Most smartwatches like the Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Gear and any of the other fashion-based brands (i.e. Fossil) retail anywhere from P15,000 to P25,000. The one from Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer (called the Connected) sells upwards of P80,000. They sync with your smartphone and do a lot of what your phone can do with a flick of your wrist and a swipe on the screen — even with your phone in your handbag or pocket.
Fitness bands and trackers like Fitbit or Garmin (and the ones from smartphone makers Xiaomi and Huawei), on the other hand, monitor various body parameters like sleep patterns, caloric burn (i.e. step counter), etc. They retail anywhere from P10,000 to P40,000.
Of course, we’ve heard of Swiss watches that cost a million bucks or more.
Then there’s a smartwatch/fitness band made by Chinese automaker, Chery. Dubbed the Chery Smartwatch Key, it does pretty much everything your Fitbit will do. It recognizes your body’s movements automatically, and lets you view your whole-day sports record as well as reports for weekly, monthly, and yearly records via downloadable Chery sports app. It also has 24hour/365-day heart rate monitoring with graphical representations as well as sports target setting and target achievement reminder. It even has a sedentary reminder and a calorie consumption recorder.
The Chery Smartwatch Key even helps you sleep better by recording sleep quality as well as time of deep sleep and light sleep and by generating graphical representations for easier reading and comparisons. It is also waterproof to 3ATM (30 meters), so you could wear it for swimming, surfing, snorkeling or diving.
The Chery Smartwatch Key retails for P1,280,000. Yes, it is more expensive than some Rolex Daytonas and will not appreciate in value like the celebrated collector Swiss watch, but it will do things that no Swiss watch or even other smartwatch or fitness band will do, like lock and unlock your car, start and stop the engine (and the airconditioner), open and close car windows, and open the tailgate—all from your wrist.
Best of all, it comes with a car—and not just any barebones entry-level model. It comes with Chery’s flagship crossover SUV, the midsize 7-seater Tiggo 8 1.5T Luxury, which as you may have deduced by now, retails for P1,280,000 (P1,340,000 for the top-of-the-line 1.5T Luxury EX variant). The Tiggo 8 is powered by a turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-4 Euro 5-compliant petrol engine (developing 145hp and 210Nm of torque) mated to a 6-speed automatic. It boasts everything you’d expect from a luxury car or SUV, including leather seats, panoramic sunroof, huge touchscreen infotainment system, 360-degree monitor, LED headlamps and taillamps, and a full suite of electronic safety and driver-assist systems—and of course, that Smartwatch key.
Aside from controlling the Chery Tiggo 8’s various operations and functioning as a fitness tracker, the motion-activated Chery Smartwatch Key serves as a very useful productivity tool when synced with your Apple or Android smartphone.
The Chery Smartwatch Key offers a Message Reminder, pushing your phone calls and messages, and also allows you to answer and reject calls from your wrist. It also supports multi-lingual use, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Arabic. It even has a low-power mode to extend battery life and a Find Your Phone function that helps you look for misplaced phones. Like most smartphones and fitness trackers, operating system (OS) upgrades are available over the air (OTA).
Its lightweight but durable and environment-friendly thermoplastic urethane (TPU) construction and ergonomic curvature that conforms to the shape of your wrist ensure long-term wearable comfort. All materials used for the Smartwatch Key meets European RoHS standards for banned materials.
Who would have thought that the next game-changer in the cutthroat car industry would not be found outside the car, inside the cabin, or under the hood—but on your wrist.
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