After we reviewed the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 (Review) final 12 months, we have been satisfied that it was the gold normal for sensible bands in 2021. Nonetheless, for causes greatest recognized to Xiaomi, the tech large has not launched its successor, the Mi Smart Band 7, in India this 12 months. Amazfit goals to reap the benefits of that void by launching its first health band for India.
Known as the Amazfit Band 7, the health band is packed to the brim with options akin to help for voice instructions and it even has help for an app retailer. Can the Amazfit Band 7 take down the wildly standard Mi Sensible Band 6 at its personal sport? I’ve used the health band for a number of weeks and this is what I give it some thought.
Amazfit Band 7 worth, design and specs
The Band 7 is Amazfit’s first health band for the Indian market. It is the successor to the Band 5 and is priced competitively at Rs. 3,499. In contrast to the Mi Sensible Band 6, which is barely out there in a single color, Amazfit’s Band 7 is obtainable in three colors: black, pink and white. Nonetheless, these colors are merely the color of the straps that maintain the black rectangular unit in place. In contrast to the opposite smartwatches from Amazfit, you’ll be able to’t purchase the straps individually so you may want to decide on correctly on the time of buying the band.
Like most health bands, the Amazfit Band 7’s design consists of a TPU strap and an oblong core unit. The watch has a rectangular-shaped show with rounded corners and thick bezels all spherical. It is as tall as a 47mm Apple Watch Series 8, however about half its width. There is not any bodily or capacitive buttons on the Band 7, so navigation occurs solely through swipe gestures.
The detachable core of the watch has a 5ATM score for water resistance, so it ought to be good for splashes of water and lightweight submersion. The core unit is product of polycarbonate and has the BioTracker 3.0 PPG biometric sensor, which is used for monitoring coronary heart price, blood oxygen ranges and stress. On the again, there’s two flat pins for charging the system utilizing the bundled magnetic charger.
The Amazfit Band 7 is as tall as an Apple Watch Collection 8, however loads narrower
The core unit of the Amazfit Band 7, together with the strap, weighs 28g which is sort of mild. The strap is gentle and comfy and I didn’t face any points or irritation whereas carrying it. What did annoy me was the strap’s pin buckle system, which is sort of tough to lock and there have been loads of situations throughout the assessment interval the place the strap opened up. Urgent down the pin into the tiny cavity is a tough activity by itself and requires a number of endurance and stress. For some capabilities, the health band must be strapped actually tight and this could make it uncomfortable to put on over time. That is wanted particularly for SpO2 monitoring, which in any other case merely will not work.
The core unit of the Amazfit Band 7 has a plastic case which is held in place by a TPU strap.
Whereas the band doesn’t have a speaker, it does have a microphone and vibration motor which vibrates for all kinds of notifications and alarms. The mic is used for accepting voice instructions for Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant. The system packs all the mandatory sensors to measure coronary heart price and blood oxygen ranges and comes with a 232mAh battery, which is sort of giant for such a small health band.
Amazfit Band 7 software program, efficiency, and battery life
The Amazfit Band 7 runs Zepp OS which seems to be customised to work on a smaller show. Oddly, on the Band 7, it seems to be and feels similar to what’s out there on Xiaomi’s Mi Sensible Band 6, particularly whenever you enter the Settings menu. The smaller show signifies that there’s much less place to show many choices without delay, and due to this, there’s a number of scrolling to be performed. Some apps like Calendar look very odd and are extraordinarily complicated to make use of, so I typically discovered myself misplaced within the interface when doing so.
The principle menu, which shows all the built-in apps for instance, can solely show two apps at a time, which makes it fairly tough to determine how far up or down you might be within the record. To make issues worse, there is no such thing as a scroll-bar-like indicator on the aspect to indicate how lengthy the record is or the purpose the place you’ve got scrolled right down to both.
A swipe to the appropriate of the homescreen takes you to the notifications space, which does a very good job of displaying all forms of notifications of their entirety. Nonetheless, it isn’t potential to answer to any of those. A swipe to the left from the primary watch face reveals a widget-like interface which relays glanceable information from numerous built-in apps akin to Exercise, Coronary heart price, PAI, Sleep and so forth. Swiping left or proper from the watch face goes right into a loop and can carry you again to the homescreen. As for watch faces, there are loads to select from and they’re extremely customisable.
Inserting the pin into the cavity of the band requires loads endurance
As for the native apps on the Amazfit Band 7, there’s sufficient to maintain one busy whether or not it is health monitoring or common well being, wellness, and all kinds of actions.The watch can monitor operating, strolling, biking, dancing, boxing, water sports activities, winter exercises, and even board and card video games like Chess, Checkers, Go or Bridge. Every of those apps additionally relay a number of information. It entails a number of scrolling however there’s loads of info out there on the watch itself, which is spectacular.
There’s additionally an app retailer which will be accessed from the companion app. Whereas the app choice is restricted to simply fourteen apps (on the time of publishing the assessment), you’ll be able to set up and uninstall these and there are some helpful ones akin to Watch Storage Area, BMI and Calculator.
The Zepp Well being companion app isn’t the best one to grasp. It’s the identical one used for Amazfit’s costlier smartwatches akin to the GTR 4 (Review). I arrange the Band 7 with a Pixel 7 Pro and granted the restricted permissions that this health band requires which made the setup fairly fast. You’ll nonetheless have to arrange the extra options akin to Amazon’s Alexa voice help, Calendar, Climate and extra, individually, as you utilize the health band.
The Amazfit Band 7’s show is sort of small and will get more durable to make use of with swipe gestures
The 1.47-inch AMOLED show could really feel a bit too small, particularly when Xiaomi gives a taller panel on its Mi Sensible Band 6 on the identical worth. Whereas brightness was not an issue, I did have some points with contact sensitivity and gestures. I discovered the interface to run easily when swiping by the built-in apps and the app menu, but it surely stuttered loads when swiping by the notifications space. The contact sensitivity of the show is not the most effective both and the smaller measurement made swipe gestures fairly complicated, particularly once I was in the course of a exercise and wanted to entry a sure characteristic. There have been occasions once I resorted to opening the smartphone app to begin a exercise, as a substitute of twiddling with the show.
Alexa Voice integration labored fairly properly. Activating it wants a bit of labor because it requires a number of swipes to achieve the widget, publish which, you’ll be able to faucet the show for Alexa to begin listening. Nonetheless, the responses will solely be displayed on-screen and never learn out loud as there is not any built-in speaker. Whereas a voice assistant could also be a novel characteristic to have on a health band, it’s important to do not forget that it depends utterly on the smartphone, which you will have to have within the neighborhood to ensure that it to operate.
Amazfit’s Zepp Well being app isn’t the best to navigate and has a studying curve
The Amazfit Band 7 does a very good job when monitoring well being and health actions. Sleep monitoring is sort of correct and the outcomes are very detailed because it lets you recognize not simply concerning the phases throughout sleep, but in addition respiratory patterns whereas sleeping. The band, similar to the opposite Amazfit smartwatches, can even monitor naps, which is good to have.
Coronary heart price monitoring was fairly correct when in comparison with an Apple Watch Collection 8. The watch doesn’t have GPS built-in, so it depends on a smartphone for place information on runs or walks open air. This additionally means you will have to hold your smartphone with you for those who want this information. The route monitoring accuracy even when linked to a smartphone was not as correct as I anticipated it to be. Nonetheless, step counting was surprisingly on level.
The Amazfit Band 7 additionally helps SpO2 readings however they have been constantly inaccurate when in comparison with a standalone pulse oximeter. Sit-stand detection, similar to with the costlier Amazfit GTR 4, didn’t work properly.
The always-on show characteristic works properly, however makes use of a number of energy
As for battery life, it was as much as expectations. The Amazfit Band 7 lasted about 4 and a half days on a single cost with the show’s brightness set to 50 % (because it doesn’t have an ambient mild sensor) and the always-on performance enabled. Throughout this time, I used the look ahead to gentle exercises and primarily for monitoring notifications with all auto-health monitoring options like coronary heart price monitoring, sleep monitoring, stress monitoring and blood oxygen monitoring, enabled.
Amazfit claims that its alway-on show characteristic cuts down battery life by 50 %, so one ought to count on as much as two weeks or extra with it disabled, which appears ok. When linked to a regular 10W energy adaptor, the Amazfit Band 7 prices from 0-100% in about 1 hour, 41 minutes, which is sort of common when in comparison with the Xiaomi Mi Sensible Band 6.
Verdict
At Rs. 3,499, the Amazfit Band 7 gives loads extra options than Xiaomi’s barely dated Mi Smart Band 6. You get loads extra sport train modes, an always-on show, larger battery, voice assistant, and a mini app retailer. Nonetheless, what the Band 7 makes up for when it comes to options, it loses when it comes to performance because of the smaller show and barely damaged software program expertise, which isn’t as optimised or polished for gesture-based navigation.
Xiaomi’s Mi Smart Band 7, which is the successor to the Mi Sensible Band 6, has but to launch in India. This band packs a much bigger show with AoD functionality and extra sport modes together with a barely larger battery in comparison with the Mi Sensible Band 6. If you’re trying to spend a bit extra, Realme’s Watch 3 Pro can get you a smartwatch-like expertise which additionally contains Bluetooth calling at Rs. 4,999. It options a much bigger show, speaker and even standalone GPS.
When you aren’t in a rush, it is smart to attend a bit until Xiaomi’s Band 7 or perhaps a more recent model arrives in India. But when you must get a health band immediately, then the present Mi Sensible Band 6 isn’t a foul deal, except you actually plan on utilizing the extra options supplied by Amazfit’s Band 7.