Xiaomi Watch S3 Smartwatch Review with 14 days battery & Strava

The Xiaomi Watch S3 is the most recent reasonably priced smartwatch from the Chinese language tech big. It gives a formidable set of options at a really aggressive value level. With a smooth design, lengthy battery life, and assist for well-liked health platforms like Strava, this watch goals to be the proper companion for health fans on a funds.

To keep away from confusion, it’s price mentioning that the Watch S3 runs Xiaomi HyperOS, however this isn’t the identical Android-based HyperOS you discover on the Xiaomi 14; it’s as an alternative a function OS that has restricted customization. That is what permits it to be each reasonably priced and have an incredible battery life. It’s the Xiaomi Watch 2 that runs the fully-fledged WearOS smartwatch OS.

Specification and Options

• Show:
• Dimensions:
• Strap:
  • Fluororubber 140 mm-210 mm
  • Black or Silver (different colors offered individually)
• Battery:
• Charging:
  • 2-Pin magnetic charging dock
• Sensors
  • Coronary heart price sensor (with blood oxygen sensor), accelerometer, gyroscope, digital compass, barometer sensor, ambient gentle sensor, corridor sensor
• Microphone: Supported
• Audio system: Supported
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.2
• Satellite tv for pc Positioning Programs: BeiDou, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS
• NFC: Sure, region-specific

Design and Construct High quality

The Xiaomi Watch S3 contains a traditional spherical watch design, and my pattern is black. The construct high quality is first rate however doesn’t really feel as premium as many different, rather more costly choices from the likes of Huawei or Garmin.

The general look is good. It appears to be like like a standard watch and I a lot choose the looks of this than lots of the good band fashion smartwatches you will get.

Xiaomi has then launched a novel design function that permits you to swap out the bezel of the watch. This offers you a bit extra flexibility with the looks. The black mannequin comes with a plane-black bezel as default, however I used to be additionally despatched a numbered bezel, making it look extra like a pilot or navy watch. Whenever you connect the bezel, the watch additionally modifications the watch face to match the strap.

I used to be additionally provided two further straps, one blue and black, one inexperienced and black, that are each made out of calf leather-based and make the watch look a bit extra premium.

To cost the watch, you, sadly, have to make use of a proprietary magnetic connector. I discover these simpler to cost watches than QI wi-fi however I choose the comfort of having the ability to cost with completely different wi-fi expenses.

Set Up and Mi Health

Organising the Xiaomi Watch S3 is an easy course of. After downloading the Mi Health app in your smartphone, you may pair the watch by way of Bluetooth. The app permits you to customise watch faces, handle notifications, and sync your health information.

The Mi Health app offers a complete overview of your day by day exercise, together with steps taken, energy burned, and sleep high quality. It additionally gives guided respiratory workouts and menstrual cycle monitoring for feminine customers.

Strava and Third-Celebration Information Export

Most people who find themselves eager on outside health will use Strava. I’ve at all times stated that Xiaomi is one of the best model to select from if you need an reasonably priced watch that additionally integrates with Strava.

Issues have modified a bit, with Huawei now supporting Strava negatively quite than having to make use of the HealthSync app, which was at all times a bit hit and miss.

Nonetheless, until you go for a correct smartwatch or a fitness-focused model like Garmin, I feel Xiaomi are nonetheless one of the best for Strava integration.

Moreover, this may be linked to Google Match and Suunto.

Watch Apps and UI

The Xiaomi Watch S3 runs on a proprietary working system that provides a easy and intuitive consumer interface. The watch face may be customised with varied pre-installed choices or by downloading further faces from the Mi Health app.

Swiping from the watch face reveals a variety of widgets, together with climate, music controls, and health stats. The watch additionally helps notifications out of your smartphone, permitting you to learn messages and see incoming calls straight in your wrist.

Whereas the Watch S3 doesn’t assist third-party apps like a full-fledged smartwatch, it does supply a choice of built-in apps for monitoring exercises, monitoring well being, and extra.

The watch additionally has NFC and helps Xiaomi Pay. That is at present restricted to simply Curve and UAB Zen, however it’s a handy function in the event you use one among these banks.

Health Monitoring

The Xiaomi Watch S3 excels in health monitoring, providing assist for over 110 sports activities modes, together with operating, biking, swimming, and extra. The watch makes use of its varied sensors to precisely monitor your exercises, offering information akin to coronary heart price, tempo, distance, and energy burned.

For outside actions, the Watch S3’s GPS performance permits you to monitor your routes and consider them within the Mi Health app. The watch additionally offers real-time steering throughout exercises, akin to alerting you if you attain a sure distance or in case your coronary heart price exceeds a set threshold.

As I’m coaching for a marathon, I’ve principally been operating outdoor just lately.

In my testing, I used the Garmin Fenix 6 Professional paired with the Garmin HRM Professional chest strap for correct coronary heart price monitoring and the Stryd foot pod energy meter for extra correct pace measurements and extra metrics.

Coronary heart Charge Accuracy

The Xiaomi depends on a wrist-based optical coronary heart price monitor, which is notoriously vulnerable to inaccuracies because of the awkward placement. In my case, I’ve very skinny and bushy wrists. I additionally discover that there isn’t a substantial amount of flex with the strap, I can get it becoming snugly however just a little tighter could enhance accuracy.

Whereas the sensor itself will probably be extremely correct, the wrist placement will typically trigger inaccuracies. From my expertise with my very own physique, that is true for many watches, however my accomplice doesn’t have the identical points.

The Xiaomi watch carried out OK on an 8.5-mile run. Trying on the information plotted towards one another, you may see that the Xiaomi struggles in the beginning and finish of the run, however it’s comparatively correct within the center.

Trying on the center components, the utmost distinction in readings is 7bpm, which isn’t ideally suited for a critical novice athlete, however is appropriate for extra informal health fans.

In the direction of the top of the run, issues went extra awry. Xiaomi persistently reads round 170 bpm vs 160 bpm. Whereas a 10bpm distinction doesn’t appear vital, there’s a vital distinction in effort between operating at 160bpm and 170bpm.

The typical HR isn’t too dangerous, with only a 4bpm distinction.

I’d find it irresistible if Xiaomi or different manufacturers allowed you to pair HR sensors with good watches for extra correct measurements.

GPS & Distance Accuracy

The Xiaomi helps BeiDou, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and QZSS dual-band GNSS programs with assist for L1 and L5. That is fairly a complicated GNSS function that permits programs to make use of a number of frequency bands, leading to extra constant tracklogs and improved positioning when utilizing the gadget in difficult environments.

Technically, it’s extra correct than my Garmin Fenix 6 Professional, as multi-band GNSS wasn’t used till the Fenix 7 sequence.

For my runs, each watches carried out effectively with no apparent errors. Residing in a coastal city means there are few environmental obstacles that might trigger issues with the GPS/GNSS.

Xiaomi did monitor an extra 30 metres, however I believe this will probably be a consumer error, as I ended the watches at completely different occasions.

Working Metrics

Garmin is clearly one of the best model if you wish to monitor as a lot info as doable. With the HRM-Professional and/or Stryd, I get superior operating metrics akin to energy, floor contact time, vertical oscillation, and so forth. As a lot as I like all of the numbers, I solely actually care about energy and correct pace measurements.

Xiaomi offers greater than sufficient information for many health fans. For operating, this contains:

• Tempo
• BPM
• Steps
• Energy
• Elevation Acquire
• Elevation Loss
• Tempo per KM
• Cadence
• Stride Size
• Coaching Impact, which incorporates VO2 Max, coaching load and restoration time.

General, I feel the Xiaomi Watch S3 does a wonderful job of health monitoring and it really works effectively for informal and critical health fans alike.

Well being Monitoring

Along with health monitoring, the Xiaomi Watch S3 gives a variety of well being monitoring options. The watch can constantly monitor your coronary heart price all through the day, alerting you if it detects any abnormalities. It additionally helps blood oxygen (SpO2) monitoring, which may be helpful for assessing general well being and health ranges.

The Watch S3 additionally offers sleep monitoring, utilizing its sensors to analyse your sleep patterns and supply insights into the standard of your relaxation. It could monitor deep sleep, gentle sleep, and awake time, in addition to present a sleep rating that can assist you perceive how effectively you’re sleeping.

Sleep monitoring seems to be good. Along with my Garmin, I take advantage of the Withings Sleep Mat, and the three programs report completely different outcomes. For instance, my most up-to-date evening’s sleep was reported as:

• Xiaomi:
  • Length: 7 hours 31 minutes
  • Deep Sleep: 3 hour 27 minutes
  • Gentle Sleep: 3 hours 37 minutes
• Garmin:
  • Length: 6 hours 54 minutes
  • Gentle Sleep: 5 hours 47 minutes
  • Instances Awake: 40 minutes (5 or 6 trying on the graph)
  • Common HR: 51 BPM (Garmin reviews resting HR not common)
• Withings:
  • Length: 7 hours 15 minutes
  • Deep Sleep: 1 hour 3 minutes
  • Gentle Sleep: 5 hours 2 minutes

Sleep monitoring is notoriously inaccurate as wearables can’t actually determine if you’re asleep or what stage of sleep it’s. However, it’s nonetheless good information to have and may give some perception into your bodily situation for the day.

A number of the options will should be enabled inside every metric’s settings. For instance, I needed to swap on all-day SpO2. For my Garmin, I usually depart issues like SpO2 switched off because it has little profit however reduces the battery life. For Xiaomi, the battery life is so good that I depart all the pieces switched on.

Battery Life

One of the vital spectacular points of the Xiaomi Watch S3 is its battery life. With typical utilization, the watch can last as long as 15 days on a single cost. Even with the always-on show enabled, which lets you see the time and your stats at a look, the watch can nonetheless last as long as 5 days.

In my case, with AOD off, I used to be getting round 14 days of use with a number of hours of GPS monitoring per week and round an extra 7 hours of normal health monitoring.

This lengthy battery life is a major benefit over all fully-fledged smartwatches, which regularly require day by day charging. It additionally outlasts the Garmin Fenix 6 Professional by a substantial margin.

With the Watch S3, you may put on it constantly for weeks with out worrying about operating out of energy.

Value and Various Choices

The Xiaomi Watch S3 is offered for simply £120 direct from mi.com. It is available in silver or black and has the corresponding pixel.

On the time of writing, I couldn’t discover any listings for the extra bezels and straps.

Xiaomi then has the Watch 2 and Watch 2 Professional, that are each powered by Put on OS. These are costlier and have a a lot shorter battery life, however they’re totally useful smartwatches that may set up apps.

Huawei has the Watch GT 4, which has nicer {hardware} and higher GPS, however prices from £230. The older GT 3 is offered on Amazon for simply £150.

Honor has the Watch 4, which is offered for simply £100, however I might say this sits someplace between the Xiaomi Good Band 8 Professional. and the Watch S3.

The Fitbit Versa 4 is price contemplating at £150. I choose Fitbit for well being and health monitoring, however the watch isn’t as enticing, and so they attempt to power a subscription on you.

Then the Amazfit GTR 4 is £200

Lastly, for health fans, Garmin is one of the best model, however you pay for it. The Venu 3 is £450, and the Venu 2 is £280. The closest-priced choices are the actually ugly Venu SQ at £110 or the Forerunner 55 at £150.

General

I feel the Xiaomi Watch S3 is an outstanding reasonably priced smartwatch.

Trying on the competitors, it undercuts many of the different decisions for a smartwatch and comes shut in value to the cheaper-looking band-style smartwatches. The Garmin Venu SQ is cheaper and can in all probability have higher health options, however I feel it’s fairly ugly and makes use of a much less enticing LCD show with a a lot shorter battery life.

The general construct high quality and look will not be nearly as good as these of the Huawei Watch GT 4, however it’s enticing sufficient, and you’ll tweak the looks with the bezels and straps.

Equally, it might not have fairly the identical superior options as Huawei, Fitbit or Garmin, however it’s priced accordingly, and it has all of the essential options I would like.

For a very long time, I’ve really useful Xiaomi GPS-equipped watches as essentially the most cost-efficient technique to monitor outside actions with Strava, and this stays true right here.

Just like the competing choices, which lack a fully-fledged smartwatch OS, the battery life is phenomenal. With the all-on show switched off, I used to be getting near 14 days of utilization, and that’s with a number of hours of GPS sports activities monitoring per week.  General, I’d say the Xiaomi Watch S3 stands out as one of the best smartwatch at this value level and I feel it’s a nice possibility for anybody on the lookout for reasonably priced health monitoring with Strava assist.

I’m James, a UK-based tech fanatic and the Editor and Proprietor of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Keen about all issues expertise, my experience spans from computer systems and networking to cell, wearables, and good house gadgets.

As a health fanatic who loves operating and biking, I even have a eager curiosity in fitness-related expertise, and I take each alternative to cowl this area of interest on my weblog. My various pursuits permit me to deliver a novel perspective to tech running a blog, merging life-style, health, and the most recent tech tendencies.

In my tutorial pursuits, I earned a BSc in Data Programs Design from UCLAN, earlier than advancing my studying with a Grasp’s Diploma in Computing. This superior examine additionally included Cisco CCNA accreditation, additional demonstrating my dedication to understanding and staying forward of the expertise curve.

I’m proud to share that Vuelio has persistently ranked Mighty Gadget as one of many high expertise blogs within the UK. With my dedication to expertise and drive to share my insights, I purpose to proceed offering my readers with partaking and informative content material.

Final replace on 2024-03-08 / Affiliate hyperlinks / Pictures from Amazon Product Promoting API