Xiaomi Watch S1 Lively evaluation

The Xiaomi Watch S1 Lively is actually a sportier model of Xiaomi’s Watch S1 smartwatch. It is providing just about the identical options albeit in a design that is a significantly better match for train time.

That features assist for the massive satellite tv for pc programs to precisely observe outside exercises, 24/7 coronary heart charge and blood oxygen monitoring, NFC funds and massive battery life, each throughout and after monitoring massive runs.

A sub-£200 price ticket means it is competing within the mid-range smartwatch market, which is as aggressive because it’s ever been. So, does the Watch S1 Lively ship the products?

Design and show

• 46mm chrome steel case
• 1.43-inch AMOLED show
• Silicone and TPU strap choices
• 5ATM water-proof ranking

Whereas the outside may look slightly completely different, the Lively nonetheless shares quite a lot of similarities with the Watch S1. It is acquired a 46mm dimension case, it measures in at 11mm thick and is waterproof as much as 50 metres depth.

The steel case of the S1 is swapped for a lighter, glass fibre-reinforced polyamide, which is principally plastic, and there is the decide of both a silicone or a TPU strap. We had the silicone strap to wrap round our wrist and may report no points or pores and skin irritation had been had in our carrying time.

That case holds in place the identical 1.43-inch, 466 x 466 decision AMOLED display screen, which gives the identical expertise by way of responsiveness (good), visibility (good) and gives an always-on show mode that may noticeably eat into the battery life .

Round that show is a skinny black bezel after which a bigger silver bezel that elevates the look of the Lively and breaks up that predominantly plastic look.

There’s two bodily buttons on the proper aspect of the case, with the one down beneath your shortcut to sports activities monitoring and the highest one to get up the show – however you may’t use both to scroll via screens.

It has been a snug smartwatch to put on general. It appears like that preferrred dimension and weight for understanding with a robust high quality touchscreen show and a strap that you would be able to additionally take away if you wish to combine up that look additional.

Health monitoring and smartwatch options

• 117 exercise modes
• Twin-band multi-system GPS
• 24/7 coronary heart charge monitoring
• Amazon Alexa

Just about every thing we have mentioned in our Xiaomi Watch S1 evaluation applies to the Watch S1 Lively in the case of monitoring your health, well being and what it gives in smartwatch phrases. It is a stable expertise general with some room for enchancment.

You will have 117 exercise modes with a portion of these providing metrics exterior of capturing exercise length and coronary heart charge. A small batch of these exercise profiles assist automated train monitoring too.

Xiaomi contains dual-band, multi-system GPS, which is one thing we’re beginning to see crop up on extra sports activities watches and smartwatches with the intention of bettering outside train monitoring in problematic areas the place monitoring can endure. So, close to tall buildings and enormous wooded areas, for instance.

Sports activities monitoring basically for the modes we examined in was good. For runs, swims, and indoor exercises like rowing, we had been glad with the info accuracy. Is it the very best we have used? Not fairly. The promised improved outside monitoring accuracy wasn’t spotless and whereas coronary heart charge monitoring for regular paced exercises was dependable on the entire, it struggled in our excessive depth exams.

There’s positives and negatives whenever you’re utilizing it as an exercise tracker. Every day step counts had been in keeping with step monitoring from a Garmin watch and the Oura Ring 3. Sleep monitoring information was just like the Oura Ring too, notably for the breakdown of sleep phases and sleep length. Steady coronary heart charge monitoring did not appear fairly as much as scratch and tended to put up BPM readings as excessive as 10bpm out from the Oura Ring 3 and a Garmin watch.

There’s blood oxygen monitoring out there right here too, and whereas the info appears dependable, not a lot is definitely performed with that information past displaying it within Xiaomi’s companion app. It is a comparable story for stress monitoring, which can be out there right here and powered via coronary heart charge variability measurements.

Your entire information lives within the Xiaomi app, however if you wish to share it with Apple Well being and even Strava you may set the watch app to fireplace information to these different platforms.

Once you take a break from all issues health and well being associated, the Lively performs as a reliable smartwatch. It can dish out notifications in a slick trend, although will not allow you to act on them.

There’s music controls which are effectively optimised to that touchscreen show and together with telephone calling over Bluetooth, Xiaomi additionally gives an emergency mode letting you faucet the underside bodily button 3 times to name your emergency contact. Simply ensure you’ve acquired it related to your telephone as effectively.

You’ll be able to technically make contactless funds through Mastercard, although we struggled to get this function arrange on our watch. You’ll be able to arrange Amazon Alexa to ask it the same old queries you hearth at Amazon’s good assistant. The core smartwatch works effectively sufficient but it surely’s actually going to be higher match for Android customers regardless of that assist for iPhone customers.

Battery life

• 12 days in typical use
• 24 days in energy saving mode
• 30 hours GPS

The Lively packs a 470mAh capability battery that ought to offer you 12 days in ‘typical’ use and 24 days whenever you change to a extra restrictive power-saving mode. Xiaomi additionally quotes that whenever you use GPS to trace outside train, you may anticipate 30 hours of battery life earlier than it wants charging once more.

Based mostly on our testing, this can be a watch that may comfortably final per week, however just like the Watch S1, it is advisable be aware of the options in use to get greater than per week. Sticking the display screen in always-on mode has a noticeable impression on battery life, and options like steady coronary heart charge, stress and blood oxygen monitoring do one thing comparable. We discovered GPS battery efficiency in need of that quoted 30 hours as effectively, but it surely ought to nearly cowl a light-weight week’s value of coaching.

The underside line is, you will not have to cost this smartwatch each day and there is not a horrible battery drop-off except you are placing its full gamut of options to common use.

Verdict

The Xiaomi Watch S1 Lively is a smartwatch out there at a superb worth that provides a design and set of options to trace train in a largely dependable trend. Its talents as a smartwatch are good on the entire too, although if you need a extra full smartwatch expertise, there are higher choices elsewhere to solid your eye over as an alternative.