Tozo S5 Fitness Smartwatch – Musical Fitness
Tozo S5 is a $59 USD Fitness Smartwatch from the Earphone producer Tozo, coming with multiple lifestyle features designed to improve your fitness and today we will explore just what kind of impact such a device has on your music experience, and whether I would recommend using one or not.
Introduction
Tozo is an entry-level producer of electronics and gadgets now, having expanded from their focus on IEMs to other geeky entry-level products that you typically find on websites like Aliexpress and Temu. This being said, they generally have a reliable build quality, and Tozo is a popular brand for those on a budget, so today we will explore the S5 Smart Watch. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and Youtube Channel. Huge thanks to Tozo for providing the sample for this review, in exchange for my honest opinion.
PROs – Beautiful face and display, with excellent maximum brightness and a quality build. Both weather resistance and scratch resistance, and a high degree of functionality. Multiple strap options, great design. Price performance ratio is excellent.
Cons – Most of the features a smart watch has will be against what a music lover / enthusiast does, and it can quite easily interrupt your music listening, so I’d much rather use it as a pretty watch with a beautiful display and disable access to notifications entirely, plus heart monitoring and blood oxygen saturation monitoring are really not that useful for most people. Too big and heavy for the gym or for wearing it comfortably during sleep. It is a good product, but not a recommended one from a principle standpoint.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3BSClgM
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DmfMqLb
Build Quality/Aesthetics
Tozo S5 is a smartwatch, which is like a computer you carry on your hand for monitoring your body vitals and for having notifications. The good parts start with a 1.43″ AMOLED display, combined with a 466×466 pixels resolution, high enough so that you can never really see the individual pixels. The frame is made of metal, while the bezels are thin, and you can even replace the default watch face with many others, being able to make the Tozo S5 look like a high-end watch.
You have a good amount of information on the display, with many notifications from call information, SMS, Email and Social Media notifications being available, and even apps that are not advertised to be able to show you notifications on the Tozo S5.
The other reason to wear a smart watch is to monitor and track your sleep quality, heart rhythm and get a better understanding of how well rested you are. While this is all very nice, you have to cancel the notifications entirely to be able to sleep, so half of the watch usage is killed if you want to actually achieve that restful sleep.
I have tested the claims about the battery life and it is actually all true, which is insane – The Tozo S5 Smart Watch charges in 2 hours, and the battery lasts around 8 days, which is close to the advertised 10 Days, and if you’re not actively using it, 30 days of standby time will be achieved. I achieved the standby time by mistakenly forgetting to work on the review, and finding it still working many days after.
Two things that I find great for health are the sedentary reminders, to let you know when it is time to move a bit, and stop working non-stop, and also weather notifications so that you know when to take an umbrella. I don’t like the idea of the watch tracking the steps and I do not use this function with anything, as I prefer taking leisure walks and listening to music, instead of seeking the longest distance or counting calories burned, as I do this at the gym.
Fit / Comfort / Subjective Usage
Now, onto the actual usage, many of the features are or feel like bugs to me, for example I do not want to have more notifications, and these days I live with all notifications turned off on my smartphone, and only calls will make a noise for me. I found that the Tozo S5 Smart Watch can take a call and be used as a bluetooth speaker for phone calls, which sounds ok, but the person on the other hand could hear the watch brushing against clothes and skin, which created a lot of noise, so this is not very useful or practical. You cannot use the watch to watch movies or play music.
The weather app does not connect well to Google Weather Romania and I do not get a proper weather report, but I could control some apps from the watch as a remote to play music, this being quite nice. I cannot take the S5 to the gym as it is large, heavy and with either strap it feels like I will break it when I bench chest with 50 Kg.
The water resistance sure is nice, but both the silicone strap and the pleather strap will get damaged if the S5 is exposed to water, especially warm water. Overall, I love wearing it in my sleep, not using it for notifications, and the display is one of the most beautiful, vibrant and colorful displays out there, Tozo S5 effectively looking so much better in person and while being worn than any smartwatch I’ve ever seen.
Sadly, the whole functionality part is great if you’re the kind who wants to glimpse at the watch to stay connected, but writing a review means both documenting and writing, activities which require a state of deep focus which I can’t break with notifications – So the whole point of a smart watch is against my working principles and if you want to have any kind of focus I also recommend muting all notifications, and only opening social media / anything related to notifications manually.
Especially sound notifications will steal your attention and leave you in a state of disorientation for 5-10 minutes , and as most of us receive over 20 notifications per hour, you can never really have a state of deep focus if you keep hearing a ping and checking what’s happening.
Having a better insight on your rest, sleep and health is great for enjoying music, as quite frankly you can’t enjoy music if you’re not well rested, if you’re not healthy, or if you’re not alive, so I really recommend checking up on your health, following a healthy diet and getting adequate levels of movement and sport in general. A watch to remind you about this can be useful for sure. This being said, no notifications for you if you want to really close your eyes and enjoy music.
One last note, the build quality is insane – I have not noticed a single scratch on the watch or the strap, the metal or the glass – it is well made. But for me it is a pretty watch with a beautiful display, and one more notification generator to silence.
Value and Conclusion
With a price tag of 59 USD, Tozo 5S is a pretty wrist watch with a good functionality, it offers a beautiful display and excellent usage but for a music lover it is not a recommended product if you don’t silence the notifications. You don’t want a 11 minute song like Metallica’s interpretation of the Mercyful Fate series to be interrupted because someone commented on your post on Facebook.
At the end of the day, while I may sound like I’m against the trends, I am very much forward thinking – I want social media to exist and us all to be connected, but I believe in a more latent way to check on notifications and to connect – I believe that it would be best to have some full focus time, and a separate time to explore the depths of the internet, as little notifications as possible, and staying as healthy as possible. Please take care of yourself, because if nothing else, you’re the only one who can listen to music through your own ears and experience it as you do. Tozo 5S is pretty, and I would purchase it to be a beautiful watch with some quick access to weather or to use as a remote for music playback, but I would not purchase a watch to give me notifications in general regardless of the theme.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3BSClgM
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DmfMqLb
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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