Review of the Huami Amazfit – Design, Hardware and Software

Xiaomi is well know for its products. Not only for the mobiles but and for the gadgets made directly from the company or through Xiaomi, like Mija. Yesterday we where speaking about the Xiaomi Robotic Vacuum Cleaner and we have seen that is an amazing new gadget. While we thought the same must happen and for the expected Xiaomi Smartwatch, we saw Huami to announce Huami Amazfit.

I guess many of you will say that the story repeats itself and Xiaomi is announcing a smartwatch under Huami, a sub-brand, likes has done for the shoes that Huami sells for Xiaomi or products from other companies like Mija. I would like to see a smartwatch with the name Xiaomi on it and not Huami, but this is personal thinking. Nevertheless, since the smartwatch is from Huami, I will refer to it as Huami Smartwatch.

Somewhere a month ago rumors where saying that the expected Xiaomi smartwatch will support Bluetooth headphones. It was then that we learned the price tag this device will be sold for, 799 yuan. Later rumors started to say that the smartwatch will come from Huami and not from Xiaomi itself. Moreover, it was claimed this smartwatch will win sport lovers’ hearts. Once Huami Amazfit came out, it became clear this smartwatch sports many amazing features like GPS positioning (for China only), Bluetooth headphone support to listen songs right from your smartwatch, long lasting battery life, some sport specific features, push notifications, ApliPay and many others. I believe now you understand why it was told that will win sport lover’s hearts.

Design And Hardware

Huami Amazfit doesn’t look like other sports smartwatches. Yes it has a round screen like the V11, TenFifteen A10 or No.1 G5, but Huami smartwatch has rounded edges, which others don’t. I guess with this look wanted to look and like a classic watch or for square-shaped smartwatch such as the Meizu smartwatch and the Podoor PW308S, iMacwear I9, Doogee S1, respectively. Now if we really want to beleive this is a Xiaomi Smartwatch, we will see many resemblances with Xiaomi Mituwatch, a smartwatch made for kids and the Amazfit has many elements inherited from it. Of course with the zirconia ceramic bezel that has, put it to higher level from the kids smartwatch. Due to this material, we have a scratch-resistant allowing you to wear it for a longer time regardless the environment.

Huami Amazfit comes with a 1.34 display at a resolution of 300×300 pixels. If you want to dial to someone, dialing opting is always active, so it won’t take you long to call whenever you want. Of course you can get updated at many more things at any moment. Huami Amazfit can become and a traditional watch like the FINOW Q1. The good thing is that the smartwatch can display the content of the screen in any lightning conditions.

IF you have a look on the back cover we will find the home button that is the only physical button on this watch. Yet it is too small and almost has no bulge, so I guess one must push it a few times before he gets what he wants. Huami says that this is made on purpose, so to prevent the inadvertently pressure. The bad thing is that when you have to unlock your screen, since this is the only physical button, must be pressed to unlock it!

Huami Amazfit comes with dual colored wristbands in orange and black that can be easily removed and replaced with any 22mm wristbands you prefer. That is good, as you don’t have to search for any special wristbands on the market, but it’s highly recommended not to act so, because the original wristbands are made with a special technology preventing sweating and lets users wear it for a long time.

Optical heart rate sensor is located on the back, as in Mi Band.

The dual core 1.2GHz processor paired with a 512MB of RAM and 4GB of ROM and the 200mAh battery are located under the cover. The battery supports magnetic charging, so there are no holes for mini USB or other cables.

Software

Huami app is quite simple. Login to your account and start using the watch like any other OS-powered device. You can easily change the interface in the way you want, or you can adjust the widget order on the screen or you can enable the push notification option and so on, but you will not be able to download other apps as if it was an Android-powered device allowing users to access Play Market and download millions of apps and widgets.

Huami Amazfit comes with Xiaomi’s Mi Fit app pre-installed (as in the latest version of Mi Fit 2.2.0, inside the code new lines appeared talking about Huami, I guess Huami Amazfit).  So it can cooperate with any Android phone or tablet that supports this app. Unfortunately, this software is not available for iOS users, so the Apple fans have to wait a little more.

Motion monitoring functions

Movement tracking function is one of the main advantages of the Huami Amazfit. Due to GPS and GLONASS positioning systems as well as world’s first 28-nanometer GPS chip, Amazfit can accurately track distance, elevation, cadence, pace, and other professional sports data for the daily training. However, it would be a sin if we say this is a great app, as it needs to be enhanced in the future.

Heart Rate Monitoring

Of course heart rate monitoring function couldn’t miss from Amazfit. Knowing from Mi Band 2, we have see an improvement in measuring. Now, the device uses PPG-based heart rate sensor combined with its latest self-developed algorithm to monitor heart rate and display an appropriate data. This function has been compared with the same feature of the Apple Watch, and surprisingly the Huami Amazfit showed very respectable results. The latter doesn’t differ from Apple’s data very much.

Push Messages 

Users can get acquainted with any notification directly from the watch referring to a call, WeChat, SMS, weather and so on.

Payments

Huami smartwatch supports AliPay payment system, customers can use it when making purchases at stores, supermarkets, fast food shop and so on. A simple scan process will allow them to pay for the bought goods directly by their watches.

Amazfit comes with 4GB of internal memory, enough to store 500+ songs and listen to them via Bluetooth headphones. Also you can download any song you listen to via FM radio. The only trick…you can download and hear a song at the same time.

Huami Amazfit can work up to 35 hours on a single charge even when the GPS is ON. If you want it to last more, you can disable many functions, and it will serve you up to 5 days. At last you can switch to saving mode, and keep charged up to 11.5 days.

Conclusion

I know that many ask, why Huami and not Xiaomi!? There is no answer to this question. Looking at Huami Smartwatch we have to agree that is a sports smartwatch. Many of the features hint we are dealing with a sports device. If you take under consideration this and compare it for example with Forerunner 225, one of the most favorite sports smartwatches of our time. I guess Huami Amazfit wins the race. Of course there are some issues before Huami Smartwatch becomes international, but I want to belive that Xiaomi will solve them. So are you gonna buy Huami Amazfit!? Right now you can enjoy coupon code: GALEAZZI5 to catch it at $135.99. Come on!

Update on September 25, 2017