Test / Review: Alfawise T9 – Bluetooth connected fitness bracelet


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If we search after the Alfawise T9 on the net, for some unknown reason, we find 2 products with the same model name: an Android TV box and the connected fitness watch. Here, this will concern the test of the Alfawise T9 connected fitness bracelet.

I don't know about you, but for a while Now I've felt that connected watches/bracelets all look the same: more or less the same design, the same functions, the same autonomy,…

But recently, I discovered the Alfawise T9. This one has a peculiarity that differentiates it from other smartwatches: it has an impedancemeter!

What is an impedancemeter?

If it is useful to know its weight, it is especially useful to know the amount of fat mass that constitutes its body! It's pretty simple to understand: a bodybuilder can have the same weight as a slightly obese person, but his amount of fat is much less! And when you want to lose weight, it's not muscles (or bones) that you want to lose, but fat!

Weight alone does not differentiate fat from muscles. To differentiate fat from muscles and bones, bio-impedance (also known as BIA) is used. And to measure bio-impedance, we use an impedance meter.

Simply put, bio-impedance involves sending a harmless electrical current into the body and measuring the speed at which it travels through the body. Depending on the speed, it can determine the amount of fat, water, muscles and bones in the human body.

The Alfawise T9

So what tempted me at the Alfawise T9 was its presence of an impedancemeter. If I'm not mistaken, it's the only smartwatch that has this kind of module at the moment. However, the amount of fat in his body is quite important when talking about fitness… Having one on your wrist and not having to buy a scale with impedance-meter or weighing yourself, allows my point of view to focus on what is really important: the amount of fat and not the weight!

Features of the Alfawise T9

  • Uses BIA technology to monitor and collect 7 health indexes:
  • Sleep monitor
  • Several sports modes: walking, running, cycling, rope jumping, table tennis, tennis, badminton
  • Pedometer
  • Heart rate monitoring
  • One-click response or rejecting calls
  • Support for social media message, including Facebook, Skype, LINE, WhatsApp, Twitter, Messenger, Hangouts, QQ, Wechat
  • Ultra-long watch
  • Automatic lying the brightness of the display based on the intensity of sunlight
  • More than 10 days of use and up to 30 days of sleep
  • Remote control for camera
  • Sedentary reminder
  • Searching for phone / bracelet
  • Alarm clock
  • Application: Gloryfit
  • CPU: nRF52832
  • Bluetooth version: 4
  • G-Sensor: Bosch STK8321
  • RAM / ROM: 64KB / 512KB – 32M
  • Screen: 0.96 inches
  • Screen Type: TFT Color Screen
  • Resolution: 160 x 80
  • How it works: touch button
  • Case material: ABS, PC
  • Band material: TPU
  • Waterproof: IP66
  • Battery: Li-po battery
  • Battery capacity: 90mAh
  • Autonomy: 30 days
  • Charge Method: Claws – USB
  • Charge voltage: 5V / 1A
  • Charge time: about 2 hours
  • Language: English, Arabic, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese,
  • Russian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
  • Supports: Android 4.4 or later and iOS 8.0 or later

The test and my opinion

The packaging is very simple: a simple white box with inside between foam: the bluetooth bracelet, the charger and the instructions. The instructions are in English and Chinese.

white fitness tracker
alfawise t9 packaging charger

The smartwatch

Due to the presence of the grease sensor, the watch has 4 silver part that are the electrodes: 2 on the front and 2 on the back. The lower electrode on the front also serves as a button to navigate the watch's various menu.

The sleeves of the bracelet, made of plastic, are not interchangeable. Therefore, if it breaks, back to the checkout to buy a new watch …

alfawise t9 screen watch
rear side alfawisde t9

The charger

The charger also has a defect: the charger is a clamp. The connectors are salient and if an accident happens, the charger can quickly be broken…

alfawise t9 charger

The activity tracker

The watch has several sensors: pedometer, impedance-meter, heartbeat sensor and blood pressure monitor. These sensors work pretty well in themselves. The only complaint is that it feels like it's slow for measurements: about twenty seconds. But in reality, it takes the same time as the devices dedicated to these functions.

The Glory Fit app

The Glory Fit app is one of the big black dots of this Alfawise T9.

Although ergonomic, this application suffers from many defects at the time I write these lines. This is the 1.8.8 version on Android.

Among the defects identified:

  • The alarm clock doesn't start
  • Problem with notifications: only the very first notification has been made. The following never arrived at the bracelet
  • The French translation is quite poorly done
  • The application uses a lot of energy and needs to be active in the background
  • Sleep monitor does not engage

The interface of the Alfawise T9

The other big flaw of the Alfawise T9 is its lack of on-screen customization.

You have the choice between 3 home screens, which for my part, 2 are ugly. Except for this choice, the other screens are not customizable, not even their order.

This means that, for example, if you want to tell the watch what kind of sport you are going to play, you will always have to press 5 times – a long support and only then you can choose… If you're going to play tennis, you'll still have to press 6 times…

The order of the screens is as follows:

  1. Home screen
  2. Number of steps
  3. Impedance-meter
  4. Heartbeat
  5. Blood pressure monitor
  6. Training: running, cycling, swimming, skipping rope, ping pong, badminton, tennis
  7. Message
  8. Plus: firmware information, reset, location, lighting, off

Conclusion

The t9 alfawise is not really a bad bracelet. The measurements are good and it contains many sensors. The flagship sensor being the impedance-meter, and this one works very well.

The two big problems are on the one hand the lack of customization as the lack of home screen and the order of the different modules, and on the other hand, the application Glory Fit.

The defects of the application, like the problem of notifications, make the watch no longer actually become a connected wristband… Even a "simple" alarm clock doesn't work. I didn't even manage to find out if the bracelet needed the app to make the alarm clock work or not…

Link: https://fr.gearbest.com/smart-wristband/pp_009135438937.html?wid=1433363

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