A new player in the consumer tech world, Nothing has garnered a lot of praise and popularity with its smartphone and TWS releases. After launching the second iteration of the Nothing Phone this summer (our review here), the brand has come out with a fresh line of products under a new banner. CMF (Colour, Material, Finish) by Nothing ditches the brand’s iconic transparent design philosophy for a minimal and polished aesthetic. The subsidiary brand’s catalogue comprises affordable products meant for the average consumer. Consider it Nothing’s very own ‘Nord’, if you will. Eager to gauge CMF’s ambitions, we got our hands on its recently released Watch Pro and Buds Pro. Nothing fans expecting a transparent wearable may have to wait some more for a flagship release, but this smartwatch is certainly no pushover. We have been using the CMF Watch Pro for the last 10 days, here is our in-depth review.
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In This Article
CMF Watch Pro review: Design and Display
Nothing’s novel approach to unboxing has been carried forward to its subsidiary brand as well. The CMF Watch Pro ships inside a sleek, squarish cardboard box which has three visible cutouts jutting out of the bottom end. Flipping open the package, you will find the smartwatch, the silicone watch strap, a magnetic clip charger, and a user guide inside.
As far as looks go, the CMF Watch Pro looks like your average smartwatch. The square dial houses a 1.96-inch AMOLED display that can reach a peak brightness of 600+ nits. This display has a resolution of 410 x 502p and a pixel density of 332ppi. The touch response offered by this AMOLED display is very satisfying. We like that it isn’t super sensitive to light touches.
Encasing this display is an aluminium alloy shell that is surprisingly light. The Watch Pro weighs just 47g with the silicone strap. The right edge of the aluminium frame houses the side key and the speaker grille. The dial’s underside houses the accelerometer, heart rate & blood oxygen saturation sensor, magnetic pin slots for charging, and a microphone. The entire shell has a matte finish, which feels quite premium and polished.
The pin buckle silicone strap wraps snugly around the wrist, using the pin buckle mechanism to seal the fit. Once you fasten the buckle, the strap goes under the slit. We’ve struggled with this kind of fit in the past, especially while wearing the watch to bed, but the CMF Watch Pro is able to pull it off quite well. Wearing the watch for days on end, we did not experience any major discomfort. The watch is rated IP68 for dust and water resistance, which means it is dust and water resistant. However, it is not meant for swimming.
CMF Watch Pro review: Performance
Pairing the CMF Watch Pro to your smartwatch is a seamless process. The watch dial displays a QR code that directs you to the CMF Watch app download page. You can also install the app from the Google Play Store or App Store.
Readings from the heart rate monitor and SpO2 sensor are consistent with medical-grade equipment. The Watch Pro routinely measures maximum, minimum, and resting heart rate throughout the day, accurately plotting it on a graph. You can view your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly graphs on the CMF Watch app. The same goes for blood oxygen measurement. You can also set up low/high heart rate and low blood oxygen level alerts. The watch also gauges your stress level every thirty minutes. We cannot speak to the accuracy of the stress reading as CMF does not divulge its formula for assigning the score.
Sport and fitness tracking on the Watch Pro is near impeccable, apart from one small issue. The watch does not auto-detect your workouts. We went on a few hikes and runs, and while the watch updated the daily step count, the numbers did not reflect as a part of an exercise. On the bright side, the Watch Pro has in-built GPS support, which means you can leave your phone at home and the watch will still be able to track your run on a map.
The Watch Pro can track over 100 sports, exercises, and workout routines. This includes exercises like pilates, CrossFit, & strength training and leisure activities like Zumba, ballet, street dance, skating, kite flying, and more. The watch can accommodate up to 36 exercise and workout routines at one time. These exercises can be selected from the ‘Usual sports’ section in the CMF Watch app.
Things take an interesting turn on the OS front as we finally get to see what makes this watch a Nothing product. The Watch Pro’s user interface is influenced by Nothing OS 2.0. Nothing’s black and orange colour palette dominates the look of the OS. The app grid is greyed out and the watch faces have a distinct ‘Nothingness’ to them. The dot matrix font further stamps Nothing’s personality on the device. You can’t customise the watch faces, which is probably something that the brand restricts on purpose so as to not throw off the aesthetic it has carefully curated.
This minimality in design scores brownie points from us for several reasons. Firstly, a distinct look and personality is something that not a lot of devices can boast about, especially at a time when uniformity is taking over every smart device. The watches that do break the norm go towards the direction of simulating a smartphone experience for the wrist. This is where the CMF Watch Pro does justice to the genre. It keeps things simple and nails to perfection the things it sets out to do.
Lastly, the battery life on this watch is nothing short of amazing. The 340mAh battery unit can power the smartwatch for 13 days, as claimed by Nothing. With the Always On Display turned on at all times, the CMF Watch Pro lasted 10 days during the review period. The watch has a cool Wrist Detection feature that turns off AOD and 24-hour heart rate and SpO2 tracking as soon as you take it off your wrist. This can push the battery life closer to its claimed range.
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Conclusion
The CMF Watch Pro is undoubtedly a Nothing product through and through even though it doesn’t get the brand’s signature transparent design. For an average consumer who wants a finished product over a range of customisations, the Watch Pro is an excellent choice. It does a splendid job of health & fitness tracking and has great app support for smartphones. We would have liked to see features like automatic workout detection and customised watch faces, but their absence is certainly not a dealbreaker. At Rs 4,499 the CMF Watch Pro is one of the best smartwatches in its segment.
CMF Watch Pro: Pros
- Great design
- Clean, refined OS with a distinct look
- In-built GPS
- Very comfortable to wear
- Wrist detection feature helps extend battery life
CMF Watch Pro: Cons
- No automatic workout detection
- No option to customise watch faces
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