No, I haven’t gone crazy, but the title you just read is real. I have been using the Apple Watch since the launch of the Apple Watch SE in 2021, and I consider that there is no debate about this device. It is the best smartwatch on the market, and will continue to be until WearOS manages to surpass WatchOS, something that will not happen in the short term.
In fact, until recently I was using the Apple Watch Ultra 2and it is the most spectacular smartwatch I have ever used. The screen is brutal, the performance is incredible, and on an aesthetic level it is a piece of luxury.
But technological needs do not only understand what is best. In my opinion, the best tech product is the one that best adapts to the user’s needs, and the Apple Watch battery was beginning to be too incompatible with my pace of life.
Given that in terms of precision the Apple Watch is one of the few that manages to be “clinically acceptable”and that leaving its ecosystem translated into losing reliability, I didn’t care too much about betting on much cheaper alternatives. Precision was going to become something just approximate, something that would also serve me well.
The candidate. I had one at home Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Proa fairly recent device. Today, It sells for about 60 euros on Amazon and 49.99 euros on the official Xiaomi website, so it is not worth it: its more modern sister, the Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Pro, It sells for almost the same price..
The key here was to go for an affordable device: if I was going to give up the Apple Watch it didn’t make much sense to go to the best watch with WearOS from 400 euros. I still have a Apple Watch SE house that works perfectly, I wanted something economical, that did just the right thing, and with a battery that lasted.
What I have earned. Go ahead, the autonomy of the Apple Watch has its reason for being. There is a lot of criticism that it only lasts a couple of days, but it is one of the few truly complete operating systems, practically a miniature version of iOS. Devices that have autonomy of more than a week do so with very, very simple systems, no matter how many apps they have.
Despite this, one of my points of interest with smart watches is sleep measurement, to improve my habits with it. You could set a daily charging routine with the watch to measure sleep each night. But I’ll be honest, I’m not willing to do it, it would be too tedious.
With the Smart Band 8 Pro I have gained a lot, a lot of autonomy. It lasts about a week with everything active: sleep, blood oxygen, heart rate and stress. It is a much simpler device, and the battery ends up noticing it.
Another positive point is one of the criticisms I make the most of the Apple Watch: the central app. On iOS, everything is broken down between the Health app, the Watch App, Fitness… Everything works perfectly, but personally I don’t like too much that everything is so broken down.
The Mi Fitness app brings everything together: as soon as I open it I take a look at how I slept, my average heart rate, bracelet data, steps taken, calories, standing time…
what i have lost. There are three key points to lose when you go from an Apple Watch to an inexpensive watch or bracelet: NFC paymentscalls, accuracy and quality in apps/notifications. Let’s go by steps.
The issue of payments doesn’t matter to me in the least. I always pay with my mobile. The issue of calls is more or less the same. I have sometimes taken a call with the Watch when I was riding the motorcycle, but in other situations I don’t usually use them – although I have to admit that the call quality of the Apple Watch is surprising.
Regarding precision, something curious happens. I don’t really care if my watch says 70 beats per minute if I have… 77? I care about variability throughout the day, and knowing how my minimum and maximum peaks change as I change training load and habits. Any watch can do this perfectly, and this Smart Band doesn’t give me crazy scores. It’s not nearly as accurate as the Watch, but it serves the purpose I need.
Finally, the issue of notifications is very poorly resolved on watches without WearOS, without half measures. The emojis don’t look good, you can’t respond comfortably… Despite this, I only have active notifications from WhatsApp, Telegram and little else, so just reading the message is enough for me.
Sometimes less is more. I changed my watch for the battery, and I ended up realizing that I didn’t need that much. I reiterate that the Apple Watch is a brilliant product, but in my case the concept of a smart watch/bracelet is much simpler. I just need good autonomy, acceptable measurements and a simple app that shows me everything I need.
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