Huami’s Amazfit seems to have few rivals that can match the pace of smartwatch launches that it has achieved over the past couple of years. Many of the brand’s wearables are priced under Rs 10,000 and are aimed at first-time smartwatch buyers, folks upgrading from cheaper activity trackers or fashion watches, taking their first plunge into the smartwatch realm. The Bip U Pro is the newest addition to the Amazfit portfolio to address this audience. It’s one of the cheapest smartwatches you can buy with in-built GPS, that’s a key feature for many fitness-focused users.
At 31 gm (including the strap), the Bip U Pro isn’t just light on your pocket but also feels weightless on your wrist. A tiny crown on the right spine is the only physical button on the watch but you can’t use this to scroll through the menus. It functions as a power/screen on key and a back key. The 1.43-inch IPS LCD display (302 x 320 pixels) is reasonably bright and offers good visibility even under harsh sunlight. It’s quite responsive too, making screen navigation quite easy. Just like all the other Amazfit wearables we’ve checked out, this one pairs effortlessly via the Zepp companion App (I paired it with an iPhone 12 Pro).
First, let’s get the smartwatch functionality out of the way. You get a choice of 50 watch faces (that’s plenty) via the companion App – there’s no support for third party watch faces though. You might find the customisable watch modular (that allows you to tweak the info you want to display on the screen) handy. There’s on-demand SpO2 tracking, a useful feature at this price. I checked it out a few times and the Bip U Pro produced the readings without a fuss. The other features include Alexa support, weather and the ability to control your music from your wrist. Of course there’s no support for Spotify or no option to store music on the watch. Hardly a surprise at this price.
The Bip U Pro ticks quite a few fitness boxes, the sleep tracking feature worked well in our tests and there’s also Amazfit’s PAI score that tracks your personal physical activity. The watch offers over 60 workout modes as well as heart rate tracking. It’s swim proof thanks to the 5 ATM water proof rating (up to 50 metres).
Amazift’s Bip U Pro keeps things simple – sometimes too simple. It offers the key fitness features that most first-time smartwatch users and support for active lifestyles. Battery life is dependable – Amazfit claims up to 9 days which seems a fair claim based on my tests. The watch is lightweight, we dig the bright green variant (that we checked out). It certainly doesn’t boast of a premium build but it’s not tacky for a device priced just under Rs 5,000. While the SpO2 tracking is a great add-on, it’s the in-built GPS at this sticker price that makes it one of the best budget smartwatches you can buy.
The Amazfit Bip U Pro comes in green, black and pink. It costs Rs 4,999
