The Xiaomi Watch S1 Pro debuted in China last year, but it took the company six months to launch its best smartwatch globally. The wearable made its global debut at MWC 2023 in Barcelona, but we’ve actually had it for a while now and are now ready to share our test results.
Xiaomi has set a relatively high price for the Watch S1 Pro – it’s €299, up from €229 last year, but it’s not just inflation we’re seeing here – the new wearable is actually much more powerful and better built.
The S1 Pro watch comes in a single 46mm size and is quite light, despite its stainless steel case. We received the black version with the black fluoroelastomer band, and the entire device weighs 70 grams, of which 48g is the case itself.
Our band has an Apple-style buckle, while the other version, a brown leather option, has a more standard solution. The black one is great because there are no extra rings and everything tucks neatly underneath, making the whole device look more streamlined.
Xiaomi Watch S1 Pro
The S1 Pro Watch features sapphire crystal on top that’s virtually scratch-proof, and even with the glass protruding we had no issues in our weeks of active use: no gouges or scratches, no micro-abrasions, nothing.
The lower part of the stainless steel body has a series of sensors that allow it to monitor heart rate, blood oxygen and skin temperature. The device can be charged wirelessly on all Qi standard pads and also with the supplied magnetic disc.
In theory, it should work on any smartphone too, offering reverse wireless charging, but Xiaomi officially claims that only a select few phones in its portfolio would do the job. And we can confirm this: we weren’t able to charge the Watch S1 Pro on the back of non-Xiaomi phones.
There are two controls on the right-hand side: the top one is a rotating crown for scrolling through the basic menu, and the bottom one is a flat shortcut button that we set up to toggle running workout tracking, although it can toggle any other function on. the clock. Although the button is metallic, Watch S1 Pro does not support ECG, unlike Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Watch5 series.
Let’s now examine the user interface, but unfortunately the news is not the best.
Xiaomi is a huge conglomerate that is acquiring all kinds of businesses and adopting their systems. It has an app for home devices and a separate app for other home devices, and this wearable needs Mi Fitness to run on Android and iOS.
The Watch S1 Pro features Bluetooth 5.2 with BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) for communicating with your smartphone, but we found the experience to be quite poor. Watch S1 Pro does not receive all notifications even though the app has the necessary permissions.
The alarm app is completely absent from Mi Fitness, while all other features have terrible images. It’s frustrating to read the heart rate or SpO2 measurements because for some reason Xiaomi wants the graph to start at 0, despite a healthy HR being between 60 and 100 during the day and might drop to 40 at night, but never close to 0.
What we liked about the Xiaomi Watch S1 Pro is the battery life. This device has a 500mAh battery and takes about 95 minutes to charge from 0 to 100%. Officially, it’s good for 14 days of typical use or 10 days of heavy use. We can confirm that it takes a week and a half for the battery to drain with everything turned on – Notifications, Bluetooth calls, Raise to wake, Blood oxygen tracking, Stress tracking, Sleep tracking, Alarms Active sports use around 180 minutes per week and even check the music during these rides.
There is also the Always-On Display, which effectively halves the battery life, so about 5-6 days on a single charge. Unfortunately, the brightness of the AoD is not enough to be readable outdoors on a sunny day.
Using all the sensors is one thing, but accuracy is a completely different matter. While the Watch S1 Pro did a great job of tracking sleep, heart rate offered a 10% discrepancy across the board compared to a certified medical device.
We know this isn’t a medical device, but it can be misleading for athletes who rely on heart rate to decide whether to push harder or slow down.
There’s also Alexa support and the Mastercard contactless payment app, which work well as long as you’re in the few markets where they’re supported.
Xiaomi has done a great job with the Watch S1 Pro hardware, further raising the bar for itself and its future smart wearables. It failed to deliver on its promise of software improvements, but the battery life, looks, and durability go a long way to making up for the app’s underwhelming experience. After all, the data is only the badly displayed in Mi Fitness; it is displayed well on the watch itself.
But is the Xiaomi Watch S1 Pro worth the price of €300? We’d say it’s a solid deal as long as you value the look above all else and don’t really plan on using it to prepare for your next marathon. The great battery life and excellent design make it a great low maintenance accessory. However, if you’re looking for a serious tracking tool, there are definitely better options out there.
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