Amazfit Active 2 review: A great budget smartwatch for Android and iPhone

Greatest Costs As we speak: Amazfit Energetic 2

There are not any scarcity of nice smartwatches on the market and over time, they’ve grow to be considerably extra superior. I nonetheless bear in mind the primary Apple Watch, which was extra of a style watch than a well being watch.

A decade on and take a look at it now – the newest mannequin can notify you if it detects chronically hypertension, whereas Samsung’s newest Extremely mannequin works in temperatures as little as -20c. 

They’re simply a few examples of the wealth of options out there on your wrist now, however they sit on the larger finish of the smartwatch market in relation to value. What’s nice about how a lot smartwatches have come on over the previous few years, nevertheless, is that you may now get an enormous vary of options and a great design on the funds finish too. 

Amazfit is thought for doing precisely that and its Energetic 2 smartwatch is not any totally different. I’ve been testing it for the final six months and here’s what I realized.

Design & Construct

• Sport and premium variations
• Stainless-steel case
• 9.9mm and 29.5g

For the unique Energetic smartwatch, it was clear Amazfit took inspiration from the Apple Watch, identical to the Huawei Watch Match 3 does.

The corporate modified issues up fairly significantly for the Energetic 2, nevertheless. The casing is now spherical and it’s not aluminium however chrome steel, delivering a extra premium end total.

Britta O’Boyle

Its redesign gained’t attraction to all, particularly not those that are in search of a smartwatch that appears just like an Apple Look ahead to a 3rd of the value, however there’s a sq. form of the Energetic 2 Premium out there. Again to the common one and it affords a traditional design that appears nice on, with a light-weight construct at below 30g and easy styling. 

It’s not as comfy as among the extra premium smartwatches in that I didn’t really feel prefer it sat particularly flat on the wrist. The sensors on the underside of the casing protrude greater than some others, whereas the silicone strap that comes on the cheaper mannequin is somewhat awkward to placed on and safe.

You possibly can choose to pay somewhat extra for the premium mannequin that comes with a leather-based strap, do you have to want to, or you’ll be able to swap out the strap for one thing else, because it’s a typical 20mm quick-release strap. 

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The appropriate fringe of the Energetic 2 casing has two buttons for management with the highest taking you to apps and the underside to exercises, however there isn’t a rotating crown or something so scrolling is completed utilizing the touchscreen.

By way of sturdiness, Amazfit says it’s rated to 50m for waterproofing which isn’t a given at this value.

Display screen & Audio

• 1.32-inch, AMOLED
• 466 x 466 decision
• Tempered glass (normal mannequin); sapphire glass (premium mannequin)

Talking of the touchscreen, there’s an AMOLED show on the Amazfit Energetic 2 and it’s a great display for the value.

Not one of the best you’ll discover on smartwatches, however definitely not the worst both. Colors have loads of pop and vibrancy, as you’ll anticipate from an OLED show and it’s good and vivid too. You’ll want full brightness in case you are outdoors on a sunny day, however in any other case it cuts via reflections with no downside.

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At 1.32-inches, it’s smaller than the unique Amazfit Energetic (in addition to being a unique form after all). That’s not essentially a difficulty and in reality, I desire a smaller watch, nevertheless it’s nonetheless value holding in thoughts. There’s a 466 x 466 pixel decision, which is sweet and sharp and the touchscreen could be very responsive too. 

The usual mannequin has 2.5D curved glass, however in my a number of months of use, it has picked up a lot of small scuffs and scratches. I’ve not been overly tough with it both, so I’d advocate choosing the costlier mannequin with sapphire glass in the event you can, as this could supply higher safety.

Britta O’Boyle

The Amazfit Energetic 2 has the choice of an All the time-On show, although it’s off by default. I personally like an always-on show, so that you don’t simply have a black circle in your wrist while you aren’t utilizing your smartwatch, however turning this on does impression battery life (extra on this later), so it’s possible you’ll determine you don’t want it in favour of some further days between fees.

What’s fairly good with the All the time-On show right here is that you may select between it following the watch face you’ve chosen, or you’ll be able to choose one other fashion. That’s not an choice on Apple Watch, for instance, the place the All the time On show adopts no matter watch face you might be utilizing.

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For of audio, there’s a reasonably fundamental providing. It’s not the loudest and it’s fairly distorted, so it’s higher to make use of this smartwatch with headphones than depend on its audio system in the event you can.

Software program & Options 

• Android 7.0 and above, iOS 14.0 and above
• Straightforward to navigate and use
• Zepp app

The Amazfit Energetic 2 is suitable with each Android and iOS, which isn’t one thing that may be stated for almost all of premium smartwatches on the market. Apple Watch is just suitable with iPhone, whereas smartwatches like Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 8 and Google’s Pixel Watch 4 are each Android solely. 

There are some variations in a few the options supplied, like iOS customers get fast replies, whereas Android customers get smartphone digicam management, however in any other case the expertise could be very related. 

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The Energetic 2 runs on Amazfit’s ZeppOS 4.5 and whereas there’s usually so much happening, the interface itself is simple sufficient to navigate. Swipe down from the highest for fast entry to settings, swipe left to proper to entry widgets for issues just like the climate, your coronary heart fee and sleep monitoring stats, and swipe proper to left to see a breakdown of a few of these metrics. Smartphone notifications might be seen in the event you swipe up from the underside of the touchscreen, in the meantime. 

There are a few issues that might be somewhat higher managed or simpler to search out. Automated exercise monitoring requires you to enter the smartwatch’s settings and switch it on for every particular person exercise sort, for instance. On the entire, although, it’s an honest expertise.

Britta O’Boyle

Notifications are dealt with nicely and the app retailer has third-party apps like Sonos and GoPro, together with a lot of video games. There’s additionally a voice assistant referred to as Zepp Stream on board, changing Amazon Alexa which was supplied on the unique Energetic.

You will get Zepp Stream to inform you concerning the climate, learn your messages and reply to messages. There’s some lag and it’s not as complete as Alexa, however it is going to do the fundamentals. 

It’s additionally value mentioning that there’s no Zepp Pay assist on the usual Energetic 2. You will want to purchase the Premium mannequin for that so preserve that in thoughts if you wish to pay utilizing your wrist.

Health & Monitoring

• 164 sports activities modes
• Coronary heart fee, VO2 Max and sleep monitoring
• Offline maps

The Amazfit Energetic 2 affords a lot of well being and health options, resembling coronary heart fee monitoring, blood oxygen monitoring, coronary heart fee variability and sleep.

The Energetic 2 additionally affords a every day readiness rating, sleep rating and it tracks stress too. I wore the Energetic 2 alongside the Oura Ring 4 and I discovered the every day readiness scores of the Energetic 2 to be roughly on par with the Ring 4, often somewhat larger.

Britta O’Boyle

Within the six months I’ve been sporting the Energetic 2, nevertheless, it has marked me as burdened as soon as, and that’s positively not correct. Oura constantly flags a hectic day for me after I head into London as soon as per week, so it’s odd that the Energetic 2 doesn’t appear to select up on this too. 

Coronary heart fee was additionally not as correct as different trackers in my expertise. It was barely larger than the Apple Watch when it comes to minimal and most and it didn’t align when it got here to common throughout exercises both. Nonetheless, you’ll be able to join an exterior coronary heart fee monitor to the Energetic 2 through Bluetooth if you wish to make sure you’re getting essentially the most correct readings. 

Britta O’Boyle

For sleep, the Energetic 2 carried out nicely in my testing and was just about according to the Oura Ring 4, which I deem to be nice for sleep monitoring accuracy. The information is simple to grasp and nicely offered each on the smartwatch itself and within the Zepp app.

On the sports activities facet of issues, the Energetic 2 affords an enormous quantity. It’s going to monitor over 160 exercise sorts and there are additionally options like free offline maps (a rarity at this value), a Hyrox race mode and PAI scores, amongst loads extra. If you happen to’re somebody who likes diving into knowledge, there’s an enormous vary on supply right here, arguably an excessive amount of as it may be somewhat overwhelming, nevertheless it’s higher to have it than not.

I feel the app might be extra user-friendly and current all the info higher – it’s all somewhat black and white with minimal color – however for the value, what you get is great.

Battery Life & Charging 

• As much as 10 days 
• 5 days with heavy use
• 270mAh

Amazfit claims the battery lifetime of the Energetic 2 is nineteen days in battery saver mode, 10 days with normal use and as much as 5 days with heavy use.

That 10-days normal use is lower than the 14 days of the unique Energetic, but when I’m being truthful, it’s much more than the Apple Watch fashions and Samsung’s smartwatches, most of which final a day or a day and a half.

Britta O’Boyle

On common, I did a exercise as soon as a day and the Energetic 2 gave me between 4 and 5 days battery life with the All the time-On show on. If you happen to use GPS incessantly for outside runs or walks, you may even see a drop in that determine although a lot of my every day exercises have been outside working for round half-hour, so that provides you some thought of its capabilities primarily based on real-world use.

There’s good battery administration too, with the Energetic 2 letting you already know what’s draining the battery so you’ll be able to doubtlessly flip these off in the event you want the battery to last more and also you aren’t close to the proprietary charger.

Turning off blood oxygen monitoring and stress monitoring will assist delay the battery, for instance, so give {that a} go if you should stretch out the time between fees and also you aren’t too fussed about these metrics.

Value & Availability 

The Amazfit Energetic 2 begins at £99/$99, making it a terrific worth smartwatch. It’s additionally considerably cheaper than its predecessor, which value £150/$150 at launch.

As talked about, there’s additionally a premium model of the Energetic 2, which affords a sapphire glass display, comes with a leather-based strap and permits for contactless funds with an NFC chip. This prices £129.90/$129.99 or you will get a sq. model for £149.90/$149.99.

You should purchase the Amazfit Energetic 2 via a lot of retailers, together with Amazfit and Amazon.

Try our listing of one of the best funds smartwatches to see what the Energetic 2 is up towards.

Do you have to purchase the Amazfit Energetic 2?

For its value, the Amazfit Energetic 2 punches nicely above its weight and is a superb funds smartwatch. It has an enormous vary of well being and health options, a easy and chic design and a vibrant and responsive AMOLED show. 

Its accuracy isn’t all the time good – coronary heart fee and stress monitoring specifically – however there’s a nice vary of information out there and that isn’t the case for all smartwatches that value twice as a lot because the Energetic 2, not to mention on the £100/$100 value level.

If you happen to’re in search of a budget-friendly smartwatch that’s comfy to put on, has a formidable vary of options and could be very succesful in what it affords, the Amazfit Energetic 2 is a stable selection – and it really works on each Android and iPhone.

Specs (common spherical mannequin)

• ZeppOS 4.5
• 44mm
• 1.32-inches, AMOLED, 466 x 466 pixels, 2000 nits
• Snapdragon W5 Gen 2
• 512MB storage
• Coronary heart fee monitor
• SpO2
• Pores and skin temperature
• Microphone
• Speaker
• Wi-Fi 6
• Bluetooth 5.2
• 5 satellite tv for pc positioning methods
• 270mAh battery
• Magnetic charging base
• Gorilla Glass 5
• 5ATM
• 29.5g