Mi Watch Revolve Active is Xiaomi's second smartwatch in India. It follows close on the heels of the Mi Watch Revolve – launched in September 2020 – with a slim and lightweight design, blood oxygen saturation or SpO2 tracking, and integration with Amazon's Alexa voice assistant. It is essentially a rebranded Mi Watch global (the version that is sold in China is completely different). We will have more to say about it in our full review that is dropping soon (so be sure to stay tuned for that) but for now, here is a quick look at the Mi Watch Revolve Active and how it fares against the OnePlus Watch and Realme Watch S Pro. (Photo credit: Saurabh Singh/Financial Express)
Straight off the bat, the Mi Watch Revolve Active is designed for an active lifestyle. Therefore, its biggest marquee feature is its slim and lightweight form factor. This is a watch you can wear for long hours even during sleep and not be bothered by its heft. Though it has a 46mm dial and is available in only this size like the Mi Watch Revolve, it is much sleeker. The casing weighs just 32g (the Mi Watch Revolve is 40g). Xiaomi has been able to do this by stripping off the watch of all its "fashionable" elements, down to the build materials. Unlike the Mi Watch Revolve with its bevelled metal casing, its active edition is built entirely out of matte plastic. The design is fairly consistent though with its round dial and dual button setup. The 22mm quick release strap in the Mi Watch Revolve Active is a tad bit more flexible and in general, more comfortable. You can choose to accessorise it with third-party bands. The OnePlus Watch and Realme Watch S Pro are more premium smartwatches with high-grade materials like stainless steel with OnePlus also offering a Cobalt Limited Edition of the OnePlus Watch (that's rarely sold though). Needless to say, they're not as light. (Photo credit: Saurabh Singh/Financial Express)
The Mi Watch Revolve Active has a 1.39-inch AMOLED display with 450nits of brightness and always-on functionality. The OnePlus Watch and Realme Watch S Pro also have the same display down to resolution and peak brightness. OnePlus only recently rolled out always-on functionality to the OnePlus Watch, so that's also standard now across the board. A thing to note here is that all the three smartwatches have wide, chunky bezels though Realme has tried to work around that by using a conventional watch dial (that also gives you the impression that you can rotate it, but you can't). Of the three, the Realme Watch S Pro is closer to looking like an actual watch due to this. Like the Mi Watch Revolve, its active model also comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. As expected, all the smartwatches in the list let you add watch faces for customisation. Xiaomi rules the roost here with more options (over 100, it claims) some that are also animated. None of these smartwatches will give you any granular "complications" like the Apple Watch though. (Photo credit: Saurabh Singh/Financial Express)
The Mi Watch Revolve Active becomes an instant recommendation when it comes to sensors and fitness features. It packs so much more inside it makes you wonder why the OnePlus Watch costs so much more despite not having as many smarts (and having half-baked software). It supports 24×7 real-time heart rate monitoring and can notify you of irregular heartbeat while also automatically saving the resting heart rate curve from the past 30 days. It has a blood oxygen saturation or SpO2 monitor though it can't do this automatically (or during sleep) like the Apple Watch. It can also track your sleep, stress, vital signs, VO2 Max and see you through guided breathing. It can count steps, calories burned, and set goals for you using a combination of AI from LifeQ. Lastly, it can automatically detect workouts and supports 117 sports modes including 17 professional workout modes (like Yoga, triathlons, swimming, and HIIT). No other smartwatch in the list gives you as many options. But perhaps it biggest USP is its dedicated 12nm Airoha GPS chip that's said to make the Mi Watch Revolve Active latch on and hold on to one of four major positioning systems: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BDS, with up to 85 percent better accuracy. Sadly, it does not have any internal storage whatsoever should you be looking to also listen to music on the way (without your smartphone). The OnePlus Watch comes with 4GB memory for local storage. The Mi Watch Revolve Active supports Alexa but the functionality is bare bones and buggy. There is no speaker in the Mi Watch Revolve Active. The OnePlus Watch comes with dedicated mic and speaker. It is also IP68-cerified while the Mi Watch Revolve Active is rated 5ATM. (Photo credit: Saurabh Singh/Financial Express)
The 420mAh battery inside the Mi Watch Revolve Active is rated to deliver 14 days of "typical" usage though your mileage may vary. The other smartwatches in the list claim more or less similar battery life but only the OnePlus Watch supports fast charging. (Photo credit: Saurabh Singh/Financial Express)
Xiaomi is launching the Mi Watch Revolve Active at a price of Rs 9,999. For a limited period, Xiaomi will sell it at a Rs 1,000 discount bringing the price down to Rs 8,999. To recall, the Mi Watch Revolve was launched at a price of Rs 10,999. Just before the launch of the "active" model, the Mi Watch Revolve received a temporary price cut and was selling for as low as Rs 7,999. The Realme Watch S Pro, its most obvious competitor, sells for Rs 9,999. The OnePlus Watch is priced higher at Rs 14,999. (Photo credit: Saurabh Singh/Financial Express)
