DT8 Ultra

¿The best Apple Watch Clone?

This time we have a very interesting smartwatch, from a brand that I already had a relationship with for a long time a few years ago, and that have been so kind to send me their most recent release.

Before starting the unboxing, I want to thank DT No.1 for sending me this watch. I have known this company for 5 years and we could say they were partly responsible of my beginnings as a creator of watchfaces for smartwatches. In the past they launched very interesting low-end watches with MTK2502 CPU, and also some very good models of smartwatches with full version of Android.

If after reading this article you like this smartwatch and want to buy it, you can do it through these two links from DT No.1:

Buy the DT8 Ultra in Aliexpress
Buy the DT8 Ultra in Busywear

You can also check the official information of the DT8 Ultra in this link from DT No.1:

https://www.dtno1.com/fashion-smartwatch/dt8ultra.html

Instagram DT No.1: https://www.instagram.com/dtno.1/

Unboxing

When we see the box of the watch we can already imagine what kind of watch we are going to find, because it is the same style as the boxes of the Apple Watch. And this is, as we will see, because the DT8 Ultra is what we could call a clone of the Apple Watch. At least aesthetically.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

The box doesn't show much information about the watch. At the top we see a couple of images of the smartwatch, the logo of the Wear Pro app, and at the bottom we see the watch model, again the Wear Pro logo, and the QR code to download it, as well as a text explaining that this is NOT a medical device and that the data obtained should only be used as a reference, and not as a diagnosis.

And on the sides of the box we find the same that we've already seen twice, and the color of the strap and its size in millimeters.

(Clic para ampliar)

When we open the box we find a cover that we can remove to access its contents. Besides the watch we find the manual. If the box didn't show much info, the manual (in english and chinese) is the opposite, since it's longer than the ones I've seen in other smartwatches.

And last we find the charging cable, where as we can see there are no pins. Yes, indeed: the DT8 Ultra uses wireless charging. This is a plus for this watch.

(Clic para ampliar)

Appearance of the watch

The first thing that stands out is that, as I mentioned, it has a design identical to the Apple watches, and more specifically to the Apple Ultra. This aesthetic is perfectly recognizable, and as we have already seen in the Apple watches and in many of its clones, can be used with any kind of outfit. It doesn't matter if we're dressed in a more formal way, more urban, more sporty or more comfortable. This watch will never clash with our clothes. It will look well with anything.

The truth is that, in my opinion, this watch is very beautiful.

The body of the watch is metallic (the bottom is plastic) and it gives a feeling of quality and robustness. And the size is not too big, so it can be perfectly used by both men and women. It's also very light, because it only weighs 46 grams, so it will not be uncomfortable at all.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

As for the screen, it's IPS with a size of 2 inches and a resolution of 420x485 pixels. Not only it's a fairly large screen, it's also made of tempered glass, which adds greater resistance. Besides, the screen has rounded edges. This gives the watch a very stylish look that also matches the Apple watches.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

At the bottom of the watch we find the sensors it uses for health and sports measurements, and unlike other smartwatches there's no contact for the charging pins because, as I mentioned before, the watch is charged wirelessly. We also see a pair of locks that are used to lock the straps, and release them to be replaced.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

On the right side of the watch we have the crown, which is also the main button, and the secondary button. The first function of the crown is to turn on the watch when it is off, by pressing it for a few seconds, as well as turning on and off the screen when the watch is on.

We see the second function when we find out that the crown can rotate as a way to select. If we are on the watchface, by rotating the crown we can change the watchface between the preinstalled one and the custom one. If we're watching a menu or an app, by rotating the crown we can move the screen to access different options or submenus.

The secondary button has three different functions. The first one is to go back to the main watchface of the watch if we're in an app, a menu, or a submenu. It works as a "Back" button.

The second one occurs when we press the button on the main watchface, and it opens the multitasking screen, where we see the options or apps that are active or in the background. Here we can switch to any of them just tapping on the one we want, without having to open it again through the menu. And we can also close them in the button with a bin icon that we can find at the end of the list.

And the last function of the secondary button appears when we press the button in the main watchface during a few seconds, and we get a menu where we can swipe right in the option to turn off the watch or in the option to make an emergency call.

(Clic para ampliar)

As for the left side of the watch, here we have a button in a metallic orange color that we can use to open, without doing it in the menu, the sports and fitness app. We'll see this app later.

(Clic para ampliar)

And something that I have not mentioned on both sides of the watch is the hole for the microphone, and the area of the speaker.

(Clic para ampliar)

The straps of the watch, as I always check, are replaceable, and with the locks I mentioned before can be easily extracted. And in the case of this DT8 Ultra, we can use the same kind of straps that are used in the Apple Watch. They're completely compatible. Also, there are many sellers in online stores like Aliexpress, Amazon or Gearbest that sells straps for Apple Watch in different colors and styles, so we can easily find some straps we like if we want to replace it.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

The DT8 Ultra has IP68 certification, and DT No.1 claims that it's dustproof and waterproof in conditions like raining or washing our hands, but they don't recommend to use it when bathing or swimming.

Also, something else I haven't mentioned is that the CPU used is the RTK8762D from RealTek. This is a CPU that is being assembled in many of the most recent low-end smartwatches.

The watch, working

The first thing I want to comment is that when we turn on the watch by pressing the main button, which is also the crown of the watch, the software loads very quickly. The transition between different screens, or the movement within an application or a menu, is same fast, and we will not notice any type of delay or slow movement. Everything is very smooth.

The interface has 4 different areas for the 4 directions to which we can slide our finger. The first one, sliding down the finger, shows a box where we can control the brightness of the screen sliding the finger, see the info about the watch like the MAC address or the QR code to pair it with the Wear Pro app, control the music playback, open the Alipay payment option, or check the status of the Bluetooth connection with the phone with the icon we can see at the top.

(Clic para ampliar)

It also has a second bunch of icons where we can turn on and off the sleep monitoring, the audio, the option to automatically turn on the screen when we raise the wrist, open the flashlight or calling our emergency contact.

(Clic para ampliar)

Sliding right the finger we have another box where we can see the time and date, check the notifications, turn on and off the Bluetooth connection with the phone, or open the latest four menu options or apps that we have recently opened.

(Clic para ampliar)

Sliding the finger to the left we access an area where we have some of the apps from the watch. The first one is the Pedometer, which shows the steps we've walked or run, the distance, and the kilocalories burned. The next one is the Temperature, where we can use the watch as if it was a thermometer, to know our body temperature. Next, we have the app to measure our Heartrate. And last, we have the Weather app, where we can know the current weather, the ultraviolet radiation index, and the weather forecast for the next four days.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

Something that I really like about this "apps area" is that we can work with them as widgets, and add other ones with the button "+" that we can find at the end of the list or remove the ones we have, to show only the ones we want. This gives us a customization of this area that I've not seen in previous smartwatches.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

And last, sliding up the finger we get the main menu of the watch. For this menu we have different styles, and we can replace it with the one we like in the Settings. There's also another way to change it, and it's pressing the crown button twice when we are in this menu. This way to change it is, obviously, much more simple. And a last way to change it, also fast, is keeping the finger on the screen during a few seconds, and choosing the style in the menu we get.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

More than seeing the main menu, what we're going to do is seeing its most outstanding options and apps. We can use the DT8 Ultra to make calls via Bluetooth, so we can use it as a "hands free" device. With the "Phone" option in the menu we can dial the number ourselves, and we can open the Contacts option to choose the contact we want to call, or the Call Records. The audio of the calls, for a watch, is quite good and can be heard without problems.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

And since we are talking about the audio in calls we have to mention, of course, the app to play the phone's music. The interface of the app is really simple, it only allows to play or pause the songs. But the audio is heard just as good as in the calls. The only negative point I see is the lack of controls to increase or decrease the volume.

The phone's music can also be controlled in the "top area" we saw at the beginning, where we have the same controls for the music.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

As many will imagine, if we can hear the sound of the phone's music in the watch, we should also be able to listen other audios like, for example, the audio from the videos. Indeed, it's possible, But, in this case, we don't have any app to control the video playback. But the audio of the videos from platforms like YouTube or the video files played in the phone, can be heard on the speaker.

As in the box from the "left area" of the watch interface, we can check the notifications with the "Messages" option. With the notifications option turned on in Wear Pro and setting up the apps from which we want to receive the notifications, here we'll see the last 10 notifications that we have received. When that number is reached and we receive a new one, the last one on the list will disappear to be replaced by the one we just received.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

Health apps

As we've seen when we've talked about the "apps area" in the watch interface, among the health related apps we have the Pedometer app the app to measure the body temperature, and the one to check the heartrate. But they're not the only ones, since we have many more in the menu. One of them allows us to check the level of oxygen in our blood. We also have available the typical application to measure the sleep, where we can check the quality of our sleep after waking up.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

And an app that I saw for the first time when I reviewed the Haylou Solar, and I found it again in the DT8 Ultra is the Breath Training app, with which we can do breathing exercises during one minute, two or three, and with the intensity we choose.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

And for women, there's an app that allows them to monitor their menstrual cycle. According to DT No.1, the watch performs this control through a sensor that monitors the changes in the body temperature, combined with the heartrate and some data that must be manually entered.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

Sports app

One of the strengths announced by DT No.1 of this DT 8 Ultra is the sports app, that can be used in different sports such as walking, running, cycling, rope skipping, badminton,basketball, soccer, indoor running, yoga, free training and elliptical. In all of them the watch performs a real time monitoring of different data such as the heartrate, the distance, the pace of the exercise and the calories burned.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

All this data, if the app is active and the watch is paired with the phone, are stored and shown later in Wear Pro. And not only that. Also, depending on the sport, if the function is turned on in the Wear Pro app, it will use the GPS to track the route.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

And also, as I mentioned in the unboxing, we can open the sports app fast by pressing the metallic orange button that we see in the left side of the watch, instead of looking for it in the menu.

Other apps

In addition to the apps for health, sports, calls, notifications and audio, we also have other apps that are very common in this kind of smartwatches as the Weather (which we've already seen in the widgets area), a chronometer, an alarm, a calculator or a countdown.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

And an app that I've seen in other watched but I think I had not found it in low-end smartwatches, and that is always interesting and useful, which is the app that shows the air pressure.

(Clic para ampliar)

And of course, the Settings, where we can choose the language, change the watchface, manage the screen lighting, choose the intensity of the watch vibration, turn on the power saving mode, choose between the watch more or the smartwatch mode, set the ringtone and the sound of the messages and the alarm, set a password to turn on the screen or do a factory reset.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

And last, we have a couple of games. The first one is the classic puzzle where, touching a piece, moves to the empty position next to it, and that I personally think it should have had more images to play with, because it only has one. The second one is the classic Whack-a-mole, where we have to hit the moles when they appear.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

They are not complicated or spectacular games at all, but we can use them to entertain ourselves at some point.

Watchfaces

I've decided to leave the watchfaces for the end, because there are a couple details that I want to comment on. Let's see first the preinstalled watchfaces (which are a few) and how to change them. The first way to do it is the one we know from most of this kind of smartwatches, tapping the screen with the finger for a few seconds, and sliding left or right to select the one we want to use.

(Clic para ampliar)

The second way, which is the slowest one, is in the menu, and inside the Settings we have the option to change the watchface.

And the third way is rotating the watch crown. This one is, obviously, much more faster than the others. But it has a little problem, which is that is would be easy to accidentally rotate the watch crown and change the watchface without wanting to do it. Well, there's a solution for this, and this is to lock the watchface so it can't be accidentally changed. We can do it by opening the watchfaces selection screen through the menu or tapping the screen during a few seconds, and then tapping the button with a padlock icon that we can see below the watchface. This way, we'll not be able to change the watchface with any of the mentioned ways. When we want to change it, we just have to tap again the padlock icon to unlock it.

(Clic para ampliar)

And now, let's see something many users are always interested in, which is the installation of new watchfaces. The watch allows to install one watchface, which is replaced every time we install a new one. The way to install it is through the Wear Pro App. There, in the section "Device" we find the option to install new watchfaces, were we can install any of the hundreds of watchfaces that the app allows us to download.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

In addition to that, we have at the top of the list three watchfaces that are customizable. Here i must be sincere and say no. The watchface is not customizable. The only thing we can customize is the watchface background, because we can't choose the information elements we'll see, nor the font to show the information, nor the position of the info, nor the color, nor the style (analog, digital, o a mix of both).


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

This makes this "customization" be limited to changing the background, and nothing else. Yes, it's true that if we use a beautiful background, we can make very stylish customizations. But I find it too limited to be considered a real


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

Despite this, we have a wide variety of watchfaces to choose from.

Screen and battery

The first I want to mention about the DT8 Ultra screen, is two things that I already commented during the unboxing. The first one is that it's tempered glass, which makes the DT8 Ultra give us a feeling of quality and resistance. And the second, of course, is its 2" size. This, at first, can seem too big, but the design of the watch makes it not uncomfortable at all.

The screen looks very good, and by modifying the brightness level we can adapt it to be used in any type of condition without problems. In conditions with artificial light or low light, it looks spectacular. But I have noticed that in sunny conditions or with enough natural light, even with the maximum level of brightness it can be more difficult to see it well if we are using a darker watchface. Even so, it's not a problem and the watch generally can be seen very well.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

The touch feeling when operating the watch screen is pleasant, fluid, and smooth.

The battery of the watch is 280 mAh. And while it's obviously not the longest lasting I've used, it's not very low either. In fact, among the watches I've tried, it's in the Top 3. When it arrived, it had a 60% charge and without using it continuously 24 hours, it lasted almost 6 days. Using it continuously (depending, of course, on all the functions we use) can last between 4 and 5.

The battery charging time, according to DT No.1, is less than 5 hours. when I charged it, it took between 3 and 4. In addition, while it's being charged the watch activates a mode called "bedside lamp" which shows a watchface that reminds the the watches we have near the bed. In this mode, the screen never turns off. It's always on until we press any button.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

Wear Pro app

In the Wear Pro app is where we're gonna configure different options of the smartwatch and its interaction with the phone, and also where we're gonna keep the record of all the health and sports data collected by the watch. To enter the first time, we'll have to register a Wear Pro app and enter our account details to log.

(Clic para ampliar)

Let's go, first, to see the last section of the app, which is the one about the personal info. Here, in the option "My information" we can use a image as avatar, modify the name, our gender, and set our height, our weight, and our birthdate.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

We can also set the measurement unit and the temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit, the type of map that will be used by the GPS tracking, the goals for the steps and the sleep, and see the watch info and install firmware updates.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

The "Health" section is the one that will save all the health information collected by the watch. Here we will be able to check the steps, the calories burned and the distance.

In the sleep data we can see the time we have spent sleeping and the time of light sleep and deep sleep.

We also have sections where we can check the data related to our heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen level and body temperature.

In all these sections we have the information collected during the current day, during the week, and during the month.

In the "Sports" section is where we can track the route traveled during our exercise. And I should mention that it is only available for four types of physical exercise: running, walking, cycling, and climbing. After tapping the icon to activate it and configuring some options that Wear Pro will ask us for, after a countdown it will start monitoring the activity and tracking our route.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

And finally, in the "Device" section we will configure many of the smartwatch options, and I would say that it is the broadest section. The first time we will have to pair the watch selecting it from the list of Bluetooth devices, or scanning the QR code that we can find in the smartwatch.

Here, as we've seen before, we can change the watchface, find the watch if it's near but we can't find it, use the watch as a shooter to take pictures with the phone, or set the screen to turn on when we raise the wrist. We can also activate the notifications of SMS messages and the call reminder, configure some of the NFC options of the watch and the measurement of our heart rate, or add frequent contacts so they'll appear in the Contacts option of the watch.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

And of course, we have the option to manage the notifications that will be shown by the smartwatch. Here we can individually select the apps that will send notifications to the watch, or select and deselect all.

The last sections of this screen show us the firmware version, to know if it's the most recent one or if we must update it, and the option to unpair the watch.

Price and availability

The DT 8 Ultra is available at stores like Aliexpress or Busywear. In fact, the official links of DT No.1 to buy this smartwatch, which you can see on the screen right now, are from these two online stores. And its price is very cheap, since it is available from about 35 Euros.


(Clic para ampliar)	(Clic para ampliar)

Conclusions

We can say that this DT8 Ultra is a beautiful and functional smartwatch that everyone who wants a cheap watch in the style of Apple Watch will like. I really like this watch for its design and its aesthetic appearance, I have no doubt about it. And its compatibility with Apple Watch straps is a positive detail.

Regarding the screen, I like its size and that it's made of tempered glass. It also has many functions., and its health and sports apps, whether synchronized with Wear Pro or not, are very useful.

The Wear Pro app can be improved (well actually ALL the apps can always be improved). But it's always very useful to have an app to track our sports activity and the results of the pedometer, the heart rate monitor, or the quality of our sleep.

One thing that is always positive, and that some users has asked me in previous reviews, is the possibility of making calls with the watch. So if you are watching this video, you can be sure that with this watch you can do it.

In addition to this, I also like that we can use it to listen and control the music from our phone. The battery life is a strong point in this watch. Although it is not as lasting as, for example, the one of the Haylou Solar, it has lasted longer than the battery of the the Kospet Prime 2. That's why I said this battery is in the Top 3 of the watches I've used. It can be used without problems for several days.

What I consider negative, as it already happened in two other reviews that I did previously, and that is something that, as a watchfaces creator I always complain about, is that the installation of new watchfaces is limited only to what the brand gives us, and we can't make them the way we want, and with what we want.

Taking all these aspects into account, and despite the limited customization of the watchfaces, in the low-end segment of smartwatches, I give the DT8 Ultra (and it's not because of the number that appears in its name) a rating of 8/10.