Emporia Watch Joy Review

The Smartwatch industry is packed with brands offering the latest in technology for example the Apple Watch does pretty much everything my iPhone can do. However the older we get you might find using something like an Apple Watch a little complicated. 

If I asked you to name a smartwatch brand I bet you would not have even considered senior phone manufacturer Emporia. If you’re in your 50s or above and want an easy-to-use smartwatch perfect for monitoring your health and providing notifications of when a call or message comes in, this watch should be on your radar.

First Impressions

The Emporia Watch Joy is a budget-friendly option, coming in at £43.20 via Amazon, but this watch should cost a lot more. It offers a full range of health monitoring features, such as a pedometer, sleep monitor, heart monitor, Blood Oxygen monitor, and extensive fitness monitoring. All of this is put together in a stylish design that does not feel like a watch designed for the senior market. 

This smartwatch comes with Bluetooth 5.0 and gesture control so a quick shake of your arm will wake this watch ready for use. The Emporia Watch Joy also lets you make and receive calls and view text messages and email. The settings on the supporting app allow you to receive notifications for 3rd party apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook, X, Linkedin, Instagram, Snapchat & Telegram.

Design

When I unboxed the Emporia Watch Joy the one thing I could say instantly was are you sure this watch is for the senior market? I have just turned 40 and I was very impressed with the design. I would be more than happy to wear this watch when going to a meeting or out with friends not one of them guessed this watch was designed with the senior generation in mind. 

Unboxing the Emporia Watch Joy was simple and provided everything you need to get started: 

• 1x Smartwatch
• 1x USB Magnetic charging cable
• 1x Instruction Manual

The packaging also kept this simple with a picture of the watch on the front and some details about the watch at the rear of the packaging. 

The Emporia Watch Joy has an exquisite metal body with a dial and button on the side to make it feel more like a classic-style watch. The watch face is an AMOLED 1.43-inch display with a resolution of 466 x 466 pixels that offers a razor-sharp display even in low light conditions.

Put this watch next to my Apple Watch and the size of the display is a big clue this is designed for those with poorer eyesight. 

Just like most smartwatches on the market, Emporia allow you to switch watch faces and even download options via the FitCloudApp. I also found the watch strap to complement the watch you have the option of either black or grey when buying the watch. I would have liked the option to be able to switch straps like I can with my Apple Watch but that me just looking to find faults more than anything.

The rear of this watch just like on my Apple watch is where it has a sensor that reliably records your heart rate, and pulse and can even monitor your sleep I found the measurements are provided in a fast manner giving you valuable insights into your health, fitness and even sleep patterns.

Look under the bonnet of this smartwatch and you are given a lithium-ion 380mAh battery capacity that in testing gave me two weeks of use before I had to recharge this but can give you 30 days of standby time. When it’s time to recharge you’re provided with that USB magnetic charging cable. 

Also under the bonnet is the Realtek 8763EW-VP chipset paired with a 128MB flash memory card. In terms of connectivity, you are offered Bluetooth 5.0 which is fine for now but not quite future-proof. Overall, I was impressed with the build of the design of the watch it feels modern and did not feel like a watch designed with the senior market in mind.  

Features

The Emporia Watch Joy comes with gesture controls so a quick turn of the wrist and your watch is alive handly if you just want to see the time. You can also set reminders for when you need to move and also when you should drink some water helpful for someone who is currently a little health-conscious. 

Now if we start with the home screen you have a selection of different watch faces to select from and with a long press on the screen, you can switch between options from a more traditional watch face. To a watch face that gives you more of a breakdown of your day from displaying the date& time to showing you the weather and also some fitness tracking details such as number of steps, calories burnt and heart rate. The supporting app also allows you to download hundreds of different options. 

Swipe down and you come to the settings screen with a battery display, Find My Phone alert, Info screen, Vibration level, do not disturb option & battery saving mode. The do-not-disturb mode is ideal when you go to bed and do not want the bright display to come on in the middle of the night or you can activate it when you just want a rest without any notifications or calls distracting you. 

The settings screen also allows you to change the main menu with up to 5 options available I preferred the carousel version as when you get to the end the apps start again. You can scroll up or down to get to the right app with ease. 

Jump back to the homepage and swipe left and it brings up the full menu of apps which includes: Telephone, Contacts, Voice Assistant, Workouts, Workout Records, Heart Rate, Sleep, Blood Pressure, Blood Oxygen, Messages, Weather, Female (Period Tracking), Music, Breath Training, Stopwatch, Timer, Alarm Clock & Find Phone. 

Return to the homepage and swipe down and it displays your messages if you press on a message it shows the full message but only allows you to delete the message after you have viewed it you can’t respond. I also added WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger & Telegram so I got a full range of messages from all the platforms I use.

Now when you return to the home page and swipe right this allows you to see the most popular apps such as: 

• Fitness Tracker
• Heart Rate Monitor
• Sleep Tracker
• Weather
• Workout Options
• Music shortcut 

Now when you first get to the fitness tracker it displays steps, calories and km walked. Scroll down and it gives you a 24-hour view of when you have been more active, plus a 7-day record of steps taken and the average number of steps over 7 days. 

Swipe right again and you get your heart rate in real-time this worked well but if you scroll down it gives you heart rate zones and a 24-hour view of your heart rate. 

Next, you have sleep this will display how long you have slept the night before and how many hours of deep and light sleep you have and it also displays a 7-day chart I found this very interesting as someone who has sleep issues and has to take medication to sleep.

You then have the workout screen with options such as Walking, Running, Hiking, Cycling, Basketball, Badminton, Football, Cross Trainer, Table Tennis, Rope Skipping & Tennis. You also have many more to select from via the app so you should be able to record the activity you are doing. 

I have been reviewing this while in the gym and when you go into the fitness records app it will display the activity you have done in this case fast walking on the treadmill. The records display the time you have done this activity along with this date. Swipe down and it shows heart rate, calories burnt, number of steps, distance and steps per minute. 

I was very impressed with just how accurate and how much information you are provided. I found the watch easy to use and the measuring time whether it was heart rate, blood pressure or monitoring exercises this watch performed on the whole very well. 

FitCloudPro App

The Emporia Watch Joy runs alongside the FitCloudPro app which is essential when using the watch. The app is available on either iOS or Android and the app is one of the better health and fitness tracking apps I have seen on the market. 

The home page comes with a step tracker with the percentage towards your daily goal. Under that, it shows the total calories burnt, total distance and step goal. You then have access to your workout records, Sleep, Heart Rate, Blood Pressure, Oxygen level in your blood and an option to click to measure all of the above.

There is also a small running man in the top left on the home page. When pressed it displays the total distance covered across each of your recorded exercise activities you can press on the total sessions button for a more detailed view of that activity like below. 

This page also displays a Google map with the option to quickly select run, walk or climbing. I would have liked to have been able to switch climbing for cycling as I dont think I have ever been climbing. There is then a GO button to start recording your activity perfectly if you want to go for a walk as we have some fantastic nature walks in our area.  

At the bottom of the app, you have a home, device and Me icons. The home page is what we have just discussed. Click on the device icon and this is more of a settings page with push notifications options, an Alarm page, a Sedentary & Drink Water Reminder setup, a Watchface page and a sports push page which when pressed you can select from a wide range of sports/exercise to appear when recording exercise.  

Also on the device page, you can select weather reports, Rise to Wake option, and automatic health monitoring which will measure heart health at intervals during the day. There is also a Find My Smartwatch which starts a vibration until found and you can even select the wrist preference. This app is stacked to make this watch provide simple but comprehensive health monitoring and fitness tracking in an easy-to-use manner. When you select the Me icon at the button of the page this is where you can set your daily step count and link to Apple Health and some additional.

Verdict

The Emporia Watch Joy is a fantastic smartwatch that has been designed with the senior user in mind but I feel you could use this watch at any age. The 1.43-inch display with a 466 x466 pixel resolution works well in low light and offers a clear view of the watch ideal for a senior user with poor eyesight. 

I was also impressed with just how stylish the watch was and the fact you could customize the watch with a wide range of watch faces. It’s a watch that is budget friendly and with features like gesture control, Bluetooth 5.0 and that super long battery life that on a single charge we got 2 weeks of use compared to my Apple Watch which needs charging every night this watch smashes that out of the park. 

When it comes to health and fitness monitoring this watch offers a wide range of monitoring such as heart rate, blood pressure, and blood oxygen levels and will even monitor you when you sleep it just ticks every box when it comes to these health-conscious users who want to monitor their daily fitness levels. 

The star of the show is the FitCloudPro app it allows you to monitor all your health and fitness targets and allows you to get a detailed view of your exercise. This watch does everything an Apple Watch can do but does it with a senior user in mind. The watch is so easy to use and when you put all these considerations together this is why we have awarded the Emporia Watch Joy our Editors Choice Award. 

Product Rating    

Design: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Features: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

FitCloud Pro App: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Value For Money: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

 

Overall ranking: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0 – 5 stars

The Emporia Watch Joy is available via Amazon for £43.20 

 

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