COLMI P85 Smart Watch Review: The Horizontal AMOLED Screen That Nobody Else Has

The COLMI P85 Smart Watch is the most unconventional watch in the COLMI lineup — and one of the most visually distinctive budget smartwatches available in 2026. While every other smartwatch on the market uses a portrait-orientation display (taller than wide), the P85 flips the script with a horizontal, landscape-orientation AMOLED screen. The result is a watch that genuinely looks like nothing else on the wrist and will spark conversations wherever you wear it.

But is the horizontal screen a genuine functional innovation or purely a novelty? Does the landscape orientation improve the smartwatch experience or simply make it different? And who should seriously consider the P85 over COLMI's more conventional models? This full review answers all of it.

The Horizontal Screen: Why It Exists and What It Changes

The horizontal screen orientation on the P85 is not simply a style choice — it's an alternative interface philosophy. Portrait smartwatch displays have been the dominant format since the original Apple Watch in 2015, establishing a visual language of tall, narrow screens with vertically scrolling menus and content. The horizontal format breaks from this convention and creates a genuinely different visual experience.

Visual Advantages of the Landscape Format

The most immediately obvious difference is how data is displayed. In landscape orientation, watch faces can present information in a horizontal layout that more naturally matches the way data is often consumed — left to right rather than top to bottom. A watch face showing time on the left and health stats on the right, for example, feels more like reading a dashboard than scrolling through a list. For users who prefer a data-rich at-a-glance view, the horizontal format can present more information legibly than a portrait display of equivalent physical size.

Chart displays — for heart rate trends, step counts, and sleep stages — are naturally horizontal in orientation. Data that needs to be viewed as a timeline reads more naturally in landscape format, similar to how charts are displayed on a computer screen or phone. When reviewing health data on the P85's horizontal display, the natural chart orientation feels more intuitive than the scrolling vertical charts on portrait watches.

Watch faces that mimic analogue clock designs are also well-suited to horizontal display — a round analogue face centred on a wide landscape screen has space for data fields on either side in a way that portrait displays can't replicate without making the central face very small.

Practical Differences in Daily Use

In day-to-day use, the horizontal display has a few practical implications worth noting:

Reading orientation: The watch is worn with the display horizontal on the wrist, which means lifting your wrist to read it involves a slight rotation compared to the natural wrist-raise position for a portrait watch. Most users adapt to this quickly, within a day or two, and some find the landscape read position more natural after adjustment. It's a genuine change in habit rather than a difficult adaptation.

Notification readability: Short notifications (caller ID, brief messages) display well in landscape format. Longer message previews may require scrolling if the content exceeds what fits in the horizontal display area. For call and message alerts, the landscape format is functionally equivalent to portrait alternatives.

Workout data: During exercise, the horizontal data display has the advantage of presenting pace, heart rate, and distance in a side-by-side layout that can be read without squinting at stacked vertical figures. Many users find the exercise data view on the P85 more readable at a glance than equivalent portrait watches, particularly during running when a quick wrist glance needs to capture multiple data points simultaneously.

Design and Build Quality

The P85's horizontal display necessitates a wider case design than conventional smartwatches. The watch has a rectangular profile that's notably wider than tall, which sits differently on the wrist than standard rectangular watches — it's a similar visual impression to the Apple Watch Ultra's wider case, though the P85 achieves this at a dramatically lower price point.

Build quality is solid throughout. The case construction is firm and well-assembled, the display glass is flush with the case edges, and the side button has a satisfying click response. The silicone strap is comfortable and uses standard attachment dimensions, allowing aftermarket band replacement. IP68 water resistance is standard for daily moisture scenarios.

Available colour options provide variety while maintaining the watch's distinctive aesthetic. The wide-case horizontal format is immediately identifiable and consistently distinctive — even to people who know nothing about COLMI or budget smartwatches. Wearing the P85 is a visible style statement in a way that more conventional rectangular watches are not.

The AMOLED Display Quality

Regardless of orientation, AMOLED technology produces excellent picture quality: true blacks, vivid colours, high contrast, and good outdoor readability. The P85's horizontal AMOLED panel delivers all of these qualities in a landscape format that, once you're accustomed to it, is genuinely pleasant to use and look at.

Watch faces are designed for the horizontal format and are available through the Da Fit app's face library. The horizontal face library is more limited than the extensive portrait-format collections available for conventional smartwatches, which is a practical limitation — you have fewer customisation options than you would with a standard portrait watch. COLMI and third-party developers continue adding horizontal faces to the library, and the existing selection covers the major styles: digital, analogue, data-rich, and minimalist.

The display brightness and touchscreen responsiveness are comparable to other COLMI AMOLED models. Automatic brightness adjustment works well, and the touch interface for horizontal navigation is intuitive once you've learned the swipe directions that replace the vertical scrolling of portrait watches.

Health and Fitness Monitoring

The P85 delivers the full COLMI health monitoring suite regardless of its unconventional display orientation. The sensors and health tracking capabilities are identical to other P-series models:

Continuous Heart Rate Monitoring

24/7 optical heart rate monitoring provides resting and active heart rate data throughout the day. Real-time readings are viewable from the horizontal watch face, and trend data is stored in the Da Fit app. High and low heart rate alerts are configurable. The horizontal display actually presents real-time heart rate data particularly clearly during exercise, with the number sitting prominently in the landscape layout.

Blood Oxygen (SpO2) Monitoring

On-demand SpO2 measurements take approximately 30 seconds and provide blood oxygen saturation readings for general wellness monitoring. Results are stored in the Da Fit app for historical review alongside other health metrics.

Sleep Stage Tracking

Automatic overnight sleep detection tracks light, deep, and REM stages throughout the night. The P85's wide case may feel slightly more prominent during sleep than slimmer alternatives, though most users find it perfectly comfortable to wear overnight. Morning sleep quality scores and detailed stage breakdowns are provided in the Da Fit app.

Interestingly, the horizontal sleep data charts in the Da Fit app — which show sleep stages plotted across the night — are particularly well-suited to the P85's landscape display format when reviewed on the watch itself, as the timeline nature of sleep staging maps naturally to a horizontal layout.

Stress Monitoring

HRV-based stress monitoring provides daily recovery status data. Guided breathing exercises are accessible from the horizontal watch face for active stress management. The landscape breathing guide interface is well-designed and clear to follow.

100+ Sports Modes

The P85 supports over 100 sports modes covering all major fitness activities. During GPS-connected outdoor workouts (GPS is phone-connected rather than built-in), the horizontal data display shows pace, distance, elapsed time, and heart rate in a landscape layout that many users find easier to read at a glance during running or cycling than equivalent portrait data screens.

Step Counting and Daily Activity

Automatic daily step tracking, calorie estimation, and active distance monitoring run continuously. Sedentary reminders prompt regular movement. The step counter chart in Da Fit is one of the data views that benefits most noticeably from the horizontal screen, as the daily step timeline is inherently a left-to-right progression that maps naturally to the landscape format.

Battery Life

The P85 delivers approximately 10 to 14 days of battery life under typical use conditions — health monitoring active, notifications enabled, always-on display disabled. This is excellent battery performance that reflects the efficiency advantages of the AMOLED panel (where dark watch faces' black pixels consume zero power) and the optimised power management of the P-series hardware platform.

Charging via the magnetic cable takes approximately 1.5 to 2 hours from flat to full. The magnetic connection is secure and easy to attach, snapping to the back of the watch without the fiddliness of pin-based charging connectors.

Smart Features

The P85 connects via Bluetooth 5.3 and supports the full smart notification suite:

• Call alerts with caller ID displayed in the landscape format — phone number and caller name are clearly visible across the wide horizontal display
• Message notifications from SMS, WhatsApp, email, and other apps
• Music playback control from the wrist
• Weather forecast display
• Find my phone function
• Alarm with vibration wake-up
• Remote camera shutter

Bluetooth calling (voice calls from the watch) is not supported on the P85. For that feature, the COLMI P71 or P82 are the appropriate models.

P85 vs P86: Two Distinctive Design Approaches

Both the P85 and P86 are distinctively designed COLMI watches at the same price point, but they take completely different approaches to differentiation:

The P85 differentiates through display orientation — the landscape screen creates a completely different visual format and data presentation philosophy. It appeals to users who want something genuinely unconventional.

The P86 differentiates through display form — the curved AMOLED panel creates a more premium, immersive visual experience within the conventional portrait orientation. It appeals to users who want maximum visual quality in a recognisable format.

Choose the P85 for genuine uniqueness and a different interface experience. Choose the P86 for the most premium-looking conventional COLMI design.

Who Should Buy the COLMI P85?

• Users who are tired of all smartwatches looking essentially the same and want something genuinely distinctive
• People who appreciate the data-dashboard aesthetic of horizontal displays from watches, car instruments, and other horizontal interfaces
• Tech enthusiasts who enjoy being early adopters of alternative form factors
• Gift buyers who want something with real visual impact that stands out immediately
• Users who find horizontal data charts more intuitive than vertical scrolling interfaces during exercise
• Anyone who wants a conversation-starting wearable that people will ask about

Who Should Choose a Different COLMI Watch?

• If you want the most watch face variety and customisation options, choose any portrait-orientation COLMI model
• If GPS is important for running or cycling, choose the P82 or V76
• If you want the most premium-looking curved design, choose the P86
• If professional elegance is the priority, choose the M42
• If you're unsure whether the horizontal format suits you, start with a conventional COLMI model and return to the P85 if you specifically want something different

Verdict

The COLMI P85 is genuinely original in a market where most budget smartwatches look and feel interchangeable. The horizontal AMOLED display is more than a novelty — it creates a different data viewing experience that some users will find more natural and intuitive than the conventional portrait format, particularly for exercise data and health trend charts. The health tracking suite is comprehensive, battery life is excellent, and the build quality matches COLMI's usual standard.

If you want a smartwatch that truly stands out and you're open to a different interface experience, the P85 is one of the most interesting wearables available at any price. For users who prefer conventional smartwatch orientations, every other COLMI model serves them better — but those users are choosing predictability over originality, which is a perfectly valid preference.

Rating: 4.2 / 5 — A genuinely original smartwatch that offers something no competitor does. The horizontal display is more useful than it looks and marks the P85 as one of the most distinctive budget wearables of 2026.