Among the smartwatches available in Europe, the Amazfit GTR 2 and GTS 2 were models whose arrival in Europe was imminent. These new models have soaring expectations, and no wonder, since Amazfit has become one of the most popular brands for its watches with excellent value for money.
The original Amazfit GTR and GTS were very affordable watches for their capabilities and stood out for their exceptional design, being identical watches on the inside but one looking like a traditional watch and the other inspired by the famous Apple design line. Watch. In the second generation we see this commitment to two identical models in technology and with a different design reaffirmed, and we have tested the circular version.
- Screen:
- Diagonal: 1.39 inches.
- Form factor: circular.
- Technology: AMOLED.
- Resolution: 454 x 454 pixels.
- Health surveillance:
- Heart monitoring all day.
- Estimated VO2 Max.
- Sleep tracking.
- Several training modes.
- Smart features:
- Play music.
- Bluetooth call control with microphones and speaker.
- Drums:
- Up to 14 days on a full charge.
- Resistance:
- Stainless steel bezel.
- Water resistance up to 5 atmospheres.
- Dimensions: 46.4 x 46.4 x 10.8 mm.
A smarter watch, less watch design
The original Amazfit GTR was a smartwatch that by its own design made it clear to us that it was aimed more at an audience that perhaps was looking more for a traditional watch design. In this sense, the Amazfit GTR 2 seems to us to follow a change in its design line.
It is a more stylish and above all light model. The front face is entirely governed by a uniform glass for the screen and the frame with the indicators for the clock hands in the case where we are using an analog dial (and as we will see later, the options for choosing the watch faces that we have in abundance). On a personal level, this is not a style that I like very much as it is more vulnerable to certain drops or hits. Because yes, a watch is not going to fall off your wrist, but you can fall with it, or hit it while swimming (the latter happened to me personally). This is not an exclusive problem for Amazfit, but this line of design and products such as Apple Watch or Fitbit also suffers.
The Amazfit GTR 2 is thinner and lighter, with a more modern design and great comfort.
The rest of the design is made of aluminum in the sport version and stainless steel in the classic model. We like two buttons, the upper one being the one we’ll use to open the apps menu or go back to start, while the lower one we can customize as a shortcut to open any app.
If you go inside, you appreciate two openings for microphone and speaker, as well as biometric sensors and charging pins. Also four small screws, each in a corner.
The strap of the sporty model (the one we tested) is made of rubber, while the classic variant is made of leather, both in black. It is very important to note that these are standard 22mm bracelets that are used quite frequently in the market, which will allow us to buy quality bracelets that are much more affordable or even reuse bracelets that you already own. your previous smartwatch if that was the case.
As a technological product
he Equipment This is the strong point of Amazfit, and here we have no complaints. The AMOLED display looks great and looks great both inside and out, although it’s true that the automatic brightness when we leave the house takes a little longer to respond than we’d like.
Regarding the battery, the watch lasted us about a week, although we were able to extend it sometimes up to 12 days. That’s less than the 14 days Amazfit promised, but the company’s estimates certainly don’t use continuous heart rate and stress measurements, in addition to the always-on screen. We haven’t been able to press the clock to the max since Alexa is not available in Europe, a feature which depending on its use could further reduce battery life.
Regarding notifications, these are disabled by default and must be enabled in the app. We have the option to choose which apps will show their notifications, and we will be able to see the app icon, sender, time and message. It doesn’t convince us as we won’t be able to respond to clock messages and deleting a notification is counterintuitive, having to press and hold the notification for the delete button to appear.
Regarding the available applications, we do not have a store that allows us to extend the functionality of these watches, these applications being accessible for the moment:
- DAD: System for measuring our physical activity to give us a score, a function that we have learned in the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 and which tries to measure our health with a simple score.
- Cardiac frequency.
- SpO2: One of the trending features that will be built into the Apple Watch Series 6.
- Exercise: Start the exercise logs.
- Activities: history of activities.
- Pressure: measure of stress.
- Objective of the activity:
- Music: a great app that
- Weather: We get weather information when we are near the mobile.
- Alarms: You can have up to 10 alarms on the clock itself, being able to choose in addition to the time if it will strike once or on certain days of the week.
- Events: A kind of calendar in which we manually add calendar events. It’s very crap that it doesn’t fit into the phone’s own calendars, actually.
- Widgets:
- Compass:
- Barometric altimeter:
- Timer
- Countdown
- Find a phone
- Setting.
In terms of usability design, the menu of the Amazfit application it bothered me. Their translations are questionable, as the only way to understand that Timer doesn’t open the timer but the stopwatch is that there is another app called Countdown which allows us to better guess which is which. On the other hand, it is ridiculous that are hidden in an app called Widgets
Zepp app It is a must to install on your mobile. From there, we can see the health data collected in the watch in more detail, configure some apps, send music to the watch, or download new watch faces to your store, with dozens of options available.
Version:
Author:
Requires
All sport measurement options
The healthcare field is one of the areas where Amazfit has done the most work, and we’re not just talking about its biometric tracking sensors, which include built-in GPS or water resistance. The number of sports that we can record from its application is very large, allowing to record any of these exercises:
- Running and walking: Outdoor running, walking, treadmill, running, walking.
- Cycling: Cycling, spinning, mountain biking, BMX.
- Swimming: Swimming pool, open water swimming.
- Outdoor sports: Mountaineering, hiking, orienteering (no idea what it is), rock climbing, fishing, skateboarding, rollerblading, parkour.
- Indoor sports: Elliptical, stair climbing machine, stepper, indoor gymnastics, mixed aerobics, cross training, aerobics, group gymnastics, body combat, weight training, step training, core training, flexibility exercises, free training, HIIT, yoga, pilates, gymnastics, stretching.
- City: Square dance, ballroom dance, belly dance, ballet, urban dance, zumba, Latin dance, jazz dance, dance.
- Combat sports: Boxing, combat, martial arts, tai chi, muay thai, judo, taekwondo, karate, kickboxing, fencing.
- Ball sports: Basketball, volleyball, beach volleyball, baseball, softball, table tennis, badminton, squash, gateball, cricket, handball, bowling.
- Water sports: Sailing, stand up paddle.
- Winter sports: Skiing, snowboarding, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, orienteering, biathlon, outdoor skating, indoor skating, curling, bobsleigh and luge, sledging.
- Recreational sports: Hula-hoop, frisbee, darts, kite, string game, jian zi.
- Other: Archery, horse riding.
In terms of monitoring activities, Amazfit has done an excellent job.
Is the Amazfit GTR 2 worth it?
One of the reasons for the success of the first generation Amazfit GTR and GTS was based on their really low price. Since their arrival, the two watches have been around around 109 dollars (sometimes more, sometimes less). The Amazfit GTR2 its price increases considerablyBut can you stay competitive? This is a difficult question to answer.
Normally, when choosing a smartwatch, there are six factors that we consider to be key in the user experience. There is no such thing as a perfect smartwatch (because generally the more complex your software, the more the battery drains). By objectively evaluating the Amazfit GTR 2, this would be the experience:
- Health: Very good.
- At the sensor level we have all the features we would expect (including estimating blood oxygen) and the measurements are fantastic. When it comes to sports surveillance, we have the minimum options that we can expect.
- Smart features: Decent, but no bragging.
- We don’t have the option of installing new apps, although the initial set of apps is the basic one you’d expect in a smartwatch. The ability to load your own music into the watch’s internal memory is great.
- Notifications: Poor.
- We can filter the type of apps we will receive on the clock, but when multiple messages pile up, we cannot follow the conversation or respond. There is a lot of room for improvement here.
- NFC Payments: It has NFC, but does not have a payment system in Europe.
- Voice assistant: No.
- It is supposed to support Alexa, but in Spanish it is not yet available. Amazfit says he will arrive “soon”, but at the time of the evaluation he is not there.
- Drums: In our experience, it lasts for about a week using it a bit. Much less than what Amazfit says, although sufficient.
- The one week span was with continuous heart rate and stress measurement, as well as sleep measurement and an always-on screen while we were awake. If you restrict it, it can last longer, but health being its strong point, it should not be given up.
From our point of view, now it’s not worth much. Although with a good integration of Alexa and the implementation of mobile payments, it seems to us an exceptional product, that in Europe the two characteristics are absent, this takes away many points. The price goes up due to an evolution of characteristics which we never cease to benefit from, and which greatly degrades its quality / price ratio.
This valuation is based on the situation of this watch in December 2020, when it costs 169.90 dollars. By lowering the price or taking advantage of features that are not available in Europe, you should earn a lot of points. Even like that, it’s a great watch for those looking for advanced health monitoring and have no problem waiting for new features to arrive.
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