Titan has put in a lot of work here, but there’s a lot left to be done.
When Titan had launched the Juxt, the seasoned watchmaker seemed to be taking cautious steps into the world of smartwatches. The Titan Juxt was essentially a well built and designed analogue wristwatch, with a tiny monochrome OLED display that relayed call, messages and other notifications from your smartphone, along with footsteps, distance and calorie data. The Juxt Pro, launched yesterday at Rs. 22,990, is a different story altogether.
The Juxt Pro does not look exactly like the first iteration, and the only thing that is retained is the density and bulk of the watch chassis. The first attempt was Titan’s joint effort with HP, which provided the watchmaker with the engineering and the software for the smart bit of the Juxt. With the Juxt Pro, meanwhile, Titan has gone solo, engineering its own software, its own app and the necessary internals for it. It is powered by the Intel/Rockchip XMM6321 dual-core chip clocked at 1GHz, along with 512MB of RAM, a 450mAh battery and 4GB of native storage (of which 2.4GB is user-accessible). All of this is adorned by a 1.3-inch, full circular IPS LCD display offering 360×360-pixel screen resolution and 278ppi pixel density, and Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 protects it. The all-metal smartwatch can withstand up to 3 ATM pressure, and remain submerged in up to 30 metres of water.
On paper, this is one of the most well-equipped smartwatches around. Even in terms of build, the Juxt Pro is crafted from 316L surgical grade steel, and is heavier than any smartwatch that I can recall. It is by far one of the sturdiest, although it seems a tad too large for many. I personally preferred the seamless flow of symmetry on the Juxt’s design, and the abrupt use of plastic on the black ring somewhat disrupts the all-metal feel that Titan wants to bring. The Juxt was one device that I loved in terms of design, but the Juxt Pro feels a bit too bulky for my preference. To be frank, this watch will only suit those with heavier wrists, and even then the weight of it feels a bit too much.
Titan has even built the software in use here, by itself. The Juxt Pro gets a different app for itself and not the same as the Juxt, which Titan can (and probably will) merge into a single app in future. The Juxt Pro’s software is not the best-looking out there, and even in terms of animation and resolution of animation panels, it lags behind Samsung’s Tizen, Android Wear and watchOS. But there are plenty of encouraging signs. For one, the UI is smooth and functional, and seems to have every option in place. All it needs is a cosmetic overhaul to make it look more premium. Titan offers 20 preset watch faces and five customisable ones, and the numbers will go up with time. As with the rest of the UI, the watch faces are neat and responsive, but do not look the best. The Juxt Pro gets an accelerometer, haptic engine and pedometer to keep a track of your steps, giving basic fitness functions to it.
Titan claims about 12 hours of Always On time with the Juxt Pro, and 36 hours on standard mode. It survived a little over 26 hours with 78% charge, so 36 hours should be achievable. Once it reaches 20%, the Juxt Pro gives you a Low Battery warning, and switching to low battery mode will only show you the time.
Titan is selling the Juxt Pro at select World of Titan outlets and on its own online portal, acknowledging the niche audience for its smartwatch. The Juxt Pro has all the ingredients required for a competent smartwatch, and all that seems due is a certain amount of refinement to suit its premium market placement.
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