The XTOUCH WAVE, which is a comprehensive hi-tech water-resistant timepiece, ushers in a new generation of XTOUCH smartwatches. The watch has impressive specs, as it is powered by an MTK Dual Core 1.2 GHz Cortex A7 processor, which makes it both speedy and versatile in use. The WAVE boasts a variety of features, including the ability to make calls and dish up helpful notifications, also offering up sports data via a pedometer app, and onboard FM radio.

Much like a smartphone, a smartwatch similarly lives or dies by how easy its user interface is to use. Thankfully, the accurate five-point capacitive touch panel makes it easy to navigate through its interface. Users can type their emails, chat or send SMSs without the annoyance of having to continuously hit the backspace to retype and correct their mistakes.

Now that’s handy

Granted, smartwatches are in vogue right now, with many a manufacturer dipping their hand into the wearables waters. However, many of these are intended as complementary devices to the manufacturers’ smartphone, which is still given centre stage. Unlike the Samsung Gear, for example, the XTOUCH WAVE operates independently and takes a micro-SIM as well as a microSD card (max 32 GB) for extra storage. This obviates the need to carry an extra device to sync with the smartwatch while jogging, cycling or at the gym.

The XTOUCH WAVE operates independently and takes a micro-SIM as well as a microSD card.

One similarity that the XTOUCH WAVE does share with the current crop of smartwatches is that it too runs Android 4.2. Along with the fact that you can download a variety of apps to the device, it comes preloaded with some of the most often used, and essential apps such as Google Maps, Google Search, Twitter, Facebook, WeChat, WhatsApp, BBM, YouTube, GMail and Google Play. Thankfully, these are catered to with a good dollop of 4 GB of onboard storage.

Finally, the 73 g  black WAVE comes with a built-in 3 MP camera for snapping pics and video-recording. For more information visit: www.xtouchdevice.com.