Canyon Smartwatch Badian SW-68 Review: Not Very Smart

Does a good smartwatch necessarily have to cost 100 euros or more? Or can you get a convincing wearable for around 70 euros? The Badian SW-68 from Canyon combines smart functions with extensive sensors, 22 sports modes, sleep tracking and a battery life of up to 16 days. Our Canyon Smartwatch Badian SW-68 review clarifies whether all this is really true and what the wearable has to offer.

Technical data

Canyon Smartwatch Badian SW-68 review: design and workmanship

• high-quality, quite elegant design
• good workmanship
• no control elements

The Canyon Smartwatch Badian SW-68 is the latest wearable from the manufacturer, which was founded in the Netherlands in 2003. Like most other smartwatches, it comes in different colors – three in this case: black, dark red/gold and silver/white.

The three models differ from each other in terms of color, but the technical features are always the same. Visually, the Badian SW-68 makes quite an impression with its robust aluminum frame, which comes in dark grey, silver or rose gold, depending on the color variant.

Interesting detail: The smartwatch has no dedicated buttons, no rotating bezel and no other controls. However, the silicone strap can be easily replaced using a quick-release fastener.

The magnetic connection for the power cable and the sensors responsible for monitoring blood pressure, for example, are located on the underside. the wearable weighs 46 grams and does not appear too bulky despite its 45 mm housing.

Visually, the Canyon Smartwatch Badian SW-68 looks great and there is nothing to complain about in terms of build quality either. The model has a high-quality and robust appearance and can withstand swimming and showers without any problems thanks to IP68 certification.

Display and operation

• 1.28 inch; 240 x 240 pixels; TFT-LC display
• quite low resolution
• very large screen edges

The Canyon Smartwatch Badian SW-68 comes with a 1.28-inch TFT-LC display with a resolution of 240 x 240 pixels. This is quite a low resolution; other models such as the TicWatch Pro 5 (our test) have a resolution of 466 x 466 pixels, almost twice as high. Accordingly, the fonts and symbols appear much more pixelated.

Despite the comparably large casing, the screen diagonal of the Canyon Smartwatch is also smaller, which is due to the comparatively large display edge. Almost 10 mm of the screen is taken up by the large, black edge. A bit of a shame.

The Canyon Smartwatch also lacks special features such as an always-on display. Lifting the screen to activate it also worked rather poorly during my test. At least the brightness can be adjusted in five levels.

Sometimes the screen came on, but most of the time it remained switched off. As an LC display, the screen naturally doesn’t offer as rich colors and blacks as an AMOLED panel, but considering the low price, what it offers is absolutely fine.

Operation with pitfalls

• inaccurate touch control
• Switching on imprecise
• familiar operating concept; notifications do not work

In the Canyon Smartwatch Badian SW-68 test, I was not completely convinced by the operation of the wearable. Due to the lack of buttons, this is done exclusively via the touchscreen, which responds quite reliably most of the time, but has certain pitfalls.

This starts with switching on the smartwatch. According to the instructions, the display must be touched for 3-5 seconds for the device to switch on. No sooner said than done: but nothing happens, the screen remains switched off.

I found that, contrary to the instructions, I had to press the touchscreen for much longer to switch the smartwatch on. It takes seven to ten seconds for the wearable to activate. Sometimes only on the second attempt.

However, once we have overcome this hurdle, the operating concept is perfectly fine. The operation is similar to most other popular smartwatches. If we press and hold the main screen, we can switch between four watch faces.

Swiping from top to bottom on the display opens the options menu, which displays the date and battery status, for example, or allows us to quickly adjust the brightness, display the weather or access the settings.

Swiping from bottom to top opens the notifications. So… in theory at least. Because at no point during the almost two-week test was any information displayed. The notifications always remained “empty”.

What exactly could actually be displayed here is also not clear from the instructions. It only mentions “available notifications and reminders”. However, neither incoming text messages, nor notifications about emails, WhatsApp messages or reminders from my calendar were displayed, despite the smartphone being paired.

Swiping from left to right opens the app overview, while swiping from right to left switches through various quick access applications such as pedometer, sleep tracking, heart rate, sports modes and more.

Performance, sensors and everyday testing

• almost no smart functions
• sometimes unnecessarily complicated
• jerky performance

The Canyon Smartwatch Badian SW-68 already has the term smartwatch in its name. But honestly? Unfortunately, the watch isn’t really that smart in my eyes. At least not in the form that I associate with the term.

In my eyes, a smartwatch works together with a smartphone, displays notifications and offers practical functions. However, the SW-68 cannot offer all of this. Instead, it is a smart fitness tracker with a watch, heart rate sensor, pedometer and weather app.

No call function, no NFC or GPS, no extensive statistics and no app store. You are therefore limited to the apps that are already pre-installed on the limited memory. And even of these, only a few are halfway useful.

These are the weather app, the photo app and the player, which can at least control media playback from the smartphone. But here, too, the operation seems unnecessarily complicated: The photo app turns the smartwatch into a remote shutter release. However, this only works within the Canyon Life companion app for the smartphone in the “Take photo” menu item. The remote shutter release does not work when using the normal camera app.

Canyon also installs two games on the smartwatch: “Bird” as a Flappy Bird clone and “2048”, the game principle of which I somehow didn’t understand at all. The installed apps cannot be removed and it is also not possible to install new apps due to the lack of an app store.

The performance of the Canyon Smartwatch Badian SW-68 is also unconvincing, which is hardly surprising thanks to the unspecified processor and a whopping 160 kilobytes (!) of RAM. Scrolling through apps and screens is not really smooth, with short hangs occurring frequently.

But hey: not so bad, after all there are hardly any apps and application areas to scroll through anyway. The SW-68 also doesn’t have speakers, but the wearable can vibrate – for example, when the specified step target has been reached.

Sensors that don’t exist

• quite precise pedometer; good sleep tracking
• Blood pressure sensor… which is not available
• SpO2 measurement… which is not available

The Canyon Smartwatch Badian SW-68 can be used to track steps, heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) and sleep. Incredible for the price. At least that’s what I thought. The only problem is that the watch can neither measure blood pressure nor determine blood oxygen levels.

But if there are menu items for these sensors, you must be able to measure them too, right? Nope. Somehow not. So I pick up the manual for the 42nd time, but it doesn’t provide any information either.

I don’t understand why there are menu items for blood pressure and SpO2. Neither value can be measured with the SW-68. Neither on the smartwatch nor within the companion app. Unfortunately, the values cannot be calculated in conjunction with the sports modes either.

What does work well, however, are the sensors that are available. The pedometer, for example, works very accurately and the sleep tracking and heart rate sensor also work surprisingly well and precisely. Unfortunately, there are no comprehensive statistics in the companion app here either, but the information is certainly sufficient for a rough overview.

App connection: Canyon Life

Canyon Life is used as a companion app, which has a tidy design and a decent range of functions. Once the watch has been paired, the start screen provides information on the steps taken, the previous night’s sleep and the heart rate.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to view more comprehensive statistics or look back over the last few days. Although there is an option to display the complete history, the calendar for selecting the days is grayed out and cannot be operated.

At least there is the option to display a weekly and monthly overview for the three values under the “Statistics” tab. In the “Set up” tab, there is the option to search for the watch by vibration, but this makes little sense due to the weak vibration motor and lack of speakers.

We can also download new watch faces here, there are many reasonably beautiful and free watch faces to choose from. Finally, we can switch the sensors on and off and make various settings here.

Strong battery life

• 4-16 days runtime
• 3 hours charging time

One point in which the Canyon Smartwatch Badian SW-68 is convincing is the battery life. A maximum runtime of four to 16 days should be possible. Depending on the mode, activities, display usage and brightness. And these figures really are realistic.

In my everyday use with a constantly active pedometer, heart rate measurement and sleep tracking at maximum display brightness, I achieved a runtime of around 105 hours, i.e. just under four and a half days. A really good value, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given the small number of smart features. A full charge takes around three hours.

More smartwatch tests:

• Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 test: Wear OS smartwatch with long battery life
• Honor Watch GS3 test: chic smartwatch with a meagre range of functions

Canyon Smartwatch Badian SW-68 review: Conclusion

On the plus side, the Canyon Smartwatch Badian SW-68 has a rather chic design with good workmanship and a long battery life. The pedometer and sleep tracking also work quite precisely, while the wide selection of free watch faces is appealing.

Apart from that, however, there is very little in my opinion that would make it worth buying. The operation is somewhat uncomfortable, the features are sobering and the display is average at best. The wearable is also noticeably lacking in power, making navigation a little clumsy and unresponsive.

I also find it extremely questionable that the watch is advertised as having sensors and that there are corresponding apps on the watch, which ultimately have no function. Even for the relatively low price, there are alternatives that come with better features.