Look. I like my trusty Apple Watch SE. It really works collectively within the handy Apple ecosystem, and it helps me find my misplaced phone with a single tap—which helps quite a bit contemplating how absent minded I might be.
However I’ve to confess that I don’t actually use my SE to its full potential. I don’t work out as a lot as I ought to, and I’ve by no means actually utilised too a lot of its different options.
So, when Anep of SoyaCincau BM requested if I used to be curious to check out the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini, I stated that I wouldn’t thoughts taking it on. The Amazfit GTS Mini appeared remarkably just like the Apple Watch, and it’s at a less expensive worth of RM399.
Since I don’t actually use a lot of what the dearer Apple Watch SE has to supply, might I be content material with a less expensive health watch? And what does it have that the Apple Watch doesn’t?
Uncanny to the untrained eye
In the event you noticed me carrying the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini from afar, you in all probability wouldn’t discover the distinction between it and the Apple Watch. It appears remarkably uncanny, from the silicone strap to its sq. form with rounded edges.
However when you get quite a bit nearer, Apple Watch customers would completely have the ability to inform the distinction. Regardless that it’s roughly the identical dimension because the 40mm Apple Watch, it appears wider and flatter. Its facet button additionally stands proud a bit greater than the Apple Watch’s crown.
My Apple Watch SE weighs 27.8g, whereas the Amazfit mannequin weighs 19g. That slight distinction makes the Apple Watch really feel just a bit extra premium than the cheaper counterpart. However I can’t simply choose a e book by its cowl.
The options aren’t unhealthy in any respect
The very first thing I needed to do once I had my palms on the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini was to personalise its watch face to match what I already had on my Apple Watch. I figured I might a minimum of beautify my health watch with my favorite Kpop star if I needed to take pleasure in carrying it round.
I used to be pleasantly shocked to search out that I’ve many various watch faces to select from. The Zepp app (iOS, Android), which I wanted to obtain to entry options like selecting a watch face, provides a reasonably good number of faces that may offer you the data you need at a look. It features a assortment of “Sports activities Well being” faces that present your rings, tracks, and coronary heart price, in addition to a “Basic” assortment if you wish to go old fashioned.
Amongst the numerous decisions, you too can go for a very customized background. This implies you could choose a picture out of your picture gallery as your watch face, which you’ll be able to add different fundamental data just like the time, date, and variety of steps you’ve taken as we speak.
In contrast to the Apple Watch, you may’t choose a group of pictures—which implies you’ll solely get to see one picture at a time with the Amazfit. However that’s not a very enormous concern.
I used to be additionally shocked to search out out that the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini is ready to measure my blood oxygen ranges as my Apple Watch SE isn’t in a position to take action. Granted, my colleagues famous that the measurements may not be as correct as with an precise blood oxygen monitor and even with an Apple Watch Collection 5—however I’d nonetheless have the ability to use the watch to observe my ranges and speak to a healthcare skilled if the numbers look a bit too loopy.
Moreover, the Amazfit has an possibility known as “One Faucet Measuring” which measures the large three directly—your coronary heart price, your blood oxygen ranges, and your stress ranges. It solely takes 30 seconds for it to measure, and it might be extraordinarily helpful to somebody extra lively.
As for its different options, the watch can do nearly every little thing the Apple Watch can do. This contains the small stuff like climate, alarms, cycle monitoring, compass, stopwatch, and timer—but it surely additionally notably features a “Discover My Telephone” button that works like a allure, and a digicam distant button that may allow you to take photos in your cellphone.
However whereas these options are extraordinarily helpful, it simply doesn’t beat what the Apple Watch can present by way of comfort. I can choose the “Discover My iPhone” function with only a swish and a flick on my SE, whereas I needed to wade by the numerous choices on the Amazfit watch to search out the “Discover My Telephone” function. As for the digicam distant button function, the Amazfit doesn’t offer you a view of what the picture or video would appear to be—it simply offers me a humble button to press and take the image.
I additionally seen a couple of different variations within the GTS 4 Mini that made me miss utilizing the Apple Watch.
A humble reminder that this isn’t an Apple Watch
Urgent onto the Apple Watch’s crown feels actually satisfying, and it brings me to the watch’s app web page which lets me view a complete lot of the apps by small round icons. I can even use the crown to scroll up and down choices on the display.
For the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini, urgent the facet button additionally takes me to its app web page. However I’m not in a position to make use of the button to scroll up and down—I can solely scroll with my finger on the display. It additionally takes ages (it feels prefer it anyway) to search out the app I would like, possible attributable to its low refresh rate.
And though the Zepp app is straightforward to make use of, it doesn’t correctly connect with Apple’s Well being app prefer it stated it might. So, any exercise particulars or steps taken with the GTS 4 Mini look like a waste. As a result of it isn’t correctly linked, notifications don’t pop up on the watch both.
I even have to recollect to maintain the Zepp app working if I would like the watch to robotically sync with my cellphone. If I unintentionally shut the app, I wouldn’t have the ability to do issues like “Discover My Telephone”—which is fairly inconvenient. Nevertheless, Anep discovered it fairly simple to hook up with his Samsung S22 Extremely, so I’m guessing that it might be a problem when the watch is paired to an iPhone.
Total, making an attempt out the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini humbly jogs my memory that I needed to hold my Apple Watch SE idle at residence for the overview. However as I lived with it for a few weeks, I’ve to say that it’s an honest health watch—for an inexpensive Apple Watch knock-off.
Residing with the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini
My Apple Watch SE has a measly battery life that hardly lasts a couple of and a half days. So, I used to be over the moon to search out out that the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini can final for as much as 15 days. In actual fact, its battery life went from 70% to 34% in 14 days—that means that it may final a complete lot longer than 15.
It additionally took me about an hour to cost the watch from 34% to 100%. It might be as a result of I wasn’t in a position to get notifications to work on the watch—as notifications drain my very own Apple Watch’s battery fairly rapidly. I additionally by no means actually did a lot with the GTS 4 Mini in addition to utilizing it for a few workouts, but it surely’s such a aid for me not needing to cost my watch each evening.
Once I did have to cost the GTS 4 Mini, I had to make use of the charger that got here with it within the field. It’s a small magnetic charger that snaps into place fairly simply—similar to the Apple Watch’s round charger. The one distinction is that the Apple charger appears quite a bit sleeker.
However in fact, the battery life received’t matter if I don’t truly use the Amazfit for what it’s—a health watch. Positive, I needs to be taking a minimum of 3,000 steps a day and I ought to comply with my supreme plan of a 30-minute exercise day by day, however I’ve barely handed my minimal day by day step depend and I’ve solely labored out twice in two weeks… Truthfully, that’s fairly good in my books.
Just like the Apple Watch, the GTS 4 Mini tells me to face up and stroll round if I’ve been sitting for too lengthy— one thing I needs to be following by extra. It additionally has a neat function that tells me that I’ve a couple of seconds to take a couple of steps to succeed in a sure purpose, which might feed into an individual’s want to win one thing each every now and then.
For exercises, I often go on the treadmill and comply with that up with some easy power coaching—so I examined it out with the Amazfit. It was fairly simple to pick “Exercise” after which select the type of exercise I needed to do. If I couldn’t discover the kind of exercise I needed to do, I chosen “Free Coaching” and it labored simply as effectively.
It’s to not say that there aren’t many choices for the forms of exercises. There are literally much more choices (greater than 120!) than with one thing like an Apple Watch. Nevertheless it’s quite a bit tougher to search out one thing particular in a brief period of time—and I don’t often wish to wait round and scroll on my watch on the fitness center, it simply looks as if a waste of time.
The outcomes of a exercise synced up fairly simply with the Zepp app. I simply wished that it might simply additionally sync up with Apple’s Well being app. I do know Zepp claims that they’ve that possibility, however I couldn’t get it to work in any respect. So, if my Well being app didn’t register my exercise—why do I even trouble?
And since I’ve been so spoilt by what the Apple Watch SE has to supply, I missed out on issues like paying for issues with Apple Pay by my watch. I used to be principally carrying one thing that appears remarkably like an Apple Watch, solely to make use of my iPhone to pay for issues on the grocery store as an alternative—like a barbarian!
Is the Amazfit GTS 3 Mini for you?
On their website, Amazfit has an enormous assortment of wearables. They embody the Amazfit GTS, a model with an even bigger watch face and extra options. The GTS 4 Mini is principally the sunshine model—with a smaller 1.65-inch display and never as many options. Nonetheless, I feel that it’s a reasonably first rate health look ahead to its worth.
The watch appears nice on smaller wrists, and you may choose very nice colors for its strap—like pink (my private favorite), blue, purple, gray, and black. It’s a bit tougher so that you can change straps for the GTS 4 Mini, although, however there are tutorials for it on-line.
Mainly, if you’d like a easy smartwatch to observe your health and well being targets, however you don’t wish to spend RM1,199 on an Apple Watch, then this watch might be nice for you. Remember that it can work quite a bit higher with Android units, so you probably have an iPhone, I’d recommend that you just suck it up and get your self an Apple Watch SE.
Amazfit GTS 4 Mini – RM399 (RRP) – Lazada / Shopee
Photographs by Dzamira Dzafri, Rory Lee, and Izham Zamani with the Sony a7iii.
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