Amazfit Verge 2 comes with eSIM compatibility and health alerts
As promised, Huami officially unveiled the Amazfit Verge 2 at an event in China this morning. The sports watch comes with eSIM support and health alerts, including ECG monitoring capability.
Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets
We reviewed the first generation version in 2018 and found it to be a solid GPS sports watch. Perhaps not as premium looking as Stratos, but a good option nevertheless. Now we have version 2 to look forward to.
Just like the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 earlier today, most of the specs were known ahead of the official reveal. Huami released a number of teasers letting us know what to expect.
It’s worth mentioning, the device is referred to as Smart Watch 2 in China. But it’s specs lead us to believe this is the Amazfit Verge 2.
In terms of design, the sports watch comes with 1.39-inch (454×454 pixel) AMOLED 326PPI screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. This is an improvement over the 1.3-inch (360×360 pixel) screen of its predecessor. The display is kept in place by a microcrystalline zirconium ceramic frame which makes it a more durable device.
On the hardware front, there’s an 1.1GHz Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2500 processor which is actually a slight disappointment as the thing was expected to feature the Snapdragon Wear 3100 chip. Other specs include 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and eSIM support for 4G VoLTE.
The eSIM functionality will allow the watch to work independently of a smartphone. If you’re in China, that is. It remains to be seen if the feature is removed for the international version.
As far as sensors are concerned, the watch comes with a PPG sensor, ECG monitor (ECG Edition only), Accelerometer, Geomagnetic sensor and Ambient light sensor. Just like the first generation, there’s also built-in GPS+GLONASS+BDS, as well as NFC for contactless payments, a speaker and a microphone.
This will keep you covered for 24/7 fitness tracking. Verge 2 also automatically tracks 10 sports activities including running, walking, indoor running, indoor riding, elliptical, mountaineering, skipping, outdoor riding, football, and trail running.
More interestingly, the watch keeps an eye on your general health via low heart rate and atrial fibrillation alerts, as well fall detection. This comes courtesy of Huami’s custom Huangshan No. 1 always-on AI chip which also allows for more accurate heart rate monitoring and ECG screening. The watch is said to be able to store up to 60 minutes of ECG data locally for up to 7 days.
Unfortunately, water resistance is unchanged from the first edition. The watch is still only IP68 rated for water and dust resistance which means it’s only splash resistant. As far as battery life is concerned. the 420mAh lithium ion polymer battery will keep the thing going for up to 28 hours with 4G switched on.
Verge 2 costs 999 yuan ($144) in China for the regular edition and 1299 yuan ($187) for the ECG version. Huami has also announced an Avengers Limited Edition which will set you back 1499 yuan (US$ 216). There will only be 5,000 of these.
The standard version is available in China from today, while the ECG model and Avengers edition are planned for July. International availability and pricing are yet to be announced but we’ll update this article as and when we hear more.
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