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MagyarShort Review Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go SmartWatch
For the original German review, see here.
The smartwatch Mobile AW-414.Go from Simvalley boasts that it is the only smartwatch with a fully integrated smartphone. The performance can be compared with an entry-level device; the dual-core CPU MT6572 from MediaTek is more than sufficient for Android 4.2. The integrated graphics ARM Mali-400 MP is not the fastest GPU, but that is not necessary for the low display resolution of 240x240 pixels.
The same SoC is also used in the recently reviewed Acer Liquid Z3 Duo, but other entry-level smartphones like the Huawei Ascend Y300 or the Sony Xperia J are interesting for the comparison as well. Especially since all devices cost around 100 Euros (~$135), which is significantly less expensive than our review unit. It has a massive RRP of 399 Euros (~$541), but it is currently available for 199 Euros (~$270) from the mail order company Pearl.
Case
The smartwatch Mobile AW-414.Go has a pretty large footprint with 45.3 x 44.3 x 14.1 mm (width x depth x height), but we were surprised that it only weighs 91 grams.
The metal case of the smartwatch appears bulky and the design is pretty functional. However, the device is very solid in return. It is neither susceptible to pressure nor torsion and there are no creaking noises either. Finally it is IP65 certified, which means it is protected against dust and hose water from all directions. Even a heavy shower should not be a problem.
The micro SIM card sits behind a small metal cover and can easily be inserted or removed. Even the battery is replaceable; you just have to remove the bottom cover by loosening four screws. After the removal of the battery you can also access the micro SD card slot. It was a bit tricky to assemble the smartwatch with an SD card since the cover of the slot does lift the battery a bit.
The strap is made of rubber while the buckle is made of metal. Both parts are well finished and the wearing comfort is good, especially for people who like to wear big watches. All in all the device leaves a positive impression, only the design is pretty simple.
Connectivity
The connectivity of the Mobile AW-414.Go is pretty limited because of the size. The manufacturer only uses a contact interface at the bottom for charging. The micro USB port of the charger unfortunately does not support data transfer, so data has to be exchanged via cloud or memory card. The micro SD slot supports SDHC cards with a capacity of up to 64 GB.
Software
The Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go uses Google Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Similar to any smartphone, apps can be installed via the Play Store. The user interface was redesigned to suit the small screen, but the changes are basically limited to the visual design of the icons. New apps are automatically located on the home screen, so it can quickly become confusing. We recommend using folders to improve the situation.
Communication & GPS
The communication features of the Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go can also be compared with an entry-level smartphone. The WLAN module supports the IEEE standards 802.11 b/g/n in 2.4 GHz networks. Signal quality is below average, the signal was very weak with a distance of 10 meters from the router (Fritz!Box 6360) and there was a noticeable delay when we opened a website. Bluetooth 4.0 is also supported.
There is no detailed information about the integrated WWAN modem. The manufacturer only lists HSPA compatibility with a maximum transfer rate (download) of 7.2 Mbps. A comparison with a Nokia Lumia 920 in the same network showed that the Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go has a worse reception. The problem is most likely connected with a limited number of frequencies and the less powerful antenna. It is, however, sufficient for the occasional price comparison or mails.
We were positively surprised by the GPS module. The signal strength was reasonable outdoors and we could even locate our position in buildings. Routes are also pretty accurate and benefit from the clever position of the module in the strap. Our comparison device (Nokia Lumia 920) was, however, more accurate.
Telephone Functions & Voice Quality
You can also make calls with the Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go, either via integrated hands-free functionality or via Bluetooth headset. The voice of the recipient was easy to understand during a test call to a landline, but his voice was pretty muffled and slightly distorted. The recipient did not understand us at first, despite a calm environment. We had to turn our wrist and speak directly into the microphone. We therefore recommend a Bluetooth headset if you plan to make longer calls with the smartwatch.
Cameras & Multimedia
The Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go even has a camera with a 3 MP sensor, which should be sufficient for barcodes and the occasional snapshot. The former can be quite tricky and only works under good lighting conditions and a flat surface.
Pictures are taken with a resolution of 1728x1728 pixels, which meets the square screen ratio of the display. The quality of the pictures is not very convincing; they are blurry and some colors are distorted. Even good lighting situations do not change these results.
Accessories & Warranty
The number of provided accessories is comparatively generous. The box reminds us of a normal watch and the AW-414.Go is also secured with a small pillow. Besides the charging station and the USB cable there are some spare screws for the covers as well as an according screwdriver. Unfortunately, there is no power supply unit. This is no problem if you already have a modular PSU, but otherwise you will have to buy one.
We could not find any information about the warranty period. Buyers within the EU get the standard two-year manufacturer’s warranty.
Input Devices & Handling
Using the smartwatch is not really comfortable due to the small touchscreen. The capacitive display surface recognizes two inputs simultaneously. That does not seem to be very much, but you will not use it very often in practice. Even a simple gesture like two finger zooming is tricky on the display, but you will have to use it quite often when you are browsing the web or you will have problems with the readability.
Two physical buttons support the inputs. One is a power button of the smartwatch, which can also be used to put the device in standby. The other button activates the home screen and a longer push shows the activated apps. There is no return button; it was replaced by a swipe gesture from the right side of the display that works well.
An additional input pen is attached to the strap, but you always have the impression of losing it. Inputs with the pen are unfortunately not very precise and they are not always recognized either. You will probably ditch the pen after a little while and use the fingers because it does not improve the handling at all. It is the same situation with a normal pen, even though it is even more precise than the provided plastic version, but the reliability issues are still there.
The virtual keyboard is tiny, but inputs with the fingers are surprisingly precise after a little learning period. The keyboard also occupies most of the screen, so you cannot see what happens on the website.
Another problem is the presentation of apps. Some are adjusted to the screen content, but most of them are just cropped at the bottom. You cannot scroll down either, so some control elements cannot be used. This was also the problem in the app Runtastic and we could not login with our existing account as a result.
You can only use the smartwatch on the left wrist without restrictions, otherwise the camera and the buttons are moved to the right side and the camera cannot be used anymore. It is not possible to rotate the smartwatch because the content cannot be rotated.
Display
The glossy 1.5-inch display of the Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go has a resolution of 240x240 pixels, which results in a pixel density of 226 ppi for the square panel. Even smaller fonts are easy to read, but more complex websites quickly become a mess because the display area is just too small.
The manufacturer uses an AMOLED display, but this is not really visible when you turn it on. Blacks are not very rich, colors are not as bright as we expected from this display technology and the viewing angle stability cannot convince us either. There are no problems when we change the vertical angle, but that does not apply for horizontal changes. The brightness is quickly reduced and colors start to invert with an angle of around 50 degrees. All these results indicate a common LCD display and not the advertised AMOLED.
But the biggest problem of the panel is the flickering. There are always small waves across the display; they are especially visible with plain backgrounds. According to the FAQs from Simvalley this does not seem to be an isolated problem and the manufacturer recommends contacting the retailer.
The screen leaves a positive impression outdoors. The readability is usually quite good, but the glossy glass surface creates annoying reflections under brighter light.
Performance
The Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go is powered by a MediaTek MT6572 SoC and 512 MB memory. The dual-core processor has a nominal clock of 1.2 GHz, which is also advertised by the manufacturer. However, every application (Stability Test, Geekbench 3, CPU-Z, CPU Identifier) determines a clock of 1.3 GHz. These apps show the correct result for the identical CPU in the Acer Liquid Z3 (MT6572 @ 1.0 GHz), so the smartwatch uses a higher clocked version. This is also supported by the benchmark results that are superior to the Z3, but they can obviously not keep up with a high-end device.
Graphics are handled by the integrated ARM Mali-400 MP, which is not one of the fastest chips. However, the GPU benchmarks show that it does not have to be very fast. Especially onscreen benchmarks benefit from the low display resolution and the smartphone is often ahead of its competitors. The NenaMark 2 score, for instance, is even the new high score in our database. More relevant benchmarks like 3DMark or Epic Citadel could not be installed on the device, so we could not determine any off-screen results. However, gaming on the device is hardly possible anyway; the display is just too small.
| Linpack Android / IOS | |
| Single Thread (sort by value) | |
| Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go | |
| ZTE Blade III | |
| Sony Xperia J | |
| Acer Liquid Z3 Duo | |
| Sony Xperia Z1 | |
| Multi Thread (sort by value) | |
| Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go | |
| ZTE Blade III | |
| Sony Xperia J | |
| Acer Liquid Z3 Duo | |
| Sony Xperia Z1 | |
| Geekbench 3 | |
| 32 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go | |
| Acer Liquid Z3 Duo | |
| Sony Xperia Z1 | |
| 32 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go | |
| Acer Liquid Z3 Duo | |
| Sony Xperia Z1 | |
| NenaMark2 - --- (sort by value) | |
| Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go | |
| ZTE Blade III | |
| Sony Xperia J | |
| Huawei Ascend Y300 | |
| Acer Liquid Z3 Duo | |
| Sony Xperia Z1 | |
| Basemark ES 2.0 - Taiji Free (sort by value) | |
| Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go | |
| ZTE Blade III | |
| Sony Xperia J | |
| Acer Liquid Z3 Duo | |
| Sony Xperia Z1 | |
Web browsing is certainly no priority of the smartwatch, but we tested it anyway. The overall synthetic benchmark results are reasonable and surpass the immediate smartphone competition, but you really need optimized websites to use the small display for web browsing.
| Sunspider - 1.0 Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go | |
| Acer Liquid Z3 Duo | |
| Peacekeeper - --- (sort by value) | |
| Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go | |
| ZTE Blade III | |
| Sony Xperia J | |
| Huawei Ascend Y300 | |
| WebXPRT 2013 - Overall (sort by value) | |
| Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go | |
| Acer Liquid Z3 Duo | |
* ... smaller is better
According to the manufacturer, the Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go is equipped with 4 GB storage, but you can only use around 1.3 GB after the initial setup. If you want to take pictures or listen to music you should get a micro SD card to expand the storage.
The performance of the integrated storage is okay and can even surpass the rivals. Especially the transfer rates for reading operations are very fast.
Emissions
Temperature
The surface temperatures of the smartwatch are never inconvenient. It does get warm with combined load for the CPU and GPU via the app Stability Test for one hour, but it is still manageable. This scenario is also very improbable in practice.
The surface temperature of the metal case is quickly transferred to the skin when you wear it on the wrist.
Speakers
The speaker of the AW-414.Go is surprisingly loud. The quality is not overwhelming, but the component is quite usable nonetheless. High tones are pretty muffled and tend to distort with higher volume settings; medium and high tones are hardly audible at all. The speaker would be sufficient for phone calls, but that is not really an option because of the poor microphone performance.
You should get a headset if you want to make calls or listen to music with the smartwatch.
Battery Runtime
Battery runtimes of the Simvalley Mobile AW-414.Go can be compared with older smartphones. The 2.22 Wh battery (600 mAh, 3.7 V) lasts for more than two hours, even with combined CPU/GPU load and maximum display brightness. We determined the maximum runtime with minimum display brightness and activated WLAN. A browser script simulates the reading of a book, which is not a very realistic scenario in this case. The smartwatch managed eight hours and 15 minutes, which is not a very convincing result. The problem is most likely the higher energy consumption of the WLAN module. The statistics also confirm this assumption: The WLAN module consumed 48% of the energy; the usual value in this test is somewhere around 10%.
The device is also interesting for athletes, so we performed an additional test to determine the stamina of the battery with activated GPS. The display brightness was once again reduced to the minimum value and all wireless connections, except for the GPS module, were deactivated, while the app GPS Test continuously located our position. The smartwatch managed a runtime of seven hours and 43 minutes, which should be more than enough even for a marathon.
With typical use you will have to recharge the watch every evening. A complete recharge does not even take one hour.
Verdict
The AW-414.Go smartwatch from Simvalley Mobile reminds us of a typical accessory from a James Bond movie and it is more than a high-tech gadget. Unfortunately there are also some drawbacks. The usability is limited because of the small display size, but the biggest problem is that you can only use the watch on the left wrist. It should really be no problem to rotate the display by 180 degrees to use it on the right wrist. Another drawback is the flickering of the panel. We never had this problem with a smartphone and the camera is not very usable either.
The case, however, is well-built and also certified according to IP65. The performance is more than sufficient for the device and there should be no bottlenecks. The battery runtimes are also reasonable, even though the energy consumption of the WLAN module is comparatively high.
The AW-414.Go is certainly interesting for athletes that do not want to use a smartphone or an expensive GPS watch. The smartwatch also acts as a phone and playback device for music and audio books. The review unit combines many devices in one, but you will have to make some sacrifices. There is still a lot of room for improvement for the developers, especially when you consider the price.
