The first thing you feel when you take the Amazfit Active 2 in your hand is its premium design. This watch is as sleek in appearance as it is lightweight, weighing less than 30 grams. Highlights
Premium design and AMOLED display under Rs 10,000
Inbuilt GPS, AI assistant and 5ATM water resistance
Smooth performance and over a week of battery life
Smartwatches were once an accessory for a handful of people, but now they are becoming an everyday necessity. Whether it's health tracking, notification management, or the desire to do something more than just check the time, the scope of smartwatches is constantly growing. However, with the growing demand, prices have also increased and this is why finding a good smartwatch in the budget segment is still a challenge. The Amazfit Active 2 tries to answer this challenge. This is a watch that promises to offer some features in the budget of Rs 10,000, which are usually seen at twice the price. I have reviewed the premium variant of this smartwatch, which gets an extra leather strap. After using it for a few weeks, I am sharing my opinion about the Amazfit Active 2 below.
Amazfit Active 2: Design
The first thing you feel when you take the Amazfit Active 2 in your hand is its premium design. This watch is as sleek as it looks and is equally lightweight, weighing less than 30 grams. Its metal body gives a solid finish and does not look cheap at all. With a touch of stainless steel and a glass cover, this is a watch that no one would say is priced less than Rs 10,000. Its round dial gives a classic look and the buttons are fitted neatly on the side, maintaining a balance of both form and function.
As I mentioned, the Active 2 is offered in two versions, one with only a silicone strap and the more premium variant comes with a leather strap and a red silicone strap is available separately in the box. I used both the straps and found that both the straps do not cause any problem in daily use. The leather strap looks premium, but here I doubted its durability. The strap is thin and its quality could have been a little better, but it was comfortable to wear. There was no complaint of sweat or rash even after wearing it for a long time, although if there is a lot of sweating during exercise, it does become a little moist, which is normal with any leather strap.
At the same time, the strap made of silicone material feels better during exercise. It is neither too soft nor too hard. The strap complements the body of the watch. The smartwatch has quick-release pins, so that you can replace it with any 22mm universal strap.
The watch is water resistant and has got a 5 ATM rating, which means it can withstand water pressure up to 50 meters. Simply put, you can go for a bath wearing it, run in light rain or even do a short swimming session. Keep in mind that it is not completely waterproof, but in terms of the budget segment, this much safety also proves to be useful.
The standard version has an anti-fingerprint coating on the screen, which keeps the glass more clean and smudge-free. At the same time, sapphire glass has been included in the premium variant, which proves to be more durable in terms of scratches.
Amazfit Active 2: Display
Talking about the screen, the Amazfit Active 2 has a 1.32-inch AMOLED display, which looks very sharp and colorful. Its peak brightness goes up to 2,000 nits, which makes it easily readable even in direct sunlight. The UI icons are clear, the touch response is good and the refresh feel of the screen was also good. There are thin bezels around the screen, which blend if you apply a black watchface, but are visible in bright colors. However, it is not very large and is less noticeable. Changing the watchface is very easy and you get dozens of options for this in the Zepp app.
Amazfit Active 2: Software
The watch runs on Zepp OS, which is Amazfit's own operating system. Its interface is clean and there was no lag or slow response in daily use. However, scrolling menus, navigating between apps and reading notifications was all smooth. However, I personally find the app home page similar to Apple Watch a bit confusing. However, here you can set the most used tasks or apps according to you on pages like Shortcuts and Quick Access.
The Amazfit Active 2 also includes an inbuilt AI assistant called Zepp Flow, which is the most interesting and slightly surprising part of the watch. This is Amazfit's own voice assistant, which works directly like Siri or Google Assistant, but the difference is that it really works and is useful in everyday use. If you want, you can set one of the buttons on the watch as a shortcut for this, which activates Zepp Flow in just one click. Then you can instruct the watch with your voice, such as "Tell me my step count" or "Turn on Do Not Disturb" etc. The special thing is that Android users can also reply to some messages directly from the watch through Zepp Flow. There is also a keyboard option here, if you want to type the message yourself and the touch accuracy worked well. Getting such features in a budget smartwatch is impressive.
Amazfit Active 2: Wallet, Calling, Other Features
The premium variant of Amazfit Active 2 also has Zepp Pay feature for NFC payment, which I did not use, but if contactless payment is an important feature for you, then it can be useful for you. By saving the card in it, you can make payment directly by touching the watch to the NFC-supported POS machine.
There is also a separate Wallet app in the watch, in which you can save membership cards. Apart from this, small but useful things like To Do list are also available in it. It also has a "Find My Phone" feature, which is useful to know the location of the watch.
Amazfit has its own GPS system inside it, which connects to some satellite networks, although the company has not clarified their technical details. The watch also includes Bluetooth 5.2 BLE, microphone and speaker, through which calling facility is available. I tried some calls for testing. Here the speaker was loud enough for indoors, but in a noisy environment you may have to keep the watch close to the ear. The microphone was also clear, but was not able to remove background noise in noisy environments. Overall, if you are unable to take out your phone due to some compulsion, then you can talk about work through the watch for a few minutes.
Amazfit Active 2: Sports and Health
The Amazfit Active 2 has a lot to offer for fitness-minded users (which I am not at all). It has over 164 sport modes, including options like walking, running, cycling, yoga, dance, strength training, swimming, skiing. The watch can also automatically detect workouts. However, during my testing, it sometimes took a while to identify workouts and sometimes detected a different activity as running. There can be delays. I tested walking, running, yoga and strength training with it and the stats were almost accurate.
For health monitoring, it has features like 24x7 heart rate tracking, SpO2 sensor, stress level monitor, sleep tracking (including REM analysis) and even skin temperature sensing. I tested all of these several times and compared them with Apple Watch and Samsung's premium smartwatches. Here the numbers of all three were almost the same. There was also a difference of 10-20 steps between the physical steps counter and the watch's numbers, which shows its accuracy.
Sleep tracking equipped with REM analysis did its job averagely. Here the watch did not record short power naps properly. At the same time, the time of waking up in the morning was not marked many times. However, I have seen this problem in many other premium smartwatches as well. Being a budget smartwatch, getting this feature also proves to be a good add-on.
One special thing that makes Amazfit Active 2 different from the rest is its support for offline maps and built-in GPS. This means that you can be free from the compulsion of carrying a phone for tracking. You can download maps from the Zepp app, which is very useful while running, hiking or outdoor walking. It also has an AI-based feature called Zepp Coach which claims to give personal guidance based on your exercise history. This feature is not that mainstream yet, but it can be an extra bonus for those interested in fitness.
Amazfit Active 2: Battery
The battery performance of the Amazfit Active 2 is also quite good in this budget. The brand claims that it can last up to 10 days in normal usage and 5 days if GPS is used continuously. The company stands by its claim. It had about 70% battery when taken out of the box and I used it for a week, which included checking heart rate several times, reading notifications and sleep tracking every night and even after this the watch had battery left. Its pin charger is compact, through which the watch gets fully charged in a few hours. The charging cable is not provided in the box, but the good thing is that it has a Type-C port, so I used my smartphone cable to charge it.
Amazfit Active 2: Verdict
Overall, the Amazfit Active 2 is a product that delivers more than expected. Its design, display and basic usage experience are so good that it is easy to forget the price. It has many smart and health features that are not easily available in this segment. This watch can be a great option for those who are buying a smartwatch for the first time or want to upgrade from their old basic tracker. This can also include users who want a smartwatch that gives a classic and elegant look beyond the uniform design available in the market today. The Amazfit Active 2 not only looks good, but also feels reliable in use. If you are looking for
a watch under Rs 10,000 (Rs 12,000 for leather strap and NFC support) that is smart, stylish and fitness friendly, then it will be difficult to ignore the Amazfit Active 2.
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