Does This Watch Really Have HyperOS? Redmi Watch 4 REVIEW

Along with the Redmi Buds 5 Pro wireless earbuds, Xiaomi has launched the new Redmi Watch 4 smartwatch. 

Before we begin the review, I should say that the global version of the Redmi Watch 4 was released a couple of days ago, but I have the Chinese version. I ordered this smartwatch from China about a month ago for $75. The price of the global version of the Redmi Watch 4 starts from $107.

You know, it is not even a question of price, it is a question of functions.

Let’s do a review of the Chinese version of Redmi Watch 4 and find out if it is worth buying it or the global one is better.

Unboxing

So, the Redmi Watch 4 comes in this simple white box. There is an image of the smartwatch on the front side, and some specs on the back, but it is all in Chinese.

The box contains the smartwatch, a magnetic charging cable and a user manual.

That’s it! A quick unboxing, and we get to the design.

Design

The Redmi Watch 4 is a smartwatch, so it has a big 1.97-inch display. We will talk about it a little later.

One of the main features of the new Redmi smartwatch is an aluminum alloy frame, as well as a metal crown. I want to remind you that the previous generation Redmi Watch 3 had a plastic body, and no crown.

I think the crown is very handy and even a must-have for smartwatches. It not only makes the watch more classic and stylish, but also functional because you can twist the crown to navigate through the menus.

On the back of the Redmi Watch 4, we can see health tracking sensors, charging contacts, microphone and speaker. The good news is that the new Redmi smartwatch supports Bluetooth phone calls. We will check it out a little later.

We can also press the buttons on the back of the watch to remove the strap.

The strap is silicone, and it has a size from 135 to 205 mm.

By the way, the Redmi Watch 4 is available in two colors: Obsidian Black, as I have, and Silver Gray. The smartwatch in gray has a silver dial and strap.

I am almost 100% sure that there will be straps available in other colors, and even other materials for the Redmi Watch 4.

So, the new Redmi smartwatch looks and feels very good, but its main feature is the display. Let’s talk about it.

Display

The screen diagonal of the Redmi Watch 4 is 1.97 inches. For comparison, the previous generation Redmi Watch 3 had a more compact 1.75-inch display.

If you turn on the flashlight on the watch, you can see that there is a rather thick bezel around the screen.

The Redmi Watch 4 also has AMOLED panel with a maximum brightness of 600 nits, and 60Hz refresh rate.

Thanks to the AMOLED panel, you can use Always-on Display mode on the watch. There are even some themes available for the Always-On Display.

You should also know that the watch has an ambient light sensor, so you can enable automatic screen brightness adjustment in the settings.

Overall, the Redmi Watch 4 has a large and quality display. I like it.

Let’s move on to the functions of the smartwatch.

Watch Faces

First, you can change watch faces on the Redmi Watch 4. There are six watch faces available out of the box, but you can download more from the app on smartphone.

By the way, some of the watch faces even support customization. You can change the style of some watch faces and widgets on other watch faces.

By swiping down from the main screen, you can read new notifications.

A quick settings menu opens by swiping up. Here we have Do Not Disturb mode, Silent mode, Raise to Wake, Settings, Flashlight, Find Phone, Clearing Water, Battery Saver Mode, and Wake For 5 Minutes.

Clearing Water

By the way, the Clearing Water function doesn’t clean the water, but it cleans the smartwatch from water. The smartwatch is water resistant to the 5ATM rating. This function should be used every time you take the watch into water so it will automatically remove water from the speaker.

Widgets

The Redmi Watch 4 also has many widgets, such as weather, sleep, running, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, stress, NFC cards, AliPay, Events, and music player.

By tapping and holding any widget, you can switch it to any other widget.

All Functions

Finally, you can press on the crown to enter the menu with all the functions.

Let me change the menu style, and then I will list all the functions of the Redmi Watch 4. As you can see, the smartwatch supports two menu styles: grid and list.

First, we have workout and history. We’ll come back to the sport modes a little later.

The Redmi Watch 4 has a running assistant with different running exercises.

Then, there is Training, Stats, Heart Rate, Vitality, spO2, Sleep, Stress, Breathing Exercises, Mi Home, Mi Ai, Weather, Cards, Calendar, Events, Tasks, Favorite Contacts, Phone, Music, Camera, Alarm, Focus, Stopwatch, Timer, World Clock, Compass, Find Phone, Flashlight, AliPay and Settings.

So, the Redmi Watch 4 has many functions. You know, most of them we have already seen on the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro.

It looks like the Redmi Watch 4 is a larger version of the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro, and a much larger version of the Smart Band 8. Unfortunately, the new Redmi smartwatch doesn’t have a HyperOS operating system.

Settings

Before we get to the mobile app, let’s take a look at the watch settings.

First, we have watch faces settings, where we can enable Press and Hold Screen to change watch faces, as well as select a watch face.

In the Sound and Vibration menu, we can turn on/off silent mode, as well as change the volume of the ring, media, alarm, and change the vibration power.

There are Do Not Disturb Mode settings available on the Redmi Watch 4.

The Notifications menu has two functions: Wake screen when receiving notifications and Notify only when worn.

The Redmi Watch 4 has an auto detection of sports activity.

There is also PIN, Layout, Battery and System in the settings menu.

Once again, the settings of the Redmi Watch 4 are the same as on the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro.

Mi Fitness App

You know, even the companion app for the new Redmi smartwatch is the same as for Xiaomi smart bands. It is called Mi Fitness.

If you have a Chinese version of the Redmi Watch 4 like I do, make sure you have the China region selected in the settings before connecting the watch.

I think many of you are already familiar with this application. You can track your activity in the Health tab, or start running, walking, cycling or treadmill in the Workout tab.

All the settings of the Redmi Watch 4 smartwatch are in the Device tab. I will not talk about all of them but will show the main ones.

First, there are many watch faces available, but there are no games here like on the Xiaomi Smart Band 8.

The health monitoring functions on the Redmi Watch 4 are the same as on Xiaomi fitness bracelets.

Bluetooth Calling

One of the main features of the new Redmi smartwatch is Bluetooth calling. You can add your favorite contacts in the app, and then make calls from the watch. Here is how it looks like.

By the way, let’s check the quality of the smartwatch speaker and microphone.

 Hey, what’s up! I am testing Bluetooth phone calls on Redmi Watch 4, and I am talking to you through the smartwatch. One, two, three, one, two, three.

 Now I am talking through my smartphone, and you hear me from the smartwatch speaker. One, two, three, one, two, three.

Emergency SOS

The Redmi Watch 4 also has an emergency SOS. You can activate it in the app, enter the phone number and name of the person to be called in an emergency. Now, you can quickly press the crown on the watch three times to call your emergency contact.

NFC

You know, the new Redmi smartwatch supports NFC, but it can only be used for transport cards in China, not for contactless payment. I think NFC is a useless function for anyone outside of China.

Heart Rate and SpO2

Okay, let’s talk about the health and sports functions of the Redmi Watch 4.

Unfortunately, I don’t have Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro right now to compare it to the Redmi Watch 4, but I have Xiaomi Smart Band 8.

Let’s measure heart rate and spO2 on the popular Xiaomi fitness bracelet and the new Redmi smartwatch.

I am in a relaxed state now, and the heart rate levels on the wearable devices are almost the same.

As for the SpO2 level, the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 shows 97%, while the oxygen level on the Redmi Watch 4 is 95%. Which one is more accurate? I cannot tell you.

Workout Modes

Talking about workout modes, the Redmi Watch 4 has eight main sports modes such as running, walking, swimming and others, but you can also tap on More, and get other workout modes. I think there are over 150 of them here.

GPS Test

The Redmi Watch 4 can be very good for sports because it has a built-in multi-system GNSS. In other words, it uses 6 navigation satellite systems such as GPS, Galileo and others.

I want to do a little experiment. I will start walking mode on Redmi Watch 4, Xiaomi Smart Band 8 and Strava on my iPhone. After a 25-minute walk, we will compare the results.

You know, I am surprised by the result.

Redmi Watch 4 with built-in GPS and Xiaomi Smart Band 8 without built-in GPS counted the same distance after 25 minutes of walking – 2.05 km.

As for Strava on the iPhone, here we see 2.17 km.

The difference between Xiaomi wearable devices and iPhone is 120 meters.

This test shows that the built-in GPS in the Redmi Watch 4 doesn’t play a big role in calculating distance when playing sports.

Battery

The battery of the Redmi Watch 4 has a capacity of 470mAh. You know, it is much bigger than the battery of the Redmi Watch 3 with 289mAh.

So, the battery life of the new smartwatch is also longer – 20 days with normal use, while the previous generation of Redmi smartwatch had 12 days of typical use time.

The battery life of the Redmi Watch 4 is really good for a smartwatch with a large AMOLED screen.

Conclusion

You know, I had very high expectations for the Redmi Watch 4, but they were not met. If you compare the new Redmi smartwatch with the previous generation, it does have some improvements such as a larger display, metal body, navigation crown, bigger battery, as well as longer battery life.

However, I cannot say that the Redmi Watch 4 is a real smartwatch because it doesn’t have HyperOS operating system from Xiaomi.

In fact, the Redmi Watch 4 reminds me a lot of the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro, which also has a built-in GPS, NFC, AMOLED display, etc. However, the advantage of the Redmi watch is Bluetooth calling. This function is something I really miss in Xiaomi fitness bracelets.

What do you think about Redmi Watch 4? Write in the comments below.