Xiaomi Watch 2 Review

With the launch of the Xiaomi 14 series, the company also introduced new sets of smartwatches like the Xiaomi Watch S3 and the unit we got for review which is the Xiaomi Watch 2, a Google Watch OS-powered device for under 10k.

Is it worth it for the price? Let’s all find out in this review.

Design

The Xiaomi Watch 2 has a nice lightweight aluminum alloy frame case with 1.43-inch large AMOLED 60Hz display, boasting a 466 x 466 resolution, 326ppi, up to 600 nits of peak brightness and along with interchangeable straps bands. The body weighs approximately 36.8g (without a strap) and 52g (straps included).

For straps, you have the option to choose between two colors: black and gray (which is more of a dirty white). Out of the box, it comes with Pine Green TPU, White Leather, and Recycled Braided Strap in black.

The display has a thick bezel that has these strip of lines that indicates hour location. Since it has a AMOLED display, viewing it on a bright daylight is no problem. While in terms of the build, the body has a matte satin feel texture, I like that it has a streamline design dual-ring etched pattern design.

There are only two buttons on the side designed with the same texture to blend seamlessly with the frame. Moving to the back, there is a glass cover, with the sensor positioned prominently at the center, featuring a green dual LED and two magnetic pins for charging. Less noticeable are the speakers, located to the right of the pin connectors, and a pinhole microphone on the left side.

As I mentioned, the great thing about the Xiaomi Watch 2 is that straps are swappable and has a metal buckle, and changing them is easy thanks to a latch mechanism. Simply slide the latch to remove or replace the strap. There are Xiaomi straps available on their official store but for sure 3rd party straps are now available as well.

I actually tried searching in shopee “xiaomi watch 2 straps” and it also suggested the 22mm straps which is also the size of this straps included. For sure other 22mm straps will be compatible as long as it came from similar model or previous generations.

The only thing I dislike about the straps is that they are very hard to remove. I have a very skinny wrist, so I usually need to use the last three holes of the straps, and figuring out how to remove them took me several minutes. But, a nifty hack to remove the strap faster is to first push the tongue outwards, as shown in the photo. From there, you can easily push it to unfasten the strap It’s probably due to the material of the Xiaomi strap, which has a slightly rougher texture.

But then again, it might just be this type of strap that came with the package, so you might also want to check some other straps to see if they have the same texture. However, this is just me nitpicking, since I usually remove my smartwatches at the end of work to charge them, so that before I even sleep at night its already fully charged.

The device has no cellular capability, offering only WiFi, which requires pairing with your device using their Mi Fitness app, which I’ll discuss more in a bit.

Features

In terms of navigating the Xiaomi Watch 2, the experience is seamless and actually user-friendly.

Swiping from top to bottom will show the notifications, while swiping from bottom to top will display the quick access icons. In this menu, you can customize which icons you want to be available, and when you click the edit button, you can also remove icons you don’t want to see.

Holding the top button will show the Google Assistant, then double-clicking it will display the recent app, and you can swipe the app upwards to remove or close it. Also, a single click will show all the apps installed. While in the app drawer, you can press and hold the app to move its location.

There is also an option to change the app view to grid or list—personally, I find the list view better since it displays the name of the icon it represents.

While the second button at the bottom acts as a power button and facilitates switching to the last app used. For example, if you used the sleep app, then navigated away and selected the recorder, pressing the bottom button will switch back to the last app you opened or used. It can be quite confusing at first, but it takes some time to get used to.

Then swiping from left to right will show what Xiaomi calls it as tiles. By default there are 6 tiles including the watch faces. But you can add more by going to the Mi Fitness app then select manage tiles, swipe at the bottom and you will see “Add tiles” button. From here you can add more tiles to the watch, it also adopts depending which watchOS apps you have installed. But do take note that you are only limited to a maximum of 12 tiles. Choose wisely.

Press and holding the watch face will show the different pre-installed ready made watch faces to select. each faces has their own customization once you clicked the “edit” button. there are over 33 premade watch faces to choose from. But at the end of the list there a “add more +” button which will let you download more watch faces via the google play store. it will need to connect your google play store account to search for apps that are compatible with the Xiaomi Watch 2.

I love that it has Google Wallet Pay (NFC) and it prominently bombard you to use it all the time but unfortunately it is not yet supported in the Philippines. (Please Google Bring this to Philippines).

Another feature is that you can remotely control the camera app; unfortunately, it doesn’t show the preview. It only acts as a shutter button—then displays an animation if you take a photo. You also won’t be able to switch the mode of the camera through the watch; you will need to change it manually in the camera app.

Also, when you switch to video mode, the button on the watch doesn’t change to a record button similar to the video mode—so you won’t know if you are already recording a video unless you look at your phone again to stop or start the video recording.

The only settings you can change remotely are the shutter button timer to 3s and 5s; other than that, it is just a plain white button. If I were the UI designer, I would have made the white circle take up the whole space of the watch to have a bigger touchpoint to press the shutter button.

But based on their fine print, “Video-shooting is only available when connected to Xiaomi 14 Ultra and Xiaomi 14. Preview is only available when connected to Xiaomi 13 Ultra, Xiaomi 13 Pro, Xiaomi 13, Xiaomi 13T Pro, and Xiaomi 13T.” The unit I tested with is the Redmi Note 13 Pro.

Watch faces are one of the highlight feature of the device. Simply touch and hold the watch face to change and select from various pre-build selections. You can also download from 3rd party apps if needed. On every watch face there will be an edit button that you can change the color and settings.

Since the device has a speaker you can also answer phone calls using the watch which really convenient.

Also, if you are into fitness there are over 161 sports modes in different categories. Here is the breakdown. but do take note this is not all the workout modes these are just the list that are easy to access.

• Chess
• Outdoor Running
• Walking
• Freestyle
• Hiking
• Outdoor cycling
• Treadmill
• Jump rope
• Water sports (18 items)
• Outdoor activities (11 items)
• Training (40 items)
• Dance (14 items)
• Combat sports (12 items)
• Ball sports (26 items)
• Winter sports (11 items)
• Recreational sports (14 items)
• Card/board games (4 items)
• Other (3 items)

Each modes lets you set goals, reminders and set the device to always-on.

App Features

Now the first thing you will need to do after booting up the device is downloading the Mi fitness which you can scan during the installation process on the watch or through Google Playstore or iOS app.

The pairing process is seamless, although at the time of this review, the unit had not yet been launched, so we could not find it in the list. However, the good thing is that it auto-detects once it is near your phone via Bluetooth.

For the Mi Fitness app, it really varies depending on which smartwatch you are using. Some features might not be available if you are using a different device.

There are four tabs Health, Workout, Device and Profile. Majority of the features are in the Health and device section.

The dashboard will show the summary of the following. Sleep, BPM, Steps, Kcal, Moving, Standing, Blood Oxygen, Stress, Weight, VO2 max, Blood Pressure, Training Load and Cycles.

I will not dive into the nitty-gritty details of the app, but the overall interface is user-friendly and easy to navigate. It has a consistent user experience and flow. You can set the dates from days, weeks, and months.

Just a reminder, I’m not sure if this is a feature or a bug, but if you plan to unpair the device, just take note that it will remove all your current data, which happened to me during the time of my review. I already had my data ready for screenshots, but I accidentally unpaired it, and my old data were gone. So, I needed another set of data for this review.

While in terms of the watch integration feature, all of those can be seen in the device section where you can toggle some of the added feature sets and even select different types of watch faces. Plus, I do recommend when adding new apps, it’s more convenient to do it via the app since the watch has a very small display. It’s really hard to type and search, but still, you have the flexibility of doing it through the watch itself.

By default the heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring, and stress monitoring is set off for continuous monitoring and all-day tracking but you can simply toggle it on in the app settings which I highly recommend.

It also has a Always-on display feature which is set off also by default but can also be set to smart or scheduled.

Performance

For its performance, the Xiaomi Watch 2 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 Platform (4nm) with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, plenty enough for those additional apps available in the Google Play Store. During the time I used the device, I never had any issues with stuttering or lagging in terms of navigating the device, even with constant notifications (essential for my work). I like the tactile feel of the buttons but do wish that maybe the other button had a texture or was slightly beveled or protruding because the current design has a flat button that sometimes makes it quite hard to feel if I am pressing the button or not.

Since the Xiaomi Watch 2 is equipped with Dual band : L1+L5 GPS, using this when navigating like the Google Maps is very accurate. Plus very convenient if you don’t want to use your phone when checking notifications or messages.

Battery Life

The Xiaomi Watch 2 packs a 495mAh battery and can be charged using the magnetic charging dock that comes with it. Well, I’m not really a fan of the magnetic pin-type charging dock since you need to exactly match the position of the pins to charge the device. That’s the only downside, in my opinion, but thankfully, it is still water-resistant, so wearing this while taking a shower is no issue. I tried it, and just use the built-in feature “clearing water,” and you’re all good.

Now, charging takes less than an hour (45 mins), and a 10-min charge will already juice up a 30% battery that can last a whole day. Based on Xiaomi’s lab tests, the Watch 2 can go up to 65 hours, and great news: during the weeks of using this device, I consistently get 2.5 days to almost 3 days depending on my day-to-day routine. Usually, it varies if my notifications keep popping in and how constantly I check the watch. Take note that it constantly checks sleep data, BPM, steps, and other features. It’s not the longest-lasting battery smartwatch out there, but it does the job well.

Conclusion

The Xiaomi Watch 2 is a smartwatch that won’t break the bank. For the features it offers, it’s a steal—it packs a ton. It may appear simple and minimalist at first glance, but it features unlimited customization thanks to the Google WatchOS integration. Plus, for the price of only PHP 9,699USD 165INR 14,011EUR 157CNY 1,204, it’s hard to beat.

It may not have the best battery life, but for what it offers, I won’t complain. I enjoyed using this device, and monitoring my health with this watch has become a habit—and I think that sets it apart from the other smartwatches I have used. Overall, highly recommended.

Xiaomi Watch 2 specs:
1.43-inch AMOLED 466×466, 326ppi
600nits
14mm-219mm
Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 Platform (4nm)
2GB RAM
32GB Storage
WiFi 2.5GHz/5GHz
NFC
Bluetooth 5.2
5ATM water resistant
Optical heart rate sensor
Accelerometer sensor
Gyroscope sensor
Ambient light sensor
Electronic compass sensor
Barometer sensor
Dual band : L1+L5 GPS | Galileo | Glonass | Beidou | QZSS
495mAh Battery (Magnetic charging)
WearOS 3.5 x MIUI Watch
Model M2320W1
47.5mm x 45.9mm x 11.8mm [Dimension]
36.8g (without strap)[Weight]

What we liked about it:
* Sleek Elegant Design and Minimalist
* WatchOS – Google Service is Present
* Swappable Bands
* Lots of features and customizations
* Seamless App Integration
* Affordable Price for a Smartwatch

What we did not like:
* Hard to remove strap when already on your wrist
* Quite Large for average users
* Battery could be improved
* Magnetic Pin Connector Charging

Pricing

The Xiaomi Watch 2 is now available for only PHP 9,699USD 165INR 14,011EUR 157CNY 1,204, thru Xiaomi’s Official Shopee 54 and Lazada 41 Stores.