The Amazfit Bip S launched back at CES 2020 and has now made its way to India. The new model which is an upgrade over the Amazfit Bip adds some pretty handy new features to make an excellent smartwatch even better than the Amazfit Bip already was. We’ve got a review unit here and we’re quite excited to share our findings about the ultra-affordable fitness tracker cum smartwatch. It costs Rs 4,999
In terms of new features, there’s now an always-on display, improved water resistance (with 5ATM), Bluetooth 5.0, and a PPG Bio-Tracking Optical Sensor. The watch has also gotten slightly thicker by around 1.9mm. For detailed specifications, check out this story here.
Initial setup of the watch is pretty simply, although the initial few updates (they take a few minutes) might annoy you. Install the Amazfit app and scan the QR code on the watch with it and the rest will be easy. The smartphone app has the majority of settings, customization options, and detailed data (fitness, sleep, heart rate) gathered from the watch.
Design – Simple but sturdy
The Amazfit Bip S is a budget smartwatch and one can tell that simply by its build quality and materials. Of course, we don’t mean to say it’s bad or flimsy. The material is polycarbonate but it is sturdy and the square dial with its big display is what makes it look good, in my opinion. The straps are also of good quality and wearing the watch for longer durations shouldn’t be an issue at all. The Bip had IP68 ratings but this one has 5ATM water resistance which means you can fearlessly do a deep dive in a pool and not fear the watch will fail. Precisely speaking, this means that it is water-resistant to up to 50 metres in depth for 10 minutes.
There’s a single button on the side which simply helps in navigating the relatively simple UI. At this price point, I honestly wouldn’t be expecting more either and I’m content with what’s there.
Display – Colourful but not punchy
Gizchina News of the week
So, here’s where trade-offs are obvious. The display is a 1.28-inch colour panel but it’s not anything different from the Bip itself. Also, it’s not a full-blown IPS variety, rather you’ll get subdued colours which lack punch, but it will still do the job. In terms of brightness, I’d say it’s ok as long as it’s not in direct sunlight. It’s perfectly readable and at full brightness, it will be visible under the sun as well, thanks to its transflective qualities. In essence, it’s pretty much the same display as the older version with the addition of Corning Gorilla Glass. The Always-on feature is a really handy addition, although it does eat out the battery.
Battery – Stellar
In my limited usage time, it went from 50% to 0% in 8 days. That means you can get around 16 days on the basic mode which I’d say is pretty decent. This was achieved with the basic mode. However, I wasn’t quite able to test it with GPS on for the whole time. Still, we know that it reduces the battery span drastically. All in all, the Amazfit Bip S is a real battery champ and this is clearly one of its biggest Pros.
Software UI – Pretty basic
The Amazfit Bip S doesn’t have any flashy UI or a ton of apps. It’s a pretty basic Amazfit OS.
The UI is pretty simple to navigate. The default screen is the watch face. From there, you can swipe right to access weather, heart rate, steps, and music controls. Swiping from the top allows you to change brightness, battery, and connection status. Swiping from the bottom gives you a list of notifications. As far as I could see, there were five at most. So, if you’ve missed any of them before that, you’ll have to reach out for your phone.
Fitness/activities tracking – Accurate but need more activities
The watch can track your steps, heart rate, sleep, and also simplify all the data with a PAI (a simple physiological activity indicator that sums up all data) value. I couldn’t find a way to track a more varied set of fitness exercises which is a bummer. This means that the watch is not suited for professionals that undergo a strenuous regime with different activities. However, what the Amazfit Bip S tracks, it tracks well. Most of the granular data will be on the phone though. The watch itself only displays the most basic stuff. What it does in tracking, it does pretty accurately though. Some fitness trackers tend to register even vehicle movements as steps in certain situations, however, this was not the case with the Amazfit Bip S.
Final thoughts
For its price tag and what it offers, we can surely recommend the Amazfit Bip S. More so, if you’re not a hardcore fitness enthusiast and need an affordable tracker with basic tracking stuff. However, if you’re looking for a flashy eye-catching design or a better activities tracker, you need to look elsewhere.
