Amazfit GTR tested: Half smartwatch with long battery life
7.4.2020
Translation: machine translated
The Amazfit GTR's battery lasts a very long time, but you can neither pay nor install new apps with the smartwatch.
GPS, heart rate measurement and constant notifications from your smartphone: the Amazfit GTR has plenty of opportunities to drain its battery. However, you cannot pay on the go with the smartwatch and there are no plans to install additional apps.
Four case materials and a beautiful display
Amazfit currently offers the GTR in eight versions. The larger version with a diameter of 47 millimetres and a stainless steel case was available to me. Other versions are made of aluminium, plastic and ceramic. The leather strap included in the scope of delivery does not invite you to use it as a sports watch. However, it can be changed without tools and exchanged for other straps with the widely used 22-millimetre connection.
The Amazfit GTR fits me comfortably and is pleasant to wear. Before you put it on, it looks big and bulky, but this impression disappears on the wrist. You can customise the look of the watch to suit your taste. There are countless watch faces to choose from in the Amazfit app.
The AMOLED display is large enough for me with its 1.39-inch diameter. The resolution of 454×454 pixels on the AMOLED display ensures a razor-sharp image. The colours are vibrant and the high brightness ensures that the screen content could theoretically be clearly visible in the sun. However, the surface is so reflective that it is more comfortable to hold the smartwatch in the shade.
Operation is largely via the touchscreen. You swipe and tap on it. No instructions are necessary. After a short trial and error, all gestures are explored. The individual apps are listed one below the other. The two buttons on the right-hand side have less frequently used actions. The top one is used to wake up the watch, whereby the movement of the wrist is usually sufficient when you look at the watch. Otherwise, the button always takes you back to the start page and you can switch off the GTR by holding it down. The lower button calls up the list of available sports.
Amazfit claims that the GTR uses a low-power chipset which, together with the other hardware, enables a battery life of up to three weeks. However, the smartwatch was unable to keep my daily companion off my wrist for that long, consuming around five per cent of the battery charge per day over the five days. Extrapolated, this brings me very close to the promised three weeks. With many other smartwatches, however, even three days is utopian.
An app that collects and displays a lot of data
The Amazfit GTR has GPS and heart rate measurement on board and uses this data for sports tracking, among other things. Twelve sports such as jogging, cycling, hiking, climbing, skiing or swimming - the housing is said to be waterproof to a depth of 50 metres - are available to choose from
While the heart rate measurement runs continuously, the GPS only switches on for some of the sports. This means that you may have to wait several minutes for the location to be determined. There may be dropouts when you are on the move. In my test period, the watch did not record any cycling routes without gaps.
The software can recognise activities automatically. However, it only recognises slow and fast walks by default. You have to teach the watch other types of movement, but then you have a free choice and ideally it automatically recognises badminton, basketball or even brushing your teeth.
If the Amazfit GTR is connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth, you can control the music playback via the smartwatch. If you want the notifications of an app to appear on the display on your wrist, you need to open them in the Amazfit app (Android / iOS) for each app manually.
Amazfit displays your PAI value on the watch and in the app. The abbreviation stands for "Personal Activity Intelligence". This is an indicator for your activity that is designed to make heart rate data even more meaningful. In 2017, the then wearable manufacturer "Mio" introduced it and now also offers it to other companies for use. Keeping the value above 100 is said to reduce the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. If you don't wear the watch or are not active enough, the PAI value drops. For me, it has not yet become a motivating factor. As a creature of habit, I still count my steps and look at the calories I've burned. I haven't taken up the offer to feed the app with countless pieces of data about my body - from chest to calf circumference.
I miss a few things about the Amazfit GTR, without which I can't see it as a fully-fledged smartwatch. You can't install any other apps. There is no app store, no voice control and no option to pay wirelessly with the smartwatch. You also can't read emails, let alone delete them directly if they are unimportant. On the AMOLED display, you only see the text that appears in the notification on your smartphone. No other actions are possible. I don't want to write novels on the smartwatch, but a short response option in Messenger would often be helpful. You can reject calls on your wrist, but not accept them
Conclusion: Half the smartwatch with a long battery life
The Amazfit GTR is an affordable smartwatch that impresses above all with its long battery life. It sits comfortably on the wrist, has a good display and is easy to use, even without instructions. However, it is not smart enough for me - especially in comparison to the Apple Watch and the models with WearOS. As a sports watch, the GTR is still passable, but offers me too few options for interacting with my smartphone from my wrist.
When I was but a young student, I'd sit in my friend's living room with all my classmates and play on his SuperNES. Since then I've had the opportunity to test out all the newest technology for you. I've done reviews at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, and have now arrived at Galaxus.de.
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