Amazfit GTR 4 review

Value When Reviewed

€229.90

At IFA 2022, Amazfit unveiled its fourth technology of the GTR and GTS smartwatches – health trackers with long-battery lives at a extra reasonably priced value level than a few of these from main manufacturers.  

The GTR 4 is the watch I’ve frolicked with, which comes with a round face and longer claimed battery life than its sister, the GTS 4. I’ve been testing out its exercise monitoring capabilities, in addition to the sleep-tracking capabilities, coronary heart price monitoring and extra.  

Design & Construct 

The Amazfit GTR 4 has a basic round watch design, not like the GTS 4 which is extra impressed by the Apple Watch.  

The model I examined comes with a black silicone strap, however Amazfit additionally affords a brown, vegan leather-based possibility and a gray material variant with pink accents. Typically, the designs for the GTR line are extra business-like than the GTS, which affords extra color selection. 

The 22mm strap is comfy to put on, however it may choose up sweat marks after vigorous train, and I needed to wipe it down a number of occasions. This has fast launch, so you’ll be able to swap it out for a customized one. There are two buttons on the aspect of the watch – one for the principle menu, and one other with fast entry to exercises.

The 1.43in AMOLED show is great on the GTR 4 – it doesn’t encounter a lot glare below the daylight and doesn’t choose up fingerprints. It’s vibrant sufficient to view clearly in a number of circumstances, even underwater. You’ll be able to allow it to have an always-on show, although this impacts battery life, and a increase to wake operate make sure the display activates absolutely once you increase the watch in your wrist to take a look at it.   

The physique is made up of aluminium alloy. Total, the watch is barely on the chunkier aspect and isn’t the lightest at a weight of 34g. Nonetheless, the larger measurement makes it extra of a press release piece – so it relies on what model of watch you’re searching for. 

A good thing about the extra utilitarian design is that it feels sturdy, and it additionally comes with a 5 ATM waterproof score.

There’s a built-in speaker and microphone on the GTR 4 meaning which you could take calls on it, and even play music you’ve loaded onto it by way of a pc. The watch assistant additionally speaks aloud your exercise stats after you’ve gotten completed an train – although this may be turned off.  

The GTR 4 comes with a biometric sensor, an acceleration sensor, GPS, a gyroscope sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, a barometric altimeter and an ambient gentle sensor to measure all of the actions it guarantees.

Software program & Options 

Most individuals will purchase this look ahead to its health monitoring options, however it additionally has some key staples of what you is perhaps searching for in an on a regular basis smartwatch.  

These embrace integration together with your telephone’s notifications (you’ll be able to toggle which apps you need within the Zepp app), a calendar, voice memos, alarms, climate after which extra obscure issues like a pomodoro timer.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

The most important draw back of choosing a less expensive smartwatch from the likes of Amazfit is the dearth of Google assist. That implies that you can not get third-party apps comparable to Spotify. There isn’t Bluetooth headphone assist both, so if you wish to take heed to music throughout your exercise, you’ll nonetheless want your telephone handy.  

There may be integration for Alexa, which may be accessed by long-pressing the ability button. You will want the watch to be linked to your telephone and an web connection for this to work. Alternatively, you’ll be able to allow the offline voice assistant for primary capabilities comparable to beginning a exercise.

The watch features a step counter and a log of what number of occasions you rise up all through the day. I discovered the latter to be reasonably inaccurate – I stood up greater than the watch counted throughout my time testing.  

Well being & Health Monitoring 

The Amazfit GTR 4 has assist for over 150 totally different exercises. This consists of the fundamentals like working, biking, swimming and yoga, plus some area of interest ones like mountain climbing, crusing and even chess (although I’m undecided how many individuals are counting energy throughout board video games).

I discovered monitoring for issues comparable to strolling and open water swimming to be largely correct. The app was in a position to present breakdowns of my numerous heartrate zones, a map of the route I took, the gap and extra granular issues comparable to my dominant stroke in swimming.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Arguably the most important improve with this machine in comparison with others within the GT line is that it has particular modes for actions involving weightlifting. Amazfit claims that the watch can routinely recognise strength-based workouts – comparable to bicep curls with a dumbbell.  

For me, the watch struggled to establish the proper transfer that I used to be doing, and sometimes had hassle counting the reps. You’ll be able to manually add within the transfer that you just’re performing within the Zepp app, however you can not add your personal customized one if it doesn’t exist already.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

See also  Huawei Watch Fit 3 review: One of the best-value smartwatches you can buy

I additionally had some points with the pool monitoring with this machine – it had hassle counting my laps, and as such the gap I swam was fully inaccurate, and my common lap time was almost double my precise tempo. 

I contacted Amazfit for readability on why this function just isn’t working as supposed, and the product group state that they’re presently engaged on a repair which they estimate will roll out in some unspecified time in the future in October. However on the time of writing, it doesn’t work correctly.

Sleep monitoring on the machine appeared largely correct – it recognised after I had awoken in the course of the evening after which fell again asleep, and the wake-up time tracked with what time was on my telephone. Coronary heart price monitoring and SpO2 (blood oxygen) ranges additionally appeared right and in step with what I recorded on one other wearable.

You should use the ‘one-tap measuring’ button to learn your coronary heart price, blood oxygen ranges, stress and breaths per minute multi function go – this will take as much as 45 seconds.

The watch has auto-detection for eight different exercises: treadmill working, outside working, elliptical coaching, outside biking, indoor strolling, rowing machine, pool swimming and outside strolling.  

You’ll be able to alter the sensitivity of this function to excessive, normal or low. Having it on the best setting is a bit an excessive amount of for my liking – I might stick to the usual possibility.

All the information logged on the GTR 4 is accessible to view on the Zepp app, which is accessible on iOS and Android. This consists of detailed breakdowns of your exercises, your step rely, your sleep rating and any well being measurements readings you’ve gotten taken.  

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

The structure of the information is sort of clear, however there aren’t any hyperlinks to accredited well being pages like what you’ll find on rivals comparable to Withings. There are many customisation choices, each for the watch’s monitoring talents and notifications, and for the general design of the watch – with quite a few free faces accessible for obtain.  

There are inconsistences with grammar and spelling within the app. For instance, once you log a selected transfer within the strength-based train part, some phrases are capitalised and a few are usually not. Amazfit wants to make sure that its copy is cleaner and extra user-friendly.

Battery Life 

Amazfit’s GT merchandise all the time excel in relation to battery life, and the GTR 4 is not any exception. I used the GTR 4 for slightly below per week earlier than it went flat, and that was ranging from 65% utilizing a number of exercise modes, having steady heartrate monitoring on, monitoring my sleep and extra. 

The corporate claims that this tracker can last as long as 14 days with typical utilization, and as much as seven days if getting used closely. This may be prolonged all the best way as much as 50 days if you happen to simply use it as a clock. In case you are working low on battery, you’ll be able to allow the ability saving modes, and this could purchase you much more time.  

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Amazfit features a magnetic charger within the field, which juices it from flat to full in round 1 hour and 45 minutes. That is faster than among the older fashions I’ve examined, and spectacular contemplating the prolonged battery life.  

Value & Availability 

The Amazfit GTR 4 goes on sale on 23 September 2022 within the UK, and it’s out now within the US. The watch is priced at $199.99/£199.99 and is accessible each from Amazfit and Amazon within the US, and Amazon within the UK.  

While that is cheaper than what you’ll find for main smartwatches from the likes of Apple, there are some flaws with this product. The monitoring software program doesn’t really feel wholly correct, and the dearth of Google integration can be a deterrent for some.  

For the same value, we’d advocate the Galaxy Watch 4, which has come down in value because it first launched. You could find additional choices in our record of the most effective smartwatches.  

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Verdict 

Amazfit watches often provide so much for the worth, and while the GTR 4 has some new options in comparison with the final technology, it has some hiccups in its monitoring talents. The shortage of third-party app assist additionally makes different choices rather more interesting.  

The watch does have good battery life, and it’s comfy to put on day-to-day. Nonetheless, there are extra aggressive wearables on the market with higher accuracy.

Specs

• 46 x 46 x 10.6mm
• 34g
• 5 ATM water resistant
• 1.43in AMOLED display, 326 ppi
• Tempered Glass with anti-fingerprint coating
• 22mm silicone strap
• BioTracker 4.0 PPG organic monitoring optical sensor
• Gyroscope sensor
• Geomagnetic sensor
• Acceleration sensor
• Ambient gentle sensor
• Barometric altimeter
• Wi-Fi 2.4GHz
• Bluetooth 5.0 BLE
• Microphone and speaker
• Magnetic chargier
• Approx 1 hour and 45 minute charging time
• 475mAh battery
• Typical utilization: As much as 14 days
• Primary clock mode: As much as 24 days
• Heavy utilization: As much as 7 days
• Helps Android 7.0 and above, iOS 12.0 and above
• 1 yr guarantee