On the 5th of November, Xiaomi will hold a launch event in China where it will lift covers from the Mi CC9 Pro, Mi TV 5 and it’s first WearOS powered smartwatch which is simply called the Mi Watch. The company has been sharing teasers of the smartwatch for weeks based upon which we have formed this article. If you are interested in its features or you are planning to buy one, continue reading.
Design, Display and Build
To begin with, the design of the Mi Watch is heavily inspired by the immensely popular Apple Watch. It features a curved sapphire glass which protects the square-shaped touchscreen display and sports a side-mounted crown which can be used to navigate through the UI.
The body/housing of the Mi Watch is made out of polished stainless steel which gives it a premium overall look. Apart from the crown, its right side features a microphone pinhole and a rectangular-shaped multi-purpose button. In comparison, the left side fo the smartwatch harbours the loudspeaker vent and a secondary microphone pinhole.
The rear of the smart wearable seems to be made out of plastic and it makes room for the charging dock and what seems like an HRM (heart rate monitor).
Moving ahead, the Xiaomi Mi Watch will come with a high-quality fluoro rubber strap which can easily be swapped accrediting to its quick-release mechanism. It has already been confirmed that these rubber straps will be offered in four colour options which include Blue, White, Grey, and Black.
Chipset, Battery and Connectivity Options
Under the hood, the Mi Watch will be kitted with the Snapdragon 3100 chipset revealed a previously shared official teaser. The chipset consists of a 4x ARM Cortex A7, 32 bit Quad-core CPU which is clocked at 1.2 GHz and Adreno 304 GPU.
While Xiaomi is yet to reveal the exact battery capacity of the upcoming smartwatch, it is said to have “pretty large” battery.
The company had already confirmed the Mi Watch will support NFC, the chipset’s spec sheet reveals it is equipped with Bluetooth 4.2 and low power 802.11n Wi-Fi and GPS which are presumed to make their way on the upcoming wearable.
Key Features
Now that we have discussed the design and hardware aspects of Xiaomi’s upcoming wearable, let’s see what kind of features it will bring to the table.
Staple to almost every smartwatch out there, the Mi Watch will have have a built-in fitness tracker/activity tracker which can be used to track things like sleep, calories burned, different sports activity modes and the number of steps taken.
It will be able to display notifications from user’s smartphones which include text messages, emails, calendar alerts and app alerts. The smartwatch is also expected to support alarm clock functionality.
Xiaomi has already confirmed that the Mi Watch with built-in NFC will be capable of supporting AliPay. Likewise, in other countries, this might support Google Pay which is a globally accepted mode of digital payment.
It is also reported to support WeChat and we are excited to see how will its text input function work. Whether it will have an onscreen keyboard, will accept voice to text translation or both, is yet to be confirmed.
Xiaomi has also confirmed that the Mi Watch can store & play music independently which sounds like a praiseworthy feature. Therefore, users can leave their smartphone behind when going for a hike or while working out in a gym.
The smartwatch will supposedly be compatible with both Android OS and iOS, similar to what has been observed with Xiaomi’s previously launched wearables including the Mi Band 4. The device will run on a forked version of MIUI and it will also be capable of remotely controlling smart home appliances like Air Purifier, smart bulb or IoT devices.
Similar to the Apple Watch, it will also support e-sim which will allow it to make and receive phone calls and have access to the internet. Last but not the least, a senior Xiaomi official had shared a short clip of the Mi Watch which revealed that the device will also be capable of playing live TV via supported Apps.
Editor’s Pick: LG G Pad 5 10.1 officially unveiled n South Korea; Specifications and price
Expected Price
The official price of Xiaomi’s latest wearable will only be unveiled at its official launch event which is scheduled for the 5th of November i.e tomorrow. However, a recently uploaded listing on Xiaomi’s TaoBao store suggests that it will carry a price tag of 1499 Yuan ($ 213).
What do you think should be the right price for the Mi Watch? Let us know in the comments below.
UP NEXT: Huawei releases a revised EMUI 10 update schedule; includes Stable ROM push
