Gadgets
Amazfit GTS 2 Review
Should you be considering the Amazfit GTS 2 as your next purchase? I used this feature-packed smartwatch for a few weeks, and here’s my comprehensive review.
Amazfit GTS 2 design
The Amazfit GTS 2 has a minimalistic design, with a squarish dial, one physical button, and silicone straps. This makes it a good match for whatever clothes you choose to wear. The watch case is made of aluminium alloy, and the AMOLED display has tempered glass on top for protection, along with an anti-fingerprint coating to keep smudges under control. The smartwatch itself doesn’t weigh much at 24.7g, and is relatively slim at 9.7mm thick.
In my time with this wearable, it didn’t show any visible signs of wear and tear. However, there were a few scratches on the display after using the smartwatch for over two weeks. The Amazfit GTS 2’s strap stayed firm, but is easily replaceable if you need to change it. You can buy this watch in Silver, Grey, and Gold, each with its own matching strap.
The Amazfit GTS 2’s AMOLED display has a tempered glass covering for protection
The 1.39-inch AMOLED display on the Amazfit GTS 2 was pleasant to use, with vivid colour output and sufficient brightness. It wasn’t too reflective even under bright sunlight, and the ambient light sensor on board enables auto brightness adjustment, which worked effectively.
Amazfit GTS 2 interface and companion app
Possibly one of the best things about the Amazfit GTS 2 smartwatch is the interface. It’s intuitive and well thought out, and offers a host of customisations. Swiping up brings up the notifications, which you can read but can’t reply to. Notifications are easy to read and delete. You can clear them all in one shot, or long-press each one to delete it individually.
At the price, it would have been great to have reply templates on the Amazfit GTS 2, but unfortunately that isn’t the case. Swiping down from the home screen reveals several quick access buttons for the flashlight, finding your phone, brightness, theatre mode, DND mode, battery saver mode, screen lock, volume, and more. This panel also shows how much power is left in the battery.
Pressing the physical button once will reveal more options to tinker with. There’s a stress monitor that claims to measure your stress levels, and the Activities page shows details of all your workouts throughout the day in one place. The music section lets you play music stored on the watch and also stream through Spotify. There’s 3GB of storage on the Amazfit GTS 2, allowing for enough music for a few hours’ worth of listening. Songs can be uploaded via the Zepp app.
The watch also displays a metric that Amazfit calls PAI (Personal Activity Intelligence) to help users assess their overall health. There are up to 12 workout modes including running, swimming, skiing, free training, and climbing. There’s no breathing guide on the Amazfit GTS 2, which is a slight disappointment, but there are several apps that you can download for this purpose if it’s something you need.
The Zepp app is very simple to use and offers a host of customisation options
Swiping right reveals ‘Shortcut Cards’, essentially giving you a comprehensive look at all the data recorded by your watch. You can customise which widgets show up as shortcut cards through the Zepp app available on Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
Pairing the Amazfit GTS 2 with a Samsung Galaxy Note 20 was a very easy affair. The Zepp app is very simple to use and offers a host of customisation options. For instance, you can change the vibration patterns for notifications from different apps, choose from a wide variety of watch faces in the store, decide which apps you get notifications from, and set the automatic heart rate monitoring interval.
Amazfit GTS 2 performance
The Amazfit GTS 2 weighs less than 40g with the bundled straps, and is comfortable to wear even to bed. The battery of the Amazfit GTS 2 lasted for about five days, when I worked out for about 30 minutes every alternate day, had the heart rate monitoring interval set to 30 minutes, and had the ‘lift wrist to wake’ gesture enabled but kept the Always On Display disabled. If you use the Always On Display feature, the battery will last for less time.
I was pleasantly surprised with my calling experience on the Amazfit GTS 2. The speaker offered decent sound for callers, and the mic delivered my voice without complaints. There were call quality issues when I was in a very noisy place or when the paired phone was too far away, but most calls I took on the Amazfit GTS 2 let me carry on conversations seamlessly. This could be especially useful if you don’t have your phone handy, if it’s in your bag and you don’t want to pull it out, or if you are busy with some activity and cannot free your hands.
Amazfit GTS 2 has a 5ATM water resistance rating
The Amazfit GTS 2 has a 5ATM water resistance rating. I wore it while washing utensils and in the bath, and there wasn’t any noticeable damage. The heart rate, stress, and SpO2 level results were also satisfactory in terms of accuracy compared to other trusted devices. Sleep data was also in line with my experiences of sleep quality each night.
To ascertain tracking accuracy on the Amazfit GTS 2, I manually counted 1,000 steps and compared that to what the wearable was able to calculate. It showed 992 steps the first time and 997 steps on my second walk. In both cases, these results do not disappoint. Additionally, I measured a 1km distance using an odometer and then walked that same distance while wearing the Amazfit GTS 2. It registered a result of 1.1km, which is acceptable.
Verdict
The Amazfit GTS 2 is good value for money considering that it offers all the features that most people might want in a smartwatch. Its battery life could have been a little better, given that the lower-priced Realme Watch S Pro managed to last for up to nine days with its ‘Always On Display’ active from 11am to 7pm and tracking workouts for half an hour every day.
Even so, the GTS 2 is a solid device with accurate enough tracking, and it gives users several customisation options. The calling feature worked beyond expectations, and the watch face catalogue is also diverse. Offline music storage means users won’t need to reach out for their phones as frequently. If you want a smartwatch that offers a good all-round experience, the Amazfit GTS 2 is worth considering.
