Amazfit BIP U Review - Unique, Humble and Ultra cheap but amazingly functional
It is useless to deny it, but when we are looking for an inexpensive smartwatch, which is able to offer the best quality / price ratio, net of specifications and features that do not make us regret the more expensive devices, the choice falls on the world of Amazfit wearables. produced by Huami. The iconic Bip has been a global success but by now considerable time has passed since its debut and the company has seen fit to donate to the many passionate users of the brand, a new version, even more modern and functional, namely the Amazfit Bip U , which no frills could prove to be the best choice to make in this late 2020.
For some time now, Huami has been using minimal sales packages, or rather more compact than in the past, but embellishing the aesthetics of the sales box with the image of the product at the forefront and key specifications on the sides of the box. In any case, inside the package we find the following equipment:
- Amazfit Bip U;
- Magnetic charging base for the product with USB-A input;
- Multilingual user manual including Italian.
Compared to the past Amazfit Bip U abandons the "cheap" lines in favor of a design that is the perfect mix between elegance and sportiness, while maintaining the adoption of non-noble materials. In fact, the entire case is made of polycarbonate which is configured with dimensions of 40,9 x 35,5 x 11,4 mm giving a weight of only 31 grams including strap, which gives this small smart watch considerable comfort. in wearability, in fact after a few minutes you hardly feel it on your wrist anymore.
We are talking about a square case that incorporates a 1,43 inch TFT HD LED display with a resolution of 320 x 302 pixels, 305 ppi, so to speak a Retina type definition. The transflective technology is therefore abandoned in favor of a very bright and well-defined screen, so as to allow excellent readability not only under direct sunlight, but also for all those characters with a tiny size that generally it is difficult to visualize on displays like this. little ones. In fact, the panel used on this Amazfit Bip U is definitely of quality and offers a depth of color that makes it look much more like the brothers with AMOLED technology. An automatic brightness sensor is missing, while the value of this can be set to 5 different intensities, but I must say that already at level 2 you don't feel the need to change the setting.
To protect the display we find a glass with 2.5D processing and anti-fingerprint treatment, however slightly convex, in such a way as to facilitate the swipes that we are going to impart to move within the system. Unfortunately Huami has not optimized the frames at all, which are very accentuated as well as asymmetrical compared to the lower one, the largest of all since the brand logo has been inserted.
On the profile of the case, we note the presence of the only button made of metal, which performs the function of switching on the display, back function or starting from the Home it allows you to access the complete menu of the watch, while if held down it starts a function to us pleasure, even if the launch of sports monitoring is preset by default.
The strap is made of silicone, very soft and despite appearances, it is also breathable but in any case there is the quick release system with a 20 mm pitch which will therefore allow us to change the strap with any other on the market but also reuse those you already have of the previous generation of Beeps.
Amazfit Bip U is certified to withstand immersion in water up to 5 ATM, which will allow us to use the watch in the shower but also in the pool, so much so that swimming is one of the sports that can be monitored. Furthermore, this feature has not limited the company to equipping its product with the new PPG Biotracker 2 sensor for monitoring heart rate H24, but also for measuring the SpO2 value or the oxygen saturation in the blood, an important value not only for the pandemic period we are experiencing but for all athletes who play sports at high altitudes or in environments with poor oxygen exchange, such as gyms etc ..
There are also gyroscope and acceleration sensors, in addition to the fact that Bip U also allows the control of atrial fibrillation and in general the identification of cardiac anomalies. Perhaps an array of sensors that we also find on other low-cost wearables, but what surprised me positively about Amazfit Bip U is the absolute reliability and accuracy of the recorded data, both in real time and throughout the day. In fact, by comparing it with a finger pulse oximeter, the values of the two devices were almost identical.
We find all the sensors on the back of the case, where the magnetic pogo pins for charging the device have also been inserted. Recharge that could take place even after 20 days, depending on the use you will make of the wearable, but on average the 225 mAh battery settles on 7/8 days of use. Variable values based on brightness, notifications, health data detection and much more, but overall with two hours of charging you will always get full energy.
Amazfit Bip U uses a Bluetooth 5.0 for connection with our smartphone, which in the case of outdoor sports monitoring becomes an essential element if we want to track the path of the activity, as the smartwatch does not integrate GPS. But be careful to criticize it, because if you think about it every time you go out for a walk but also a run, or on a bike, you always leave your phone at home? I think that at least 90% of you will have answered no and therefore the absence of the GPS I do not find a defect, indeed this has partially allowed to contain the selling costs. I found the Bluetooth 5.0 of this very impeccable wearable, with impressive stability as well as an immediate hang up of the signal if we are absent from the range of action, which is 10 meters.
And since we have mentioned the sporty side of Amazfit Bip U, you should know that we have the ability to monitor up to 60 different sports, many of which enjoy dedicated metrics while others rely on more generic values, but at the same time I find convenient to be able to differentiate, for example, a classical dance activity from a Zumba activity.
In fact, in addition to the classic walking, running and cycling, we find a series of sports divided into categories, such as swimming, skating, belly dancing, fencing, boxing, karate, handball and much more. Another very remarkable thing that elevates this Amazfit Bip U from a simple economic smartwatch to a "premium" device, is the ability to customize the data screens visible during training, as well as being able to take advantage of the automatic pause, activity alerts and diagrams in real time.
Amazfit Bip U, in addition to monitoring the heart rate and SpO2 value, also allows you to record the stress value but also sleep, dividing it into various phases, including REM and recording of daily naps, with extreme precision regarding the beginning and end of the activity of sleeping as well as of what happened in that circumstance. All data are therefore conveyed into a single PAI value, which gives us immediate indication of the actual state of health. Net of the absence of GPS, I must admit that the step count was quite accurate, without recording false positives.
But in addition to a sporty soul, Amazfit Bip U also integrates small smart functions, such as the ability to view weather data, manage the music player on our smartphone (compatible with all services, such as Spotify, Youtube, Deezer etc. ..), take photos / videos remotely with support also for external camera software such as GCam, set an alarm directly from the clock complete with definition of the days, stopwatch, timer, clock with world time zones, find phone function etc. .
But it is from the point of view of notifications that Huami has made his Amazfit Bip U take a leap forward, finally allowing you to view the emojis, even if the compatibility is only for those approved by Google, so if you receive a message from iOS devices not all emojis will be displayed on the screen. Of course we cannot respond to notifications, nor view photos or voice messages but what surprised me most was during the call phase, as in addition to the ability to silence the notification or hang up directly, we could send a quick reply message to our interlocutor. , a message that through the companion app can be customized at will.
The software that moves Amazfit Bip U is equivalent to what is seen on other wearables of the brand, allowing us to move in the system by means of gestures as well as to use the button for some action confirmations. Therefore, I do not go into this paragraph much, but I invite you to view the video review where all the functions of the watch are shown. However, you should know that Huami has introduced some really smart features, such as the Do Not Disturb function which can also be enabled in different time slots or automatically, i.e. the system will recognize when you are sleeping and disable the receipt of notifications. In addition to this, you have the possibility to decide the display backlight time from a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 15 seconds, but above all you can enable the switching on of the display by means of the wrist gesture at certain times but also decide whether to wake up the display at receiving notifications with the same fees listed above. All this will positively affect the autonomy, as you can take advantage of the excellent vibration offered by the smartwatch, which can also be set on 3 different intensities, in order to understand what is happening. In fact, precisely with regard to the vibration, the ZEPP companion app also allows you to create customized vibrations based on the type of notification, differentiating for example calls, from app messages, etc.
One thing we never give the right weight to but which is present on Amazfit Bip U is the ability to record and therefore keep track of the menstrual cycle, a function that will certainly please the female users who follow the brand.
As already anticipated, the companion app is ZEPP, through which we could draw on all the data collected by our Bip U, even in the form of a graph, as well as define some clock settings, but above all for greater customization we could draw on over 50 watchfaces, many of which are also modular, or with the possibility of choosing the information to be shown on the display. Also in this case I do not deepen the paragraph as we have no important news to tell compared to what has been said in other reviews, except that the ZEPP app with cones facts is a balanced and complete software.
Finally, I add that among the functions of Amazfit Bip U we find one called TOMATO TRACKER, or the Pomodoro Technique, created by Francesco Cirillo for a more productive way of working and studying. The technique uses a timer to divide the work into intervals, traditionally of 25 minutes, separated by short breaks. Each interval is known as a pomodoro, from the Italian word “pomodoro”, from the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that Cirillo used as a university student. (Source Wikipedia)
PROJECTED IMPACT
Amazfit Bip U is definitely a surprise and a revelation, considering the many "premium" functions that often triple-cost smartwatches do not offer, but above all it is the reliability and accuracy of the data collected that make the difference between the many cheap devices on the market, without counting the pride of having a solid company behind them like Huami and Xiaomi, which still update older wearables today. Ok but how much does it cost? Well, on the shop heofit.com, is sold at the price of € 63 via dedicated coupon (NEWUSERS). A price that could make us shout BEST BUY, but that I will not do, although I stress that at this figure you should not let it escape.
Good morning, two questions:
1) currently I have a beep (first series, the one with the gps included). Is switching to this an advisable upgrade or should I stay on my model?
2) how much does the absence of GPS in the recording of activities such as walking and running affect the accuracy level?
Hi, how can I buy it for € 47, given that through the link to Heofit.com it returns me the price of $ 77 or about € 62?
thank you very much