It’s been a while now since Google unveiled its drastic overhaul of the Wear OS platform, giving fans and Android users a more coherent and well-oiled wearable ecosystem. If the past few years are any indication though, it’s clear that there have been a lot of obstacles along the way, although it’s safe to say that we’re at a point in time where most Wear OS has matured both in terms of software and hardware offerings.
Take for example the Xiaomi Watch 5—announced for global markets back in March this year, the watch brings a lot of improvements over its predecessor, the Xiaomi Watch 2. We’ve actually had the chance to use it for some time now, and it looks like Xiaomi is finally bringing its A-game with the Watch 5. Let’s take a look.
Xiaomi Watch 5 Specifications
- 1.54-inch AMOLED display
- 480×480 pixels
- Stainless steel frame
- 5ATM Waterproof
- Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 1
- Android Wear OS 6
- WiFi 2.4 GHz
- Bluetooth 5.4
- 930mAh battery
Design and Display
As far as looks are concerned, the Xiaomi Watch 5 looks rather premium. There’s a stainless steel chassis around the watch (which itself comes with 5ATM water resistance) which houses a two-button combo, consisting of a rotating crown on top and a secondary action button. Xiaomi says that it’s used sapphire crystal glass on both ends of the device, so the screen and sensors underneath the watch are covered with sapphire glass, which is a much-welcome feature, and adds a bit of extra durability for daily use.
Going over to the display, you get a 1.54-inch AMOLED touchscreen that gets significantly bright at 1500 nits of brightness, so viewing this outdoors shouldn’t be an issue at all. It is a large watch face, so it will definitely stand out on smaller wrists; overall though, it’s a good-looking device which nails both aesthetics and an overall premium feel, though it does play it safe when it comes to the design in general.
Battery and Performance
So far though, the biggest improvement that Xiaomi brings with the Watch 5 is its battery life. Xiaomi claims that the watch can last for up to six days of battery life on a single charge, which is pretty impressive if you think about it—it’s clear that Wear OS watches have come a long way in terms of battery life, although real-life usage does make a difference.
So far though, the biggest improvement that Xiaomi brings with the Watch 5 is its battery life.
So far, I’ve managed to get maybe around four and a half days of battery with a single charge with the Xiaomi Watch 5, using the watch with AOD and Wi-Fi mostly turned off, except for times when I would need to update the software or maybe download an app. But again though, it’s a big improvement from previous smartwatches like the Xiaomi Watch 2, which could only last for around two days at most.
The Xiaomi Watch 5 also comes with a dual-chip system inside, so you’re getting a Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 chip in addition to a BES chip. This allows for better power efficiency as the two chips will be able to essentially switch depending on what kind of apps or tasks that the watch is currently running. We’ve seen this approach to hardware on competing devices like the OnePlus Watch 2 and 3 for example, and it’s so far become a tried-and-tested means to achieve multi-day battery on modern Wear OS devices.
Software Features
Another big highlight of the Xiaomi Watch 5 is of course, Wear OS 6—not many Wear OS devices currently have Wear OS 6 right now, so to see it on the Xiaomi Watch 5 is pretty terrific. You are getting pre-installed apps here from both Google and Xiaomi, and you will need to install the Mi Fitness app on your smartphone to set up the watch, change watch faces, and customize its settings, to name a few.
With that in mind, things generally run smoothly on the Xiaomi Watch 5, although I have noticed that there’s a bit of stuttering sometimes when it comes to certain transitions and animations. On the other hand, these are so rare that I wouldn’t go so far as to call them dealbreakers. For everyday usage though, the Xiaomi Watch 5’s interface is nice and fluid.
Now as with a ton of other smartwatches out there, you do get some built-in health and fitness tracking features, including heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, step counts, and more than 150 built-in sports modes. Personally I’m not really a fitness junkie, so I mostly use my wearables to track my sleep, keep an eye on my heart rate, and count my steps, aside from the usual notifications and smart features.
Speaking of smart features, it does come with support for Gemini as the default voice assistant; I’ve also managed to get it working nicely with my Google Pixel phone, and there’s even an option to mirror all notifications from a user’s device, instead of an app-by-app basis.
The Verdict
With the Xiaomi Watch 5, you’re pretty much getting the entire package here, including terrific hardware, impressive battery life, and of course, compatibility with the latest Google Wear OS version, at least at the time of this review. Now, it is priced at around £270 (around $370), which does put it head-to-head with similarly-priced rivals like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 and OnePlus Watch 3, for example.
Sure, it’s not a perfect device, and some software quirks might be enough to dissuade would-be buyers, but overall though its strengths definitely get you more bang for your buck.