Buying a budget smartwatch in India requires a keen and practised eye. The segment is filled with uninspiring and shoddy products that rarely stand the test of time. However, Redmi is one of the few tech outfits that routinely delivers with its affordable offerings, be it smartphones or smartwatches. Its latest offering, Watch Move, feels like a steal at Rs 1,999. Redmi manufactures this smartwatch in India, which explains its low price tag. The smartwatch rocks a square AMOLED display and runs Xiaomi’s HyperOS. We used it for a week to find out if its health and fitness tracking skills were up to the mark. Here is our in-depth review of the Redmi Watch Move.
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In This Article
Redmi Watch Move Review: Design and Display
Here’s what you get inside Redmi Watch Move’s retail box:
- Smartwatch
- Magnetic pin charger
- User manual
Redmi Watch Move takes design inspiration from the Apple Watch. Its square dial is slightly curved around the edges and seamlessly blends into the plastic frame. The frame has a matte finish and complements the colour of the strap. On the left edge of the frame lies the rotating crown and the microphone. The bottom panel houses the sensor array, magnetic pin connector, and the speaker grille. The smartwatch is available in 4 shades: Black Drift, Gold Rush, Silver Sprint, and Blue Blaze.
The 1.5-inch AMOLED display is the star of the show. It has a 60Hz refresh rate and can hit a peak brightness of 600 nits. While it’s not the brightest display we’ve ever seen, it can hold its own in outdoor daylight conditions. Browsing and sifting through the metrics on this watch is a smooth and satisfying experience due to its brilliant touch response. The 390 x 450p resolution and 322ppi pixel density produce crisp visuals. Surrounding the display are thick bezels that bring the screen-to-body ratio down to 74%.
Redmi Watch Move’s strap is made out of TPU instead of silicone. While it fits snugly around the wrist, it tends to cause itchiness when things get sweaty. We experienced this while working out and embarking on outdoor hikes. After prolonged exposure to sweat, the TPU strap leaves an odour. A breathable fabric strap option would have been a nice addition to this watch. If you need a silicone strap to go along with your wearable, we recommend taking a look at the Redmi Watch 5 Active.
With an IP68 rating onboard, the Redmi Watch Move remains unfazed by excessive sweat. We wore the device during rigorous workouts and were happy were its performance. Wearing the watch while it was raining did not present any problems either.
Redmi Watch Move Review: Performance
The Redmi Watch Move supports Bluetooth 5.3 and is compatible with smartphones running Android 6/iOS 12 and above. Pairing the smartwatch to your phone requires downloading the Mi Fitness app.
The smartwatch’s sensor array comprises an accelerometer, a heart rate sensor, and a blood oxygen sensor. This is a pretty basic setup, but it gets the job done. The readings from the heart rate and blood oxygen sensors are consistent with medical-grade equipment. Both sensors are capable of working in the background and taking readings throughout the day.
We were very surprised by this smartwatch’s sleep tracking abilities. Usually, budget wearables mess up big time when it comes to recording the exact time when the user falls asleep and wakes up. The Redmi Watch Move does this accurately without any hiccup. It also does a good job of breaking down the sleep cycle into different phases and judging the quality of sleep.
The fitness tracking functions of the Redmi Watch Move do not disappoint either. The smartwatch quietly tracks your steps throughout the day with up to 98.5% accuracy. It also supports over 140 sports and workouts, including outdoor running, walking, jump rope, treadmill, cricket, basketball, golf, soccer, HIIT, yoga, stair climbing, pilates, and more. Since it does not have a built-in GPS, the watch relies on your smartphone to track your outdoor runs. The data gets seamlessly synced to the Mi Fitness app.
Moving on, Xiaomi’s HyperOS provides a very pleasant software experience on this smartwatch. To begin with, the touch controls are tuned very nicely. Swiping down on the home page reveals the notification panel, while swiping up gives you access to the quick settings menu. Swiping left or right pulls up the widgets on the screen. A firm tap of the palm on the display puts it to sleep. Xiaomi has done a good job of integrating the physical crown into the interface. Pressing it once takes you to the app drawer. You can rotate the crown to scroll down the page. Long-pressing it triggers the AI assistant.
The AI assistant is still in its early stages. It accepts input in English and Hindi, but takes a long time to respond. A lot of the time, its responses are way off. The real letdown is that it cannot access the health and fitness metrics recorded by the watch. Asking the assistant how many steps you walked in the last week returns no response. We hope Xiaomi will add this functionality to the assistant in its future iterations. On the bright side, the AI watch face generator churns out good wallpapers based on your prompts. After 30 free trials, you’re asked to subscribe to the AI package. For us, it was an easy pass.
Using the smart functions of the Redmi Watch Move requires connecting it to your smartphone via Bluetooth. The smartwatch can make calls and send quick replies to messages. You can add the quick responses on the companion app and fire them away from your watch. The smartwatch has apps for world clock, camera shutter, weather, timer, alarm, find phone, flashlight, and more.
After the week-long review period, we were left with a 48% charge on the Redmi Watch Move. This is consistent with Redmi’s 14-day battery life claim. On heavy use, the battery life drops to 10 days. With Always on Display turned on, the smartwatch can go up to 4 days on a full charge. The 300mAh battery pack takes over an hour to fully charge.
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Verdict
The Redmi Watch Move nails the basics with expertise. It does a great job of counting steps, tracking essential health metrics like blood oxygen and heart rate, and charting workout data. Its smooth AMOLED display and accurate sleep tracking skills propel it above the rest of the smartwatches in the sub-Rs 2,000 price bracket. Our only complaint is with the TPU strap, as it gets itchy with exposure to sweat. The AI assistant is not all the way there yet, but we’re excited to see what Redmi does with it in the future.
Redmi Watch Move: Pros
- AMOLED display
- Great UI
- Amazing sleep tracker
- Affordable
Redmi Watch Move: Cons
- Itchy strap
- Only 30 free trials are available for AI features
