Zing Smart Watch Review

Smart watches are very popular at the moment, but with hefty price tags it can be hard to justify splashing out on one.

New to the market is The Zing, which is available on amazon for a recommended retail price of just £64.99.  It’s definitely on the more affordable end of the scale.

It’s the new fashion wearable technology created by Cambridge based MvBii.

I was lucky enough to be sent a Zing to review and my first impressions were definitely a bit mixed. Whilst I already knew that the Zing’s interface was made up of a selection of lights I have to be honest and say that I just don’t get it!

I feel as though I’m going against the grain as the majority of reviews I’ve seen about the Zing are positive, but I just can’t get on with it.

I like the look of the Zing. The vibrant pink strap, the square/diamond shaped face and the shiny silver casing is certainly easy on the eye and I can see why it would appeal to the younger generation, but I have to be honest and say that it’s just too complicated for me.

I like to think that I’m tech savvy, but this one genuinely has me stumped. I’ve been testing it for around two weeks now and am still not 100% sure of everything it does or exactly how it works.

The small instruction booklet that comes with it, isn’t very helpful so I headed to the website where they have a range video tutorials. Sadly I didn’t find them very helpful either. (Update: The website now has a full user manual available with more detailed instructions. These instructions are definitely more helpful than the small one included in the box, but even after reading the full user manual I still experienced problems in getting the Zing to recognise the gestures I was doing.)

I really wanted to like it, but I just can’t. I like a smart watch that has an actual face that gives me actual information such as the time or how many steps I’ve taken. Yes, the Zing looks super cool when the lights start to flash, but sadly that’s about it for me.

To operate the zing there are a variety of different gestures. For example if you raise your hand up, or rotate your Zing from sideways followed by holding it steady and horizontal it will display time for a few seconds – not the actual time, but ‘time’ indicates the device is ready for a new gesture.

A double shake of the device once when it’s in the ready position will make the Zing vibrate indicating that the shake gesture has been recognised, two buzzes (vibrations) will indicate that the double shake has been recognised. This gesture activates certain functions dependent upon what mode you are in.

There’s also the half roll, full roll and the single shake. Plus if you blow across the face when the device is in the ready position that also works to activate some function or other.

For me it’s too complicated. There are also various modes such as time mode, zing mode, music/camera mode, zing to zing mode and sleep mode.

Whilst I admit that it is pretty cool being able to turn the music on your phone on with the Zing – one of the functions that I was actually able to perform, I just don’t see the point. In order for the Zing to play your music you have to create a Zing playlist first.

You can also play games with the Zing, but again this is something I haven’t managed to do.

I didn’t find the Zing very responsive to my actions. I tried doing them gently, harshly, but it took a few attempts for the gesture to be recognised and it just left me feeling frustrated.

The Zing does come with a free app, but I also encountered problems with this. It took me ages to get the app to the find the Zing.

Mvvii say that:

One of the Zing’s most popular features is that you can visualise your activity over time, allowing people to become more mindful of how active they are without having to make a conscious effort to do so. The Zing acts as a remote for your smartphone, making it possible to take group selfies and change the music track you are listening to with a simple flick of the wrist.