Urban Genesis Smartwatch Review: A Looker & A Performer, But Leaves You Wanting More

Urban Genesis Review: The Urban Genesis smartwatch isn't trying to take on the Apple Watch or go toe-to-toe with Samsung. It knows its lane — the under-Rs 5,000 crowd — and sticks to it. And honestly, that's what makes it work. It's not packed to the brim with features you'll never use. Instead, it focuses on doing the basics well.

After spending nearly four weeks with the Genesis on my wrist, here's what I found.

Design: Surprisingly Classy

At first glance, it looks like a Samsung Galaxy Smartwatch and a budget fitness band had a love child. It has a 1.45-inch curved AMOLED screen, a black stainless steel strap, and a zinc alloy body. Sounds fancy? Looks even better than it sounds.

The display is sharp and bright, although the touch response could be snappier. That said, the best part? I often forgot I was even wearing it. It's that comfortable; it's far comfier than those rubbery “lightweight” straps others boast about.

Nitpicking a bit here, but the display doesn't bleed out into the round bezel of the dial. Of course, the wearable does have raised, curved glass display, but the sizeable black border around the screen might put off the design nut in you. However, it doesn't kill the overall vibe. The rotating crown adds a nice premium touch, which can be used to quickly scroll through menus.

The watch faces, too, are really classy and premium-looking. I felt like staring at a few of them throughout the day... and there are quite a few; you would be spoilt for choice. Basically, you have a watch face for every mood or occasion.

Features: All The Basics, No Nonsense

It covers the health essentials: heart rate, SpO2, sleep, women's health tracker, and step count. There's also stress tracking and breathing exercises, which you rarely see at this price.

Accuracy is decent. Sleep tracking is a bit wonky if you move around a lot, but nothing out of the ordinary for budget wearables.

Where does it really shine? Bluetooth calling. Calls from the wrist work well thanks to a solid mic-speaker setup and contact sync. The speaker is quite decent and the audio is clear. You can't reply to messages or type out anything — but you'll see the notifications clearly.

Bonus: The alarm. Perfectly polite: it vibrates just enough to wake me up without jolting me out of my sleep like my phone does.

What Else Does Genesis Offer?

Extras include a calculator, weather updates, music and camera controls, and a bunch of fitness modes. It's not a hardcore sports watch, but it'll happily keep up with your steps, jogs, gym sessions, or bike rides.

The companion FereFit app also tracks movement and daily stats pretty well. It even includes a GPS-enabled map on the app. It's not Fitbit-grade, but at this price point, you cannot expect such capabilities.

I tested the blood pressure monitor against a digital sphygmomanometer. Close, not clinically accurate, but not wildly off either.

Battery Gets You Through The Week

Battery life is solid. With calling and notifications on, I got around five days on a full charge. Dial back the features, and you'll probably stretch it to a week.

What Missed The Mark?

As you may expect, not everything is up to your expected standards.

• A strap measuring guide in the box would've saved me some headaches. Cutting the metal strap to size isn't rocket science, but it's annoying if you're not used to it.
• Also, Bluetooth was a bit too intrusive. When connected to both the watch and a Bluetooth home theatre system, my phone kept switching audio to the watch. I had to 'Forget Device' entirely to stop it.
• Another thing: the strap, comfy as it is, did pull a few arm hairs in the first few days. You've been warned.
• There's no swimming mode, which feels like a miss for a smartwatch. There's no information on its IP rating either.
• Charging took around 2 hours with a 10W adapter. It could be faster. On the bright side, the charging animation is oddly satisfying.

Urban Genesis Review: Final Verdict

The Urban Genesis isn't for power users or data nerds. But it looks sharp, handles the basics without fuss, and adds Bluetooth calling, all for under Rs 5,000. That's a pretty sweet deal.

Buy it if you want a budget smartwatch that doesn't look or feel cheap. Skip it if you're after deep fitness analytics or app ecosystems.

It does what it says on the box — no more, no less. And that's exactly why it's worth your time.

technology