Workdays or workouts, smartwatches are on every other wrist. So why take the Mi Watch Revolve Active seriously over the many others in the market? Consider the fact that Xiaomi continues to enjoy a lead in the smartphone market, customers of the brand will obviously look for something Mi-branded to go with their phones. Not that users cannot use options from competing brands but a Mi watch should go well with a Mi phone.

There are three boundary-hitting elements in the Revolve Active, the first being pricing. As always, Xiaomi has got its pricing-game spot on, this time for Rs 9,999, which is slightly more expensive than the current price of last-year’s release, Mi Watch Revolve, but it goes eye-to-eye with Realme Watch S Pro. Revolve Active looks better and feels more comfortable on the wrist.

Workout monster

The company got the design basics almost right with its release last year, so the circular display and thin bezel have been left intact, and so are two buttons on the right. The button on the top can be used to bring up menus while the bottom one takes the user into workout modes. While packing in a lot of screen estate (1.39-inch AMOLED display), the circular design tends to appear big on a slim wrist, which is something I have felt with both the iterations of the Revolve.

In way of updates, there are a few noticeable ones. First, SpO2 or blood oxygen monitoring, which takes a few seconds but the results are in line with most rival brands. Yet, it can’t be overstated that blood oxygen readings need to have context. It’s best to be cautiously optimistic about the feature and please don’t buy a smartwatch just for SpO2; a pulse oximeter does the job quicker without breaking the bank. But monitoring blood oxygen levels with some degree of accuracy may help users discover other conditions, like sleep apnea. Second, there are 117 workout modes, which is a big number and it includes almost anything most of us can think of. Needless to say, you can take the watch for a swim (5ATM water resistance). And, connectivity is better as you have GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BDS. A quick return to the design aspect, it’s a largish device, which makes it difficult to wear to bed for sleep tracking.

The watch needs to be paired with the Xiaomi Wear app, which is also an entry to the world of a lot watch faces and options. You can get a notification for incoming calls but the only two reactions are mute and reject, which is not very helpful. The same goes for notifications pertaining to messages. You can read it but not reply. But this time there is a built-in Alexa, which is helpful.

Call it nitpicking but Xiaomi should take a closer look at the user interface on its watch. There is zero problem with scrolling and moving from one option to another but everything on the screen are in the form of icons. I keep mistaking the air pressure icon for gallery (though you can’t access gallery on the watch) and the music logo for that of TikTok (which can’t be accessed in India). Also, however much smartwatches become inexpensive, ultimately there will be a need to allow third-party apps. Apple, of course, has a clear lead and Garmin is equally good when it comes to working with other apps. Samsung and Google are now working together to change the game for Android users.

Should you buy it?

Revolve Active has one of the snappiest interfaces combined with a sleek design, weighing only 32g. Xiaomi hasn’t cut any corners there. The same goes for battery life, which is fantastic at 12 days, with brightness level turned up (14 days under moderate usage). Once the company decides to open up the watch to third-party apps, there will be innumerable opportunities. That doesn’t undermine the fact that Mi Watch Revolve Active is among the snappiest affordable options out there and it’s an easy choice if you are on the fence about getting a smartwatch experience for the first time.

More about the smartwatch

To use Mi Watch Revolve Active, pair it with Xiaomi Wear app Sourced by the correspondent

Device: Mi Watch Revolve Active

Price: Rs 9,999 (limited-time offer: Rs 8,999)

High notes

• Sleek design

• Excellent battery life

• Plenty of workout modes

• Readings are accurate

Muffled notes

• User interface icons can be misread

• Watch is slightly big to be work to bed for sleep tracking

You can also look at

• Amazfit GTS 2e, Realme Watch S Pro, Oppo Watch