Rugged and Ready: The Just Corseca Ray Kanabis Smartwatch Combines Durability with Smart Features

Typically, smartwatches are not made to be durable, requiring users to be diligent in safeguarding their sensitive electronic parts. However, there are exceptions, like the model reviewed here. At a price of Rs. 5,999, the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis is designed to endure tough conditions, featuring IP68-rated dust and water resistance and a rubber strap. It can track various activities and has a large, sporty dial that exudes reliability.

The Just Corseca Ray Kanabis sports a 1.28-inch color touchscreen, along with heart rate and SpO2 monitoring. It is also compatible with both Android and iOS devices. Is it the top rugged entry-level smartwatch on the market at the moment? Continue reading to find out.

The Just Corseca Ray Kanabis comes with two physical buttons on the right side, but navigation and controls require the use of the touchscreen.

Design of the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis

In contrast to many affordable smartwatches produced by emerging brands, which often serve merely as companions to mobile notifications, the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis functions more like a genuine smartwatch, allowing users to answer calls directly. Although it is priced at Rs. 5,999—a higher price point compared to similar products—it boasts a rugged design reminiscent of Casio G-Shock that I appreciated.

This rugged look is further complemented by its IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, ensuring it can handle rough conditions. The Just Corseca Ray Kanabis is offered in three colors: black, green, and blue. I found all the colors appealing, but the black variant aligns best with the bundled watch faces. An optical sensor for heart rate and SpO2 monitoring is located on the underside of the watch.

The smartwatch features a round 1.28-inch IPS LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 240×240 pixels and a UV reflective coating for enhanced visibility in sunlight. Two buttons on the right side can both wake the screen; the upper button acts as Back and Home in apps and menus, while the lower button allows cycling through the preloaded applications. The device primarily relies on tapping and swiping gestures for navigating the interface.

A pre-installed rubber strap accompanies the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis, which can be easily swapped for an aftermarket 44mm strap. The included strap is waterproof and feels robust, with multiple adjustment points for a secure fit. A magnetic pogo-pin charger is also included to recharge the smartwatch.

The optical sensor located at the base of the smartwatch enables heart rate and blood oxygen level monitoring.

A standout feature of the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis is its ability to function as a hands-free speakerphone. The device can be connected to any smartphone via Bluetooth, allowing you to answer calls with its integrated microphone and speaker. Notifications from your connected smartphone can be synced and displayed on the watch, though responding to them is not possible directly from the device. It is powered by a 400mAh battery.

Software, Interface, and App of Just Corseca Ray Kanabis

While some budget smartwatch brands such as Noise and Realme provide their own dedicated apps, Just Corseca utilizes the third-party Da Fit application. I’ve previously used it with the Fire-Boltt Talk smartwatch, and the app is available on both iOS and Android platforms.

Interestingly, the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis shares several characteristics with the Fire-Boltt Talk. Beyond having built-in speakerphone features and Bluetooth audio capabilities, the user interfaces of both devices are quite similar in terms of pre-installed apps, fonts, menus, and controls.

The most noticeable distinction lies in the watch faces offered by each device. The Just Corseca Ray Kanabis provides four pre-installed watch faces tailored to its robust design. These can be previewed and selected using the Da Fit app, which also includes a tab for downloading additional watch faces. While some additional options were appealing, I preferred the default four and used one as my main choice during the review period.

The interface is quite basic, but it sufficiently supports the features found in the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis. A Quick Settings drop-down menu allows for quick access to essential functions such as brightness and connection status while also showing the date, day, and battery level.

Swiping from left to right reveals the app list, while swiping right to left cycles through health tracking features like steps, sleep, heart rate, blood pressure, SpO2, and the speakerphone option. An upward swipe from the bottom displays unread notifications from your smartphone.

My experience interacting with the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis’s screen was somewhat inconsistent. Swipe gestures occasionally failed to register, and taps were often misinterpreted, leading to accidental resets that required me to undergo the pairing process anew.

The Da Fit app has a well-structured design, providing dependable connectivity and straightforward access to health data, basic settings, and smartwatch preferences. It enables users to change watch faces, activate notifications for specific apps, set alarms, and use the smartwatch as a smartphone camera shutter remote.

Performance and Battery Life of Just Corseca Ray Kanabis

Given that the Da Fit app works with both Android and iOS, the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis is versatile in terms of device compatibility. Naturally, the app’s performance may differ depending on your smartphone’s OS. Once properly set up, the smartwatch functions reasonably well for health and fitness monitoring even when disconnected from the paired smartphone. I tested the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis using an Android device, specifically a OnePlus 9 (Review).

For features such as prompt notifications, maintaining a connection between the smartwatch and phone is essential. This function performed well for me, and I could designate which apps were allowed to send notifications to the watch. The selection of supported apps is fairly decent, encompassing popular options like WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, in addition to standard phone and message systems.

Fitness and activity tracking accuracy on the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis generally left much to be desired.

Waking the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis screen can be done in two ways: using a lift-to-wake gesture or by pressing one of the physical buttons. Disappointingly, tapping the screen does not trigger it, and my lift-to-wake gesture often failed to register.

The ability to wake the screen via tap would have been beneficial, as pressing the buttons is slightly cumbersome. The only method to turn off the display from the home screen is by utilizing the top button, as there’s no quick gesture (like covering the screen) available for shutting it off. Alternatively, you can wait for the display to time out automatically after a designated period.

The watch includes a variety of sport and activity modes such as walking, running, cycling, skipping, badminton, basketball, and football. For my review, I focused on basic activities—walking and climbing stairs—to gauge tracking performance. I also evaluated sleep, heart rate, and SpO2 measurement functionalities.

When I manually counted 1,000 steps, the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis recorded 1,077 steps, presenting an error margin of nearly eight percent. This discrepancy remained consistent even with longer distances and higher step counts when compared against my Apple Watch Series 5. Distance calculations while walking were roughly similar to those reported by the Apple Watch, despite the notable disparity in step counts.

Heart rate monitoring proved to be accurate, aligning with readings from my Apple Watch and a pulse oximeter while at rest, but differed by up to seven beats per minute during walks when compared to the Apple Watch. At times, the heart rates recorded on both watches were close when worn simultaneously, making it challenging to identify the root of this discrepancy.

SpO2 readings were inconsistent and often inaccurate, providing contrasting results compared to a pulse oximeter. Blood pressure readings appeared erratic, fluctuating significantly with each measurement. As previously emphasized, utilizing medical-grade instruments is crucial for accurate blood pressure assessment, as the optical sensors in smartwatches cannot be fully trusted. Sleep tracking was satisfactory, but the information gathered was quite basic, typically only detailing the number of hours slept the prior night.

Utilizing the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis as a speakerphone was seamless and practical. Call quality was clear, provided I elevated the device to my face, allowing the microphone to pick up my voice effectively. It performed adequately for brief calls. Additionally, the speaker can be used for audio playback, but the sound quality is not optimized for this purpose, resulting in somewhat flat music playback.

Additional functionalities include a media controller app for handling music playback from your smartphone, a shutter app for remotely commanding the camera, and a Flappy Bird clone that can be played directly on the smartwatch.

Battery performance on the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis varies based on usage patterns. With frequent notifications, a constant connection to my phone, regular fitness and heart rate monitoring, and occasional calls, I achieved about seven days of use on a single charge. While this is respectable for a device in this price range, it falls significantly short of the company’s stated claim of 15 days.

Conclusion

While the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis boasts an attractive design and numerous features, the overall user experience did not meet my expectations given the price point. The speakerphone function and app notifications work efficiently, the Da Fit app is generally adequate, and battery life is commendable. However, its fitness and health tracking capabilities are rather inconsistent, placing it at a notable disadvantage compared to similarly priced options like the Realme Watch 2 Pro.

If you’re looking for basic smartwatch functionality, the Just Corseca Ray Kanabis might be worth considering. However, alternatives like the Realme Watch 2 Pro and Fire-Boltt Talk provide superior performance at more competitive prices and are especially attractive if you’re trying to save money.

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