Gadget reviewXiaomi's Wear OS move: What you need to know about the Watch 2
Gadget review
Xiaomi's Wear OS move: What you need to know about the Watch 2
The Chinese manufacturer's new smart watch is also its first to come with Google's operating system for watches, and this means, among other things, a connection to the app store. For Xiaomi this is a significant innovation, but it does not provide any advantage over the competition
Xiaomi's smartwatches have always had a built-in disadvantage: they came with the company's operating system, which, although it offered a multitude of apps, did not connect to the Google app store and therefore limited the use of the device. Now Xiaomi is getting things in order: after launching a new operating system for phones, which is expected to slowly reach more of the company's devices, it is launching a new watch and abandoning its closed system. The Xiaomi Watch 2 (and there is also a Pro model) is powered by Wear OS - Google's operating system for smartwatches, similar to the one you will find in OnePlus, Samsung watches, and also Google's own Pixel devices, of course. We took the new model in the basic version for testing, to see what Xiaomi offers.
We took the new model in the basic version for testing to see what Xiaomi offers.
Round screen and clean design
Similar to some of the competitors, and different from its previous models, Xiaomi chose a round design for the Watch 2, with a 1.43-inch screen. The watch looks massive, weighs around 37g and doesn't feel heavy, and has the look of a "serious" or "respectable" watch thanks to the aluminum case, but it came with simple plastic (or TPU, if you insist) straps. This is not a problem in terms of their operation, only in terms of appearance - who cares - overall they are comfortable. The screen itself remains clean overall and does not collect fingerprints, a problem that stood out in a previous Xiaomi model. The design is clean and includes only two buttons on the right side - one to switch between the main screen and the apps screen and the other to open the last app you used. Of course, part of the function of the first button can also be done with the touch of a finger - scroll through the shortcuts on the main screen of the watch and return from the application screen to the normal view. According to the official data, the watch is water-resistant, and there is even an app for washing hands, which shows a reminder to wash with soap and activates a timer for 20 seconds - a reminder of the not-so-cheerful pandemic days. The watch is also resistant to a pressure of 5 ATMs, that is to a depth of 50 meters.
Advanced features and somewhat problematic conversion
To activate the watch and connect it to the phone you will need a Xiaomi application. The initial activation went off without a hitch. Then you can start playing with the settings - in some cases, there is an overlap and you can make adjustments through the watch or through the app on the phone, and there are things that can still only be changed through the app. In Watch 2 you will find everything you can expect from a smartwatch: heart rate measurement, sleep and sports activity monitoring, blood oxygen level testing, Google Wallet, fall detection and contact alert, weather forecast display, notifications from the phone, of course, and much more. But it doesn't stand on its own, meaning it doesn't have an eSIM. It can be used to make calls, as long as it is near the phone. During a call, you can control the volume, but in a cumbersome, confusing, and non-intuitive way: you have to click on a three-dot symbol that appears on the side, open the "volume" menu, and then don't be tempted by the yellow arch that appears on the side and shows the volume, and it looks like you can use it to change in the desired direction, but press + or -.
The watch immediately showed messages from WhatsApp without the need to set up the account, but if you want to answer messages or browse through them, you have to install the application and confirm its use from the phone. It sounds simple and should be, but the connection happened only after 2-3 attempts. Once the app is approved for use, you can use the keyboard to answer. There are also suggestions for pre-prepared answers ("yes", "no", "okay", "I'm on my way", etc.), the option to record voice messages or use the microphone to dictate text messages. All of these work perfectly fine, and the size of the screen probably limits the keyboard, so it is small and crowded and you have to pay attention to what you are tapping. You can also control music playback on Spotify from the watch, but the display in the settings menu has been reversed - the button to skip forward appears on the left and the button that returns to the beginning of the song or the one before it appears on the right.
According to Xiaomi, the battery is enough for about 65 hours of use, that is a little less than three days, in practice, it was enough for two days and a bit - but it also depends on the nature of the use. If you activate a permanent display of the time (Always On), the battery consumption will be higher, the brightness level affects the number of calls you make from the watch, and more. Warnings on the subject appear on the watch and in the Xiaomi app on the phone - even if you choose advanced and more accurate sleep monitoring, for example, it will affect battery life. In any case, charging is fast: it took 12 minutes to go from 10% to 50% and a little more than half an hour to fully charge. The screen reaches a brightness of 600 nits, which is enough to see the display even in daylight. On the other hand, the permanent display on the screen is not always strong enough in daylight and you can give it up, both to save battery life, and also because you can simply set the display to turn on automatically when you raise your hand to look at the clock.
