Xiaomi Amazfit 2 (Stratos) vs Huawei Watch 2 | Which one is better?

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Smartwatches have come a long way and with each generation, they keep getting better and better in one way or another. While some users still don’t consider having a smartwatch useful, for others Smartwatch is a great device to keep their notifications and other data organized. Even some of the smartwatches are so premium that they are considered as a luxury.

So what is a smartwatch?

“Smartwatch is a wearable computing device which can be worn on the wrist.”

In simple words, it is basically a portable smartphone with limited features that can be worn on the wrist.

While there are a wide variety of smartwatches available in the market, today we are going to compare two value-for-money smartwatches with extensive health and fitness features.

Xiaomi Amazfit 2 (also goes by the name Amazfit Stratos) and Huawei Watch 2 are the two feature-rich smartwatches that we are going to compare. Yeah, neither of them is going to be perfect, but depending upon the priority of the functions a user requires, one can pick either the Amazfit Stratos or Watch 2.

Design and Build Quality

Xiaomi Amazfit 2

The Amazfit 2 or Amazfit Stratos doesn’t look anything like its predecessor, Amazfit Bip. While the Bip sported a boxy design which looks quite similar to the Apple watch. The new Amazfit Stratos has a more circular design which is similar to the Moto 360 Smartwatch.The face of the watch is made out of ceramic and which is a premium material and provides good protection against scratches. 

Apart from that, the display is protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass material for protection against dust and scratches. On the right-hand side, there are 3 buttons which are made from stainless steel adding up to the durability of the smartwatch. Although, the back of the smartwatch where the heart rate monitor and charging pins resides. There is also a premium model which uses Sapphire Glass for display protection and leather strap for a premium feel.

                                   

Wearing the watch doesn’t feel heavy as it weighs only 70gm. There are no sharp edges and the watch sits comfortably on the wrist. Amazfit Stratos uses 22mm wristband which means finding a replaceable band isn’t going to be hard.

Amazfit Stratos is waterproof and can hold up to 50m or 5 ATM underwater. However, you won’t be able to use the display underwater so you will have to rely on the 3 physical buttons.

Huawei Watch 2

Huawei ditched the luxurious metal look on the Watch 1 with a sporty plasticky look on the Watch 2. Although, this might appear to be a serious downgrade, however, it doesn’t mean that the Watch 2 has poor build. In fact, it appears to be one of the most sturdy watches in the market right now which will surely attract adventurers and people who hit the gym regularly. The only guess Huawei went for rugged design is due to the heavy focus on fitness and workout related features.                                  

Although the new Watch 2 is actually bigger than its younger brother, the display for no known reason is smaller. For display protection, Huawei is using Corning Gorilla Glass. Since the display is small, navigating through the interface can be a bit tricky. There are two buttons on the right side of the watch and underneath the watch, you can find charging pins and a heart rate sensor.

On the good side, Huawei Watch 2 is very light and weighs 57 gm only. This makes the Watch 3 super comfortable to wear. It comes with a 20mm Silicone strap which is really comfortable, however, finding another strap to use with the Watch 2 can be a bit tricky.

Which One To Choose?

Well, both of the smartwatches look quite different. On the one hand, we have a premium looking, Amazfit Stratus, while on the other we have a more sturdy and rugged looking Huawei Watch 2. While Amazfit Stratus will give you more luxurious feel, Watch 2 will be able to handle all your harsh workout activities with ease.

Since both the watches are different, choosing one over the other only boils down to the priority between looks and durability.

Display

Xiaomi Amazfit 2

Amazfit Stratus comes with a 1.34 inch display sporting a screen resolution of 320 x 300 pixels. The watch supports “Always-on” display mode. Always-On features mean that the display always remains on thus eliminating the need of opening up the watch to look for time and notifications. There are 15 different watch faces to choose from and you can also upload a picture to use it as the background.

Xiaomi is using a transflective display on the Amazfit 2 which boosts the sunlight visibility of the display. As a result, reading the stuff on the display under direct sunlight is very easy. The transflective display eliminates the need for backlighting and also decreases the battery consumption. However, having a transflective display means poor viewing angle and low light visibility of the display.

Xiaomi was aware of the issue as they also equipped the Amazfit 2 with backlight for improved low light readability. There is also an ambient sensor which regulates the backlight according to the lighting conditions you are in, however, it isn’t very precise.

As I stated earlier, Xiaomi is using Corning Gorilla Glass for protection of the display on the basic model and Sapphire glass for display protection in the premium model.

Huawei Watch 2

Huawei has gone for a 1.2 inch display which is actually smaller than the previous generation. However, it sports a slightly higher pixel density around 326 PPI than its predecessor with a screen resolution of 390 x 390 pixels. However, this isn’t the highest resolution you can get in a smartwatch but the display is actually really sharp. Huawei Watch 2 comes with Corning Gorilla Glass for display protection.

Watch 2 also support the Always-on display features drains very low amount of battery as the Watch is using an OLED screen. This also means that the colors are nicely saturated with deep blacks. Sunlight visibility is actually impressive which means reading the text under direct sunlight is pretty easy.

Which One To Choose?

Both the phones come with similar features like Gorilla Glass display protection, Always-on display, full-touch navigation etc. However, Amazfit 2 has a slightly bigger display as compared to the Watch 2 but Huawei Watch 2 has a much sharper display because of higher resolution and higher pixel density. Apart from that, Amazfit 2 has slightly poor viewing angles but better sunlight visibility than Huawei Watch 2.

Amazfit 2 is better when it comes to navigation because of the slightly bigger display along with 3 buttons to completely navigate through the UI. However, if you want a tougher and durable display, Watch 2 will be a better option for you.

Hardware

Xiaomi Amazfit 2

Amazfit 2 or Amazfit Stratus is power by a Dual-core processor which can reach a clock speed of 1.2 GHz. It comes with 512 MB RAM and 4GB of Internal storage out of which around 2 GB is available for the user. There is no option to expand the memory. Amazfit 2 also comes with WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0 and GPS.

Performance is decent but sometimes the watch struggles under a heavy workload. Navigation is pretty smooth but could have been better.

Huawei Watch 2

Watch 2 is powered by Quad-core Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor which can reach a max clock speed of 1.1 GHz. It comes with 768 MB RAM and 4GB of Internal storage. There are basic connectivity features like GPS, Bluetooth v4.1, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and there is an expensive model which support 4G cellular network.

Performance isn’t great and navigation through the UI feels a big sloppy. It isn’t the smoothest watch you can get in the similar price segment.

Which One To Choose?

Both Amazfit 2 and Watch 2 aren’t the smoothest or powerful smartwatch. They both lag a bit and suffer under heavy workloads. However, for much smooth and lag-free performance you have to spend a couple of bucks more to buy something premium. Hence, both the watches are great for the price you pay.

Software, Fitness, and Battery

Xiaomi Amazfit Stratos

Amazfit 2 or Stratos runs on Xiaomi”s own Properaity OS which is very limited in almost every sense. To connect the smartwatch with the mobile you have to download the Amazfit application and no other application is supported. Although, it can be used without the app as it comes with its own GPS functionality. Stratos is compatible with both Android (version 4.4 or above) and iOS (version iOS 9 or above). Since the watch runs on Xiaomi’s own OS, there is no app store on the watch which means you cannot download any application like Uber on the watch. However, you can use the inbuilt Bluetooth to stream music on the watch through the smartphone. 

Another down here is the absence of Google or any other assistant on the watch. It also doesn’t support Android Pay, however, it has its own “Alipay” feature so that’s a relief. There is no rotating dial on the watch and most of the navigation is done either by swiping left or right which allows to scrolls through different apps. Although, for entire navigation, you can also rely upon the 3 physical buttons.

While the software on the Amazfit has limited functionality, there is no lack of fitness-related features on the watch. Apart from the common workouts, there are 11 different sports mode which includes running, walking, swimming pool, open water swimming, indoor riding, elliptical machines, mountaineering, outdoor riding, cross country running, Triathlon and, indoor running. Choosing any one of the workouts will show continuous real-time data like heart-rate, calories burned but also with Firstbeat motion algorithm it can show extremely useful data like Exercise effect, Exercise load, Recovery time required and maximum oxygen uptake. Heart rate readings are real time but to save the battery the option is turned off by default so you have to manually turn it on.

Talking about the battery, it is a 280mAh lithium polymer non-removable battery which provides up to 5 days of battery life. Such battery life shows the extent of optimization that Xiaomi made into the software. It comes with a charging dock which isn’t magnetic. Although, the battery life is quite good, using a bunch of services can lead to lower battery life.

Huawei Watch 2

Huawei Watch 2 runs on Android Wear 2.0 which is now known as Google Wear OS. This means that the watch can be used with Android (above Android 4.3) or iOS (above iOS 9). Also, you can use different fitness applications with the smartwatch which is a convenience. Since the watch comes with Wear OS, it has its own app store through which you can download apps on the Watch 2 like Uber, Spotify etc. Although, the versatility of the apps is still limited. 

Another benefit of having a watch running on Wear OS is the complete access to Google Assistant on your wrist. You can ask for various information from Google Assistant like Weather, news, reminders etc. For security purpose, Watch 2 comes with s security PIN which gets activated whenever you removed the watch from your wrist. This allows only the actual user to have access to the smartwatch. Huawei Watch 2 also supports Android Pay which can be set on the lower programmable button. However, there is a good deal of lag when activating the Android Pay which might lead to some inconvenience.

There are numerous features on the watch, however, Navigation becomes quite difficult as there is no moving dial. This is a bit of let down as Wear OS is specially designed to work well with rotating dials.

Focusing heavily on fitness, Watch 2 comes with features like GPS, Heart Rate monitor, Bluetooth. There is a fitness app which consists of various activities. Choose the activity that you wanna do like cardio, treadmill etc and the watch will start monitoring your body metrics like Heart Rate, Calories burned etc. This gives the proper information about the exercise that you performed which will be beneficial to fitness enthusiasts. However, the information is not too detailed, unlike other fitness smartwatches. It also gives you a vibration feedback whenever so sit somewhere without performing any for too long. 

In our test, Watch 2 is able to last 2 days which is impressive. However, the top model which supports 4G LTE service will only gonna last a day. It comes with a 480 mAh battery which is non-removable. The charging case is magnetic which is actually impressive. There is a battery saver mode which turns the Watch 2 into a regular watch providing upto 18 days of battery life.

So Which One To Buy?

Both the smartwatches are equally good and have great value-for-money. However, there are some areas in which one is better than the other. Amazfit looks more premium because of its ceramic and plastic build. On the other hand, Huawei Watch 2 has a more sturdy plasticy build which is more durable. 

When it comes to display, Amazfit Stratos has a bigger display which offers better sunlight visibility with easy navigation but Huawei Watch 2 has a much sharper and crisp display. Also, Huawei Watch 2 has more powerful hardware with slightly higher RAM.

When it comes to software, Huawei Watch 2 wins because of the Wear OS which allows more customization, Google Assistant and Android Pay. However, Amazfit Stratos has more powerful fitness features. Both the smartwatch are waterproof and comes with similar display protection. In case of battery life, Amazfit Stratos wins with its 5 days of phenomenal battery life even with a smaller battery capacity than Watch 2. Both the smartwatch comes with GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi, Heart rate sensor and there is an optional Huawei Watch 2 model which support cellular connectivity. However, you have to throw some extra couple of buck to buy that model.

Amazfit Stratos is available at a price tag of $170 (approx) while the Huawei Watch 2 is available at a price tag of $230 (approx) which is the LTE model. For better looks, value-for-money, Stratos is the best option while for better software and performance Watch 2 will be the best pick for you.

Thanks for reading!

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