The market for smartwatches and activity wristbands continues to grow every day. Personally, I have been using this type of accessories for more than 4 years and few have surprised me as much as the model I am here to talk to you about today. Let me explain my experience after trying Xiaomi Mi Watch , a device that offers a lot for very little.
Design matters and Xiaomi knows it
The first thing I need you to keep in mind is that this device has a clear sports side, with the ability to monitor 117 different types of sports (although I will talk about this later). Many manufacturers use this to “rugged” their smart watches with the excuse of protection but, in my opinion, with this they lose a good part of the public who not only want this accessory for sports.
In this case, I can say that the Chinese manufacturer has moved away from that by designing a watch that is certainly beautiful and elegant, but without trying to look like a luxury item. Let’s say, so that we all understand each other, that they stay at the right point between design and practicality.
This Mi Watch is composed of a circular sphere with a 1.39 ″ AMOLED screen with a 2.5D finish, that is, a curved finish that gives it that extra finish that improves the experience when using it. A screen that looks great in any situation and is large enough that we don’t have to hold it close to our face to read a notification. Of course, if you are a lover of small spheres, I am already anticipating that perhaps this is not the most suitable watch for you.
The section of the button panel in this watch is tremendously simple because we only find 2 options:
- Home button : it will act as the activation system for the screen when it is off and, once it is on, when pressed we will launch the app and services drawer of the watch.
- Sport button : it is exclusively dedicated to all the sports modes that the Mi Watch has.
Finally, in the lower part we find the entire system of sensors that will allow us to know: the heart rate, the SpO2 measurement, the stress or the measurement of sleep quality, among other aspects. From here we also have access to the simple strap change mechanism which, luckily, is a standard that will allow us to fit most of the straps on the market.
I had not commented on it until now but something important that you should know, and that will give you greater peace of mind when using it
In short, the feelings of wearing this watch are very positive . It is light, elegant and with a screen of a size and brightness enough to show it off in any situation. Although, as I mentioned before, be careful if you have a small doll because this model may not be the most suitable.
A system with little to envy
The second important pillar when using a smartwatch is its operating system , encompassing everything that flows through it. By this I mean both that the navigation is clear, simple and fast, and that the options it offers are very complete. And, in this case, this Xiaomi Mi Watch complies with this with minimal exceptions.
If we slide to the left or right we will change the screen to the different widgets of the clock. Here we can find the heart rate monitor, stress monitor, sleep quality, weather, blood oxygen measurement, the widget to control the music played on the phone and a summary of our daily physical activity.
However, if we swipe from the top of the screen we will access the notification center , where the messages, emails and other alerts that come to the phone will accumulate. And this is where we can find a little fault with the Mi Watch. You will have noticed that this does not include any type of speaker or microphone , and this directly affects notifications, since we will not have the possibility to interact with them. It is true that we can see that we have received a WhatsApp message, an email or know that they are calling us but, honestly, something that would have enhanced the experience with this watch would have been to have this alternative of answering from it.
And, if we do the opposite gesture, sliding from below we will reach the control center . This gives us quick access to certain functions such as:
- Flashlight: it will turn the entire screen blank so that we can use its brightness in moments of low light.
- Raise to wake: the screen will turn on when you turn your wrist to see the time.
- Alarms
- Do not disturb mode.
- Active display: this mode will make the watch face active longer than usual.
- Access to device settings: here we can access many interesting functions such as modifying the brightness of the screen, varying the strength of the vibration or changing the spheres.
Although access to the change of the spheres is something that we can also access by pressing and holding the screen in the start menu. By default, we only find 4 different spheres in the clock system but we will have access to many more from the control app on the phone.
App to vitaminize the user experience
Speaking of the application for our mobile phone, unlike other Xiaomi devices, this watch will not be controlled from the Mi Fit app. We can synchronize the Mi Watch with the phone, either Android or iPhone, from the Xiaomi Wear application.
From there we will have access to our status , where we can consult in depth data such as stress, sleep, heart rate and other values that I have already mentioned. Then, in the second tab we will see the training section and the latest results obtained while doing sports. And finally, in the profile menu is where we will configure the notifications and all the spheres will be available for our watch.
An application that, as I mentioned, will improve comfort when accessing health and fitness data. In addition, something that I really liked is that, in each parameter, Xiaomi gives us all the necessary information to understand the values obtained correctly. And we will have this information from the app as on the watch itself.
Easy to recommend smartwatch
Starting from a good design that is not penalized by its sporting aspect and complies with any day-to-day situation. Then, if we go into its operating system, we have a large number of options and settings that will monitor many important aspects of our health such as blood oxygen saturation, seeing that the virus that lives with us directly affects this constant .
In addition, these values are supported by a large number of sensors and Bluetooth or GPS connectivity . All these make that each parameter that this smartwatch shows us has an accurate measurement.
But, the best thing I have not told you yet, and it is its price. The Xiaomi Mi Watch, which we can buy in 3 different colors, has a price of 129.99 euros . So, if you are looking for a smartwatch that meets the typical “good, pretty and cheap”, this is a great option to consider.
