Well, this is something unexpected based on my personal usage of wearables and reviews of them. Almost all of my reviews are long-term, lasting at least one year or even longer (ok, some were shorter, but those reviews were delayed and finalized from a draft).
This review officially started on January 22nd, right after I purchased the Xiaomi Watch 2 on January 21st with super quick delivery from a Croatian IT shop for €220 (excluding special shipping). The reason for the upgrade? My now-old Amazfit GTS 3 had started getting totally buggy—not just with the software but also with the battery life. The battery would drop to 0% from about 35% or even 40% after charging in about two days. Before switching watches, I tried the standard troubleshooting methods like a factory reset, rebooting it a few times, and charging it twice during that period, but the problems stuck around. This led me to research which Xiaomi watch to get, and I had to choose between the Watch S3, which has a HyperOS custom ROM, and the Watch 2/2 Pro, which are based on WearOS—a better option, in my opinion.
So, I pulled the trigger and bought the Xiaomi Watch 2. After setting it up with my current phone, the Poco F5, using the Mi Fitness app, it immediately updated from WearOS 3.5 to WearOS 4.0.
In short, here are a few important specifications of the Watch 2: it has a Qualcomm Snapdragon® W5+ Gen 1 processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of ROM, GPS with L1+L5 GNSS, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, a small but solid speaker, NFC, 5ATM water resistance, a SpO2 and heart rate monitor, a 1.43″ AMOLED display, and a 495mAh battery. For more detailed specifications, you can check Xiaomi’s website.
Now, let’s talk about the upgrades from my old Amazfit GTS 3. The biggest game-changer is Google WearOS. It allows sideloading APK files, mods, custom watch faces (you can even buy them), and apps as needed, eh? 😉 For example, the watch face I’m currently using was sideloaded onto the watch since it wasn’t available on the Google Play Store. I found it on the XDA-Developers forums—it’s a port from either the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra or Galaxy Watch 7 (I forgot which one). It works flawlessly with my Xiaomi Watch 2 running WearOS 4.0. Design-wise, it’s the closest match to the watch face I used most of the time on my old Amazfit GTS 3. I love it because it combines sports monitoring features like a pedometer, heart rate monitoring, battery life, SpO2 tracking, a digital clock, the day and day of the week, and even shows sunrise and sunset times. The level of customization is way beyond what Zepp OS offered on my Amazfit GTS 3. And that was the old Zepp OS 1.0—it wasn’t eligible for an upgrade to version 2.0 or even the back then current 3.0, which is annoying.
Another upgrade is the ease of finding replacement straps. I found more 22mm watch straps, and as you can see in the cover photo, it’s already on its first replacement, bought from AliExpress with fast shipping (a metal strap).
Now, onto my personal experience over the last month: it’s awesome, finally. With my regular usage, which includes heart rate monitoring all day, lots of notifications (mostly WhatsApp, which also has an app for WearOS and lets me open messages to read them and even reply quickly using Gboard on WearOS—o.O), a constant connection to my phone, and even my earbuds (Redmi Buds 5 Pro in multi-device connection mode, so they’re connected to both the phone and the watch at the same time). Don’t forget the Always-On Display and basic sports tracking, which includes in-house indoor cycling, spinning sessions, and some freestyle training.
This usage gets me an average of two days of standard use. I haven’t been heavily using the watch lately, but if I were, it’d probably last about a day to a day and a half before needing a charge. As for charging speed, it’s perfect for me. In about 30 to 45 minutes, it can go from less than 20% to full. But in just 20 minutes of charging while I’m taking a standard shower, it can recharge enough for the next day and a half—or even more, depending on how many notifications I get.
Now, onto the software: on the new Watch 2, I can have more apps and even more specialized things like Google Keep, for example. I can use the watch to take calls while connected via Bluetooth to my phone and answer them—plus, the speaker is decent enough for quick, informal calls. Otherwise, the phone is still a must for proper calls. And YouTube Music—oh my! Now I can listen to music I’ve downloaded on the watch with the headset I mentioned earlier, even when my phone is charging. For example, if I’m in a different room, there’s no Bluetooth lag, and it’s connected to my home WiFi.
Overall, one month later, I’ve quickly become more selective about buying devices that have better support from the start. Sadly, my Amazfit GTS 3 can only stay on the charger now—if it’s not on the charger, it’s turned off and, well, dead 😅. Shoot, I thought it would somehow survive two years, and I’d buy a new one then. But now, with this one (Xiaomi Watch 2), I’m hoping it’ll survive two years of my daily usage and hopefully get the WearOS 5.0 update.
All photos were taken with my Poco F5.
The text was proofread and edited with the assistance of AI tools (Google Gemini Advanced AI, ChatGPT, and DeepSeek-V3), with final touch-ups and polishing done by me.