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Doogee DG Band Review Fitness Tracker With Music Control

Thursday, May 27, 2021

The good thing about simple devices, it's that they're easier to use! Fitness trackers and other wearable tech gadgets like smartwatches are a good example of this. You can count steps, access call notifications, track sleep, read emails and monitor heart rate very easily and much more conveniently than with a smartphone. In terms of functionality, a smartwatch is the closest you can get to a smartphone and, some can do just about everything a fitness tracker can do.

 
Some smartwatches even support SIM cards, letting you take calls from the wrist. If you don't need all the bells and whistles though, getting a smartwatch isn't worth it. In the other hand, a fitness tracker such as the Doogee DG band makes more sense because it isn't as overwhelming as a smartwatch but, it supports key smartwatch features such as weather notification, music control and phone notifications. 

Fitness wise, the Doogee DG band has you covered too. It supports heart rate monitoring, pedometer (step counter), distance and calories, sleep monitoring and, it can also measure SPO2 (oxygen saturation) similarly to a pulse oximeter, although not quite as accurate. To get an accurate SPO2 reading, you need to remain still. Oxygen saturation normally drops during strenuous exercise or at high altitude when climbing a mountain.

The Doogee DG band has a 5ATM rating, which technically means it's water resistant up to 50 metres in depth for 10 minutes. That said, the user guide does state it is not suitable for diving or swimming in the sea. You can use it during shallow swimming in swimming pool or when having a warm shower.

The Doogee DG band watch case is made of polycarbonate and, it integrates a detachable watch band made of TPU rubber. The bottom side of the watchband conceals the USB-A charging connector, which has a low profile plastic stem with two metal contacts. Removing the watchband is difficult at first, due to the snug fit of the watchband. On the plus side, water doesn't get to the charging connector, which is a good thing. There is no onboard storage facility.

Being TPU, the Doogee DG wristband isn't as flexible or soft as silicone but, it's more durable and hypoallergenic too. The pin buckle is made of plastic. On the back of the watch case, you find the optical heart rate sensor built-inside a small bump (3mm high). The bump makes contact against the wrist, helping the green light to measure heart rate. The vast majority of sport watches and fitness trackers use green PPG technology to measure optical heart rate (OHR), although some use red light PPG. Speaking of red, the Doogee DG band does use red light PPG to measure the SPO2 levels.

The Doogee DG band doesn't have any physical buttons. It uses touch sensitivity for controlling the functions via the screen, which is touch sensitive. The 1.05-inch display screen looks like an oled screen but, it's actually LCD with 2.5D glass that provides a vivid colorful resolution (120 x 240). The screen is responsive, although it's not extremely sensitive; hence you have to place the finger on the screen firmly. Menu navigation is done via horizontal and vertical swipes on the screen. The screen display turns off automatically within 4 seconds. You also have the ability to turn off the watch manually.

The Doogee DG band is supported by the VeryFit mobile app, which you download from Google Play Store or App Store. The app is a nice addition that makes it easier to see all the key metrics at a glance, plus you can view additional information such as stress rating, graphs, last training workout. You are not required to register an account, although you need to grant the usual app permissions such as phone location, as well as enable bluetooth. The band uses bluetooth 5.0 to connect.

As far as tracking data, you don't need the app to be running in the background other than during sport tracking, which uses your phone's GPS to track the route you're running. Having the app running in the background helps tracking accuracy, although it also drains the battery. Luckily, you don't have to have the app running in the background.

The VeryFit app is also needed for changing the user interface language, as well as enable certain functions which are not enabled by default. These include do not disturb, music control, find phone, weather notification, phone notifications, sedentary reminder and drinking remainder. Heart rate monitoring is enabled by default. To use Alexa voice assistant, it requires logging in to your Amazon ID account and your phone must have Alexa built-in.

Music control includes volume up/down, skipping to next/previous and play/pause. You can only control the built-in music app of your phone; hence you cannot control the YouTube player. To sync the data from the watch to the app, you simply swipe down the home screen to automatically start syncing.

The Doogee DG band also lets you set targets such as target distance (e.g. 1km, 3km, etc), as well as target calories and target duration of the workout. During the workout, you cannot navigate to other menus but, you do have access to music control and, you can also view the exercise duration, calories burn (kcal), distance (km), step count, pace and heart rate.

There is three watch faces to from, as well as a "find" function to ring your phone so, you can find it (watch must be connected to app). The Doogee DG band is super lightweight at just 26 grams and that includes the internal 110 mAh rechargeable lithium polymer battery. The Doogee DG band has a 2 hour charging time and a runtime of up to 7 days in medium brightness and without heart rate monitoring (5 days with heart rate turned on). The Doogee DG band works with iOS devices (iOS 8.0+) and Android (Android 4.4+). You can buy the Doogee DG band from amazon. 

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