Xiaomi Mi Watch
A feature-rich smartwatch with issues.
As with almost all smartwatches, the Xiaomi Mi Watch comprises a body and two detachable straps. The straps are long, made of thermoplastic polyurethane (which feels like a mix between rubber and plastic), and have plenty of holes for the strap, which also helps with breathability.
It’s very lightweight, weighing in at just under 40g, and so it’s very easy to ignore the watch when it’s on your wrist.
The Xiaomi Mi Watch display is 1.39 inches across, and it’s fairly bright, making it easy to see in direct sunlight. It uses AMOLED tech, so it’s super-colorful, which is useful as it makes it easy to see info when you glance at it while working out.
We were surprised by how fluid motion on the screen felt, for example when scrolling through menus or post-workout breakdowns, and Xiaomi hasn’t revealed the display refresh rate we’d guess it’s higher than on most smartwatches. A responsivefeeling screen like this can be a joy to use, especially if you haven’t experienced it before.
There are just four watch faces to choose from on the device out of the box, but on the app you can find a huge selection of others to download.
The Xiaomi Mi Watch runs on Xiaomi’s own smartwatch operating system, which is apparently based on its smartphone OS, MIUI.
From the main watch face, you can swipe left or right to see a heart rate graph, your energy level, your last night’s sleep score, the current weather and air quality, your stress level, a button to check your blood oxygen level, music controls, and your activity stats for the day (steps, calories burned and active hours).
Press the top crown and you get the app list; however, none of the icons have titles, so it’s initially incredibly confusing to find the feature you’re looking for.
Once we got used to the Mi Watch’s confusing menu, we found the interface a little more intuitive – you never have to swipe or tap through too many menus to get to whichever tool or feature you’re looking for, and everything is sensibly laid out.
The Xiaomi Mi Watch has 117 sports modes – that’s more than Wear OS or Huawei LiteOS smartwatches, and it includes popular modes like running and cycling, as well as more niche ones like rock climbing, ballet and hula-hooping.
The Xiaomi Mi watch undercuts its Fitbit rivals with an affordable price tag, and boasts an expansive suite of features, including over 100 fitness-tracking modes, along with built-in GPS, something many smartwatches at this price point lack. We did find, however, that some of the health tracking aspects felt a touch inaccurate, especially stress, sleep and energy monitoring, and a few features of this watch take some getting used to.
Tom Bedford