Amazfit GTS 2 review – A cheaper smarty with nothing I could complain about 

Tags: Review | Amazfit | Smart

19.4.2021 | 7 MIN

Amazfit GTS 2 is a design bomb, functionally rich and affordable. In fact, it is a perfectly suitable watch for someone who does not want to spend the whole paycheck on it, but wants a smart watch loaded with a bunch of sensors that looks so damn good on the wrist.

What is so special about Amazfit GTS 2?

It's definitely the design. This generation and the previous generation are specific with their modern square design, which can find its place on women's and men's wrists. All enhanced by its rich color and contrast display.

It is possible to make phone calls with the watch. However, your phone has to be close to the watch, therefore the watch serves more like a handsfree.

Thanks to the large storage of 3GB, you can upload music to your watch and listen to it directly from this device.

Overall, the sensor equipment is something I would highlight. Even thought the NFC for the contacless payments is missing, there are still some sensors that are more typical for higher category watches - barometer, pulse oximeter or GPS.

What are the negatives of Amazfit GTS 2?

Heart rate measurements are taken only once a minute, so the data is not as relevant as from a watch measuring it every second.

Amazfit GTS 2 – a stylish watch that impresses

I am sure that the design will be one of the biggest attractions of this watch. Amazfit put its cards on rounded edges (typical for GTS). Many users will enjoy the resemblance to the notorious Apple Watches. But we cannot blame anyone for that... What else do you want to come up with? Cases are either round or square. And all the square ones are struggling with comparison to Apple watches.

The rounded edges are nicely integrated into the aluminum case with PVD treatment, which adds a little extra scratch resistance. The case looks durable, high quality and I think Amazfit did well to choose a metal case for the urban smartwatch. In addition, it has sober and universal dimensions - width  35.6 mm, length 42.8 mm and thickness 9.7 mm. The watch fits well both on women's and men's wrists.

I was quite surprised at how big of a dust collector it is. Whenever you place the watch on a table, for example, the watch is full of dust.

A good design element is the button, which is designed to look like a crown. Although you can rotate the button, it has no function. On the left side of the case we find the speaker and microphone output.

The watch is holds to the hand with a silicone strap with the Quick-Release fastening system. You can then change the strap in a few seconds and adjust the color of the strap to your clothes every day.

I was a little worried that the strap was completely smooth on both sides, so the watch would slip on my hand. However, the watch holds well on the hand, which is certainly helped by the low weight of 28 grams and two loops on the strap.

Overall, the design of the Amazfit case was very successful and I think it will be one of the biggest enticement of this watch. It is available in three color variants - black, grey, gold. And every color has a smirk.

The display is typically Chinese - therefore perfect

With Chinese manufacturers, I'm never worried about one thing - the quality of the display. Of course, this is more of a presumption of mine, but for each model, Chinese manufacturers really care about the quality of the display. And Amazfit is no exception.

Here, the manufacturer used a 1.65-inch (348 x 442 px) square AMOLED touch screen. The saturation and contrast of the display is really high and I have more or less nothing to complain about. This is probably due to the high fineness of 341 ppi. The display is protected by a Gorilla Glass with DLC treatment, which protects the glass from unwanted scratches and prevents the large occurrence of fingerprints.

At the bottom of the case there is an optical heart rate sensor (BioTracker 2 PPG), which unfortunarely only takes the heart rate measurements once a minute and not every second, as it is common with other manufacturers. A very nice complement is a pulse oximeter measuring the oxygenation of the blood. In addition, the watch has an accelerometer, gyroscope, pedometer, barometer, altimeter and GPS receiver capable of receiving the GLONASS signal. Quite decent equipment considering the price tag. Quite decent... Said John Jameson, when... Oh well, that's a  different story...

Amazfit GTS 2 pleased me with a pretty decent battery life, which in standard use reaches up to one week (if you turn off Bluetooth and heart rate monitoring, then even 20 days). When GPS is on (during sports activity), it last 25 hours and continuously scan your location. Battery life is also affected by the Always-On display setting, where the watch displays basic data such as time and day of the week in the corner. During my active week, I often used GPS and the watch only lasted 3 days.

You can make phone calls from Amazfit GTS 2

I consider the Amazfit GTS 2 to be a smart rather than a sports partner, so let me start with those smart features. What definitely deviates from the series is the possibility of making calls. It is necessary to have a watch connected to your phone, but you don't have to reach for it and you can comfortably take the call from your wrist. The quality of the transmission is decent and neither I nor the other party had a problem understanding each other.

Of course, the watch mirrors all notifications from your phone and they can be found hidden in the bottom bar on the main screen. I definitely praise that the notifications are not only fully in Czech, but they wrap nicely in lines and emoji is also displayed. But you cannot answer them in any way. Not even with preset answers.

The watch then offers several lifestyle functions such as measuring the number of steps, data on calories burned or stress monitoring (based on heart rate variability).

Honestly, I had a bit of a struggle here with receiving notifications and generally with the phone synchronization. I found a simple solution on the Internet, where you activate "Airplane Mode" in the watch and deactivate it again. Then the communication with the phone is activated again.

Do you fancy music in a watch? Amazfit has its own storage

The music player was quite an unexpected thing for me. You can store mp3 in the storage (3 GB) and listen directly from the watch after connecting Bluetooth headphones.

You will also enjoy the calendar, alarm clock, timer, weather and other "more basic functions".

Amazfit has one of the most well-arranged sleep monitoring systems

I consider sleep monitoring to be a really successful function. The watch will tell you all about the ratio of sleep phases (light, deep, REM) and as one of the few, they are even able to recognize napping during the day. The watch will rate the quality of your sleep on a scale from 0 to 100 and will also recommend what you should do differently. For example, I was told that I needed a regular sleep pattern and that my sleep time fluctuated constantly.

Sports activity monitoring is clear and graphically nicely processed

Yes, the watch is not a device for a top athlete, but it can be an ideal device for a beginner or a slightly more advanced athlete. The palette of sports is wide - you can find around 90 sports activities, 6 of which (Running, Treadmill, Walking, Cycling, Swimming in the pool and Elliptical trainer) are recognized by the watch itself and start monitoring. All acquired data are then nicely displayed in the Zepp app.

Amazfit GTS 2 evaluates all of your sports activities in the PAI fitness score. It is calculated based on the frequency of sports activities, their length and heart rate. It is ideal to keep this value above 100 as you reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and increase your chances of living to old age. All sports activities can then be shared in third-party applications such as Diet or Google Fit.

What are the differences between Amazfit GTS 2, GTS 2e and GTS 2 Mini?

The GTS 2e and GTS 2 Mini models are slightly depleted compared to the GTS 2. The main difference is certainly the impossibility of making phone calls with the watch, or the absence of a music player and the associated storage.

What the GTS 2 model has and the GTS 2e and GTS Mini models are deprived of it:

• ability to make phone calls
• music player
• storage
• 3D glass (incorporated rounded edges)
• DLC scratch protection

Advantages of  GTS 2e:

• lower price
• 14 days battery life

Advantages of GTS 2 Mini:

• smaller size for someone with a slimmer wrist
• lower weight
• in addition, they have menstrual cycle monitoring and breathing exercises
• 14 days battery life

In conclusion - What are GTS 2 watches like?

This model will do exactly what you expect from it. It also offers something extra in the form of a music player, pulse oximeter, barometer or the ability to make phone calls from the watch. And as is typical for Amazfit, it then packs it all into a really fine price tag.

This model surprised me pleasantly, because I reviewed the previous generation as a model with a low price tag and high potential. The second generation has a slightly higher price tag, but even higher potential.