygen levels on a daily basis.

Sleep tracking is where the Fitbit Versa 4 performs exceptionally well, providing accurate and detailed sleep quality statistics and health tracking. The app also generates a sleep profile after logging enough data, and helps with insights on how to improve your overall sleep and health through this method. This also helps to estimate a ‘Readiness’ score — a parameter which provides some guidance as to when you should work out, rest, or catch up on sleep, based on recent activity.

Battery life on the Fitbit Versa 4 is considerably better than most smartwatches, but comes across as quite ordinary when compared to other devices with similar hardware capabilities. The Versa 4 ran for a little under four days on a single charge with normal use for me, which was slightly reduced on days with more frequent screen use or exercise tracking.

Call quality is ordinary and workable for short calls; the quality of the on-device speaker isn’t very good, and sounded a bit muffled for calls as well as responses from Alexa. Notification pushing is reliable as long as the Fitbit Versa 4 is near the paired smartphone, but unlike similarly-priced smartwatches, you can only view…

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