With several kinds of functions such as answering calls and playing music, smartwatches have become essential to people from all walks of life. And while they are the perfect secondary cellular device for your phone, smartwatches still cost a pretty penny.
That said, good budget smartwatches do exist. With how far technology has come, it is definitely possible to get a cheap smartwatch under RM500, even from notable brands like OPPO, Xiaomi, and others. Here are the top budget smartwatches you can get for your specific needs!
Editor
Jennifer chevron_right
Table of Contents
13 Best Budget Smartwatches Below RM500 in Malaysia 2024
Overview
The OPPO Band 2 is a smartwatch with a sporty and stylish look that will fit both men and women comfortably. It comes with some advanced features you would rarely expect from a budget smartwatch such as 100 workout modes, NFC and 150 watch faces, and some usual health functions like heart rate monitor and sleep tracking.
Its excellence perhaps can be seen in its display, featuring a 1.57-inch AMOLED, larger than the Oppo Band's original 1.1-inch screen and it’s shielded by robust 2.5D glass. With such a display, accessing the notification section, which includes messages, calls and music controls, becomes a seamless experience.
OPPO Band 2 Specifications
- RAM: 8MB
- Storage: 12MB
- Display: 1.57-inch AMOLED, 500 nits peak brightness
- Resolution: 256 x 402 pixels
- Touchscreen: Yes
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0, USB, NFC
- Compatibility: Android 6.0 and later or iOS 10.0 and later
- Battery: Up to 14 days (Normal usage), 20 days (Standby time)
- Waterproof Rating: 5ATM
- Dimensions: 45.3 x 29.1 x 10.6mm
Who is this for?
Apart from receiving messages and calls from your screen, you can also call and message from the OPPO Band 2. Because it also runs on a battery that lasts up to 14 days on a single charge, you can trust that it won't leave you stranded during important conversations or when you need to reach out in a pinch.
Overview
Honor Band 7 is a smartwatch that offers impressive functionality for not a lot of money and for the most part, it lives up to the market standard. Under the sleek design, it excels as an activity tracker, while also providing useful smartwatch and sports tracking features. It’s mostly reliable at tracking your sleep and steps so that’s also pretty neat.
Add a vibrant colour display and dependable battery performance in the mix, this smartwatch stands out as an excellent value-for-money option that has plenty to offer.
HONOR Band 7 Specifications
- Display: 1.47-inch AMOLED,
- Resolution: 194 x 368 pixels
- Touchscreen: Yes
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0 and BLE, WiFi
- Compatibility: Android 6.0 or later and iOS 9.0 or later
- Battery: Up to 14 days
- Waterproof Rating: 5ATM
- Dimension (mm): 44.35 x 26 x 9.99
Who is this for?
The HONOR Band 7 may not be the fanciest smartwatch out there, but it maintains a strong position in terms of accuracy, design, and battery life. If you're seeking a fitness tracker with a quality display, prolonged battery life, and a robust core fitness tracking experience, then the Band 7 is a suitable choice.
Overview
The Aolon Foom Lite is a ‘bang for the buck’ fully equipped with full high definition touch screen display for sharp and vivid visuals.Customize your own dials, track your health metrics, sports activity, heart rate and sleep through "JYOUpro" software. Keep in touch with important messages or alarms from work or family by synching your phone with it.
Aolon Foom Lite Specifications
- Display: 1.83” Full HD touch screen display
- Resolution: 240 x 280 pixels
- Touchscreen: Yes
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, USB, Wifi
- Compatibility: Android 4.4 and above, iOS 8.0 and above
- Battery: Up to 10 days
- Waterproof Rating: IP68
- Dimension (mm): 46.5 x 38.5 x 11 mm
Who is this for?
Looking for a budget friendly economical smartwatch with comprehensive features with a fraction from the price of its competitors. The Aolon Foom Lite came with an elegant and modern outlook. The multi-motion mode is perfect for avid sports enthusiasts suitable for both indoor and outdoor sports.
Overview
The DIZO Watch D Talk came with a TFT display with the screen curved from the edge giving it a sleek and flushed finish. The 550 nits offer improved readability in various lighting conditions and the selection of not more than 150 face watch faces choices definitely would entertain you.
DIZO Watch D Talk Specifications
- Display: 1.8” LCD, 550 nits peak brightness
- Resolution: 240 x 286 pixels
- Touchscreen: Yes
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.1, USB, Wifi
- Compatibility: Android and iOS
- Battery: Up to 7 days
- Waterproof Rating: IP68
- Dimension (mm): 45.2 x 37.4 x 12.3 mm
Who is this for?
Ideal for health-conscious individuals seeking an affordable smartwatch with a blood pressure monitor and it goes hand-in-hand with an oximeter. With the latest sleep monitoring data such as REM sleep, Light Sleep, and Deep sleep data able to determine during leisure and sleep accurately.
Overview
A premium smartwatch on a budget with a slim and light finish perfect asexual design for both men and women. The Poco watch faces come in a variety of designs and you may choose for always-on watch faces that show the time, date, and other details without requiring manual activation.
Poco Watch Specifications
- Display: 1.6” AMOLED display
- Resolution: 320 x 360 pixels
- Touchscreen: Yes
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, USB, Wifi, NFC
- Compatibility: Android and iOS
- Battery: Up to 14 days
- Waterproof Rating: 5ATM
- Dimension (mm): 39.1 x 34.4 x 10 mm
Who is this for?
Perfect for individuals seeking a budget-friendly smartwatch prioritizing extended battery life. It provides prolonged usage without frequent charging which is very ideal for active lifestyles. No longer working out alone cause this watch will accompany you with style.
Overview
Fitbit's latest budget smartwatch, the Fitbit Charge 4, builds upon the success of its predecessor, the Charge 3. It comes packed with a host of interesting features, including in-built GPS, Spotify support and NFC capabilities, all while shedding a few grams than Charge 3.
Beyond its sleek design, this wearable is also armed with an array of sensors that allow it to meticulously track your steps, monitor sleep stages, calculate calories burned, and maintain uninterrupted heart rate monitoring– all the workout goodness.
Fitbit Charge 4 Specifications
- Display: 1.57” Monochrome OLED, 200 nits peak brightness
- Resolution: 128 x 72 pixels
- Touchscreen: Yes
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, USB, NFC, Wifi
- Compatibility: Android 7.0 and above, iOS 12.2 and above
- Battery: Up to 6 days
- Waterproof Rating: WR50
- Dimension (mm): 35.7 (W) x 22.9 (H) x 12.7 (D)
Who is this for?
The Fitbit Charge 4 is your all-in-one smartwatch solution, offering convenient access to credit and debit cards right from your wrist through Fitbit Pay. But that's not all– it has advanced features like built-in GPS for precious workout tracking and Spotify for music on the go, all for an enhanced smartwatch experience. The only downside would be its tiny display, but it’s good enough if we’re talking about a compact wearable.
Overview
The HUAWEI Band 8 is a budget-friendly smartwatch that is an excellent blend of style and substance due to its stylish AMOLED bezel-less screen, angular design and quick-release design for a customised look. Its TruSleep 3.0 helps track your sleep and offers tips for better rest while the Smart TruSeen 5.0 monitors SpO2 levels, alerting you to deviations for your well-being.
Furthermore, HUAWEI TruRelax technology provides relaxation exercises to help you easily find your inner calm and embrace tranquillity.
HUAWEI Band 8 Specifications
- OS: HarmonyOS 3.1
- Display: 1.47” AMOLED colour screen, 500 nits peak brightness (adjustable)
- Resolution: 194 x 368 pixels
- Touchscreen: Yes
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.2, Wifi
- Compatibility: Android 6.0 or later, IOS9.0 or later
- Waterproof Rating: 5ATM
- Battery: Up to 14 days
- Dimension (mm): 43.45 (H) x 24.54 (W) x 8.99 (D)
Who is this for?
If you're always on the move and can't afford to be without a charged smartwatch, look no further than this smartwatch. It boasts a long battery life, lasting up to 14 days, and it also supports fast charging. Plus, it includes health monitoring features to keep you in check during your travels. That being said, due to its impressive battery life, one should not anticipate it to be equipped with advanced features such as GPS and speakers.
Overview
From heart health monitoring to glucose management and exercise support, the Xiaomi 2023 Blood Glucose Smartwatch is a health-focused wearable. Equipped with the GR5515 chip, it also delivers faster calculations and heightened accuracy, ensuring early health insights and added convenience.
While boasting advanced health specs, this low-budget smartwatch is more than meets the eye. Its 1.39-inch high-definition large screen display delivers a crystal-clear, seamless image quality that comes to life with a vibrant 360 x 360-pixel resolution.
XIAOMI 2023 Blood Glucose Specifications
- Display: 1.32” IPS LCD, 360 x 360 pixels
- Touchscreen: Yes
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0
- Battery: 220mAh
- Compatibility: IOS 9.0 or above, Android 4.4 or above
- Waterproof Rating: IP68
- Dimension: N/A
Who is this for?
For those who prioritise staying informed about their health journey, this wearable is a valuable choice. Its features offer a convenient way to track progress without constant check-ups. However, it's essential to remember that while a smartwatch can help with tracking your basic health indicators, it may not be 100% accurate. Always consult your doctor if you have any concerns about any readings.
Overview
The Amazfit Bip 5 is the first in the Bip series to integrate the versatile Zepp OS. It boasts a 1.91-inch TFT screen with a native resolution of 320 x 380 pixels to deliver sharpness and takes advantage of the health-focused Zepp OS 2.0 and the BioTracker PPG sensor to facilitate round-the-clock monitoring of blood oxygen saturation.
As for the fitness features, you can enjoy 120+ workout modes, seven auto-detect sports, and real-time sports data through the built-in speaker for a smarter workout.
Amazfit Bip 5 Specifications
- Display: 1.91" TFT touchscreen, 450 nits peak brightness
- Resolution: 320 x 380 pixels
- Touchscreen: 2.5D tempered glass and anti-fingerprint coating
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.2
- Compatibility: Android 7.0 and above, iOS 14.0 and above
- Battery: Up to 10 days (Normal usage)
- Waterproof Rating: IP68
- Dimension (mm): 45.94 x 38.09 x 11.2
"In Our Experience" - Live ProductNation Review
For both practicality, utility, and price, the Amazfit Bip 5 should be something to consider the next time you’re in the market for a relatively affordable fitness smartwatch.
With the current apps available to download through the Zepp App, it took little effort for us to fully customise it to the aesthetics we liked, while also utilising the watch features to its full potential.
While we only tested a few workout modes among its many, it provided everything we expected out of a fitness smartwatch, with the added benefit of accurate GPS tracking to individually track stats on the routes travelled.
It also claims to have a battery life of 10 days with regular usage, and safe to say we had no problems using the watch on a full charge for a week, all while wearing it throughout outdoor activities, sleep monitoring, and daily life.
One usually overlooked aspect of wearables is the comfort level, which is why the provided straps were a surprising bonus for us. We liked the fact that the smartwatch and its straps were comfortable – so much so that wearing it to sleep wasn’t an issue!
The downsides would be: the controls on the watch are somewhat finicky and take some maneuvering to get around, as well as the fact that the watch wasn’t built to be worn underwater, so sports like swimming and diving are off the table.
Who is this for?
With its small size, dust-proof and water-resistant features, and a remarkable battery life that can last up to 10 days with typical usage, the Amazfit Bip 5 is a good budget smartwatch for people who workout and train a lot. Even if you're not an athlete and simply aim to relish a delightful long run, it got you covered, all thanks to its Spotify support.
Overview
The TicWatch GTH combines a sleek design with a set of comprehensive health monitoring. Equipped with sensors for skin temperature, SpO2 levels, heart rate, respiration rate, and sleep quality, it tracks your well-being seamlessly.
While its standout features are undoubtedly appealing, this wearable may leave some users underwhelmed due to its limited set of standard fitness functionalities. Notably, it lacks onboard GPS, relying instead on your smartphone for location tracking, which could potentially lead to less accurate workout data.
Ticwatch GTH Smartwatch Specification
- Processor: Quad Core, 1.3GHz
- Display: 1.55-inch OLED, four brightness settings
- Resolution: 360 x 320 pixel
- Touchscreen: Yes
- Compatibility: Android and iOs
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.1
- Battery: Up to 10 day
- Waterproof Rating: 5 ATM
- Dimension: 35.2 mm (W) x 43.2 mm (H) x 10.5 mm (D)
Who is this for?
If personalization is a key factor for you (given the capability to customise watch faces using your own photos and colours is its notable strength), then you'll likely find the features provided by the Ticwatch GTH to be quite appealing.
Overview
Black Shark seems serious about delving into the world of smartwatches and it shows. The appeal of this affordable smartwatch spans from its sleek and minimalist design to its sheer convenience, evident in its wireless charging capability, offering a hassle-free experience, and the decent ability to keep going for a full 10 days on a single charge.
Also, as you would expect from a gaming brand, it’s built with a vibrant AMOLED display at 1.43 inches and gives you a resolution of 466 x 466 pixels. There’s also built-in ENC noise reduction and a microphone to help you achieve those clear audio calls.
Black Shark S1 Specification
- Display: 1.43-inch AMOLED
- Resolution: 466 x 466 pixels
- Touchscreen: Yes
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, GPS
- Compatibility: Android and iOS
- Battery: Up to 10 days
- Waterproof Rating: IP8
- Dimension (cm): 15.00 x 5.00 x 3.00
Who is this for?
If you’re a gamer who also happens to be a fitness enthusiast, you might want to check out the Black Shark S1. It's an indeed reliable choice that does not disappoint in both audio and visual departments, tricks that some of its competitors are still striving to achieve.
Overview
This smartwatch boasts the usual 24-hour heart rate, SPO2 tracking and support for over 150 different kinds of sports tracking. It is also equipped with sleep and stress tracking as well as the usual alarms and timers and up to 16 days of battery life making it a tempting tracker in the current market.
To have a better look at your health data, you can pair it with your phone (Android or iPhone) using Xiaomi's Mi Fitness app. You don’t have to think much about the display as its 1.62-inch AMOLED screen is a proper stunner for this budget price.
Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Specification
- Display: 1.62-inch AMOLED, 600 nits peak brightness (adjustable)
- Resolution: 192 x 490 pixels
- Touchscreen: Yes
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.1 LE
- Battery: Up to 16 days
- Compatibility: Android 6.0 or higher, iOS 12 or higher
- Waterproof Rating: 5ATM
- Dimension(mm): 48 x 22.5 x 10.99
Who is this for?
Celebrated as a versatile smartwatch, the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 excels in meeting nearly all your smartwatch needs, all at a cost that's reasonably lower than most of its rivals. If you’re looking for an all-around smartwatch that does everything you need in a smartwatch, then this is definitely your best option.
Overview
The Amazfit GT4 Mini impresses with its extended battery life, and its widest and brightest display in the list. Fully charged, it can power you through up to 15 days of typical usage, which includes daily activity tracking, sleep monitoring, and utilising over 120 sports modes.
Comfort-wise, its screen is fashioned from tempered glass and features an anti-fingerprint coating for both durability and a smudge-free display. Additionally, you’ll also find comfort in knowing that the smartwatch comes with its own AI Voice Assistant, ready to execute any task you command with a simple request.
Amazfit GT4 Mini Specification
- Display: 1.65-inch AMOLED display, 1000 nits peak brightness
- Resolution: 336 x 384 pixels
- Touchscreen: Tempered glass and anti-fingerprint coating
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.2 BLE
- Battery: Up to 15 days (Typical usage)
- Compatibility: Android 7.0+ and iOS 12.0+
- Waterproof Rating: 5 ATM
- Dimension: 41.8mm x 36.66mm x 9.1mm
Who is this for?
If you’re not one to sit still and always crave action, the Amazfit GT4 Mini is right up your alley. Heavy on health features, with a fit that's comfortable day and night and a good 21 hours of battery life with GPS in continuous usage, they tick all the boxes of becoming the rugged companion you need for your next marathon or triathlon.
FAQ
- What are some key fitness features I should look for?
When searching for the ideal smartwatch to support your fitness journey, there are several features to keep in mind. These features are meant to help you monitor your progress, track your activities, and stay motivated so that you can reach your goals.
1. Heart Rate Monitoring
Accurate and continuous heart rate monitoring is paramount for tracking your exercise intensity and overall fitness progress. A reliable heart rate sensor ensures you're getting real-time data during workouts, helping you optimise your training and stay within your target heart rate zones.
2. GPS
Built-in GPS is indispensable for outdoor activities like running, cycling, and hiking. It allows you to accurately track your routes, distance, and pace without relying on a smartphone. This feature is essential for those who enjoy outdoor workouts and want precise data.
3. Activity Tracking
A smartwatch should offer comprehensive activity tracking, including step counting, calorie expenditure, distance covered, and automatic exercise detection. This functionality ensures you can monitor your daily activity levels and exercise routines effectively.
4. Battery Life
The watch's battery life is crucial, especially if you engage in longer workouts or outdoor activities. Look for a smartwatch that can last through your typical usage without requiring frequent recharging, as extended battery life is essential for uninterrupted fitness tracking.
5. Compatibility and Ecosystem
Ensure that the smartwatch is compatible with your smartphone's operating system (iOS or Android) and that it integrates well with fitness apps you use or plan to use. A seamless connection between your smartwatch and smartphone ecosystem can enhance your fitness tracking experience and simplify data syncing.
- Where can I buy budget smartwatches in Malaysia?
If you're looking for a budget smartwatch in Malaysia, there are several options and places you can consider. Here are some popular options:
1. Online Marketplaces
E-commerce giants such as Lazada, Shopee, and Zalora are go-to destinations for online shopping in Malaysia, offering a diverse selection of smartwatches across different brands and price ranges, including wallet-friendly choices while allowing you to peruse reviews and make price comparisons.
2. Electronic Retail Stores
Consider visiting electronics retail stores like Senheng and Courts where you can find budget-friendly smartwatches alongside a range of options. Shopping in-store allows you to see, touch, and compare different models to find the best one for your budget and needs.
3. Mobile Phone Retailers
Mobile phone retailers like Digi, Celcom, and Maxis often bundle smartwatches with mobile phone packages. These retailers may offer exclusive deals and discounts on smartwatches when you sign up for a mobile phone plan, allowing you to get a great value for your money.
4. Second-hand market
Shopping in the second-hand market such as Mudah.my or Carousell can be a practical choice for those on a budget, as you may find well-maintained smartwatches at a fraction of the cost of new ones.