Category: Watch

A listing by the Federal Communications Commission of the United States has revealed some information about the Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite. The details come from an image of the box for the Mi Watch Lite, which also features a render of the smartwatch. The wearable has a somewhat generic look, containing its 1.4-inch HD screen inside a square-faced display unit that has a physical button on the right-hand side.

Some of the features of the Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite have been revealed via the packaging, so it can be seen that the smartwatch comes with a handy built-in GPS, an abundance of fitness modes, auto-brightness for the display, and it’s waterproof (up to 50 m). The wearable, which will likely be priced at a very affordable level, also offers the practically obligatory heart-rate monitor.

The box also shows that the Mi Watch Lite sports a 230-mAh battery and that it is compatible with Android devices at operating system 4.4 and above and iOS hardware running at 10 or above. The multiple languages on the packaging imply that the Xiaomi Mi Watch Lite is going to go global, although with the model number “REDMIWT02” printed on the box it certainly seems that there will be some countries that will greet this device as the Redmi Watch.

Xiaomi is yet to bring the Mi Watch to Europe, but the company has already announced a new smartwatch. The latest Mi Watch is cheaper, too. Xiaomi has called its latest effort the Mi Watch Color Sports Edition, which it has priced at CNY 699 (~US$105) – CNY 100 (~US$15) less than it charges for the Mi Watch.

The differences between the Mi Watch Color Sports Edition and the regular model are minimal, though. Xiaomi has switched from stainless steel to aluminium, for example, although this makes the Sports Edition 7.5 g lighter than the Mi Watch. The 1.39-inch AMOLED screen from the Mi Watch returns, as does a SpO2 sensor, a GPS module and an optical heart rate monitor.

Xiaomi has complemented the 454 x 454-pixel display with a 420 mAh battery, which it claims can last up to two weeks on a single charge. However, do not expect such long battery life with GPS and the heart rate monitor turned on, though.

The Mi Watch Color Sports Edition features 117 sports modes, along with sleep tracking. The smartwatch is 5 ATM water-resistant, which will allow you to take it swimming. Xiaomi has yet to announce international availability, but we imagine that the company will eventually bring it to market outside of China.

OPPO held its Wisdom Life event today (October 19, 2020) to launch new parts of its growing device ecosystem. One example is its new Watch RX, shown off briefly during the conference. It is a wearable; however, unlike its Watch and Watch ECG editions, it has a round face.

Its debut confirms an earlier leak that indicated OPPO would indeed adopt this form-factor as an alternative to its existing square-faced smartwatches. This Watch RX does exhibit the 3D curved glass found in its predecessors, however.

Unfortunately, OPPO did not reveal much about it, besides that its new dial houses a 1.28-inch AMOLED display and it will be available in black, gold and blue colorways. It will be released for sale on November 1, 2020 in China.

Units of the Watch RX sold on this date may run the new ColoeOS 1.5 version. It has been updated with over 50 new watchfaces, 8 new sports mode and an SOS function in wearables with mobile data. In other news, OPPO has also now launched its promised League of Legends versions of the Find X2 and Watch.

They have the same specs as their “normal” counterparts (additionally, the LOL S10 Watch is not an ECG Edition), and are now stocked on the OEM’s online store for 4999 (~US$748) and 1999 yuan (~US$299) respectively.

While Apple and other big manufacturers dominate the international smartwatch market, there are still more and more startups coming up, especially in China, that are trying to gain a foothold in this rapidly growing market. These small companies like to take unusual approaches to their devices to attract attention. One of these manufacturers is Zeblaze, which does a lot different with its new Thor 6 smartwatch compared to established companies like Samsung.

Hence, the company has chosen the Helio P22 as its processor, which is normally intended for smartphones. Accordingly, LTE is always on board. With 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal memory, the smartwatch has considerably more storage capacity than the Galaxy Watch 3, for example. At 830 mAh, the battery should provide runtimes of two to three days. Nevertheless, the Thor 6 comes with many classic smartwatch features, which means that you can use it to track various types of sport and your pulse.

The round IPS display is 1.6 inches in size and has a resolution of 400 x 400 pixels. Furthermore, the Thor 6 has a 5-MP camera in both the front and the back. The ceramic and plastic chassis is IP67-certified and weighs 74 grams. Considering the specifications, this is relatively light. In comparison, the Galaxy Watch 3 is only a little lighter at 53.8 grams. As operating system Android 10 is preinstalled.

Currently the Zeblaze Thor 6 is not available in Europe. However, at US$219 on AliExpress the smartwatch is rather cheap for customers in the United States and is likely to make its way to Europe soon.

While the Galaxy Watch Active 2 was nearly up there with an equally-specced Apple Watch upon its release in December 2019, its ECG (electrocardiogram) functionality got switched on much later. Even the recently-released Galaxy Watch 3 shipped with the feature disabled in several regions. Users based in the United States will be pleased to know that they will soon be able to take ECG readings from the comfort of their smartwatch.

The United States Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) gave Samsung the go-ahead to switch on ECG functionality on the Galaxy Watch Active 2 and Galaxy Watch 3. Users will be able to access it via the Samsung Health Monitor app in the coming weeks. The app will also prompt users about symptoms like fatigue or dizziness. One can set to app the automatically send the complete ECG report to a pre-determined contact in case of any discrepancies.

Earlier this year, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 was certified to measure blood pressure in South Korea. The Galaxy Watch 3 will likely join it soon. Ideally, both features should make it to the United States once the FDA greenlights it. There’s no telling when that will happen, though, so the best we can do for now is sit tight.