Huami turned a number of heads when it launched an Apple Watch look-alike $99 smartwatch, Amazfit BIP, in the US earlier this year. In a bid to do it once again, the Xiaomi-backed company has now launched a much premium yet cheap smartwatch in the country.
Called Amazfit Verge, the smartwatch was initially announced in September in China. The device has since made its debut in a number of markets beyond the home country, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.
Huami launches the Amazfit Verge in the US
The Amazefit Verge sports a 1.3-inch AMOLED display which offers a screen resolution of 360 x 360 pixels. The screen comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The watch is plastic-built and comes with replaceable silicon straps. Under the hood is a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, paired with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of eMMC storage. The entire package is powered by a 390mAH battery which, Huami claims, is capable of running the watch for up to 5 days on a single charge.
In terms of connectivity, the Amazefit verge comes with Bluetooth v4.0 LE and Wi-Fi 802.11b/g. The smartwatch is IP68 rated for dust and water resistance. Sensors on board include an ambient light sensor, geomagnetic sensor, gyroscope, an accelerometer, heart rate monitor, and an air pressure sensor. You also get NFC, GPS and GLONASS for additional usage. The watch, however, runs a custom OS and not Wear OS. So it’s unclear if NFC will work with Google Pay.
The Amazefit Verge is capable of automatically detecting 11 forms of activities, including running, walking, climbing, cycling, tennis, and more. The watch can mirror notifications as well as calls on your wrist via Bluetooth. It is compatible with smartphones running on Android 4.4 KitKat or above, and iOS 9.0 or above.
The Huami Amazefit Verge is now up for pre-order in the US. The watch is available in Shadow Grey and Moonlight Blue color options, and is priced at $160. Huami will start shipping the pre-ordered units on December 18. One more color variant, Twilight Blue, will be available in January 2019. The one year old Amazfit BIP, meanwhile, is currently selling for $80.
