Amazfit Bip 2 gets FCC certification: here’s what to expect
Update 11 February 2019: Amazfit Bip 2 can now be pre-ordered on GeekBuying. Read the full article on this link.
The Amazfit Bip 2 is just around the corner. The upcoming smartwatch has now received FCC certification and this has revealed some real-life images of the device.
Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets
The original Amazfit Bip is a low cost smartwatch with an impressive feature-set. It came out in 2017 jam-packed with features such as built-in GPS, a heart rate sensor and notifications. In addition to keeping tabs on your activity 24/7 the gizmo also provides tracking of your runs, cycling and other sports with mapped routes, detailed stats and heart rate zones.
But Bip’s claim to fame is its astonishing 30+ days of battery life, and that’s with an always on colour touch-screen! Choose the ‘minimal notification’ setting and battery life climbs to 45 days. Even with GPS switched you’ll get an impressive 22 hours of juice.
To some, all this might sound a bit too good to be true. Especially considering Bip sells for less than $100 on the company’s website (check price on Amazon).
In our review we note the device covers pretty much everything an average person needs for 24/7 activity tracking. Most important of all, it does this well and without any fuss. If you’re after a simple wearable that keeps tabs on your fitness, running and cycling (with GPS), the Bip makes a strong case for itself.
Its fair to expect all this and more from the second generation device.
Amazfit Bip 2: wish list
While Amazfit Bip doesn’t look anywhere near as inexpensive as it actually is, and some have even categorised it as an Apple Watch lookalike. But there is room for improvement. The always-on screen does the job but the polycarbonate casing lets it down somewhat. Some more premium materials would go a long way towards making the wearable more attractive.
The display is rather small right now but it has big bezels all around. Huami, which produces the watch, would do well to take cue from Apple and eliminate the bezels. Better resolution and improved readability will also be nice.
Most new wearables these days are swim-proof. Amazfit Bip is rated IP68 which means its only splash-proof. A water-resistance rating of at least 3 ATM and swim tracking would represent a healthy upgrade.
One feature that is missing currently is floor count. Which is rather strange considering the wearable has an air pressure sensor (barometer for elevation). It should not be too much of a problem for Amazfit to slap this on.
Our review also notes the lack of sports Amazfit Bip tracks and that the non-fitness features pretty much end with notification support. All this has room for improvement. NFC for payments and offline storage for music are the first to spring to mind. A few Firstbeat performance metrics would not hurt either.
Of course, Huami will need to be careful not to sacrifice too much battery life for any added features as this is an important selling point. The other attraction is the price. This is a budget smartwatch and Huami will probably want to keep it this way.
Amazfit Bip 2: leaks, rumours
So what do we actually know?
The new FCC filing is dated December 29th which indicates the second iteration will soon go to market. In addition to images which you can see below, the paperwork reveals a 5 ATM water-resistance rating and a 200mAh battery (bumped up from 190mAh in the original version).
The FCC images show the design has been kept largely the same, so much so that the new wearable is hardly distinguishable from the old one. The only differences are a slight redesign of the single physical button on the right, and that Bip 2 is slightly narrower than its predecessor whilst retaining the same screen size.
You can even read through the manual.
Some other info was spotted by AndroidTR in the MiFit application development code a couple of months ago. This is where they found the reference “DongTingHu”. Subsequent analysis of the code revealed that the name refers to the Amazfit Bip 2.
A few interesting titbits were uncovered in the code. The wearable will come with a Sony GPS chip, accelerometer, heart rate sensor, compass and NFC. There is also mention of a “Sport” mode.
Amazfit Bip 2 will also have internal memory like the Pace and Stratos models. It is not clear yet whether this will be available for offline music storage or just auxiliary functions such as storage of watch faces.
Price and release date
Some were expecting we would see Amazfit Bip 2 at Huami’s three year anniversary in September, but this was always going to be a stretch. The wearable was released in China in 2017 and only made it across the border in early 2018. Instead Huami chose to release the Amazfit Verge and Health Band 1S at its all important gathering.
A CES 2019 reveal is a distinct possibility, but our guess is that spring of 2019 looks more likely. This will likely be a budget smartwatch so expect the price again to be around the $100 mark.
All things considered, it looks like the Bip 2 is not going to be a big upgrade. The info so far has revealed a slightly tweaked design, slightly higher capacity battery, much better water-proofing and perhaps NFC and offline storage for music.
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You need to check your facts again. An IP68 rating is not “only splash-proof”, rather it is “submersion to a depth up to 1.5m for a period off not more than 30 mins”.
While a fitness band or smartwatch with an IP68 rating can be worn while jogging in the rain or doing the dishes, IP ratings do not take water pressure into account. Therefore, IP ratings are not indicative of a device’s ability to be used during aquatic activities such as swimming. This is where ATM ratings come in.
That’s ATM rating.
IP x8 is, on paper, what you described. In reality good luck if you put in water.
Mine has gone swimming and bathing several times already and it’s just like new! Literally, it’s very clean and fresh.
Same here. Couple of times I was swimming in a pool. Showering daily with my BIP. Last summer I was on a whitewater and canyoning trip (5 hours in canyon in a cold water, walking, jumping, swimming) in Austria, everything with BIP on my wrist. May be Im lucky and I understand that when you swim, pressure can go over 3 atm even at surface, but for that price I risked it and my BIP is still working without any issue. Meanwhile some people, who never put BIP close to water, faced issue with moisture under display glass or battery pop out affair. As I said, Im lucky may be, but I hope it will last. 🙂
Tenho um amazfit bip e uso três vezes por semana na prática de natação. Aula intensiva de 50min e
nunca tive problema
One thing they really need to improve is notifications. I have the Amazfit Bip and notifications suck. Over and over and over again. Every time you get a notification you get the last five or 10 notifications along with it and that is very irritating. I do like my notifications on my watch, but once is enough.
BTW, it’s tidbit…not titbit. That would involve your wife or girlfriend. 😉
We are based in the UK, not the US. Different countries different spellings. “In American and Canadian English, tidbit is the preferred spelling of the noun referring to (1) a choice morsel or (2) a pleasing bit of something. Titbit is preferred everywhere else. Neither spelling is right or wrong.”
Marko, That is pretty funny. Of course, like tire vs tyre, or airplane vs airoplane. You crazy Brits! 🙂
🙂
In Irish-English and as far as I’m aware in English-English, Scot-English and possibly Welsh-English tire is like sleepy and tyres are found on a motorcar, never heard of an airoplane maybe you were thinking of aquaplane. We use aeroplane, aircraft, plane not plain or jet. Simples.
Back to Bip I, I frequently wear mine in both a sauna and swimming pool. No adverse effects observed.
Mate. Titbit is a thing too.
I think one important key feature that the current Amazfit Bip is lacking is the “timeline” that Pebble had.
Instead of taking out the phone to check today’s appointment, we can just look at our watch to find out.
What it really lacks is the ability to talk to it: ie read an SMS, press reply and dictate a message to it.
Agreed. Any word if this feature will be in the spring release?
Watch face doesn’t have a feature to show distance in miles. Other than that, after trying several sport watches I like the fitbit over the other overly priced sport watches.
I bought the Amazfit Bip and returned it. While I was quite satisfied with the features, I found that if I went beyond 10 feet away from my phone, the watch would disconnect and send me constant notifications of that status. I couldn’t walk around my small one-story, open concept home without it disconnecting. That is what would need to change to potentially get me back.
You know that you can just turn that notification off?….
You can turn the disconnect notification off, the watch reconnects when back in range.
You could disable that option easily. I have disabled that.
For me, this is just perfect for a low budget smartwatch. I don’t need much cause this minor upgrades or more than enough for the price given. All I want is a cheap smartwatch that can guide my running without charging for 1 month
I couldn’t really care less about having a bezeless screen. What I really want is better integration with third party apps like Strava.
Look for it on youtube. With another app tranning will pass to Strava 😉
Agreed…Better integration with Strava would be fabulous…
The Watch itself is fabulous and the price sensational.
mine screen peel off within 3 months. 🙄
I have had the Bip for 4 months now. Notifications are a bit funky at times but I have compared, steps, distance, gps map, heart rate etc with my wife’s new Fitbit Charge3 and the numbers are very close. The big difference is that my counts reflect steps only not arm movements alone. My spouse beats me in steps everyday as sometimes she will get 300 steps just by doing the dishes. Sleep tracking near identical as well although stages do not include REM sleep. The only issue that I have had that has been bothersome is the gps connectivity. When my wife and I are ready to go for a walk and I select “walk”, it sometimes takes up to 5 minutes to connect even when out doors? My wife’s Charge 3 has cellphone connectivity and connects immediately so I have needed to go out about 5 minutes early if I want to track route and distance accurately. Yet for half the price and at least 8 times the battery life, the BIP is a bargain for activity tracking.
Gotta have timers that run in the background. Without that, no deal for me. I’ve noted before on other forums that the heart rate thing is totes flakey, etc. But being able to switch between a running timer and other functionality is bottom line for me. Probably requires complete re-write of watch OS to do multi-tasking. But there’s no lack of multitasking software out there to study…
What i would like is to answer to my sms by voice. ( like my old peeble)
A ja kupuję Samsunga Gear 3 Frontier.Garmin drogi a tu mam wszystko czego potrzeba.
I chuj to kogo obchodzi co ty kupujesz.
Who cares
well, any update on the release date of bip 2?