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Redmi Watch Review : There’s a Chink in The Armour


In case you are available in the market for a health wearable, chances are high you’ve got taken a take a look at Xiaomi’s merchandise already. The Mi Band collection has helped the corporate construct and keep its place within the health wearable area. With a view to diversify on this product class, Xiaomi has lately introduced within the Redmi Watch, which caters to these in search of a watch-like form and in-built GPS for health monitoring. Priced at Rs. 3,999, the Redmi Watch does appear inexpensive, however does it provide the very best worth? I put the Redmi Watch to the check to seek out out.

Redmi Watch value in India

The Redmi Watch is offered in a single dimension solely and is priced at Rs. 3,999 in India. Xiaomi provides the Redmi Watch in three dial colors: Black, Blue, and Ivory. There are 4 strap choices (Black, Blue, Ivory, and Olive). I had an all-black Redmi Watch with me for this assessment.

Redmi Watch design

The Xiaomi Redmi Watch has a square-shaped dial but it surely does not actually stand out since numerous wearables at this value level have related designs. The Redmi Watch has a plastic physique with a matte end and it’s curved on the corners whereas the perimeters are utterly flat. There is just one button on the fitting whereas the opposite aspect is clean. The Redmi Watch has an LCD show that measures 1.4-inches, with 2.5D glass on prime.

The Redmi Watch is waterproof upto 5 ATM of stress so you’ll be able to put on it whereas swimming with none worry of damaging it. Xiaomi has used proprietary connectors for the straps which can restrict your strap choices. Eradicating the strap may be very simple, you simply have to press the discharge button on the watch physique. Placing the straps again on is straightforward as nicely and also you hear an audible click on when the strap is firmly connected.

The Redmi Watch solely has one multi-function button

Xiaomi has pre-curved the straps which makes it tremendous simple to put on the watch. The Redmi Watch has a normal pin buckle and it by no means got here off through the assessment. On the underside of the Redmi Watch are its coronary heart fee sensor and pins for charging. This wearable doesn’t help SpO2 monitoring, a function that may have made it extra interesting given the present pandemic scenario. The included charging cradle has a full-sized USB plug on the different finish. The Redmi Watch homes a 230mAh battery and claims to supply about 10 days’ value of battery life. The Redmi Watch is comparatively mild at simply 35g.

Redmi Watch software program

You should use the Redmi Watch together with an Android or iOS gadget, and you may want the Xiaomi Put on or Xiaomi Put on Lite app respectively to handle it. This wearable may be very simple to pair, and it maintains a steady connection so long as the telephone is inside vary. The app requires you to signal right into a Mi account and is identical one you’d use with numerous different Xiaomi wearables such because the Mi Watch Revolve (Review), which I’ve reviewed already, and the newly launched Mi Watch Revolve Active. The app is simple to make use of and allows you to customise a number of the settings on the Redmi Watch. You possibly can change watchfaces and choose which apps can ship notifications to your wrist.

You possibly can retailer upto 5 watchfaces on the Redmi Watch and might change them by merely long-pressing on the present one. To obtain recent new watches onto the Redmi Watch, you will have to make use of the Xiaomi Put on app. So many can be found that you should use a brand new one day by day and nonetheless not repeat any for a number of months. Nonetheless, you aren’t getting the choice to customize these watchfaces.

The Redmi Watch is able to coronary heart fee, sleep, and exercise monitoring

The Redmi Watch runs a customized OS and options heart-rate, sleep, and exercise monitoring. It additionally has a barometer, a compass, and in-built GPS, which helps you to observe out of doors exercises while not having a smartphone. The UI on the Redmi Watch may be very simple to make use of. You possibly can swipe down from the highest to see notifications and swipe as much as entry fast toggles. Swiping left to proper reveals you totally different screens containing climate data, sleep period, coronary heart fee, energy burned, and music participant controls. Urgent the button on the aspect takes you to a listing of all of the capabilities of the Redmi Watch.

Redmi Watch efficiency and battery life

I used the Redmi Watch for 2 weeks and I discovered it to be very comfy. Provided that the Redmi Watch weighs simply 35g, you will barely discover it when worn. This low weight and its small dimension additionally makes it simple to put on this watch to mattress. The show high quality is simply common and I discovered the auto brightness to be a bit too aggressive. The raise-to-wake gesture works nicely, and the Redmi Watch is fast to modify its show off to preserve battery life.

I had arrange the watch to buzz for incoming WhatsApp notifications, and I might learn incoming ones on the watch itself however there isn’t a method to reply to them. The Redmi Watch can notify you of incoming calls together with the caller identify. You possibly can’t take calls utilizing the watch, however you’ll be able to decline or silence them.

Coronary heart fee monitoring was pretty correct and I didn’t see an enormous deviation in comparison with readings proven by an Apple Watch SE that I used to be utilizing on the identical time. The default interval for coronary heart fee monitoring is half-hour (to save lots of energy), which you would possibly need to change to five minutes or so for extra helpful statistics. Sleep monitoring on the Redmi Watch was correct and it additionally gave me a breakdown of my sleep high quality within the app. For those who’ve been in search of a tool that may additionally observe SpO2, nicely, that is lacking on the Redmi Watch, and it might have been a robust promoting level had Xiaomi included this.

The center fee sensor and charging pins on the underside of the Redmi Watch

Step monitoring labored with a negligible error fee on the Redmi Watch, I counted 1,000 steps manually, and the watch confirmed 1,002, which is appropriate for a tool at this value. The Redmi Watch is able to monitoring 11 exercises together with Cricket, however given the present scenario I might solely check its health monitoring capabilities whereas exercising indoors utilizing the freestyle exercise mode. On this mode it solely confirmed me my coronary heart fee and the variety of energy burnt. I discovered the center fee readings whereas figuring out to be inconsistent. I could not check the accuracy of GPS monitoring on the watch.

Battery life was acceptable given the scale of this wearable and its small 230mAh battery, Xiaomi claims upto 10 days of battery life however I obtained solely about 7 days of use out of it with sleep monitoring each evening, figuring out on alternate days, and notifications enabled for WhatsApp. For those who allow extra app notifications or work out extra regularly, the battery life is perhaps even decrease. The equipped charger takes about two hours to cost the Redmi Watch totally, and a sooner charging resolution would have been good.

Verdict

The Redmi Watch does what you would possibly count on, however does nothing extra to face out within the sea of health wearables at the moment accessible. Xiaomi has put within the effort to make it mild, however I might have been pleased with a barely heavier Redmi Watch with higher battery life. Xiaomi nonetheless provides superb monitoring for steps, and in case your essential motivation is to log your step rely every day, the Redmi Watch will do this fairly nicely.

Xiaomi does have the scope to enhance the Redmi Watch, and including SpO2 monitoring can be a superb place to begin. Until then, if you’re in search of an inexpensive health wearable that permits you to observe the standard together with SpO2, the Amazfit Bip U Pro is an alternate value contemplating.