Lite in your wrist and pocket, however not on options or efficiency

Pros:

Good construct high quality with 5ATM water resistance

Lightweight and comfy across the wrist

Large, high-res AMOLED show

Very good battery backup

Reliable well being and health monitoring

Built-in GPS, Bluetooth calling

Snappy and lag-free UI, easy and helpful companion app

Great pricing

Cons

Default strap is usually a handful to lock and loosen

AOD is a battery hog

Rating: 4.3/5

Price: Rs 3,399

The mannequin identify and the worth tag of the Redmi Watch 5 Lite are extremely deceptive. The Lite suffix usually denotes reduce corners or absence of sure options. I want to state it upfront that Xiaomi has performed this watch a disservice by utilizing that suffix regardless of it packing each characteristic that one expects from a health watch priced beneath Rs 5,000, and a few extra. Ironically, there’s a Redmi Watch 5 Active which is definitely the ‘lite’ variant, and the Active suffix would have gone nicely with this one. But it’s what it’s.

Nomenclature apart, the Redmi Watch 5 Lite boasts of options like a pointy AMOLED show, 5ATM water resistance, built-in GPS, Bluetooth calling and extra for an asking value decrease than Rs 3,500. That probably makes it a section defining mannequin. But we’ve got seen prior to now that an in depth characteristic listing doesn’t at all times translate into nice efficiency. Is this Redmi watch certainly a lite variant or a heavyweight of this section? Let’s discover out.

Generic design, however good construct high quality and comfy to put on

The Redmi Watch 5 Lite’s design is fairly normal with an oblong dial and an elongated bodily button alongside the sting. The construct high quality is nice and so is the end with no tough edges or unevenness. The NCVM (plastic) body is shiny however the black variant we obtained for evaluate didn’t entice any smudge marks; not less than they weren’t conspicuous. The show is totally flat however blends nicely into the body.

The watch is kind of mild (lower than 30 grams with out straps) and is comfy to put on for lengthy hours, and the silicone straps don’t trigger sweating or pores and skin irritation. However, fastening and unfastening them is usually a chore. The locking mechanism is barely totally different from the usual buckle and hoop choice, and the strap goes beneath the opposite strap. Not one thing we haven’t seen earlier than however the mechanism appears a bit stiff right here; in all probability a defective strap. Anyway, should you don’t prefer it, you’ll be able to substitute them with any third get together 22 mm straps.

Large and sharp AMOLED show with slots for six watch faces

This Redmi watch has a large and vibrant 1.96-inch AMOLED show with a decision of 410 x 502 pixels. That interprets right into a 332 ppi pixel density, making the show sharp sufficient to learn content material on. It is completely legible at 50% brightness when indoors and must be pushed upwards of 80% beneath vibrant daylight. There is not any auto brightness adjustment right here attributable to lack of an ambient mild sensor, one thing we don’t anticipate on this price range.

There is not any point out of any scratch resistant glass or oleophobic coating both within the spec-sheet, however the display screen stays fully scratch-free after a number of weeks of use. Also, I barely needed to wipe it throughout testing because it doesn’t entice fingerprints or smudge marks. You can flick your wrist to show the display screen on or press the bodily button; each work nicely. You may even go for ‘double tap to wake’ from the settings. Covering the display screen turns it off. You can flip off the flick gesture throughout your sleep hours or when in a darkish room like a theatre.

The watch comes bundled with a handful of watch faces and also you get entry to much more by means of the Mi Fitness app that you want to set up and sync this watch with earlier than utilizing it. The watch face assortment is fairly first rate and the switch is pretty brisk. You can retailer as much as three watch faces of your selecting on the watch together with the three preloaded ones.

Snappy consumer interface and a clear and easy-to-use companion app

As I discussed, you want to obtain the Mi Fitness app and sync your machine with it over Bluetooth. The setup takes a couple of minutes however is pretty easy. While the app provides you entry to look at faces and additional breakdown/experiences of the well being metrics and exercise information, you’ll be able to entry a number of it on the watch itself. For occasion, you’ll be able to view the small print of your exercises or breakup of sleep information on the watch display screen with out having to open the app, which is nice.

The UI is easy, fluid, lag-free and fairly peppy with good use of colors. It is simple to grasp even for a novice. You can swipe down on the house display screen for notifications, swipe up for fast settings and swipe left or proper to flick through numerous widgets like each day targets progress, coronary heart price, sleep or stress information and extra. The bodily button acts as a shortcut for all of the watch features and likewise doubles up as a house button from any display screen.

You can change the presentation type of the watch features from an inventory to text-free icons, and likewise edit the widgets from the watch itself. We fairly appreciated the customisation on supply on this watch if one is prepared to discover. The Mi Fitness app is one other huge plus. It is among the best to make use of companion apps with a clear format and UI. All the well being and health playing cards are neatly organized on the house display screen displaying the synopsis of the respective operate.

Tapping them provides you additional particulars of the well being parameter or exercise. They show your coronary heart price, stress, blood oxygen ranges, sleep information, steps rely, exercise particulars and extra. It additionally provides you a vitality rating and suggests a tentative restoration time after a exercise. Even higher, for these , this Redmi watch means that you can export the captured information to in style health apps like Google Fit/ Health Connect or Strava.

Generally dependable well being and health monitoring

The Redmi Watch 5 Lite has sensors that may monitor numerous well being parameters like coronary heart price, blood oxygen, stress ranges and sleep, and a few of them around the clock should you select to. The SpO2 readings take about 20 seconds and are usually some extent under a scientific oximeter, which is completely acceptable. All day oxygen and stress measurements are additionally accessible. While the previous can drain your battery, the latter is extraordinarily energy environment friendly right here.

Sleep monitoring works nicely. The total sleep length from the time I fell asleep until I used to be up appeared appropriate. It tracks the quantum of sunshine sleep, deep sleep, REM intervals and awake time. Strangely, REM is disabled by default and must be enabled from the watch settings. The breakup of sleep phases is offered on the watch itself, whereas the app provides you a deeper evaluation of your sleep and a few strategies to enhance it if crucial.

This watch claims to trace 150 totally different exercises that embrace your ordinary indoor and outside strolling, working, biking, swimming, free coaching and their variations together with in style sports activities like badminton and cricket. It has a built-in GPS module that’s compliant with 5 in style programs – GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou and QZSS to trace your outside actions. It takes a few minute to get a GPS lock, and submit that the hyperlink stays robust so long as you keep outside. The distance monitoring is on the cash.

The pedometer does a fairly good job too and the step rely is pretty correct. The monitoring begins shortly after you begin transferring and it doesn’t add false steps, which is nice to see on this section. The watch does add to the steps rely whereas doing pretty static weight coaching within the health club after selecting the Freestyle exercise mode on the watch; one thing I’ve seen on a majority of price range health watches.

This Redmi watch is 5ATM water-proof and might be worn for a swim and not using a fear. While a number of health information might be checked on the watch display screen, extra particulars can be found within the Mi Fitness app with a each day, weekly and month-to-month breakdown of varied actions you indulged in. You additionally get primary guided respiratory workout routines on the watch, which may also help you relax and decrease stress ranges. Menstrual monitoring can also be accessible and so are sedentary reminders.

There’s Bluetooth calling and a few extra tidbits

Like most watches as of late, the Redmi Watch 5 Lite additionally helps Bluetooth calling operate, whereby you can also make and obtain calls from the watch itself so long as it’s synced with a smartphone with an lively connection. The built-in speaker and mic do a good job when indoors, however the speaker isn’t loud sufficient when outside or in noisy areas. The name high quality is appropriate in quieter areas and it will get the job performed, nevertheless it’s greatest to stay to your cellphone or Bluetooth earphones for calling. It can even delay the watch’s battery reserves.

You can even select to obtain notifications and messages from numerous apps put in in your synced cellphone or pill on the watch display screen. The messages are completely legible however one can’t reply from the watch. In addition, there are a bunch of utility apps preloaded on the watch like a calendar, alarm, stopwatch, climate updates, music management and some extra. You can retailer as much as 10 contacts on the look ahead to calling them rapidly.

Impressive battery backup so long as you retain AOD off

The Redmi Watch 5 Lite has spectacular battery backup beneath regular load so long as you don’t activate Always-on Display (AOD). The firm claims a battery lifetime of 18 days on a single cost beneath typical utilization. Your mileage will range relying in your utilization sample and the options you activate. With AOD on and with half-hour of each day calling from the watch, it barely lasted for 4 to five days. Without AOD and with minimal calling, the battery life was threefold.

During our check run simulating a real-world utilization state of affairs with steady coronary heart price and stress monitoring turned on, 3 hours of complete GPS utilization, stay monitoring of 5 hour-long indoor exercises, two SpO2 readings each day, sleep monitoring for per week, notifications restricted to e-mail and SMS and beneath 5 minutes of each day calling, the watch’s 470 mAh battery lasted shut to 2 weeks, which is kind of spectacular. An hour of GPS utilization takes abouts 7 factors off the battery. The watch prices absolutely in 90 minutes with the bundled magnetic pin charging cable.

Price and verdict: Incredible worth for cash

Now comes one of the best half. The Redmi Watch 5 Lite is priced at simply Rs 3,399 in India with a one yr guarantee, which is unimaginable for what it provides and its efficiency. At that value, you get a swim-proof health watch with a big and sharp AMOLED show, built-in GPS, dependable well being and health monitoring, helpful companion app, Bluetooth calling and excellent battery backup. Now you already know why I used to be ranting concerning the Lite moniker firstly!

As for competitors, there’s little or no at this value level, however if you’re prepared to spend a few thousand extra, there are a few choices to think about. You have the Honor Choice Watch that has comparable options together with a big AMOLED show, Bluetooth calling, built-in GPS and competent battery backup. If you like a spherical dial, then the brand new Lava Prowatch X is an efficient choice too. Stay tuned for its full evaluate arising quickly. But all issues thought-about, the Redmi Watch 5 Lite units the bar on this section and is difficult to beat in the intervening time.