Xiaomi says its new smartwatch only needs to charge twice a month
New Month #NewMonth
Xiaomi just unveiled several new phones (we’ll come one of those a bit later), but the new Mi Watch is a little more interesting. It’s not the half-price Apple Watch clone from late last year, but something closer to Google’s WearOS wearable family — or a Garmin — at least aesthetically. It’s still called the Mi Watch, though.
The new device should only need charging twice a month, according to Xiaomi, with a boggling 117 fitness modes baked into the wearable. (I’m not sure I can think of that many workout modes.)
Xiaomi doesn’t name exactly what the Mi Watch is running, OS-wise, but it’s compatible with both iPhones (running iOS 10 and later) and Android devices (running Android 4.4 or later.) Despite the lack of a mainstream wearable OS, though, there’s still a lot of health tracking built-in: heart rate tracking, blood oxygen level monitoring, as well as sleep- and stress-tracking features, according to Xiaomi. The Mi Watch’s screen can reach 450 nits of brightness, and the watch itself weighs a spritely 32 grams. (For comparison, the Apple Watch SE weighs 36 grams.)
The biggest surprise is the price though: The Mi Watch will cost €99, (roughly $116), and while there’s no US availability, stock in Europe should ensure it’s easy enough to import. Actually, that price shouldn’t be too much of a surprise: Xiaomi has been making cheap (real cheap) devices for a while — this one’s just particularly intriguing.
It’s not a wearable alone. A couple of new phones land alongside the watch in Europe, with the flagship Mi 10T Pro arguably the stand-out. Notable specs include a 144Hz 6.67-inch display, which is a very high refresh rate for a phone. It should reach those refresh heights on text-based apps like social media and supported games.
The Mi 10T Pro also has the 108-megapixel camera it helped codevelop, naturally, with some new exposure modes and support for 8K video. The phone launches in Europe at €599
Xiaomi, not to be outdone by its competitors, has its own €29 65W fast-charger landing too. With a USB-C port, it can fast-charge compatible Xiaomi devices. It will apparently power the new Mi 10 Pro from 0 to 100 percent in just 45 minutes. It might not be worth importing, however — as it’s built for European power outlets. No launch dates yet, but we’ve reached out to Xiaomi for more details.