I have been a fan of watches “brutal” design, which is implemented, for example, in the line of Garmin Fenix. That’s just “phoenixes” are very expensive, and since I don’t play sports professionally, and to use all their functions can not. Fortunately, the new smart watch Amazfit T-Rex appearance is not inferior to the flagship from Garmin, and are much cheaper (10 000). Releasing their Huami – the company, which manufactures the popular fitness bracelet Mi Band 4, so, can’t wait for “schlock”: Amazfit T-Rex has protection by military standards, a full set of modern features, GPS and impressive battery life. Sounds very “tasty”, it’s time to try.
Watch really looks solid: round 48 mm case thickness 13.5 mm powerful decorated ledges and four metal buttons, above the screen acts as a bezel with four decorative screws at the bottom of the thickening houses the heart rate sensor and charging pins. Despite the menacing look, the device is extremely light (58 g), which has been achieved through the replacement of metal high-strength polycarbonate. T-Rex comply with us military standard MIL-STD-810G, which implies the preservation of functionality at temperatures from -40°C to +70°C, protection from the water (can withstand a pressure of 5 ATM), resistance to vibration and shock loads. Yes what there to speak: watch feel being frozen in a block of ice, washed in the machine and under the wheels of the car! In Russia, available in black and green colors. Removable strap with plastic closure made of soft and pleasant to the touch silicone. The watch is only compatible with branded charm bracelets.
Touch round screen has a diameter of 1.3 inches and a resolution of 360×360 pixels, small fonts look pretty smooth. Used AMOLED-matrix not only ensures vivid colors and deep black, but also saves battery power, and supports Always on Display. Watch know how to turn the screen on when lifting the arm, and the level of illumination is regulated by a sensor with a maximum of 500 nits. It is enough that on a clear day all the information was are distinguishable. Display covered with protective glass Gorilla Glass 3 with oleophobic coating. For convenience, the control is duplicated four mechanical keys: “Select”, “Back”, “Up” and “Down”. It will be convenient in the winter when wearing gloves, or during water treatments. Buttons are signed, and have a small move with a quiet click. On top right you can assign access to any of the function (defaults to training).
Amazfit T-Rex are working on their own operating system based on Android. This, however, does not prevent them to connect to the devices functioning, not only on the “green robot”, but also iOS. The shell is made convenient and logical. A swipe to the left provides access to all functions: status (steps, calories, miles per week), Huami-PAI (system of evaluation of health status), heartbeat (with mapping), training activity (there are stored records of previous classes), weather (precipitation, temperature, wind, humidity, sunrise-sunset, and the forecast for the week ahead), management player, alarm clock, reminders, stopwatch, timer, phone finder (and reverse function), compass and settings. The order can be changed in the application. Swiping to the right gives access to the 30 most recent notifications: the text message is displayed to 10 lines without emoticons, the letters seem only headers, reply with hours not. Swipe up and down through widgets daily activity, heart rate, and quick settings: flashlight (white background on max brightness), energy savings (will be available only counting steps and sleep recording), mode “do not disturb” (by force, by time or while you sleep), adjust brightness and lock screen displays the date, weather and battery life.
The user can have 13 types of sports training: running, walking, Biking, swimming in open water, pool, treadmill, bike, ellipse, mountaineering, cross-country running, mountain Hiking, skiing and free exercise. When necessary, activates the dual-band receiver coordinates (GPS and GLONASS), thanks to which the watch can record tracks and record height. You can set the exercise goal, set notifications about the progress of the class (reduce speed, traversed, going beyond the established boundaries of the pulse, and so on), enable auto pause and complete the information in various graphs. Recorded a variety of parameters: time, number of steps, speed, calories burned, cadence, stride length, heart rate (even in water), number of strokes, style, swim, climb and so on.
Like all smart watches, the T-Rex has its own branded app Amazfit, which, incidentally, supports and devices, published under the brand Xiaomi. For pairing, just run the program and scan it using the QR code on the clock. The connection is via Bluetooth 5.0 LE, cliffs I have not seen. You can install one of the 30 dials, but this is not the limit, because in Google Play you can download a collection of hundreds of skins, is able to display on the main screen dozens of different data. Unfortunately, Always on Display supports only one pair of “watchface”.
The main screen presents a set of widgets: steps, calories, sleep, heart rate, the list of recorded training and a rating system Huami-PAI. Clicking on each displays a detailed table of parameters and sleep stages, graphs, maps, recommendations and so on. In addition, the app allows you to save and keep track of dozens of different data: from the chest to the fat content in the body.
T-Rex displays incoming calls with the ability to reject or ignore notifications from any application, various reminders including workout and achieve the goal. There is the option of continuous measurement of the pulse at selected intervals and automatically shortens the intervals during the activity. Watch also allow the user to customize the vibration for each notification.
Installed sensors quite accurately track indicators. The error of measurement steps is not more than 3%. The pulse is determined correctly, but there is little inertia: evidence behind ten seconds. Positioning accuracy is not inferior to modern navigators. Due to its light weight and soft strap, in hours of relatively comfortable sleep, and the time of immersion in the “arms of Morpheus” and the awakening, is tracked clearly, it is a pity that the alarm here is not “smart”. The sport modes are enough for most HLS, and the number of fixed parameters, the T-Rex is not much inferior to the same “Phoenix”. All charts and data can be conveniently analysed within the app, viewing information for a specific day, week or month. In my opinion, the clock clearly did not prevent the sensor determine the level of oxygen in the blood, the NFC module and the ability to respond to messages and calls templates.
As was stated at the beginning, T-Rex have tremendous autonomy. If you disable all the additional options using the watch only for its intended purpose, the gadget will last more than 2 months on a single charge! With the more traditional operation (counting steps, notifications, sleep tracking, continuous heart rate monitoring), the device will last about 20 days. With the option enabled, Always on Display, you can expect to 5-6 work days, and when active the GPS module autonomy will be reduced to 20 hours. On average, one small workout a day, the auto brightness and without feature always-on display, you can safely forget about charging for two weeks. When the “hour x” will come, it will help complete the magnetic charge and two hours.
For my money Amazfit T-Rex – a great solution that looks cool, almost nothing is killed, has a large number of desired features, accurate sensors, easy application and outstanding autonomy. If you are a big fan of “brutal” hours, then T-Rex will be a good companion during active sports and holidays, and in everyday life. Such a watch, in my opinion, should be real men.
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