Alongside the new Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro smartphones launched last March, the Chinese manufacturer has just launched the Watch S1, a connected watch that wants to compete with models from Samsung and Apple.

Few smartphone manufacturers today do not have in their catalog connected objects capable of being added to mobiles, such as Bluetooth headphones, watches or bracelets. Xiaomi, which offers an extremely wide range of products ranging from scooters to robot vacuum cleaners, surveillance cameras, LED lamps, kettles, screwdrivers or cereal dispensers (yes, yes!) and, of course, , smartphones, remains strangely wise on the side of connected watches, even if it has already offered several “entry-level” oriented models for several years. This time, with its brand new Watch S1, the Chinese manufacturer is moving upmarket and intends to cut cruppers to its Korean competitor Samsung and its Galaxy Watch. To do this, it relies on elegance with a watch with a refined design and impeccable finish but also rather rich in functions for a contained price.

A design that inspires confidence

Goodbye plastic! For this model, the Chinese has designed a 5 ATM waterproof stainless steel case that gives the watch a respectable and solid appearance. A sensation reinforced by the presence of the sapphire crystal which covers the screen and the leather strap (a second rubber strap is provided in the box). The set exudes luxury and inspires confidence.

But beware: if you have small wrists, go your way. This Watch S1 has a case 46.5 mm in diameter and 12 mm thick. It is necessary to cram the beautiful 1.43 inch AMOLED screen! As for its weight, it climbs to 64 g. A beautiful object but which is therefore suitable for well-built wrists.

Readable display and intuitive interface

What you notice when the Watch S1 is turned on is its beautiful touchscreen. It is perfectly readable, whatever the light conditions. An asset that is all the more significant when you have to read the notifications that are displayed there, just like SMS or WhatsApp messages for example. Reading is very comfortable. In addition, the watch embeds an ambient light sensor to adapt the brightness of the screen depending on whether you are in the shade or in a brightly lit area. Practice. Finally, it has an Always on Display mode that keeps the time display on the screen even when the tocante is on standby. Attention, this one is not without impact on the autonomy of the battery.

Xiaomi Watch S1

On the interface side, we salute Xiaomi’s work to make navigation through the various on-board apps both fluid and intuitive. We appreciate the presence of clearly visible Widgets and the responsiveness of the menus. You can also use the side buttons to return to the main dial of the watch, access all the apps or even directly open the range of sports activities offered. However, it is impossible to respond to messages received either with predefined responses or by dictating messages by voice. The watch, however, has a microphone that can be used for phone calls and Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. Shame. And if Xiaomi has succeeded in the interface of its watch, unfortunately the same cannot be said of the companion app Mi Fitness present on the smartphone. This turns out to be much less convincing, sometimes displaying menus that are empty or devoid of any synchronized data (we tested it by pairing the Watch S1 with a Google Pixel 6 Pro running Android 12). Issues that should be fixed with future updates. Finally, we regret the low number of dials available to customize the watch. There are a little over thirty available for free download but there is a great lack of variety.

Sporty but not too much

Beneath its premium looks, the Watch S1 hides everything you would expect from a connected watch today: GPS module, heart sensor and SpO2 (to define the oxygen level in the blood). It offers to follow you in more than a hundred sports activities. An ambition that remains to be realized. We compared its results to those of an Apple Watch Series 5 (released in 2019) and a Fitbit Charge 5 band released in late 2021). If the GPS tracking is quite faithful, the readings of the heart rate monitors are to be taken with a grain of salt. The Watch S1 detected frequencies that were sometimes much higher than the other two, sometimes much lower and ignored many other measurements. In short, you should not believe the measurements taken by the watch too much if you are a confirmed athlete.

Comfortable autonomy

Autonomy often remains the weak point of connected watches. For the Watch S1, Xiaomi claims up to 12 days of use. This is significantly more than the Apple Watch which requires daily charging! A weighty argument. In practice, and if you wear the watch daily, day and night (for sleep monitoring) with some sports activities, you can count on a good week of use without going through the recharge box. A great performance and a sign that Xiaomi has mastered energy management quite well. Be careful however, by activating the Always on Display mode which keeps the screen on even in standby to display the time permanently, you can lose up to two days of autonomy…

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Alongside the new Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro smartphones launched last March, the Chinese manufacturer has just launched the Watch S1, a connected watch that wants to compete with models from Samsung and Apple.

A design that inspires confidence

Readable display and intuitive interface