JOIN USXiaomi Mi Watch Revolve review: Affordable fitness companion
Xiaomi Mi Watch Revolve is the company's first full-fledged smartwatch in India.
It comes with a big display, promises long battery life in addition to an array of fitness and health tracking sensors we see on expensive smart wearables, but Xiaomi's devices cost much less (Rs 10,999). But, does it deliver the goods? Let's check it out.
Design, display and build quality
Xiaomi's Mi Watch Revolve flaunts the classical circular dial (46mm) with a 1.39-inch bright AMOLED (454x454p) touchscreen. It has a pixel density of 326 PPI (pixels per inch) and offers a peak brightness of 450 nits.
The belly underneath is smooth and the materials used to encase the watch are of premium metal. It is a bit big for my puny wrists, but after a few days, I got used to it. Actually, it began growing on me, as I, who wears thick glasses, have been told to reduce screen time on phones, did not face much hassle viewing the contents on the display even under sunlight.
I just see messages or call notification on Mi Watch Revolve and based on priority I used to open the phone to respond, or else never took it out of my pocket.
It has two tactile buttons on the right. The top functions as a power or wake button and the one below works as a shortcut key. By default, it is assigned to bring the list of the sports activity tracking on the screen. Users with the help of the Xiaomi Wear app can assign different shortcuts.
The company has incorporated Gorilla Glass 3 shield on the display and the device comes with a 5ATM rating, meaning it can sustain underwater up to 50meters depth. I haven't had the chance to try the latter but did find myself accidentally rubbing wrists grilles of the staircase at home, but thankfully the Mi Watch Revolve survived without any scratch. And, I don't have to write an apology to the Xiaomi PR team for damaging the review unit.
Performance:
Setting up the Mi Watch Revolve is easy as it gets and is similar to the Mi Band pairing procedure. Just install the Xiaomi Wear app and go to the profile section and tap on the Devices tab. Then, select the add device and follow the steps as mentioned on the mobile screen. For me, it took less than three minutes to complete the task.
As far as the user-interface is concerned, Mi Watch Revolve is really easy to navigate the circular dial screen. Just by swiping down from the top, you can find the latest notification. And, swiping the finger down gets access to the torch, settings, and other features.
By swiping right, you will get calories count, steps, and other metrics. And by swiping to the left, you get to see the other dedicated apps such as Heart Rate monitoring, stress levels, and body energy, sleep analysis, and VO2 Max (blood-oxygen-level).
Pressing the power button will get you to the list of the applications. And if you tap the second button down, as mentioned above, it will get you to the activity tracking. By the way, it can track 10 professional sports including running, cycling, hiking, treadmill, and swimming among others.
Xiaomi Mi Watch Revolve comes with GPS support and houses PPG (Photoplethysmography) heart rate Sensor, three-Axis Acceleration Sensor, geomagnetic sensor, baraceptor, and ambient light sensor.
It also boasts the Firstbeat Motion algorithm and offers advanced performance analytics for stress, recovery, and exercise that is used by leading athletes and sports teams across the world. It works on Heart Rate Variability and offers recommendations on what more can be done to improve fitness.
What I love is that the Mi Watch Revolve's software is really tough to fool to improve the calories count. You really have to work hard to get the active calories counted. This feature will surely make you fitter and motivate you to lead a disciplined life.
Xiaomi Mi Watch Revolve houses a 420mAh battery and promises anywhere between one and two weeks. After opening the device, it had a little over 85% and it been close to a week, I still haven't charged it yet.
I have to note that the battery life be it a phone or smartwatch, depends on how the owner uses the device. I do workout (Yoga) only on alternate days and used to see notifications, control music on the phone. It's probably why our review unit did not need charging even after a week. Rest assured, it can deliver more than a week under mixed usage, which is still good compared to other expensive watches, which last for a maximum of two or three days.
Final thoughts:
Like the popular Mi Band series, Xiaomi has got itself another winner with the Mi Watch Revolve. It has all the key features we expect in a fitness watch but costs less than half the top-end models in the markets. This will surely attract the salaried class.
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