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Introduction
Over the past few years, Amazfit products have successfully ascended from being an intriguing curiosity on our radar to somewhat of an important mainstay in our regular smart wearable coverage. Rightfully so, since the company continues to deliver a selection of great-looking and feature-rich wearables, with a clear focus on great battery life and tantalizingly competitive pricing.
The new Amazfit GTR 2 fits right into that description. It is a smart wearable that builds upon the original GTR and its already impressive hardware and feature set. It adds things like a microphone and speaker for voice commands and Bluetooth calls, 3GB of independent music storage, and a lot of polish inside the UI and the watch face selection. All of this while still maintaining a solid battery endurance promise of 14 days on a single charge. Plus, as affordable price point of $180.
Amazfit GTR 2 specs
- Body: 46.4 x 46.4 x 10.7 mm; Sports edition - aluminum alloy - 36g., Classic edition - stainless steel - 39g.; 22mm strap; 5 ATM water resistance (up to 50 m); 3D Corning Gorilla Glass, with an anti-fingerprint coating and optical "Diamond-like Carbon (oDLC) coating front
- Display: 1.39" AMOLED, Resolution 454x454, 326 ppi
- OS: Proprietary; Support for Android 5.0 and above, iOS 10.0 and above (Zepp companion app)
- Memory: around 3GB - user accessible for storing MP3 files and watch faces
- Battery: 471mAh (14 days typical use); Magnetic charging base (2.5h for a full charge)
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0 + BLE; Wi-Fi 6; GPS+GLONASS; NFC (for AliPay)
- Misc: BioTracker 2 PPG biological tracking optical sensor, 6-axis acceleration sensor, 3-axis geomagnetic sensor, Air-pressure sensor, Gyroscopic sensors, Ambient light sensor; Speaker and microphone for calls, music playback and voice assistant (Offline commands available at launch, Amazon Alexa integration coming in OTA update)
Amazfit is a brand of the Chinese company Huami Technology. Huami is probably best known as an exclusive provider of smart wearables for Xiaomi. As such, it is the company behind the popular Mi Band line of products. That should be enough of a pedigree in itself, yet Huami has a lot more to "flex," like the fact that it is listed on the New Your Stock Exchange (NYSE) and is the first Chinese smart hardware company to have its stock traded on the US capital market. Last year the cumulative global shipments of Huami's smart devices exceeded 100 million units. And after Apple, Huami is probably the world's second-largest smart wearable manufacturer.
The watch we are reviewing today does not have a full-blown OS with third-party apps like Apple's Watch OS, Google's Wear OS, or Samsung's Tizen OS. It doesn't have an app store with third-party apps. Still, it occupies a niche that is experiencing a renaissance of sorts. If you can live without features like notification replying or the ability to order a pizza or call a cab right from your wrist, going for one of these dumber smartwatches saves you money, and you can enjoy a battery life that's miles better than a real smartwatch.
The Amazfit GTR 2 offer pretty much every modern hardware feature out there sans a powerful enough chipset to make third-party app development viable. It's got a heart rate sensor, gyroscope, accelerometer, air pressure sensor, ambient light sensor, speaker and microphone, GPS receiver, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.0, all sitting behind a 1.39-inch AMOLED display is vibrant, power-efficient, and comes with always-on features. Building on years of activity tracking experience and general UX improvements, the GTR 2 also has all of the typical smart features well covered.
Unboxing
The Amazfit GTR 2 ships in a very similar box to the one we got the Amazfit T-Rex a few months ago. It is a solid two-piece box, complete with a silky-smooth finish.
The charging cradle you get in the box is like the one for the Amazfit T-Rex, which is a departure from the one shipped with the original Amazfit GTR. It's a slimmed-down magnetic "snap-on" charging attachment rather than a full circle. It uses a pair of pogo pins to connect instead of something fancier like Qi wireless charging. The downside of this cheaper approach is that you can't just use any other wireless charger, and placing the charger onto the watch is a bit fiddly despite the magnetic connection. Still, you charge these wearables so rarely that it never becomes a burden.
Design, materials, fit and comfort
The Amazfit GTR 2 has a Classic edition, as well as a Sport Edition. The two share the same physical design and proportions. Both also have the same hardware and the exact same 1.39-inch AMOLED display.
The GTR 2 Sports Edition, which is the one we have for review, is made of aluminum alloy and tips the scale at 31.5 grams, while its Classic sibling is crafted out of stainless steel and is slightly heavier at 39 grams.
Beyond the main watch body, the two versions also ship with different straps - a sweat-proof silicon one for the Sport Edition and a leather one for the Classic.
Amazfit GTR 2 (left) vs. Amazfit GTR (right)
The "sweat-proof obsidian black silicone strap" on our review unit invokes mixed feelings. As far as silicon straps go, it is alright. Soft enough to be comfortable and elastic enough to instill durability confidence.
The clasp is a bit on the cheap side and appears to be plastic instead of the metal one w have on the old GTR. Perhaps that's just for the Sport edition. Plus, it feels sturdy enough, and we appreciated the plentiful punch-holes and their tight spacing on the other side.
We had no issues with the fit of the GTR 2 from a small female hand to the fairly-beefy male one you can see in the lifestyle photos. Plus, if you really don't like the factory band, it uses a standard 22mm attachment mechanism, making it really easy to pick up a third-party replacement of your choosing.
On the plastic back, we find the familiar elevated portion, housing Huami's trademarked PPG BioTracker. The sensor itself is version 2.0 and has an extra visible part compared to the one on the original GTR and the T-Rex. Cutting through some of the marketing talk here, like the trademarked OxygenBeats tech, the new hardware seems to bring blood oxygen measurement (SpO2) to the table, as well as automatic workout detection. Though the latter might just be a software improvement rather than a hardware one.
Looking at the backs of the original GTR and the new one side by side quickly reveals two other major hardware additions to the second generation. The holes on either side of the device are there to accommodate the new speaker and microphone. The bigger one on the left is the speaker.
The integration of a loudspeaker a mic has allowed the watch to be used for taking calls via Bluetooth. The other purpose of this hardware is voice commands. For the time being, these just offer simple voice navigation for the watch itself, but Amazfit has promised Amazon Alexa support in an upcoming update. You can also get actual sound alerts for things like notifications or calls via the speaker and even play music through it. The latter is really nothing more than a gimmick, though, since it is a very tiny speaker.
The GTR 2 is water-resistant enough to track your swimming (in fresh water). Naturally, you can expect some issues with the microphone and speaker shortly after exposure. And, as always, saltwater is a definite no-go.
The topmost layer of the GTR 2's construction is what really sets it apart from the original GTR. Where that one had a solid metal frame and a recessed inner display, the GTR goes for an arguably slicker 3D curved glass design, spilling on to the sides of the wearable. This approach definitely has both its positives and negatives over the original and will inevitably be a polarizing aspect of the GTR 2.
As far as the positives go, the display on the GTR 2 looks notably bigger than the one on the original GTR, even though both have the exact same 1.39-inch diameter. In fact, Huami could be reusing the same panel. The display on the new GTR 2 just feels "closer" to the user due to the new glass design, enhancing its appearance. And when the AMOLED panel is off or has mostly black showing on the sides, it blends in really well with the black outer bezel.
As for the downsides of this new design - a clear one is the painted-on dial on top of the glass edges. It looks tacky, almost like a sticker and once you see it for what it is, you start to really wish it wasn't there, since it kind of takes away from the otherwise very premium look of the GTR 2.
Amazfit GTR 2 (bottom) vs. Amazfit GTR (top)
Huami claims the top glass is made of 3D Corning Gorilla Glass, with an anti-fingerprint coating and optical "Diamond-like Carbon (oDLC) coating". Those are a lot of fancy words but hardly something to keep the watch safe from accidental bumps and scratches. Here's hoping.
When it comes to wearing the GTR 2, our Sports edition watch with its 31.5 grams feels really, really light. Lighter still than the original aluminum GTR, we keep harkening back to for comparison, which sits at 36 grams and right around the weight of the Amazfit Bip S Lite. For even more reference, the latest Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 is anywhere from 43 grams to 54 grams and the Apple Watch Series 6 starts at 39 grams, moves up to 47 grams for the 44mm version, with a slightly lower weight range for the aluminum version.
In other words, the GTR 2 is relatively light, and due to its moderate height of only 10.7mm, it is also very comfortable to wear while sleeping.
One final comfort point worth making here concerns the newfound ability of the GTR 2 to rotate its UI 180 degrees. This works nicely in combination with its rather symmetrical body for both left-handed and right-handed use.
Controling the watch
The Amazfit GTR 2 comes with a 1.39-inch AMOLED unit, with 454 x 454 pixels and a very sharp 326ppi. These points match the display on the original Amazfit GTR, which did lead us to entertain the possibility that the two share the same panel.
Huami claims 450 nits of peak brightness. OLED tech means perfect blacks, allowing the panel to seamlessly blend in with the black bezel. Some of the watch faces look like they are almost "floating above" the glass front. A premium look, for sure.
It is worth noting that the UI on the GTR 2 is different and better polished than the one found on the original Amazfit GTR. One of the most notable changes is smaller icons, menus, and text, which allows for more content to fit on the screen, but harms legibility, especially if you don't have 20/20 eyesight.
For the most part, the GTR 2 has a very similar control scheme to its predecessor. The 3D curved glass design of the GTR 2 definitely makes swiping gestures easier and more natural than they are on the original GTR, with its recessed display. There is no bezel to abruptly stop your motion.
The physical buttons on the watch's side offer plenty of travel with satisfying tactile feedback. Don't expect to pull-off too much with the buttons alone. The top button takes you back to the watch face from anywhere in the UI. Once there, it switches functions and brings up the app drawer.
The bottom one acts as a programable shortcut to one of the few predefined features: Activity goal, Heart Rate, Workout, Weather, Music, Notifications, Alarm, Events, Compass, Timer, Countdown, or Find mobile.
It's worth noting that Bluetooth remains the primary connection means with the GTR 2. Wi-Fi is a new addition to the GTR 2, but it's meant to allow you to upgrade your GTR 2 faster and transfer music to it. There is no Wi-Fi menu in the watch UI or the companion app at all.
Transferring a song to the GTR 2's internal memory brings up a prompt informing you that a Wi-Fi connection with the watch will be established, which will temporarily interrupt any other Wi-Fi connections you might have, which leads us to believe the watch is only capable of establishing Wi-Fi Direct connections to the smartphone. You can't connect to a Wi-Fi access point as you might expect from a device with Wi-Fi capabilities.
Watchfaces and customization
Out of the box, the watch itself has a total of 8 pre-installed watch faces. Some of these even feature additional customization of individual complications.
By default, to save energy the screen turns off and you are not using the watch and it only lights up when you lift your hand to check the time. However, even at its most sensitive setting, it's nowhere near the responsiveness of the proper smartwatches.
In the past, if you found that delay annoying, you had to select one out of the two available always-on watch dials - which didn't necessarily match your selected watch face.
Whereas now each watch face on the GTR 2 can include a custom always-on version. Over 40 of the watch faces in the official Amazfit store in the Zepp app already have this functionality.
Speaking of the Zepp app, this is how you download new watch faces. And unlike before, you now don't have any limitation in the number of watch faces you can download on the watch before you are required to delete a few to free up slots.
Categories in the Zepp app watchface store
Zepp companion app
We are still not huge fans of the companion app's UI that Amazfit offers. Visually, it's fine, with plenty of slick graphics, especially when it comes to statistical plotting and charting. However, despite the re-branding, the app didn't really go through much internal organizational change, and it still feels chaotic and overwhelming.
Zepp app Homepage
The overall layout is confusing. Some features are only accessible through one very specific menu, while others are inexplicably multiplied on several spots throughout the UI.
Getting notification from your phone to show up on the watch is also a fairly involved process with just basic guidance in the form of a text file. We think that in this day and age, an app like Zepp should be able to request the needed system permissions on its own, only leaving the user the task of allowing them.
The app has its positive sides, too. For instance, you can link the Zepp app to several other third-party apps and services, like Google Fit, Strava, Relive, and WeChat. We tried the Google Fit integration and were pleasantly surprised since it works both ways - the data already on Google's servers ended up in the appropriate locations inside the Zepp app, and the data from the GTR 2, as well as historical records from this reviewer's old Amazfit GTR appeared in Google Fit.
Battery life and charging
The Amazfit GTR 2 is powered by a 471mAh lithium-ion battery. Tiny, in smartphone terms, but still bigger than both the original GTR at (410mAh) and the more-recent Amazfit T-Rex (390mAh). Taking the comparison a bit further, the new GTR 2 has an advertised endurance of 14 days on a single charge - a few less than the T-Rex at 20 days and notably less than the original GTR, however, marketed at 24 days on a charge.
This disparity between battery capacity and endurance should be attributed to the extra hardware inside the new GTR 2. We have a suspicion that the extra-smoothness and fancy nature of the entire UI and its animations are an indicator of a beefier chipset and the GTR 2's core.
The promised 14 days still sound great, but they are not representative of the real-world use you will get out of the device. The combination of features you choose to enable on the GTR 2, the frequency with which you do measurements with it, use its display, Bluetooth, or making calls - they all add up and put a dent in the total battery endurance.
To quote Amazfit's documentation, that 14-day estimate is for the following usage pattern:
- All-day wearing
- Voice assistant function is on
- Heart rate always-on
- Sleep monitoring is on
- 30min Bluetooth talking per week
- 30min music listening per week
- 3x30min exercises per week with GPS on
- 30 times/day raise the wrist to light up the screen
- 150 notifications per day
- 2 blood oxygen measurements per day
The way we used the watch involved wearing it around the clock with heart-rate monitoring once every 10 minutes, between 10 and 20 wrist-raises and display wakeups a day, around 30 minutes of total GPS activity per week, and a lot of push notifications - around 300 per day. No blood oxygen measurements.
With this type of use, we got around 10 days out of the GTR 2 on a single charge, with 5% of battery still left in it at the end. Of course, your own mileage will vary.
For comparison, out of the box, the original Amazfit GTR used to do the advertised 24 days with roughly the same usage pattern. Now, a year or so later, it can do around 18 to 20 days.
Both watches offer something called Basic Watch mode. Enabling it puts them in a very low-power state with limited functionality - time and date, step counter, and basic sleep duration tracking. The GTR 2 should last up to 38 days in basic mode on a single charge.
As for charging, the advertised 2.5 hours of charge time for the GTR 2 are about what we experienced. The charging bit does not come with any information regarding voltage/current requirements, so we usually used a regular USB port. A faster charger yielded the same charging time.
UI and built-in features
The GTR 2 operates with a custom OS just like Amazfit's other products. Huami is refining this OS and its various features with each new release, and we can safely say that things are a lot smoother now than they were originally back when the GTR was released. Not only that, but the UI is prettier all around.
We have a quick UI tour video for you to check out (no sound!):
We almost have to wonder whether the extra graphics fidelity is making a debut on the GTR 2 because of some noticeable bump up in chipset performance? Huami doesn't really share any particular hardware data on its smart wearables, but it's an unlikely coincidence that all of the animations across the UI of the GTR 2 looks a lot smoother than anything the original GTR can offer. The GTR 2 simply feels snappier and more responsive too.
Following the same train of thought, could the beefier chipset, potentially combined with the extra hardware, like the new PPG 2 module and the microphone, be behind some of the battery endurance hit that the GTR 2 has taken? It's one theory, at least.
Coming from the original GTR, another immediately apparent difference is the significantly decreased DPI and font size on the GTR 2. Compared to the original and the more recent T-Rex, the GTR 2 can fit a lot more content on a single screen. This is great for specific use cases, like reading longer text notification, but it does hurt legibility. You need to have fairly good eyesight to comfortably use the GTR 2.
Amazfit GTR (left) vs. Amazfit GTR 2 (right)
Like we already mentioned on the previous page, buttons can only take you so far on the GTR 2, with swipes being the main navigation method. Generally, a swipe from left to right is a back gesture, taking you to the previous screen instead of pressing the top button, which just lands you straight to the watch face.
While we wait for Huami to implement the promised Amazon Alexa integration, there is still Offline voice control already up and running. It allows you to interact with many of the GTR2's features hands-free without requiring an active connection with your phone, the companion app, or the internet. All of the voice recognition is done on the GTR 2 itself, which is a rather impressive feat.
There is no trigger word for the Offline voice controls, like something you would expect with a typical smart assistant. Instead, listening for commands is tied to actions such as lifting your wrist or turning up the screen.
As for the things you can actually do with Offline voice control, there are nifty exhaustive and well-organized lists of all of the current commands, both in a menu on the GTR 2 itself and as part of the Zepp app.
You can check out a few of the available options in the screenshots. Generally, though, most major options on the GTR 2 can at least be opened via voice. And some features, like specific workouts, can be initiated without any physical interaction at all.
Offline voice control settings in Zepp app
Notifications work reliably and show up instantly on the watch. However, to get everything working correctly is a fairly involved process, requiring you to find a few security- and power-related features hidden in your phone's settings.
Once you get that done, the notification list on the GTR 2 is accessed by swiping up from the main watch face. This brings up a list of recent notifications.
One thing worth noting is that, like all smart wearables, the GTR 2 can only handle notifications in one direction, so to say. To put it simply, due to the way notifications are captured and relayed to the watch, you don't get any fancy interactive on reply features for any of your notifications like you might on a proper smartwatch. There is no way to quickly shoot back a text reply or an emoji to an IM, for instance. If you find that vital to your needs, you definitely need to look at a full-featured smartwatch instead.
The Notifications UI here is significantly slicker than what is currently running on the original GTR and includes gradients, rounded corners, and small drop shadows.
Call functionality on the GTR 2 has a significant bump up in features compared to other Amazfit smart wearables. It's a great addition to have on a smart wearable on paper, but we have some notable issues with the way it is currently implemented on the Amazfit GTR 2.
For one, you can only receive calls on the watch, not place them. There isn't even a Phone shortcut anywhere in the wearable's UI, which is a very odd omission, since it's an easy feature to implement.
Also, for calls to work, the GTR 2 is paired through the phone's Bluetooth menu as a regular device. That means the GTR 2 communicates to the phone via a constant, active Bluetooth connection instead of the low-powered Bluetooth LE wasting battery on both sides.
Even if you can live with the extra power draw, the extra inconvenience comes from the default behavior of most Android phones when there is such an active Bluetooth audio connection. They automatically direct all calls through there. Hence, every time you want to make or take a regular call on your phone, you have to toggle off the GTR 2 as the preferred calling accessory.
On top of the familiar Music remote control functionality that we have seen on many other smart wearables, the GTR 2 also has actual on-device music playback. This actually represents a notable shift in hardware mentality for Amazfit. The company's past smart wearables have typically been very limited in terms of onboard storage as a cost-saving measure. The GTR 3 actually has around 3GB of space on it, which is only meant to house MP3 music.
You can listen to music on the GTR 3's horrible speaker or you can connect a Bluetooth audio device like headphones or a speaker directly to the GTR 2 via Bluetooth.
Music player on the GTR 2
This mostly covers the major and significant features on the GTR 2, but there are also quite a few smaller and familiar ones scattered all around its UI. Some have their own icons right in the main menu vertical carousel, while others are placed within a "Widgets" folder of sorts.
The Alarms feature is straight-forward, as you can expect. It is important no note, though, that alarm times can be added from the GTR 2 itself, without using the companion app.
Alarms on the GTR 2
Event reminders still need to be added from the Amazfit app. There is no synchronization offered with your regular phone calendar of choice. This feature probably won't see too many users.
Timer and Countdown are very straight-forward. The latter has a bunch of minute presets. You can also set a custom value of your own, all the way up to 23 hours and 59 minutes.
Timer and countdown on the GTR 2
Find my phone uses its own, custom ringtone to let your misplaced phone ring to help you find it.
The Compass feature shows info from the built-in magnetometer and also overlays extra GPS coordinates.
The so-called Barometric altimeter widget leverages the air pressure sensor inside the GTR 2 to give you both an air pressure and an altitude figure. The latter is also cross-referenced with GPS data, from the GTR 2's GPS module if you are outdoors and a lock is possible. If not, it is still great to have the barometric reading.
Barometric altimeter on the GTR 2
Finally, the Weather app is very straight-forward. It streams its data from the Zepp companion app and uses a preset location to poll a forecast.
Weather on the GTR 2
The UI within the app on the GTR 2 is absolutely gorgeous, which is generally true for most UI elements across the proprietary Amazfit OS. The GTR 2 really brings a lot of visual refinement to the scene compared to its predecessors.
Activity and sleep tracking performance
The Amazfit GTR 2 has support for a total of 12 kinds of sports activities. These include: Outdoor running, Walking, Indoor cycling, Pool swimming, Elliptical, Open Water swimming, Climbing, Trial running, Treadmill, Skiing, Outdoor cycling, and finally Free training, for anything that doesn't quite fit it the other categories.
The internal GPS module of the watch is used automatically for the outdoor portion of the activities. That is probably the part we can most easily verify in terms of accuracy and performance and we have to say, we are rather impressed with the GPS precision.
Getting a GPS location lock with a recent A-GPS data sync through the watch rarely takes more than 30 seconds, which is about on par with other Amazfit smart wearables, we have tested and perfectly reasonable for such a small device. In fact, the great GPS performance on the GTR 2 hardly comes as a surprise altogether, seeing how its just in keeping with the impressive showing by other Amazfit wearables.
Activity metrics breakdown and sharing
In terms of other metrics and statistics, Amazfit pull out all of the stops. Visually, everything looks really, really great. As far as accuracy of all of the displayed data goes, we still have our reservations for certain metrics. Many of these are calculated and estimated. But that's about as good as you can expect from casual tracking hardware. Plus, probably more than plenty for most users. Of course, the excellent and flexible sharing feature is present. Great for social media, if you are into that.
Activity metrics on the GTR 2
Sleep tracking is very hard to verify or cross-reference in any meaningful way. Still, we can attest that the GTR 2 mostly got the fall-asleep and wake-up times correctly. Huami has been hammering-out the kinks in these particular algorithms for a few years now, so we can only assume the stats are at least mostly trustworthy. Whether or not the actual sleep pattern data is of any practical use, though, is a whole other discussion.
Verdict
The Amazfit GTR 2 is a great device. Huami is nothing short of a juggernaut in the smart wearable niche. It has been slowly and iteratively improving its tech and successfully bringing increasingly better value products to the market.
Honestly, it would be perfectly fair to say that the Xiaomi Mi Band line, which Huami deserves a lot of the credit for, was nothing short of a revolutionary product. One that is still catering to budget wearable needs of the market like few others.
Given this ongoing arrangement, Huami's own first-party Amazfit line of devices is likely always going to remain the what is sort of its own Mi Band-shaped shadow. That certainly has its unfortunate downsides, most notably that Amazfit products aren't supported by Xiaomi's much more-refined companion app ecosystem. While Amazfit's freshly-rebranded Zepp app has been getting incrementally better over the years, it is still quite disorderly and in need of a significant redesign and a lot of simplification.
As for the Amazfit GTR 2 in particular, it is, by far, the closest and Amazfit smart wearable has managed to get to a full-blown smartwatch. In a wearable market where most big players cater to the high-end segment leaving the budget segments to with smart bands and trackers, devices like the Amazfit GTR offer a great middle-ground, definitely closer to premium than budget in every aspect, but the price.
If you like the look, appreciate the great 10-day battery life on a single charge, and you are fine with the feature set, then honestly, at $180, getting the GTR 2 is a no-brainer. It is very much the most polished product by Amazfit, and the improvements are noticeable across the board.
Pros
- Great OLED screen and upmarket design.
- The Amazfit Watch UI is very responsive and has never looked so good
- Longer battery life than any smartwatch with a real OS
- Standard replacable wrist straps mean you can customize and accessorize
- Unlimited slots for watchfaces and unlimited always-on watchfaces are new for Amazfit
- Built-in mic and speaker means it can take voice commands and even calls from a connected phone
- It can store 3GB of offline music and play it back on your headphones
- Affordable price tag
Cons
- Lift to wake is slow and unreliable to react
- Companian app is Zepp is chaotic and overwhelming with features
- Calling functionality is power consuming and is rough around the edges
- Getting app notifications to show up on the watch requires an involved setup process of whitelisting the Zepp app
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