Xiaomi recently launched the Redmi Watch 2 Lite in India, a successor to last year’s Redmi Watch 2. The Redmi Watch 2 Lite is priced at Rs 4,999 in India, and at this price tag, it promises too many features, including in-built GPS. I have been using this watch for the past few weeks as my daily driver, and here is my detailed review of the Redmi Watch 2 Lite with comparison.
Specifications
| Display | 1.55 Inch, 320×360 TFT Screen |
| GPS | Yes |
| Strap | 22mm |
| Water-resistance | 5ATM |
| Bluetooth | 5.0 |
| Support | Android 5.0+, iOS 10+ |
| Sensors | Optical heart rate sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, electronic compass GPS/GLONASS/Galileo/BeiDou |
| Battery | 262 mAH |
| Colour | Ivory, Black, Blue, Pink, Olive |
| Weight | 35G |
Box Content
You get all the regular stuff inside the box that you see with other smartwatches. For more info, please check the review video on our Youtube Channel Geekman.
- Redmi Watch 2 Lite
- Charging cable with magnetic pin
- Paperwork (which includes a warranty card and user manual)
Design, Build, And Comfort
The Redmi Watch 2 Lite is a simple-looking smartwatch with a square design and a plastic build. It looks a lot like the Xiaomi Watch Lite, with a similar-sized square dial and a touchscreen that, at first glance, feels identical.
It has a 41mm matte finish polycarbonate case that you can pick up in black, ivory, or blue. The strap belt is made of skin-friendly thermoplastic polyurethane. It feels smooth and comes in multiple color options – Ivory Creme, Midnight Black, and Blue Dragon. The strap is easy to remove and comfortable to wear day and night and during exercise. It also carries a 5ATM water-resistant rating, which does mean you can swim and shower with it.
The display is protected by 2.5D curved tempered glass, which also adds to the premiumness of this smartwatch. On the right, there is a single multi-function button, which also offers tactical feedback.
The watch houses all the sensors and a magnetic charging port on the backside. Coming to comfort, the in-hand experience of the Redmi Watch 2 Lite is quite good. It doesn’t feel big and bulky so the watch won’t feel uncomfortable when worn for too long.
Display
Coming to the display, the Redmi Watch 2 Lite has a 1.55-inch (320×360 pixels) LCD color touch screen panel with up to 450 nits brightness and 2D glass. There are large bezels on the sides and especially a big chin on the bottom. I mean, yes, it hearts the overall look and premium feel of the smartwatch, but don’t worry, the watch goes all blackout when the screen is off.
The display is quite bright, and the view angle is also better. The colors look good on it. The display size is ideal for almost anyone to use. The screen turns on when you lift your wrist. You can set it to turn on when you double-click the display. Apart from this, it has five levels of brightness settings and up to 20 seconds of the screen on time. Yes, the always-on display mode and adaptive brightness are still missing.
Battery Life
The Redmi Watch 2 Lite has a 262mAh battery, and according to Xiaomi, it can last up to 10 days of usage under typical usage mode and five days under heavy usage. The term heavy usage includes enabling always-on SpO2 monitoring, always-on stress monitoring, and all other features.
In my one week of testing, I could easily get four days of battery life on a single charge with heavy mode. Which is actually not the good but not the bad at the same time, so I like to call it average. The Redmi Watch 2 Lite has a magnetic charging cable, unlike the Redmi Watch, which has a separate charging dock. It takes about 2 hours to charge the watch full.
Fitness Features & UI
The Redmi Watch 2 Lite is a great accessory for fitness enthusiasts. It packs in a fair amount that proves you don’t have to spend big to get some big health and fitness tracking features.
The watch packs an optical heart rate sensor, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and an electronic compass. The Watch 2 Lite also supports standalone GPS/GLONASS/Galileo/BeiDou for tracking outdoor activity.
Apart from this, the Redmi Watch 2 Lite has over 100 workout modes. I tried some of them, and it works pretty well. I like to add that the watch can only hold up to 30 fitness modes, and you can use the Mi Fitness app to add or remove the activities of their interest. It can also automatically detect some of these fitness activities and prompts users to enable active tracking.
In terms of activity, the data shown by Redmi Watch 2 Lite was as accurate as those recorded by my Fitbit fitness band. Yes, there I approx a 5-8% error, but it’s not a big deal every smartwatch has. Since it is not meant to be a core fitness device. Overall, if you jog, workouts, or even play sports regularly, the Redmi Watch 2 Lite can be a good option at this price range.
Further, the Redmi Watch 2 Lite offers all the basic health features that we can expect from a budget watch. It offers continuous heart rate tracking, SpO2 tracking, sleep tracking, and stress tracking, and you can even do basic breathing exercises. The sleep tracking and heart rate tracking seem to be pretty accurate.
Now coming on to the user interface, the watch has a minimal and easy-to-use interface. The watch UI is adorned with beautifully designed simple animations, which adds a plus point to the interface. During my testing, I barely noticed any lags or stutters, which is quite normal in similarly priced watches. You also have a button on the right side of the watch that not only works as the screen on/off button but also as a back button.
Software
The Watch can be connected to the smartphone using the Xiaomi Wear or Mi Fitness App available on iOS and Android. The app is very easy to use and very well optimized. The app shows all data collected by the watch, including steps, calories burnt, sleep data, latest workout stats, heart rate, and more.
Inside the app are all the necessary watch settings and options to change watch faces. There are some local faces, and the online options have 100+ watch faces. You can also set a custom watch face with your own photo.
Bottomline
Overall, the Redmi Watch 2 Lite is a good smartwatch for the price of Rs. 4999. It has an in-built GPS, 5ATM water resistance rating, too many sports modes, and decent display quality. The main thing is that all fitness features work very well, while the majority of smartwatches struggle. I wish this had the always-on display mode and auto-brightness adjustment.
The companion app is also the main reason to buy this watch. I tried all the best-selling smartwatches in this price range, and according to that experience, I can say that Redmi Watch 2 Lite is one of the best smartwatches under 5000 Rs, for now. If you don’t impress with the features and any part of this watch, then I suggest stepping out of the budget of Rs. 5000.
