Apple or Huami? After the Amazfit GTR, the new connected watch from the manufacturer Huami is now available. The Amazfit GTS smartwatch looks suspiciously like Apple’s watch, causing a stir that has not been noticed by the editorial staff. To find out if the watch manages to live up to expectations, with the necessary pressure.
Xiaomi seems to have struck it again: the manufacturer’s subsidiary Huami has just announced a new smartwatch that looks like it is mistaken for the Apple Watch Series 4. With nevertheless a big advantage over its competitor: the manufacturer announces until ” 14 days of autonomy!
Xiaomi has always displayed a certain fascination for Apple – at the risk of often being inspired quite freely by the design of its products. We have already seen the firm do it on its line of computers, or even with its first smartphones. But since Xiaomi seemed to have taken its own design direction on all of its lineup. So much so that one would have thought that the firm had indeed finished with these practices, for the better, moreover: the latest products of the firm, are, all categories combined, very often more innovative than those of the giant from Cupertino.
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Last updated on 2024 24Asia/ShanghaipmSat, 11 May 2024 21:57:39 +0800 5 05202453109 11 11pm24 pm9:57
Huami Amawfit GTS: Xiaomi copied the Apple Watch 4 on everything except autonomy
However, it seems that apple products remain THE benchmark for Xiaomi. As proof, the latest creation from its subsidiary Huami: a smart health connected watch, the Amazfit GTS. Let’s not go there by four paths: this watch is a clone of the Apple Watch 4 with its square screen with rounded edges and its wheel evoking the digital crown of its competitor. The only real difference is the disappearance of the side button and the absence of openings on one side of the case to let sound and voice pass.
It does not include an electrocardiogram sensor as on the last iteration of the Apple Watch – but has a BioTracker pulse sensor, an NFC chip for transport and payments, as well as a GPS / GLONASS chip for geolocation and Bluetooth 5.0. The case is designed in “aerospace quality” aluminum waterproof to 5 ATM. It is also very light and a little thinner since it weighs 24.8 g for 9.4 mm thick against 48 g and 10.7 mm for the Apple Watch Series 4.
And despite its AMOLED screen and a 220 mAh battery, it has a battery life of up to 14 days. But as you can imagine, you have to read the notes written in small: this incredible autonomy is only obtained at the cost of disabling certain features at the heart of the experience of a smart health connected watch, like GPS. If you need to track your movements, the battery life drops to just 25 hours – slightly more than the official battery life of the 18-hour Apple Watch Series 4.
This smartwatch is currently only available for pre-order in China for 900 yuan, or around € 117 – which is almost four times cheaper than the Apple Watch Series 4, which starts at € 429. It is not known at the moment whether it will be available in France, or when.
Huami Amazfit GTS Technical sheet
Model: Huami Amazfit GTS
Screen: 1.65 inch AMOLED, 348 x 442 p, 341 ppi, GorillaGlas 3
Available colors: black, gold, pink, blue, gray, red
Battery: 220 mAh, autonomy about 10 days
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS
Application: compatible with Android 5, iOS 10
Water resistance: ATM 5
Dimensions | bracelet | Weight: 43.25 x 36.25 x 1.1 mm | 20 mm | 34.8 g with strap
Amazfit GTS Smartwatch with 14-Day Battery Life,1.65 Inch AMOLED Display, Customizable Widgets, Slim Metal Body, 5 ATM Water Resistance, 24/7 Heart Rate and Activity Tracking, Obsidian Black
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Features
- FITNESS, HEART RATE & SLEEP TRACKER: The Amazfit GTS fitness smartwatch precise optical heart rate monitoring allows you to accurately track real-time steps taken, all-day heart rate monitoring, distance traveled, calories burned, quality of sleep and sleeping patterns
- 1.65" AMOLED ALWAYS-ON DISPLAY: Amazfit GTS has a customized 1.65-inch AMOLED always-on stylish square screen which offers a larger display area than a round watch face of the same width, so it can carry more information
- 14-DAYS BATTERY LIFE: Our smartwatch deeply optimizes the power consumption of the components to bring long-lasting endurance of 14 days while keeping a slim watch body, which enables you to avoid frequent charges
- BLUETOOTH MUSIC CONTROL: Bluetooth Music Control allows you to directly control music from your GTS smartwatch while workout without having to pull out your phone
- 5 ATM WATER RESISTANT: Amazfit GTS is water resistant to a depth of 50 meters and supports multiple swimming scenarios. It can automatically recognize your swimming position, and record data like SWOLF, pace or calorie consumption
Design and manufacture
At first glance, it’s obvious why we first thought of a new Apple Watch. The new Huami Amazfit Smartwatch closely resembles the current Apple Watch 5, it is a watch with a rounded and “square” screen. Apple has perfected this look with the current generation because the screen is bigger and the corners aren’t as rounded. There is also a similarity in the size of the screen with a diagonal of 1.65 inches. However, the function key of the GTS is not located at the top on the right side, but rather in the center.
Comparison
The size is pretty much the same as the Amazfit Bip, although the GTS’s display is 0.4 inches larger. The GTS’s screen edges are thinner in comparison, but not as thin as those of current Apple Watches.
The watch case is made of aluminum, the 20mm strap of course made of silicone, which is particularly advantageous for athletes. Without the strap you get a weight of 24.8g which makes the watch relatively light. With dimensions of 43.25 x 36.25 x 10.1mm, it has a size of 44mm, comparable to that of the Apple Watch 5, although it has a slightly larger display. As always, the underside of the watch houses the heart rate monitor, which protrudes slightly from the plastic bottom. The watch is CE marked.
The Amazift GTS also has a nice optical appearance. The watch is available in six different colors, but the colors relate almost exclusively to the straps. Silicone bracelets are available in black, gray, blue, red, red, rose and beige / gold. The aluminum casing of the latter two is also tinted accordingly, while the other Colorways come with a similar body on the market. With our blue GTS, the body is as blue-gray, but not as strong as the ribbon.
Colors
Although we call the Amazfit GTS an “Apple Watch” clone because of its outward appearance, the GTS has almost nothing in common with an “Apple Watch” clone like the LEMFO LEM10. To my taste, the GTS is probably one of the nicest Smartwatches on the market, also because with a thickness of 1.1 cm it is much more filigree at the thickest point than the Amazfit GTR for example. The manufacture of Huami is exemplary, the watch is of very high quality, in particular thanks to the aluminum case. The function key press point provides good feedback, the strap is easy to change and the corners are nicely rounded.
Therefore, I very much appreciate the wearing comfort. Thanks to its total weight of 38.4g, including the included silicone strap, you easily forget that you are wearing a watch. The last time I had this impression was with the Amazfit Bip. The small size enhances the finest wrists even more, but also doesn’t go unnoticed on wide wrists.
We are happy that the Huami Amazfit GTS is water resistant according to the ATM 5 classification. So there is no problem for showering and swimming. During the trial period, I took a shower with my watch every day. I haven’t been able to swim with it yet, but I would have been happy to. However, the watch is not intended for diving and there is a risk of damage.
However, it is recommended that you lock the screen in the quick settings before taking a shower so that the water pressure does not activate the touchscreen.
Screen
For the Huami Amazfit GTS, the manufacturer relies on a 1.65 inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 348 x 442 pixels. This not only makes the screen bigger than that of the Huami Amazfit GTR 47mm, but also thinner than that of the Apple Watch. The display has a higher pixel density than the “original”. The 341 ppi pixel density of the GTS isn’t much higher than the 326 ppi of the Apple Watch 4/5, but it’s good enough to advertise. Huami also protects its panel with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 3 which is slightly curved on the sides.
The AMOLED panel offers “perfect black”, the transition between the display and the edge of the screen is almost smooth and you can also erase the inner edge. In addition, Amazfit intelligently converts the surface so that you never have a sharp contrast between the edge and the screen (except with the flashlight), because with the two pre-installed watch faces and any menu item , you only have a black background.
However, the screen can be very bright. Maximum brightness is not actually necessary in any situation. Even in bright sunlight, medium brightness makes it easier to read, and those who don’t fancy paying attention to the battery can even set it up to 75%. On a daily basis, in the office and on gray autumn days, I’m even able to cope with about a fifth of the maximum setting. This is where the good contrast ratio of the AMOLED panel comes into its own. This is why you can spare yourself the auto brightness which in my opinion makes the display too bright in every situation.
Amazfit has always incorporated good touch screens into its watches, and GTS is no exception. The clock reacts quickly and precisely, the risk of input error is almost zero.
Since it’s an AMOLED panel, the watch also comes equipped with an Always-On display, which has been present this time since launch unlike the GTR. With an always-on display, the clock always shows the time even in standby mode, but minimizes the watch face as much as possible. As each pixel of an AMOLED panel can be illuminated individually, in this mode only the necessary pixels are displayed and not the entire screen. Therefore, an AMOLED panel is generally more power efficient and you have a higher contrast ratio.
Operation
The Huami Amazfit GTS is of course equipped with a touchscreen that responds reliably and precisely. It also allows control of the watch, although the function key on the right side is also used from time to time.
As always, you start from the watch face and automatically return to it when you wake the watch from sleep mode. After a swipe, the GTS list menu opens, which you can scroll up and down. If you swipe up and down from the top, the quick settings open. There you will find the battery status, but you can also lock the display, activate the flashlight, adjust the brightness (including auto-brightness) and select one of three DND modes (Do not disturb -> “Do Not Disturb “).
Swiping left will take you to the pedometer, clicking on it will give you a history of the steps you have taken and additional information. The Back-Swipe which is a quick swipe to the right allows you to access the heart rate monitor from the dial. Even if you have turned off automatic pulse measurement, the heart rate monitor immediately starts measuring the pulse.
If you want to get back to the Watchface quickly, all you need to do is tap the button on the right side. If you press this button again, the Amazfit GTS goes into standby mode. In the settings you can also determine the next action if you hold down the button for about 2 seconds. You have the choice of sport modes, status, pulse, weather, messages, reminder, alarm, compass, countdown, timer, music, cell phone search or turn off.
Drums
This is not a “real” Smartwatch, but rather a sports smartwatch like the Amazfit Stratos or the Amazfit GTR. After all, the manufacturer does not use internal memory, so there is no App Store available like the Ticwatch C2 with WearOS. However, this remains a positive point on the battery life. Inside is a 220 mAh battery, which is charged by a magnetic cable. Amazfit promises an autonomy of 14 days in “normal” use. Without the need for the Bluetooth connection, heart rate monitor and GP, you probably last up to a month and a half. With permanently activated GPS, you can only last about 24 hours.
Unfortunately, I could not validate the indications of the manufacturer. In two weeks I was still not doing well with my use. As I said above, always-on display mode consumes almost 20% of battery life per day. With low light, notifications turned off, heart rate monitor active only when in use, a 7 second display and no use of GPS, I got around 10 days. We are far from an Amazfit Bip. I was already surprised at the start that we only have 220 mAh, where yet the GTR, with a smaller display has a capacity of 390 mAh.
Even though the battery life is not that long, that’s fine with me. It’s nice to know that you don’t need to bring a charging cable before a weekend trip and there are around 60% of it left. I also think that charging a device once a week is not a chore. After all, the watch fully charges within an hour. Nevertheless: a slightly larger battery would not have hurt.
Performance
As we mentioned before, this is not a real smartwatch. It is equipped with a clean Amazfit operating system and does not offer an open interface like Ticwatch WearOS watches. In addition, there is only minimal memory, which is only enough for the collected data, but not for additional apps or music. You already reach the limit with the memory of the dials. But it also has the advantage that the operating system reacts very quickly and is well suited to the hardware. There was no noticeable delay in testing.
Bluetooth 5 connection is available to connect to the smartphone, but there is no WiFi chip. GPS and GLONASS are used to determine location, and NFC is even built-in for Chinese users. This function which is used for public transport tickets is not yet available in Europe. For the different sports modes, the Huami Amazfit GTS offers almost the same equipment as the Amazfit GTR. These include an optical BioTracker heart rate monitor, a 6-axis acceleration sensor, an air sensor and a geomagnetic sensor.
Application
ApplicationThe app is divided into three tabs: training, friends and profile. Under training you can, for example, set your weight, view your sleep analysis and see your recent activities. From here you can also start activities such as walking, running and cycling. However, this is done via the smartphone and not by the watch. In my opinion, you can safely ignore the “Friends” tab.
Under the ill-chosen term “Profile”, you can mainly make settings on the watch. For example, you can choose which app you receive notifications from, which wrist you wear your watch on, or how apps should be displayed on the clock. This is nothing new for regulars of Amazfit watches.
As usual, the connection between the watch and the cell phone is as usual. In the Amazfit app, just click on the “Plus” symbol at the top right, then select “Watch”, select the Amazfit GTS, scan the QR code of the watch with your mobile phone, confirm the request for pairing on the watch, then wait for updates. Don’t get impatient, it will take a few minutes.
Currently, it only takes five seconds before the changes are applied. Once you have set up the watch, you hardly need the app except to update the weather data.
Activity tracker
Due to the somewhat restrictive hardware, this results in a narrow range of functions. Overall, the user interface and range of functions is similar to that of the Amazfit GTR.
The watch is of particular interest to athletes. You get a total of 12 sport modes, but some of them differ only slightly. This is of course a jogging mode (indoor, outdoor), a walking mode, a cycling mode (indoor, outdoor), swimming, step, skiing or free training.
The GPS tracking took about 20 seconds to determine my position before I started my run, but the reception was good and the ride was not interrupted. While running, you will of course be shown the time, distance and real-time pulse. Added to this are cadence, step size and calorie consumption as well as altitude. For almost all modes, there are settings before starting, such as setting a goal for distance, time, or fuel consumption. It is also possible to be informed by vibration of each kilometer traveled or of a certain value – very convenient.
This collected data can then be displayed on the watch as well as in the application. The data is now found under “Activity” and no longer under sports modes, as is the case with the Amazfit Bip, for example. While the app display is already pretty detailed with running distance, heart rate, and heart rate graph, you get a lot more data in the app.
So far, we haven’t been able to try out all sport modes. The data collected is also slightly different depending on the mode selected. With the swim mode, you can adjust the length of the track in advance, which is of course not necessary when jogging. I also find it convenient that the “Sport” menu displays the remaining battery life, so you can estimate whether you need to charge the watch before the scheduled activity.
The two Status & Heart Rate menu items are the two “Apps” accessible by flicking left and right. At first glance, the status informs you of the steps taken, the distance traveled and the calories consumed. Another tip then displays the history of steps and the number of “movement reminders”. The heart rate monitor measures the pulse directly as soon as it is selected and then classifies it as “relaxed”, for example.
Already when testing the Huami Amazfit Verge Lite, we noticed that the weather display is much more detailed than in the previous generation. This includes the course of the sun, including sunrise and sunset. In addition, there is the UV index, humidity and the force of the wind. The forecast now includes seven days instead of the usual five days. Unfortunately, this is only visible on the clock if the clock is regularly synchronized with the Amazfit app. Fortunately, the data can also be displayed as a “widget” on either side of the watch.
Music control is also not new, for beep users. The application is very well designed and reminds the interface of an MP3 player, but is only used to control media players on your smartphone. It works with Spotify as well as with the music app on your smartphone. You can play and pause a song, skip to the next or previous track, and increase or decrease the volume. Unfortunately, you can’t use the slider for this, only the buttons. You should also expect a difference of about 0.5 seconds.
Best price of Amazfit GTS
Best price of Amazfit GTS
$79.99
in stock
3 new from $79.99
as of 2024 24Asia/ShanghaipmSat, 11 May 2024 21:57:39 +0800 5 05202453109 11 11pm24 pm9:57
Amazon.com
Conclusion
The Huami Amazfit GTS is our favorite watch so far, although it’s not perfect. Nevertheless, the watch has the surprise effect. The manufacturer is putting a “Lifestyle Smartwatch” on the market here, the Amazfit GTS is also being promoted offensively as such. The ultra-precise display, with adjustable dials, is the unique selling point.
With the Amazfit GTS, you cannot make calls, write, surf the Internet or listen to music without a smartphone. But since we still prefer to do it with my smartphone, this is not a problem for us. Those looking for a smartwatche of this caliber should take a look at the Huawei Watch GT 2.
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AB SMART HEALTH REVIEW
