In the last Xiaomi new product conference that is about to end the year, along with the Xiaomi 12 series, there is also the flagship new product of the Xiaomi Watch series - Xiaomi Watch S1.
The appearance design is the focus of this Iteration of the Xiaomi Watch S1 update: Xiaomi not only added the sapphire glass surface design that has been applied in high-end smart watches for many years, but also added stainless steel frame material to create the watch frame. Compared with the previous smart watches with strong technology style, the Xiaomi Watch S1 has many design elements of traditional classic watches, and the process design is closer to the positioning of "fashion items".
Xiaomi once made the Xiaomi Mi 4 Slogan using austenitic 304 stainless steel as "an artistic journey of a steel plate", and today's Xiaomi Watch S1 can be said to have also walked the "art journey" on the smart watch.
The most immediate benefit of these designs is that they are significantly more versatile and easy to wear every day. While maintaining the distinct existence of the watch, the bright color scheme also allows the watch body itself not to produce the tension brought about by the previous black color matching, and the actual perception is more affinity and concentration, which is suitable for wearing hipsters out of the street.
Of course, in addition to the texture improvement, the optical properties and hardness performance of sapphire glass are stronger than the surface of traditional glass materials, which is also the embodiment of the sincerity of Xiaomi Watch S1; Xiaomi has also released a leather strap version priced at 1199 this time for "financially strong" business users to choose and wear.
In terms of system experience, now MIUI for Watch is not based on WearOS to create, Xiaomi in the first generation of Millet watch after the poor sales feedback, instead chose its own closed ecology to build a system for Xiaomi watch, but this does not mean that Xiaomi does not want to further expand the third-party application ecology: in the current MIUI for Watch system ecology, you can find including AutoNavi / Baidu map, tick list / Migu good run, As well as applications that cover common use scenarios of smart watches, such as air travel and vertical and horizontal, a total of more than 20 third-party applications.
To be honest, as far as the current third-party application library is concerned, the third-party application ecology of MIUI for Watch is obviously not enough to support the definition of "true smart watch" The most important part of the definition of "has a huge application ecology", but this is not the problem encountered by Xiaomi in creating its own system smart watch, such a problem can only rely on Xiaomi to invest more, and more actively cooperate with third-party application manufacturers to adapt to solve, and the watch face ecology is the same.
In the improvements made by the Xiaomi Watch S1 in the hardware design part, I personally think that the addition of wireless charging is the most critical detail: the charging method seems to be only from the previous magnetic charging to the wireless charger without contacts, but in fact, this is a design that affects the actual use experience: compared to the use of magnetic contact charging design, it is still necessary to deliberately align the charging bit, the wireless charger can basically achieve "hand-to-hand charging"; the experience upgrade improvement is still quite obvious. In addition, the wireless charger also uses the USB-C interface design to achieve separation from the cable, which is more suitable for charging and storage when traveling.
Speaking of charging, another detail that significantly improves the charging experience is: Xiaomi Watch S1 supports the industry's most common Qi wireless charging protocol this time, in other words, in addition to the included magnetic charger, you can also use other brands of wireless charging pads to charge Xiaomi Watch S1, if your mobile phone supports reverse wireless charging, then charging is more convenient.
Generally speaking, the support for the Qi protocol can often only be seen in the flagship smart watch with a price of two thousand jumps (Apple Watch Apple did not open the Qi wireless charging protocol support), this time the Xiaomi Watch S1 can take into account this highly applicable function and join, but also make the Watch S1 as the "all-round flagship" positioning in the Xiaomi smart watch more worthy of the name.
But in terms of health testing, in addition to the clichéd support for more than 100 health patterns, heart rate/sleep monitoring and other functions. Xiaomi Watch S1 hardware does not support the same trend of this year's ECG support, for the flagship smart watch model, ECG support, may be the "I can use very little, but you can not without" function point. Compared with other brand flagship watches, it has become a disadvantage of Xiaomi Watch S1.
Of course, if you are a pragmatist party, of course, you can ignore the above: most smartwatch users use the most blood oxygen / heart rate all-weather support, Xiaomi Watch S1 has been implemented, and the "stretch guidance" suggestion has been added for the sedentary reminder function, you can follow the prompt to quickly stretch after sitting. Other routine monitoring functions also have good intuitive tips in the app, and the ease of use is at the upper middle level among wearable device manufacturers.
In general: Xiaomi Watch S1, as a new attempt by Xiaomi in the field of flagship smart watches at the end of 2021, inevitably slides towards the current "homogenization" in the smart watch industry, trying to improve the texture and practicality of the design through fashion design, wireless charging, etc., to attract more users who may not have much interest in smart watches before. With the traditional "cost-effective price" of 1099 and 20:00 on December 31, the first price of 1049, perhaps the Xiaomi Watch S1 can really become the "first step" to build a high-end smart watch road.
This article was originally published by Geek Park GeekPark, please add Geek Jun (ID: geekparker).