The fourth generation of Xiaomi's Watch S is reinventing itself. This is notably thanks to the arrival of a crown, which is very practical for its use. The previous model lacked one, thus limiting its ergonomics. Xiaomi is taking advantage of this to increase its price to 170 euros, while the Watch S3 was only 150. However, an effort has also been made in terms of design. Still massive (47.3 x 47.3 x 12 mm for 44.5 g without strap), the Watch S4 nevertheless displays a more attractive appearance than its predecessor.
It also uses the same removable bezel system, allowing it to be personalized and matched to its strap (standard 22 mm attachment). Cleverly, the Chinese manufacturer even offers exclusive dials for the glasses sold separately (from 20 to 30 euros with a matching strap). By default, a classic fluorinated rubber model is supplied; quite pleasant, but quickly prone to perspiration during physical exercise. Despite this removable bezel, the watch remains waterproof, certified 5 ATM, it can be used for bathing and swimming, but certainly not for scuba diving.
The round AMOLED screen retains the same size of 1.43 inches (466 x 466 pixels, 326 ppi), but its maximum brightness increases from 600 nits on the S3 to 1500 nits here. This really makes a difference outdoors in bright weather where the dial is much more readable than before. However, we regret that in the dark the minimum brightness is still noticeably high, which can sometimes be disturbing in the middle of the night, despite the ambient light sensor.
A welcome rotating crown
Powered by HyperOS 2, this Watch S4 has the advantage of being compatible with both Android and iOS, via the Mi Fitness application available on both mobile operating systems. Be careful, however, only the Android version allows you to transfer music files to the watch, for example to listen to them during a workout without having to take your smartphone with you.
We're starting to get to know this in-house OS from Xiaomi: sliding down the screen gives access to notifications, widgets, then applications upwards and dials to the left. Surprisingly, however, the manufacturer hasn't added a gesture for swiping right. Pressing the crown directly displays the applications, while quick settings are accessible by pressing the button just below.
For example, we would have liked to be able to customize it and access these settings by sliding our finger to the right of the screen. A decidedly odd choice. The crown allows you to navigate down or up the menus, its haptic feedback is pleasant, but not as fine as on other, more high-end models from the competition.
HyperOS 2, extremely limited
To manage the watch, its data, and some of its settings, the Mi Fitness app is essential. Well-designed, it organizes everything into four tabs: Health, Training, Device, and Profile. As its name suggests, the first tab groups together all the physical indicators: heart rate, sleep, blood oxygen, stress, and vitality score. The second lists the exercises performed (150 sports supported), with classic information (pace, calories, distance), but also other rarer information such as vertical amplitude during a run for example.
In the Device tab, you can access the watch faces, but also adjust the applications authorized to display their notifications on the watch (very practical) or even the authorizations for sharing information with third-party services. This is how we can compensate for the lack of an app store, one of the major limitations of HyperOS 2. Without the Strava application available, for example, we were able to give access to the service to upload the exercises listed in Mi Fitness. A lesser evil for athletes, but music lovers will have to do without the Spotify or Deezer apps.
Another limitation of the Chinese manufacturer's operating system is the incompatibility of Xiaomi Pay with French banks. Despite its NFC chip, it is therefore impossible to pay with the watch, unless you are a customer of the confidential Curve and Zen banking services, the only two supported here. Don't plan on using the Watch S4 without a cell phone either, since it's only equipped with a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.3 chip and is not compatible with a cellular network. It can therefore only be used as a hands-free kit when your smartphone is within range, provided that the place is quiet, otherwise you won't hear the person you're talking to, and vice versa.
A struggling GPS, a heart rate sensor making progress
To find its way in space, Xiaomi has chosen to equip its watch with a dual-frequency L1+L5 GNSS system compatible with GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou and QZSS services; enough to be effective, a priori. Unfortunately, the process doesn't work miracles, especially in the city, as we were able to see when comparing it to our reference model here, an Apple Watch Series 10. As we can see, the trace recorded by the Apple watch is very linear, while that of the Watch S4 zigzags strongly, thus extending the distance and therefore distorting the actual performance at the finish.
We were, however, pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of its heart rate monitor, a quality that's not so common at this price point. During a pyramid interval workout, the data recorded by the Watch S4 was almost equivalent to that of the Apple Watch Series 10, which is renowned in this field. On the other hand, you have to do without the ECG, which is quite logically absent from an entry-level model.
The battery life is not far behind, since we were able to use the Watch S4 for 5 days in a row, wearing it day and night and doing two 30-minute running exercises. minutes each. For this test, we also chose to activate the screen's "always on" mode, as well as all possible health tracking. The performance is good, but unfortunately slightly behind compared to the Watch S3, which lasted a full week under the same conditions, with an identical 486 mAh battery. For charging, a two-pin magnetic base with a USB-A cable is provided. Qi induction charging systems should therefore be avoided.
0 Comments