Amazfit GTR 2

The Amazfit GTR 2 is a sports focused smartwatch released in September 2020. Amazfit is a brand from Huami Technology, the exclusive supplier of smart wearables for Xiaomi. Huami is one of the largest smart wearable manufacturers in the world, best known for making the Mi Band.

The GTR 2 is an upgrade to the original GTR with a few new features including microphone, speaker and 3GB internal storage for music.

Unfortunately Huami does not disclose the chipset used for the GTR 2. That being said, the watch does not lag and performs better than the previous Amazfit GTR so we suspect an improved processor is being used.

The operating system for this watch is the proprietary Amazfit OS. This means that available apps are limited and you do not have access to a 3rd party app store such as the Google Play Store. This is a significant disadvantage and is common drawback for any smartwatch using a proprietary operating system.

Design

The GTR 2 has a circular watch face design and is quite sleek, stylish and attractive. The only color available is black. There are 2 models available, the sport model and classic model (which costs $20 more).

• 

• 

The sport model comes with an lighter aluminum case that weighs in at 31.5g, while the classic model has a stainless steel case and is heavier at 39g.

This smartwatch is not too big at 46.4 x 46.4 x 10.7 mm and is very light if you opt for the sport model. Unlike the original GTR, the GTR 2 is less bulky with a thickness of 10.7 mm. It is comfortable and can be worn while sleeping.

The GTR 2 Sport comes with a 22 mm silicone interchangeable strap while the classic model comes with a leather interchangeable strap. The silicone strap is average quality at best while the leather one is decent quality.

You can interact with the watch using the touchscreen and 2 physical buttons. The touchscreen works very well with no lag. However the fonts, menus and icons used are smaller than the GTR which some owners have complained about.

The GTR 2 has a 5ATM water resistance rating which allows for swimming and showers. Only use the silicone band for swimming, as the leather band will get damaged. Salt water or chlorine could be problematic so be sure to rinse, wipe and dry the watch after swimming. Also note the GTR 2 has openings for the microphone and speaker that the original GTR did not have. This could be an entry point for water.

Screen

The screen of the GTR 2 is one of the highlights of this smartwatch. The 1.39″ AMOLED Touchscreen, with 454 x 454 pixels and 326 ppi pixel density delivers a high-quality visual experience. Indoors the display is excellent while outdoors it is acceptable but not great.

The GTR 2 uses Corning Gorilla Glass 3 to protect the screen. That being said, the bezel-less design offers less protection against screen scratches and scrapes when compared to watches where the bezel protrudes past the glass surface. While the bezel-less design is sleeker, it may not be as durable as some other sport focused smartwatches.

The watch has an always on screen option but this has a significant impact on battery life. The GTR 2 also allows for custom watchfaces which is a nice feature.

Battery

The GTR 2 comes with a 471 mAh battery. Huami claims that typical usage battery life is 14 days, watch mode battery life is 38 days and GPS mode battery life is 2 days. Real world battery life is approximately 10 days, while not best in class, is reasonable.

Connectivity Features

From a connectivity perspective, the GTR 2 has limited functionality when compared to full featured smartwatches. The watch can only receive notifications and there is no ability to respond to notifications from the watch.

Even setting up these one-way notifications requires manually whitelisting the Zepp app on your phone. Duplicate notifications are another common complaint from owners. Not the most polished notification experience for a smartwatch.

Some users have had success with the 3rd party app ‘Notify and Fitness for Zepp’ to respond to notifications With this app, when a notification comes in, you can open the music control menu, select a pre-written response and press the play button to send. Note that by doing this you will lose the music control capabilities on your smartwatch.

The GTR 2 has both a speaker and a microphone but only has the ability to answer calls via bluetooth, not place calls.

The inability to have outbound notifications or place outbound calls is a significant negative which separates the GTR 2 from full featured smartwatches. On the positive side, the speaker and microphone work well for incoming calls. The speaker can be used to play music stored on the 3GB internal memory.

The microphone is also used for offline voice control to use core features of the watch. Alexa voice assistant is also promised but was not released at launch. The GTR 2 does not have a camera and does not have cellular connectivity.

On the positive side, it does come with built-in GPS. Unfortunately, GPS connectivity is not the fastest and accuracy is not the best.

Finally, Near Field Communication (NFC) is not supported, hence you cannot use this smartwatch to make payments. Note that Huami has released a Chinese version of the GTR 2 (Model #A1951) which has NFC and supports Alipay. The Global version (Model #A1952) does not have NFC capability and does not support any payment systems.

Health and Fitness Features

The GTR 2 comes with 7 sensors: Accelerometer, Ambient light, Barometer, Compass, Gyroscope, Heart Rate Monitor (HRM), Pulse Oximeter (SpO2). These cover quite a bit of fitness functions and even some health areas. These sensors allow you to track the following 9 metrics: Blood Oxygen Level, Calories, Distance, Fitness Level, Heart Rate, Sleep, Steps, Stress, Swimming.

Also included are 90 different sports modes. The GTR 2 launched with only 12 sport modes, but a recent firmware upgrade (5.0.1.05) increased that number to 90.

There have been a number of complaints on the heart rate measurement accuracy as well as the other metrics. Works well at steady activities but not as good for interval training. Tattoos, hair, sweat and even skin color are factors that impact accuracy as well.

For casual tracking, this may be adequate but could be a concern if you are looking for high tracking accuracy for your sports or fitness goals.

Zepp App

The Amazfit GTR 2 uses the Zepp app, which is decent but not best in class. While the app has a lot of functions and features, it is not the most refined or easy to navigate. While it is not a bad app when it comes to features, there is room for improvement in how to access those features and ease of use. You can see how the Zepp app ranks on our Smartwatch Apps Page.

Known Issues

GPS Accuracy

Amazfit has a reputation for poor quality GPS accuracy in the previous GTR as well as other smartwatches they sell. Unfortunately this problem persists in the GTR 2. The GPS connection time takes about 30 seconds which is not bad but the primary problem is measurement accuracy. Distances are typically off and routes traveled are rough approximations. If an accurate GPS is a key feature you are looking for, skip the GTR 2.

Verdict

A very stylish sports focused smartwatch with nice screen and decent battery life. Missing some key connectivity features and GPS accuracy problems are disappointing. An overall average buy.

Specifications

Published: December 02, 2020