Smart Watch - Amazfit Bip


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A. Intro:
Hyundai's MB-910
was introduced in 2009 as a tri-band/GPRS enabled Watch phone with a touch screen. It had two modes : clock mode or phone mode.
0 Hyundai.jpeg

Got any 'better opening line' in a Gadget thread in an Automobile forum [;)] ???

If we limit the definition of Smart Watch as one that communicates with a "Smart Phone" and does some other SMART STUFF, the chronology is as below :
2010 - Sony Ericson Live View
0 Live View.jpeg

2011 - Motorola Motoactv
0 Moto Activ.jpeg

2012 - Pebble Smart Watch
1 Pebble.jpeg

2015 - Apple Smart Watch
2 Apple.jpeg

As usual, the fruity company caused enough disturbances in the market and so many other Manufacturers like "Samsung, Garmin, Casio, Seiko, LG, Tissot, Fossil, Skagen, Huawei, Asus, Fitbit, Misfit etc" launched their models. Except Garmin's, ALL other models have poor-to-mediocre-to-average battery life... "1 or 2 days to 3 days to 6 or 7 days". I realised it will take 2-3 years "to have a 2-3 weeks battery life in a Glamorous Smart Watch with very good feature-set".


B. Amazfit Bip:
Recently I stumbled upon Amazfit Bip (made by Huami, a sub-brand of Xiaomi) with a super massive battery life of 20-40 days.

3 Bip.jpeg

The salient features are:

  • Doesn't cost Rs 15-20 K... costs just Rs. 5800/- (from FlipKart).
  • Digital watch synched with your phone's Time Zone
  • Has Optical Heart-rate sensor (you can choose from "1 / 5 / 10 / 30 minutes or OFF).
  • Has GPS and GLONASS module and BlueTooth connectivity (30 ft)
  • Vibrates upon incoming Calls. You can "ignore or reject from Watch", but HAVE to use the Phone for accepting call. You Can't make Calls.
  • Vibrates upon new "SMS, WhatsApp messages, Clock (Alarm) and Calendar Reminders" and text is shown on Watch. For me Reminder is critical.
  • Facebook, Gmail, YahooMail etc can be linked to watch, but I have not done.
  • Has a "1.28 inch LCD Colour Touchscreen display with 176 x 176 pixels" with Gorilla Glass 3 protection.
  • Screen is always-on and shows the time and stats (like number of Steps, Calories Burnt, Heart Rate, Weather, Day/Date/Month, Battery, Status of BlueTooth Connection etc) even when in standby mode
  • Display is readable even if back-light is not switched on.
  • Raising the wrist automatically switches on the back-light.
  • Has Step Counter plus Sports Activity Tracker
  • Digitally Changeable watch faces.
  • Has Accelerometer (remember raising the wrist ?!)
  • Digital Compass
  • Air pressure sensor
  • IP68 water resistance.
  • 190mAh Li-Polymer battery : I charged it on 7th morning; 7.5 days later today it is at 60% (from web review --- poor 22 Hrs if GPS is ON full time, 30 days with normal use and 45 days with minimal notification).
  • Has built in Stop watch and Count down timer.
  • Up to 10 individual Alarms can be set up in the watch via Mi Fit App installed in SmartPhone. Watch vibrates on Alarms.
  • Weighs just 32 grams

C. Reviews on Web:

Online reviews are generally positive to very positive. Check these below:
Forbes Link
Wareable Link
Gadgets and Wearables Link 3
C-Net Link
TechRadar Link
TomsGuide Link

D. My Review:
At my age (50 Yrs) it is a good feeling to know that the Heart-rate is under control. The "Step Counter" helps me ensure that I walk an average 4 km per day. Monitors sleep and displays a graph (on App) to show how good was my sleep. Resulted in me hitting bed 30 minutes early. I can have 4-5 watch faces daily... it is fun and a refreshing change, you know.

5.jpg
4.jpg

I can leave my phone on my desk, hang around (within 30 ft) and the watch alerts me about Phone Calls, SMSs, WA Msgs etc.
On top of ALL the Amazing Battery Life... My friend with "Samsung Gear S3" spent Rs. 18K but reaches the charger after 2 days. Another with "Garmin Forerunner 235" spent nearly Rs.20K, but needs the charger after a week. I think, for my useage, Amazfit Bip will last for 2-3 weeks. Pretty Cool for an affordable and light weight Smart Watch.

This Bip fellow will serve me till a Jazzy Smart watch with great battery life is launched. My investment in THAT regard is minimum with this Bip. No, the Fitness Bands are not to my liking.


Note-1 : "Mi Fit" App (link) needs to be installed in SmartPhone to get the watch started.
Note-2 : Huami's watch faces are limited. However, 100s of watchfaces can be easily installed via "My WatchFace [Free] for Amazfit Bip" App (link)
Note-3 : I can read entire text in a WhatsApp Msg on my watch without the "blue tick" appearing for sender [evil] .
 

Nairrk

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Nice review [clap]

Seems a good product.

-1.28 inch LCD Display - what are the specifications - i.e. length/width?

-Is the battery like the one similar to our smartphones?
 
Thread Starter #3
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I forgot to add the two issues I had with Bip.
  1. For entire week, I looked like a joker waving my hand around, trying to calibrate its Compass. I found the correct method here, and the Compass works like a charm now.
  2. In spite of the green LEDs blinking, the heart rate monitor would stop recording, kabhi kabhi. Keeping Bip on top of my Fridge for 15-20 minutes brought it back into action.

I also feel, Amazfit Pace with a traditional Circular Case looks much more attractive. Unfortunately the battery life is only about 7 days and it is not yet launched in India.


Nice review [clap]

Seems a good product.

-1.28 inch LCD Display - what are the specifications - i.e. length/width?

-Is the battery like the one similar to our smartphones?
The viewing area is about 22mm x 22mm. It is surrounded by bit wider Bezels (in the era of Bezelless smart phones).

Watch case is about 42mm (L) x 36mm (W) x 10mm (D). Somewhere I read, "38/40/42mm watch cases are ideal for wrists with 6 to 7 inches circumference". This 42 mm is right for my wrist.

I guess this here is the non-removable battery. About the battery life, one reviewer wrote this : Whenever I had a party at night or I was going somewhere late, I worried that my Apple Watch could die on me. Luckily with the Amazfit Bip I can go anywhere I want for a month without power and still see the time. Simply amazing !
 
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I wanted to buy Mi3 band but found that nothing is accurate about it. Amazfit might be better in step tracking due to GPS but the optic heart rate sensor uses the same technology that Mi band and even Apple watch uses. It is not accurate and IMHO should be ignored.

I found that the optic heart rate sensor is nothing but green LED bulbs which shines light into the blood. When blood flow is high during systolic pressure , more green light is absorbed so less light is returned . During diastolic pressure, blood flow is low so green light absorbed is less and more green light is returned back to light senor in the base of the watch. Based on returned light, the watch calculates the heart rate. However, the problem is that LED light penetration and return depends on skin colour, thickness, hair on skin, sweat, age of LED bulbs and movement of hands. All these factors hinder accurate reading of heart rate.

I think Apple watch series 4 could give the most correct heart rate since it has ECG monitoring so it can combine optic sensor and ECG. Unfortunately, the ECG sensor is to be activated in US only.
I wonder why they don’t use pressure of pulse to get heart rate, It would be more accurate.
 
Thread Starter #5
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...However, the problem is that LED light penetration and return depends on skin colour, thickness, hair on skin, sweat, age of LED bulbs and movement of hands. All these factors hinder accurate reading of heart rate...
THAT made me wear the watch on my Left inside Wrist; over where the good old Doctors check for Heart Rate (HR). Bingo... it started updating Pulse properly. This below were the readings on 16th Nov :

Bip HR working.jpg

The sensor may not be super accurate, but does the job decently, as per this (link), which says, "... I’ve been having my Heart Rate (HR) measured every minute to determine how well it calculates my resting HR and it’s done a very good job compared to the Garmin Fenix 5 and other watches... In my tests against a Chest Heart-rate Monitor (CHM) the Bip performed well. It behaved similarly to other optical HR sensors I’ve tested in that at times it overestimates my heart rate during a workout but the vast majority of the time it’s within 1-3 bpm compared to the CHM..." This narrow error is OK for me. Few times it helped me slow down and THAT is the reason I bought it for.

Battery Life: On the 14th day, the Battery died on me today around 2:30 pm.

Battery Drain: On 16th Nov, battery was at 43% (Pic above) and today morning at 8am it was at 6% ... I need to look at what all I've enabled for this 37% drain over just 3 days. No idea as of now. Need to charge it first.
 
Thread Starter #6
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Update on Battery Life: THIS time, from 19th Nov to 15th Dec, the battery lasted for 26 days. I had kept "call alert, SMS alert, heart rate monitor, watch alarm" constantly enabled, "GPS tracked" few of my walking routes, "enabled WhatsApp alerts irregularly", kept "changing watch face" to my liking, during this period.

A combo pic of how battery behaved over the period is below:

Bip Batt.jpg


"Three weeks plus" battery is very good enough, for me.

When the battery was at 10%, the watch vibrated and alerted me to charge it; i ignored just to see how long this 10% can hold up. For NEXT THREE full days it survived. On the 2nd day, the 7% did not come down over 8 hours. The 3rd day started with 5% charge. Once battery was down to 1%, the display was no longer "always ON". I had to press the button to check the watch. Once I put it for charging, I wanted to note down the charging time, but remembered it only after 2Hrs 30 Min. Next time then.

This watch has so far helped me SLOW DOWN a little (Pulse Rate) kabhi kabhi and WALK MORE. Cool.
 
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Thread Starter #9
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On 15th Dec 2018 my Bip Watch was fully charged by night and on 5th Jan 2019 the 21st Day, the battery gave up. See the Combo Pic below:

Bip - Combo2.jpg


Charging time: It took 1 Hr 30 min (for zero to 97 % )

Conveniences : When phone screen is off, i get SMS and WA Msgs on my Bip watch. Troublesome WA Msgs can be kept in "NOT Read" status in Mobile, as long as i want [cheers] . When buckled up in Car, reaching for phone is cumbersome. Pretty easy to read it on the watch, while waiting for a Traffic-light to turn green.

Benefits over this period : Obviously my walking has increased. And so is my family's. Better to loose fat than visit a Medico [angel]

Nuisance : I have not used built in Compass for a while; when I needed it yesterday, it asked me to Calibrate again. Where is that kutti suvar (broken wall) [frustration] ... Like a joker, spent a minute waving the Bip (as per the Figure in link provided in Post # 3 above) to calibrate it. Compared to "my Zenfone 5Z + GPS Test App" Combo, Bip's Compass has about 3 degree Error. Even with this error, one can get out to Civilization, when lost in thick jungles (if Mobile Ph battery dies).

Recommendation: Since yesterday, Amazfit Verge is available for Rs. 12,000 from Amazon India (link). Verge comes with a 1.3” AMOLED Round screen, heart rate sensor, GPS chip, onboard music storage (loaded from a computer), Bluetooth for headphones, you can make calls if paired with Android phones (but not for iPhones), IP68 rating, "good smooth & simple interface" and a claimed battery life of 5 days. Would i still recommend Amazfit Bip to anyone ? Answer is Yes, just because of the amazing 3 weeks' battery life. Within next 12 to 18 months, wearable devices will improve much more giving us an Option to get a much better product with loooong battery life for Rs 12 to 15K.

Note : As of writing this post, on the 11th day, battery is down to 56 % (after fully charging on 5th Jan).
 
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