Amazfit GTS 4 Mini review

Finest Costs At the moment: Amazfit GTS 4 Mini

Amazfit has up to date its slimline smartwatch providing with the GTS 4 Mini. It sits just a little decrease down the worth ladder from the bigger Amazfit GTS 4 and GTR 4, however comes with most of the identical options.

So, does measurement matter? Right here’s the Tech Advisor overview of the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini. 

Design and construct

• Gentle, compact chassis
• Comfy to put on
• 5 ATM water resistance

Amazfit has caught fairly near the design ethic it used with the earlier iteration of the Mini, which was confusingly known as the GTS 2 Mini. It has a stunning slim metallic casing that accommodates the 1.65-inch show. On the wrist there’s a satisfyingly low 9.1mm profile, simply permitting the watch to slide beneath shirt cuffs, and the 19g weight implies that you neglect you’re carrying it half the time. 

One small grievance is the crown button on the best flank. Sure, it’s in step with a traditional watch design, and a sure one from Apple, however whereas the crown does flip it serves no function. The display screen doesn’t scroll up or down and there’s no choice to allocate a perform to the motion. As a substitute it’s mainly a button, so why not simply make it a button relatively than a crown?

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The silicon strap has a easy clasp design the place you clip it in then thread the remainder of the strap beneath. It’s a 20mm width, so fairly customary, however even with my slim wrists I solely had three holes left on the strap. With this in thoughts, you may wish to keep away from this explicit mannequin in case you have loads of girth in your wrists, or purchase an extended strap. 

Turning the GTS 4 Mini over reveals the round plate that’s dwelling to the sensors in addition to the contact factors for the included proprietary charger. As is frequent nowadays, the lead on the charging cable is kind of brief, so that you’ll have to have a plug level close by once you refuel the 270mAh battery. 

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My overview pattern was the Mint Blue variant, however Amazfit additionally presents the GTS 4 Mini in Midnight Black, Flamingo Pink and Moonlight White. I believe that is the nicest livery although because it seems to be clear and trendy whereas avoiding any falls into garishness. 

It’s a pleasant package deal that appears tasteful and good, very like I believed with the earlier model. The one huge benefit the newer mannequin has in its locker is a 5 ATM water resistance ranking, that means you may take it swimming and it’ll observe your actions or survive doing the washing up. 

Show

• 1.65-inch AMOLED show
• 336×384 decision
• All the time-on show

The 1.65-inch AMOLED show is vivid, clear and simple to learn because of a 336×384 decision, which equates to 309ppi. The dimensions has elevated barely from the 1.55-inch panel on the GTS 2 Mini, and with a 70.2% screen-to-body ratio you get to make use of a good proportion of the show. 

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The varied watch faces accessible make it simple to choose how busy you need the knowledge on the display screen to be, and there’s an always-on choice you may allow so the time or different info with out having to boost your wrist. 

One factor I seen although was that the touchscreen itself could possibly be just a little choosy about when it responded to a faucet. It was often okay when sat at a desk, however on numerous events it proved extra resistant after I was strolling. This could possibly be one thing to do with small contact targets and my inaccurate fingers, nevertheless it was disappointing. 

Software program and options 

• Zepp OS
• Alexa in-built
• Restricted third-party app assist
• No NFC

Whereas the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini could appear to be an Apple Watch different, it’s actually extra of a health band with ambitions. It does have some helpful built-in options, however most of the common third-party apps you see on different smartwatches aren’t accessible.

Nearly all of issues are managed by way of the Zepp app, which lets you obtain plenty of watch faces (some you’ll have to pay for), alter settings for monitoring and issues like that, plus rearrange the apps that seem on the watch, in addition to their order. One helpful choice is to resolve what occurs once you long-press the crown button, however as I mentioned earlier than you may’t assign any options for rotating it. Missed alternative there. 

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The watch itself runs on the Zepp OS, which is kind of responsive and dependable, plus it comes with some helpful options to make up for the shortage of app assist. Alexa is built-in, so you may add issues to your Amazon account or ask questions as you’d with any Alexa enabled product. You may also use it to shortly set timers and reminders, which is one thing I discovered myself doing repeatedly because it was so helpful. 

There’s additionally a music app, climate, to-do listing, stopwatch, torch, alarms, and a Pomodoro timer. All fairly customary stuff.

You’ll be able to’t retailer recordsdata on the machine itself, so no offline listening to music except you’ve gotten your cellphone. There’s additionally no NFC capabilities, which suggests you may’t use the GTS 4 Mini for contactless funds. This makes it much less of a standalone machine than a few of its rivals, however it could be actually spectacular to have superior options like these at this worth level.  

Third-party apps aren’t accessible to obtain, other than some random ones on the Zepp retailer, none of that are the mainstream ones you need. WhatsApp messages do seem as notifications, as will Fb in case you hyperlink your account, however you gained’t discover an precise app. The identical is true for the likes of Spotify, Audible and related companies, though you need to use the generic Music app to regulate primary playback options and quantity to any connected Bluetooth headphones because of the Bluetooth 5.2 connection.

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One slight draw back is that there are not any preset solutions you need to use to answer to messages, so the GTS 4 Mini is just for studying them. If this could possibly be modified so {that a} fast choice for ‘Okay’, ‘Sure’ or ‘No’ or perhaps a customized message was accessible it could be an actual profit. If this can be a sticking level for you, then the Amazfit GTS 4 runs an up to date Zepp OS2 and contains the flexibility to answer to messages, so that could be the watch you want. 

Well being and health monitoring

• 120+ sports activities monitoring modes
• GPS
• Tough guides relatively than tremendous correct

As acknowledged earlier, the GTS 4 Mini is at coronary heart a health tracker relatively than a fully-fledged smartwatch. That’s no unhealthy factor in any respect, and with Amazfit giving it over 120 completely different monitoring modes, it’s best to be capable to discover your exercise of selection.  

The obvious one is step monitoring and the GTS 4 Mini does a good job of monitoring my steps all through the day. You may get detailed experiences on lengthy treks, reminiscent of your cadence and stride, plus how onerous your coronary heart was working. All of those can depend in direction of your private exercise intelligence (PAI) rating, which supplies you factors for exercises and acts equally to Apple’s three rings on the Apple Watch. 

Auto-tracking is simply accessible for strolling, indoor strolling, outside working, treadmill, outside biking, elliptical or rowing, so in case you’re swimming, lifting, doing a yoga session or one of many different myriad of actions accessible you then’ll want to recollect to start out the exercise monitoring manually. 

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Amazfit contains varied evaluation options that present how your exercise could have affected your physique, reminiscent of coronary heart price zones, cardio and anaerobic monitoring that seems within the PeakBeat algorithm. There’s additionally blood oxygen ranges, stress and sleep monitoring that saves loads of details about your well being within the Zepp app so you may search for patterns and areas of enchancment. 

By the completely different actions I attempted whereas carrying the watch, I believe it’s protected to say that the measurements recorded are extra akin to a tough information than super-accurate. When you’re coaching for one thing like a marathon and wish particular targets to be tracked, then you may want the Apple Watch SE or a Coros Apex 2 watch as a substitute, however for most individuals that wish to get energetic and never lay our a fortune to observe their exertions, I’d say the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini is definitely ok. 

There are some good additions too, such because the digital pacer that can problem you to run at sure speeds throughout a session. You’ll be able to hyperlink your Adidas Operating, Relive or Strava accounts to the watch as nicely, plus there built-in GPS so you may map all your outside routes. There’s additionally a menstrual cycle tracker.

Sleep monitoring didn’t fairly handle to at all times inform the distinction between being sedentary and asleep, however once more, in case you’re comfortable to get a ballpark determine of the hours you’re in mattress and the standard of your sleep, then you may’t go fallacious for the worth. 

Battery life and charging

• 270mAh battery
• Effectively over every week of use in regular mode
• Gradual to recharge

Battery life on the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini is nice. Utilizing the machine with the always-on show disabled and going gently on the charges of heartbeat monitoring will get you round two weeks of life between fees. Even with the options talked about enabled, you’ll nonetheless get nicely over every week earlier than needing to connect the magnetic charger as soon as extra. 

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The one characteristic that can drastically drain the 270mAh cell is utilizing the GPS tracker. As soon as that’s turned on, you’ll get a most of 21 hours earlier than the juice runs out. However, even that’s spectacular. Recharging the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini takes round two hours, so it’s a superb factor you don’t have to do it fairly often.  

Worth and availability

The Amazfit GTS 4 Mini is available for purchase direct from Amazfit for $99.99/£99.99/€99.99, which is a very good worth for the options you get and the beautiful design of the machine.

For about the identical cash you may choose up the Fitbit Cost 5, which additionally has a GPS tracker and loads of wonderful well being and health capabilities, though some are solely accessible with a Fitbit Premium subscription.

When you like what you see with the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini however need extra options and bigger show, then the Amazfit GTS 4 is out there for round $200/£199/€199.  

Verdict

Amazfit has constructed a status for good high quality, reasonably priced trackers and the GTS 4 Mini retains that custom intact. It’s a really good wanting machine that’s effortlessly snug to put on. The software program and options accessible are wonderful for the cash, and the battery life means you gained’t be having to take away it each night time like another smartwatches. 

The monitoring isn’t as correct as costlier fashions and I’d have most popular a extra delicate show, nevertheless it’s onerous to complain once you’re getting a strong health tracker that has some smartwatch capabilities for lower than $100/£100.

Specs

• 1.65-inch AMOLED show, 336×384 decision, 309 ppi
• All the time-on show
• BioTracker 3.0 PPG biometric sensor
• Acceleration sensor
• Geomagnetic sensor
• Ambient mild sensor
• 5 ATM water resistance
• GPS
• Bluetooth 5.2
• 270mAh battery
• 41.8 x 36.7 x 9.1mm
• 31.2g (together with strap)