The Mi Watch Revolve Active, the latest smartwatch from Xiaomi has been launched in India and it’s the second-generation smartwatch from the company preceding the last year’s Mi Watch Revolve. The Active indicates the sports category in the smartwatch offering a whopping 117 sports modes and a total of 100+ watch faces for customization.
Among the main highlights of the smartwatch are the sleek and lightweight design, Always On AMOLED display, SpO2 Blood Oxygen feature, LifeQ health algorithm, Alexa Support, and 14 days battery life. Here’s what we have to say about the smartwatch in our Mi Watch Revolve Active review.
Mi Watch Revolve Active Specifications
- Model: XMWTCL02
- Display: 1.39-inch (3.53 cm) Always On AMOLED display, 454 x 454 pixels resolution, 450 nits brightness
- Software: Xiaomi’s custom OS, Xiaomi Wear app (Android), and Xiaomi Wear Lite (iOS)
- Protection: Up to 5ATM water-resistant
- Sensors: SpO Sensor, PPG Heart Rate Sensor Three-axis Acceleration Sensor Geomagnetic Sensor Barometer (Air Pressure) Sensor, Gyroscope, Ambient Light Sensor
- Features: Alexa Support, Blood Oxygen (SpO2), LifeQ Health Information Algorithm, All-day Heart rate detection, Sleep detection, Guided breathing, Target setting, Air pressure detection, Steps Counts, Calories Burned, Goal Setting, Over 100 select watch faces including custom watch faces, 5 ATM water resistance, Health check on one click with Xiaomi Wear App, Music control, alarm, weather, app notifications
- Wrist Strap: 22 mm quick release strap
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BDS
- Battery & Charging: 420 mAh Li-Po, 14 days runtime,
Magnetic Charging Pod, 2 hours charging time
- OS Compatibility: Android & iOS
- Box Contents: Mi Watch Revolve Active with Strap (22 mm), USB Magnetic Charging Pod, User Manual
- Colors: Beige, Black, Navy Blue
- Dimensions: 45.9 mm x 53.35 mm x 11.8 mm (not including the strap and local protrusions)
- Weight: 32 grams (excluding strap)
- Price: Rs 8,999 (early offer), Rs 9,999
Design, Display, & Build
Similar to Mi Watch Revolve, you will see a 46 mm round stainless steel frame on the Mi Watch Revolve Active with a matte finish surface and offers a sleek and premium design. The smartwatch is incredibly slim and light in weight (about 32 grams), it’s even lighter than the classic variant of the smartwatch. The overall looks and design of the Mi Watch Revolve Active is stunning and impressive.
The front side comes with a 1.39-inch (3.53 cm) Always On AMOLED display with 454 x 454 pixels resolution and 450 nits brightness. The display has a slight curve on its surface and is protected by scratch-resistant glass.
Other design traits include a water-proof design with up to 5ATM water resistance, quick-release 22 mm straps, and two buttons – Home for accessing apps and homescreen, and Sports for accessing the sports modes. No loudspeakers found on the smartwatch. The Mi Watch Revolve Active comes in three color variants – Beige, Black, and Navy Blue.
The backside has two major sensors, the PPG heart rate sensor and SpO2 sensor along with charging pins for charging the smartwatch. The charger included is a magnetic charging dock that can be plugged into a USB port or a USB brick.
Software & Interface
About the software on the smartwatch, there’s a custom-made wearable OS by Xiaomi which is different than Google’s WearOS. It uses the Xiaomi Wear app and connects via Bluetooth 5.0.
There are pre-installed apps on the smartwatch, you will see a list of apps by pressing the Home button, the app drawer includes a bunch of apps pre-installed, no other apps can be installed on the watch. On the other hand, the WearOS is capable of installing new apps from the Play Store.
The Mi Watch Revolve Active lets you make calls, view app notifications, listen to music, use Alexa, and access a whole bunch of fitness activities using the Sports button including the heart rate, and Blood Oxygen. Other apps on the watch include – find the phone, check the weather, flashlight, and other health and fitness perks.
The user interface is quite similar to what we have seen on the Mi Watch Revolve, it has a standard analog watch dial with a chronograph style design on its default watch face. It shows steps, calories burned, and heart rate, weather, and battery percentage.
The Mi Watch Revolve Active has a variety of watch faces with over 100 watch faces to fit your styles. Changing the watch faces can be done from the Settings -> Watch faces as well as from the Xiaomi Wear app.
The Xiaomi Wear app allows you to view the activity done today or from any past date using the calendar provided in the app. You can view the sync data, battery percentage, customize the Activity interface, and change the permissions for the app notifications and calls.
Features & Connectivity
There are a whole lot of features available on the watch, mainly the fitness perks that we have seen. The Active in the name indicates the sports category of the smartwatch and it has a whopping 117 sports modes built-in aside from the 100 watch faces for UI customization.
The Sports button lets you access a total of 117 professional sports modes including outdoor and indoor activities along with built-in GPS. For the health and fitness perks, it uses the powerful LifeQ health algorithm that accurately monitors and analyzes over 30 key data points such as blood oxygen (SpO2), heart rate, speed, and calories.
The classic variant uses the Firstbeat Motion algorithm, one of renowned professional analytics for sports activities. Firstbeat is one of the world’s leading providers of physiological data for sports and wellness.
Some of the professional sports modes include outdoor running, cycling, trail running, trekking, treadmill, indoor cycling, walking, freestyle workout, pool swimming, open water swimming, Elliptical trainer, Rowling machine, Yoga, Jump rope, Hiking, Triathlon and more. To access, all you need to do is to press the Sports mode button and choose the modes you wish to use.
The modes are quite much accurate if you ask, the basic modes that I have used the most are walking and running, and to be honest, they are just accurate, the Mi Watch Revolve Active could be among the best fitness tracking devices given its price.
The watch also has some extra perks that can be handy, it has Automatic Workout Detection that ensures all the movements are recorded, it automatically detects and monitors when a workout starts, as well as, pauses and resumes when inactive for accurate tracking.
After COVID-19 Pandemic, Blood Oxygen is one of the most important and most requested features in the current times. Blood Oxygen monitoring (SpO2) can provide a better picture of one’s physical condition, it is measured using a reflective-light-based sensor on the wrist. SpO2 measurement is an early indicator for conditions like sleep apnea, COVID-19, and lung diseases.
More features on the watch are Sleep Tracking, VO2 Max, Breathe Training, Vital Signs Monitoring, and Stress Monitoring. The VO2 Max captures how much oxygen the body is able to utilize during maximum activity while the breathing training enables you to relieve physical and mental stress by following the rhythms displayed and doing breathing exercises for 1 – 5 minutes.
Things that aren’t available on the watch are the loudspeakers, local storage for music, a Wi-Fi adapter, and an app store for installing third-party apps on the watch. Another major letdown is that you can’t interact with the notifications like replying to the messages or making calls, you will require the phone to answer the calls and reply to the messages, the text messages and emails can be viewed on the watch screen at a certain limit. The good part is that you now have the voice input for Alexa that can be used for hands-free operations.
Performance, Battery Life & Charging
What’s on the specs side if you ask? The Mi Watch Revolve Active has a custom CPU, unlike the third-party chips that we saw on the WearOS powered smartwatches, the Mi Watch Revolve Active uses a homegrown chip along with its own customized software.
The Snapdragon Wear chips are commonly found in smartwatches powered by WearOS operating system by Google. Despite the concealed hardware, we haven’t found any performance issues with the smartwatch, it is less likely to lag, and performs well when you interact with the interface.
The hardware is also optimized for battery life, the watch runs as much as 14 days. For its battery, it packs a 420 mAh Lithium Polymer battery that runs up to two weeks days on a single charge (without using the GPS). Using the GPS on the watch will significantly drain the battery.
The battery life on the Mi Watch Revolve Active is highly reliable and works excellent. This is the smartwatch that you should be considering if you want long-lasting battery life. The watch also has 22 hours long battery mode and 50 hours outdoor sports mode.
For its charging, you will find a magnetic charging dock with 2 Pogo pins that give power to the battery, it takes about 2 hours to charge the Mi Watch Revolve Active from 0% to 100%. Compared to its Classic variant, the charging time has significantly improved from 2.5 hours on the Classic variant to 2 hours on the Active variant.
Verdict
The Mi Watch Revolve Active is among the best sports smartwatches so far you will find at this price (Rs 8,999 early bird). With over 117 sports tracking using the LifeQ’s health algorithm, SpO2 support, all-day heart monitoring, as well as, the added Alexa support, Always On AMOLED display, and long-lasting battery life, the Mi Watch Revolve Active is a worthy contender and ticks most boxes in its category.
Strength
- Premium Matte Finish Looks
- Extremely Light In Weight
- Always On AMOLED display
- 117 Sports Modes & A Bunch Of Other Perks To Offer
- Uses LifeQ Health Algorithm For Health Statistics
- Notifies About Calls, Messages, Emails, Alarms
- Built-In 12nm GPS Chip & Bluetooth 5.0
- Excellent Battery Performance
- Value For Money
Weakness
- Can’t Reply Or Answer Calls From Watch
- Lacks Loudspeakers And Built-In Wi-Fi
