The Amazfit Bip U is a smartwatch, but easily one of the thinnest and smallest I have ever used. (Express Photo: Nandagopal Rajan)The Apple Watch is great, and is getting better, but it not for everyone. There is a large chunk of people who are happy with a smart band that collects and shows just basic data, stay on your wrist for weeks without a recharge and costs just a fraction of any smartwatch. But then there are those who have been using one of these for years and now wants to step up, but not at a huge cost. This is where a product like the Amazfit Bip U is going to make a big difference, especially when it can offer some really useful features.
Amazfit Bip U price in India: Rs 3,499
The Amazfit Bip U is a smartwatch, but easily one of the thinnest and smallest I have ever used. In fact, it reminded me a lot of the Pebble, my first smartwatch many years ago. There is a 1.43-inch colour display and a crown, that works more like a button. I loved the soft plastic strap that offers the watch a snug fit and does not irritate even after long hours of use.
The watch is ideal for tracking sleep because it is small, snug and lightweight. (Express Photo: Nandagopal Rajan)
The interface is simple. You can press on the watch face to change it and there are quite a few good options. I loved the one that shows the time, steps and a live graph of my heart rate. Very useful to see if the stress is getting to you with a simple glance. Press the crown and you can see a list of features that watch offers. There is more actually, and that can be accessed at the end of the list where there is a more option.
The Amazfit Bip U tracks steps, shows notifications for messages and calls, lets you control your music and works as a pretty neat watch. But that is what you would expect from a smart band too. So the Amazfit Bip U does go beyond what most smart bands can do.
Let’s start with sleep tracking. The watch is ideal for tracking sleep because it is small, snug and lightweight. This means you forget you are wearing a smartwatch and hence it’s ideal to take to the bed. I wore the watch to sleep for a few days and the data was quite accurate, also a bit worrisome as it reiterated that I was hardly getting any deep sleep.
The Amazfit Bip U is able to do this because it offers continuous heart rate monitoring using the optical sensor at the back. (Express Photo: Nandagopal Rajan)
Using the accompanying Zepp app, I could see how my night went and when I slipped into a deep sleep. The app offers another great feature, of overlying heart rate on top of the sleep data. The Amazfit Bip U is able to do this because it offers continuous heart rate monitoring using the optical sensor at the back. Also, there is one feature I have not seen elsewhere — the app has a separate head just for naps, not that I am getting any these days.
Using the accompanying Zepp app, I could see how my night went and when I slipped into a deep sleep. (Express Photo: Nandagopal Rajan)
Given the times we are in, the Amazfit Bip U also offers blood oxygen level measurements. This appears under the SpO2 head. It takes about 30 seconds for the reading to appear once you have initiated it. And the results for me were very similar to what the Apple Watch Series 6 was showing. However, this is measured only when you initiate it and fails if your hand is not in the right position or if you move around.
It takes about 30 seconds for the SpO2 reading to appear once you have initiated it. (Express Photo: Nandagopal Rajan)
There is also realtime stress measurement. This takes measurements on its own and can also be user initiated. A reading early morning showed I was moderately stressed and the day had not even started.
Amazfit Bip U can measure stress in realtime. (Express Photo: Nandagopal Rajan)
The step measurements, which is ultimately what most of us will use the most, worked well. And I did do that weird thing of wearing the Amazfit Bip U along with the Apple Watch to match the numbers and there was hardly any difference. The good thing for me as Apple user was how the data from the Amazfit Bip U was recorded by the Apple Health app. However, the sleep data did not sync with the Auto Sleep app which pulls only from the Apple Watch.
Using the accompanying Zepp app, I could see how my night went and when I slipped into a deep sleep. (Screenshot)
The battery life on the Amazfit Bip U is very good for a smartwatch. In fact, I went through the two-week review with just one charge and almost always wearing the watch.
At the price of Rs 3,499, the Amazfit Bip U is a great value for money smartwatch that gives you all the features you are looking for along with an app that helps you make sense of the data. I recommend the Amazfit Bip U for those who want to step up from a smart band and for those who want to be on top of their body condition in the present pandemic. Go ahead and buy.