The demand for smart fitness trackers is on the rise in India. A recent report by Counterpoint Research revealed that smartwatches continue to be the fastest growing category in the first quarter of 2022 with more than 3.7 million units shipped in India. Local players such as Noise and Boat have a large share of the market, but other companies are not far behind in eating some of the pie. Amazfit is one such company that has launched several smartwatches in the budget and premium categories. The company recently launched the Amazfit T-Rex 2 in India.
Priced at Rs 15,999, the T-Rex 2 is certainly quite premium. Yes, it’s not as expensive as the Galaxy Watch 4 or the Apple Watch Series 7. But for a price-sensitive market like India, the T-Rex 2 has to offer a lot of features to justify its price. After using the Amazfit T-Rex 2 for about 10 days, here’s what I have to say about the new smartwatch in India.
Amazfit T-Rex 2 review
The USP of the Amazfit T-Rex 2 is its rugged design, combined with a long battery life and tons of health and fitness tracking features. The watch has a circular dial made of polymer alloy, which Amazfit claims can offer military resistance. I won’t lie, the Amazfit T-Rex 2 really gives off a lot of G-Shock vibes in terms of design, which looks premium. I have the Amber Black variant with me. There is also a Black and Gold option along with Wild Green, which in my opinion looks the best of the three.
The thick casing around the 1.39-inch screen ensures that the watch can handle some accidental knocks here and there. During my review period, the watch didn’t get a single scratch even after a few accidental bumps. The screen is AMOLED and also supports Always-On Display (AoD). I tried keeping it on for a few days, but the battery died pretty quickly. More on battery life in the second part of this Amazfit T-Rex 2 review.
Since the battery drained quickly with the AoD, I turned it off and preferred to use the watch with the wake-up feature, which takes a second or so for the watch to detect motion and wake the screen.
You can navigate through the menu by swiping or pressing one of the four buttons around the screen. Swipe down from the top to access the control center. Swiping up will open shortcuts to see weather widget, workout stats, etc. Swipe left for a list of apps, while swiping right will show you all notifications.
I love the display of the T-Rex 2. There is no need to squint while reading the text on the watch, even in outside light. It comes with an auto-brightness feature, which quickly adjusts and adapts to the ambient light. It’s more than bright enough to check notifications or workout stats on the go. No, you cannot answer calls or reply to your WhatsApp or Instagram messages on this one.
The T-Rex 2 also comes with multiple watch faces that you can choose from. The watch also lets you choose between a number of watch faces and watch styles in the Zepp app, which is available for download on both Android devices and iPhone. The same app can be used to track your workout stats.
Speaking of which, the Amazfit T-Rex 2 has over 150 workout modes. I haven’t had the time or patience to check all of this, but I can confirm that the watch can track fitness data for the most popular indoor and outdoor forms of exercise, such as running, cycling, swimming, walking, etc.
Step tracking is amazing and almost accurate. I wore the T-Rex 2 and Apple Watch Series 7 on both wrists to test accuracy. As I counted about 150 steps during my evening walk, the Amazfit T-Rex 2 also detected 159 steps, while the Apple Watch Series 7 counted 144. Things got better for the T-Rex 2 while I was driving. The Amazfit smartwatch didn’t add that many steps, while the Apple Watch Series 7 added about 400 steps during my 6km ride.
A heart rate monitor is not as accurate compared to a dedicated machine that you can buy for home use. The T-Rex 2 showed a slightly higher heart rate than a standalone heart rate monitor. When it comes to heart rate, I wouldn’t blindly rely on any smart watch for that and would rather get myself checked out professionally. But this feature gives you a pretty good idea for routine checks.
Another great feature of the Amazfit T-Rex 2 is its great battery life. During my 10 days of use, the watch’s battery drained from 87 percent to 31 percent. This includes a few days where I kept the AoD feature enabled. In case it wasn’t clear, I didn’t even bother to charge the watch once.
However, not everything is so great
T-Rex 2 does have a few drawbacks though. For starters, you can’t install any third-party apps because there’s no specific support for the App Store. You can only control music playback on your phone. Also, the watch allows you to answer or reject incoming calls only.
While the watch is quick to let you know when there’s an incoming call or other notification, it fails to detect when the user has already checked a message on their phone. You will need to manually clear all notifications on the watch.
Also, although the touch screen is quite sensitive, it is too sensitive to water. The watch will detect a touch when water droplets fall on the screen. This mostly happens when the AoD feature is on, which is another reason to disable it to save battery.
Verdict
The Amazfit T-Rex 2 is a good buy for those who want a rugged looking watch. It’s first and foremost a fitness watch, with some smart features to complete the experience. The battery life is excellent and if you are someone who is into outdoor adventures more often, you can consider buying the Amazfit T-Rex 2.
The watch is also weatherproof, even in extreme conditions, the company says. I haven’t been able to test that claim here in Mumbai, where it’s around 30 degrees. Of course, waterlogging and flooding are a common sight, but I’m sure the watch can handle it, considering the watch is built to survive in -40 degrees.
I still wish the watch had support for adding music and pairing your wireless headphones via Bluetooth so you could use them to listen to music even if your phone’s battery died. There’s no LTE version of the watch either, meaning you’ll have to rely on your phone to make calls.
As long as you can ignore these flaws, the Amazfit T-Rex 2 can be considered a good fitness watch with some smart features.
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Amazfit T-Rex 2 review
Avg
- Robust design and good build quality.
- Battery life is excellent.
- Exact number of steps.
- More ways to exercise.
- The user interface is easy to use.
Cons
- No support for third-party apps.
- No support for listening to music or answering calls.
- The screen is too sensitive to water drops when it is on.
