After we reviewed the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 (Review) final 12 months, we have been satisfied that it was the gold commonplace for sensible bands in 2021. Nonetheless, for causes greatest identified to Xiaomi, the tech big 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 equivalent to help for voice instructions and it even has help for an app retailer. Can the Amazfit Band 7 take down the wildly fashionable Mi Good Band 6 at its personal recreation? I’ve used the health band for a couple of weeks and here is what I give it some thought.
Amazfit Band 7 value, 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. Not like the Mi Good Band 6, which is simply 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. Not like the opposite smartwatches from Amazfit, you may’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 no bodily or capacitive buttons on the Band 7, so navigation occurs solely through swipe gestures.
The detachable core of the watch has a 5ATM ranking for water resistance, so it must be good for splashes of water and lightweight submersion. The core unit is made from polycarbonate and has the BioTracker 3.Zero 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 machine utilizing the bundled magnetic charger.
The Amazfit Band 7 is as tall as an Apple Watch Sequence 8, however quite a bit narrower
The core unit of the Amazfit Band 7, together with the strap, weighs 28g which is kind of mild. The strap is smooth and cozy 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 kind of tough to lock and there have been loads of cases through the evaluation interval the place the strap opened up. Urgent down the pin into the tiny cavity is a tough job by itself and requires quite a lot of persistence and strain. For some capabilities, the health band must be strapped actually tight and this will 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 machine packs all the required sensors to measure coronary heart price and blood oxygen ranges and comes with a 232mAh battery, which is kind of massive 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 and feels similar to what’s out there on Xiaomi’s Mi Good Band 6, particularly once 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 quite a lot of scrolling to be completed. 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’re within the checklist. To make issues worse, there isn’t any scroll-bar-like indicator on the facet to point out how lengthy the checklist is or the purpose the place you might have scrolled right down to both.
A swipe to the correct of the homescreen takes you to the notifications space, which does an excellent 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 principle watch face reveals a widget-like interface which relays glanceable knowledge from varied built-in apps equivalent 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 a lot to select from and they’re extremely customisable.
Inserting the pin into the cavity of the band requires quite a bit persistence
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 working, 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 quite a lot of knowledge. It entails quite a lot of scrolling however there’s loads of data out there on the watch itself, which is spectacular.
There’s additionally an app retailer which could be accessed from the companion app. Whereas the app choice is restricted to simply fourteen apps (on the time of publishing the evaluation), you may set up and uninstall these and there are some helpful ones equivalent to Watch Storage Area, BMI and Calculator.
The Zepp Well being companion app shouldn’t be the simplest one to grasp. It’s the similar one used for Amazfit’s costlier smartwatches equivalent 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 must arrange the extra options equivalent to Amazon’s Alexa voice help, Calendar, Climate and extra, individually, as you employ the health band.
The Amazfit Band 7’s show is kind of small and will get tougher to make use of with swipe gestures
The 1.47-inch AMOLED show might really feel a bit too small, particularly when Xiaomi provides a taller panel on its Mi Good Band 6 on the similar value. 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 way of the built-in apps and the app menu, nevertheless it stuttered quite a bit when swiping by way of the notifications space. The contact sensitivity of the show is not one of the best both and the smaller dimension made swipe gestures fairly complicated, particularly after I was in the midst of a exercise and wanted to entry a sure function. There have been instances after I resorted to opening the smartphone app to begin a exercise, as a substitute of fiddling with the show.
Alexa Voice integration labored fairly properly. Activating it wants a bit of labor because it requires a couple of swipes to succeed in the widget, publish which, you may 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 no built-in speaker. Whereas a voice assistant could also be a novel function to have on a health band, you need to do not forget that it depends fully on the smartphone, which you’ll need to have within the neighborhood to ensure that it to operate.
Amazfit’s Zepp Well being app shouldn’t be the simplest to navigate and has a studying curve
The Amazfit Band 7 does an excellent job when monitoring well being and health actions. Sleep monitoring is kind of correct and the outcomes are very detailed because it lets you understand not simply concerning the phases throughout sleep, but additionally respiration patterns whereas sleeping. The band, identical to the opposite Amazfit smartwatches, may also monitor naps, which is sweet to have.
Coronary heart price monitoring was fairly correct when in comparison with an Apple Watch Sequence 8. The watch doesn’t have GPS built-in, so it depends on a smartphone for place knowledge on runs or walks open air. This additionally means you’ll need to hold your smartphone with you if you happen to want this knowledge. The route monitoring accuracy even when related 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, identical to with the costlier Amazfit GTR 4, didn’t work properly.
The always-on show function works properly, however makes use of quite a lot 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 delicate 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 function cuts down battery life by 50 %, so one ought to anticipate as much as two weeks or extra with it disabled, which appears adequate. When related to a normal 10W energy adaptor, the Amazfit Band 7 expenses from 0-100 % in about 1 hour, 41 minutes, which is kind of common when in comparison with the Xiaomi Mi Good Band 6.
Verdict
At Rs. 3,499, the Amazfit Band 7 provides a lot extra options than Xiaomi’s barely dated Mi Smart Band 6. You get a lot 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 as a result of 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 Good Band 6, has but to launch in India. This band packs an even bigger show with AoD functionality and extra sport modes together with a barely larger battery in comparison with the Mi Good Band 6. In case you are trying to spend a bit extra, Realme’s Watch 3 Pro can get you a smartwatch-like expertise which additionally consists of Bluetooth calling at Rs. 4,999. It options an even bigger show, speaker and even standalone GPS.
If you happen to aren’t in a rush, it is smart to attend a bit until Xiaomi’s Band 7 or perhaps a more moderen model arrives in India. But when you’ll want to get a health band immediately, then the present Mi Good Band 6 shouldn’t be a foul deal, except you actually plan on utilizing the extra options provided by Amazfit’s Band 7.
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