Noise ColorFit Pro 4 Max Review: Covered for Smarts, but Not for Essentials

Noise is a homegrown lifestyle brand that aims to democratize the connected lifestyle space in the country. Its ColorFit Pulse was the best-selling smartwatch in India for Q1 2022, thanks partly to features like a large display, SpO2 monitoring, 24/7 heart-rate tracking, and multiple sports modes.

Similarly, Noise’s other offering, the Noise ColorFit Pro 3, which also comes with a large display and multiple health-tracking features, became its best-selling product in the last quarter. Building on this momentum, Noise recently announced two new smartwatches to expand its flagship smartwatch portfolio in the country, the ColorFit Pro 4 and the ColorFit Pro 4 Max.

Both these smartwatches feature significant upgrades over their predecessor, the ColorFit Pro 3, and are targeted at different audiences. However, some differences between the two set them apart, some of which are hard to comprehend, as you’ll see in this review.

We’ve been testing the Noise ColorFit Pro 4 Max for some time now, and here’s what we think about the smartwatch.

Noise ColorFit Pro 4 Max: Build, Design, and Fit

Noise’s ColorFit Pro 4 Max features a rectangular frame that looks similar to its predecessor and most smartwatches on the market today. It’s built out of aluminum and weighs 42 grams, which is considerably heavier than the 24.1 grams ColorFit Pro 4 made from polycarbonate. However, this weight difference isn’t very noticeable on the wrist, as most smartwatches weigh just about the same.

Along the right edge of the case is what Noise calls a “digital crown”. In reality, this is simply a push button on the ColorFit Pro 4 Max and, strangely, an actual functional crown on the ColorFit Pro 4 that simplifies scrolling through menus. We were surprised at this design choice of Noise and would’ve liked to see a functioning crown on the ColorFit Pro 4 Max, too, since not having one clearly seems like a downgrade for anyone choosing the Max model over the regular one.

Below the crown sits a microphone to aid with the Bluetooth calling functionality on the watch. And to the left edge of the case is a pair of speakers, which, in addition to helping with the calling functionality, also offers notification alerts and enables Alexa interactions.

Moving to the back, the ColorFit Pro 4 Max has a sensor grid placed in the center, with the charging pins at the top. Unlike some other watches, the sensor grid on the ColorFit Pro 4 Max doesn’t dig into the skin much, which makes it comfortable to wear even for long periods of time.

Noise provides a 22m silicone strap with the watch to help you strap it onto your wrist. This strap is smooth to the touch and pretty comfortable. Plus, it’s removable too. So if you wish to swap it for another color or find the need to change one, you can do it yourself easily.

Lastly, the smartwatch also has an IP68 rating, which makes it suitable for everyday use, so you don’t have to worry about it coming in contact with dust or water.

Noise ColorFit Pro 4 Max: Display

On its front, the Noise ColorFit Pro 4 Max has a 1.80-inch TFT LCD Truview display with a screen resolution of 240 x 285 pixels. When stacked against its predecessor—the ColorFit Pro 3—that provides a 320 x 360 pixels screen resolution, this clearly seems like a significant downgrade.

On the contrary, the regular ColorFit Pro 4 offers a better resolution (356 x 400 pixels) on its 1.72-inch screen, which, again, raises questions about the company’s design choices and the use of the “Max” moniker on the ColorFit Pro 4 Max.

The feature disparity doesn’t end here, though: the ColorFit Pro 4 Max also lags behind the regular version in terms of refresh rate. A mere 40Hz refresh rate is what you get on the ColorFit Pro 4 Max, compared to the 60Hz on the regular ColorFit Pro 4. This impacts the user experience significantly, as scrolling through menus and screens feels very sluggish on the ColorFit Pro 4 Max.

Another thing that strikes out about this display is its thick bezels all around, with the bottom one being slightly bigger than the others. Although this isn’t a huge deal, and Noise has managed to hide these bezels away by using a black background in the UI, we feel that had these bezels been smaller and uniform, the watch’s footprint could’ve been shrunk down, which would make it more suitable for people with small wrists.

As for clarity and brightness, the ColorFit Pro 4 Max doesn’t disappoint a bit. Its display gets sufficiently bright and offers multiple brightness levels, which makes it easy to view its content outdoors. However, the same can’t be said about the saturation levels of the display, as they seem unnecessarily boosted on the watch.

Noise employs gestures on the ColorFit Pro 4 Max for navigation. And during our testing, we found these to work pretty accurately without any difficulties.

Noise ColorFit Pro 4 Max: Performance

The Noise ColorFit Pro 4 Max uses Bluetooth 5.1 for connectivity. It pairs instantly with Android and iOS and offers a pretty decent range. However, there we a few instances when we experienced some weird behavior with the watch during our testing.

On a couple of occasions, while we had the watch paired to an iPhone, it showed the “Phone disconnected” error when we tried accessing the weather or triggering Alexa. In reality, however, the watch was still connected to the iPhone, as we were able to change the watchface through the companion app. Although disconnecting and reconnecting the watch fixed the issue, we feel this kind of behavior is undesirable and hope Noise fixes this with a future update.

When it comes to core functionalities, Noise includes a bunch of them on the ColorFit Pro 4 Max, ranging from health and fitness tracking to a few unique ones like Bluetooth calling and Alexa, which is rare to see in this price range.

All health-related tracking features are bundled under the Noise Health suite. These include everything from activity goals, heart rate, and blood oxygen to stress, noise detection, and sleep tracking. Starting with step counting, we noticed that the ColorFit Pro 4 Max significantly underreported steps during our time with it. We even tested the step counter by putting the watch into the Indoor Walk workout mode, but the reporting was still far from accurate.

On the other hand, heart rate and blood-oxygen saturation readings were mostly accurate, and we didn’t experience any issues with either of them. Similarly, sleep tracking also worked fine on the ColorFit Pro 4 Max and gave sufficient data to help analyze sleep. Wearing it to sleep, however, felt uncomfortable due to its chunky design.

Besides assisting you with sleep, heart rate, and SpO2, the ColorFit Pro 4 Max also comes with noise detection, which is aimed at protecting your ears from prolonged exposure to noise. However, the way it’s implemented makes it less effective at this job: it doesn’t automatically tell you when the noise levels in your surroundings are unhealthy, which is how it should ideally have been and, instead, requires you to check the noise levels from its designated menu manually.

Regarding fitness tracking, Noise offers a wide variety of workout modes on the ColorFit Pro 4 Max to cater to the needs of most individuals, everything from running, cycling, and indoor workouts to dance ball games and pro training. Most of these workouts let you choose your goal, which we find quite useful. And upon finishing a workout, you can find it under workout history if you wish to view it or any other previous workouts.

Sadly, though, the ColorFit Pro 4 Max doesn’t have a built-in GPS. So if you plan on using it for outdoor runs or treks, you’ll need to bring your phone along. Besides, we have one more gripe with the device. It has to do with the vibration motor onboard, which feels too strong and unpleasant and makes the watch feel hollow when it vibrates.

Noise ColorFit Pro 4 Max: Software and Features

Noise uses a custom operating system on the ColorFit Pro 4 Max, like many budget smartwatches these days. It’s got a simple UI, which is easy to navigate, and you get a few additional features aimed at helping you get more out of the smartwatch.

For starters, you get the Bluetooth calling feature, which lets you receive and make calls right from your wrist. It requires you to pair your smartwatch to an Android device, after which you can answer it from the smartwatch when there’s an incoming call. Similarly, if you ever need to make a call, you can do so from the smartwatch itself without needing to take out your phone from your pocket. With Bluetooth calling, you can either call the person in your contacts or dial a number using the built-in keypad. Additionally, you can also add contacts to your favorites for easy access. We really liked the calling feature during our time with the watch and were surprised by how seamlessly it works.

Another major highlight of the Noise ColorFit Pro 4 Max is Quick Reply. As its name suggests, this feature is aimed at helping you respond to incoming texts right from your wrist. And just like Bluetooth Calling, it, too, works perfectly. Plus, you even get to set a custom quick reply if the existing ones don’t suit you.

Similarly, Noise also gives you the option to decline incoming calls using the smartwatch. If you’re in a situation where you can’t accept an incoming call, you can decline it from the call notification on your wrist.

Coming to Alexa support, which is one of the key differences that separate the ColorFit Pro 4 Max from the regular ColorFit Pro 4, Noise has done a good job here: it’s easy to set up and use Alexa on the ColorFit Pro 4 Max. For this, all you need to do is sign in to your Amazon account on the watch. Once done, you can ask your questions to Alexa or tell her to perform tasks on your behalf. Of course, you’ll need to enable Alexa skills to use Alexa to its full potential.

As for other features, the Noise ColorFit Pro 4 Max comes with a bunch of built-in apps like Clock, Weather, Music, etc. Plus, you get a few quick action toggles, accessible with a swipe up on the home screen, for brightness, flashlight, battery, find my phone, and do not disturb, which simplify a lot of the basic operations.

Additionally, there are also a few other ColorFit Pro 4 Max features and options. You need to download the NoiseFit Assist app on your smartphone to access these. Through this app, you can change watchfaces, alter different smartwatch settings, and modify the behavior of different features of the smartwatch.

Noise ColorFit Pro 4 Max: Battery

Noise packs in a 300mAh battery on the ColorFit Pro 4 Max that promises up to 7 days of battery life on a single charge. However, in our testing, which included using the watch for tracking workouts, taking a few calls using Bluetooth calling, and using Alexa, the battery lasted just five days.

As for charging, it took the smartwatch a little over 2 hours to go from 4% to 100%, staying true to the company’s claim.

Noise ColorFit Pro 4 Max: Verdict

For Rs 4,499, the Noise ColorFit Pro 4 Max is among the many contenders competing in the budget smartwatch space in the market. Its inclusion of features like Bluetooth calling and Alexa integration are its biggest highlights and give it an edge over most of its competitors who lack them.

However, that being said, there are some downsides to the smartwatch, too, which make it difficult to recommend it right away. For one, Noise’s choice of a rather chunky design makes the ColorFit Pro 4 Max less appealing for those with smaller-than-average wrists. Then, there’s a downgraded 40Hz refresh rate display, which fails to provide an optimal viewing and interacting experience. Finally, you get an average battery life, which can be a major deal-breaker for some.

So if you’re looking for a smartwatch that features Alexa integration and can help you call and respond to texts right from the wrist, you can consider getting the ColorFit Pro 4 Max. However, if these features aren’t your top priority, a few other smartwatches under Rs 5,000 offer a better value for money. Amazfit Bip U Pro and Realme Watch 2 Pro are two such options worth considering.

Buy Noise ColorFit Pro 4 Max