Zepp E is an elegant smartwatch that comes in two distinct styles
Huami has finally made its Zepp E smartwatch official. It comes in two different styles, a bezel-less design and a decent set of health and activity tracking sensors.
We knew the watch was coming because it received the stamp of approval from the FCC a few months ago. Huami also released a teaser image the other day.
Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets
The device is the first product of the collaboration between Zepp and Huami. To remind, the Chinese tech giant acquired Zepp two years ago in an attempt to gain a foothold in the premium sports products market.
Zepp is a company that is based in California. It has a slew of smart products for sports such as golf, tennis and soccer. Many of these products are backed by professional athletes. One thing missing from its lineup was a smartwatch or a sports watch. However, this has all changed with the release of Zepp E.
Zepp E – design
Huami has lots of experience in making smartwatches and it has obviously brought all its expertise in designing Zepp E. The smartwatch is stunningly beautiful and features a pure black 3D curved bezel-less glass with smooth contours left, right and center.
There are two distinct iterations to choose from. One is square in shape and measures 43.3×35.7mm, the other is circular and measures 42.2mm in diameter. Both are very lightweight coming in at slightly over 30 grams, and they are ultra-slim with around 9mm in thickness.
As far as material, the watches are made from stainless steel with a choice of leather and fluoroelastomer bands. All of this is 5 ATM water-resistance rated although we would think twice before dunking a leather band in water.
In addition to customizing the display with various screen-faces, you can make the watch your own by choosing from a range of bands. For the square edition there’s the Polar Night Black, Moon Grey, Deep Sea Blue (all three leather), Metallic Black Special Edition, Onyx Black and Pebble Grey (the last two fluoroelastomer). For the circular iteration there are Polar Night Black and Moon Grey for leather, Champagne Gold Special Edition and Onyx Black and Ice Blue for fluoroelastomer.
The display is always-on AMOLED for both watches. The square edition packs a 1.65″, 348×442 pixel, 341PPI display. The circular edition a 1.28″, 416×416 pixel 326PPI one.
Zepp – specifications and features
Moving on to the all important specs. What’s clear is that despite Zepp being a sports brand, this is a smart watch rather than a sports watch.
It does have a slew of sensors but they are for tracking health and activity. For example built-in GPS is an obvious omission and something that any half-decent sports watch would have.
But in terms of general health and activity, the watch seems pretty good on paper. There’s a Biological Tracking Optical Sensor, Acceleration Sensor, and Geomagnetic Sensor which allow it to track all the usual metrics such as steps, activity, distance, sleep and more. The watch also keeps tabs on 11 different sports.
The sleep statistics, in particular, seem very detailed and include info on light sleep, deep sleep, REM and awake time. Users also get a daily sleep and breathing quality score, and the device on their wrist will track naps during the day.
More interestingly for a Huami-made watch, Zepp E also tracks blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) and stress level via heart rate variability (HRV). These are not metrics that are currently found in Huami’s Amazfit-branded lineup. But might very well be included in its next generation watches, the GTS 2, GTR 2 and Neo.
As far as battery life, the watch is good for about a week in normal mode thanks to a 188mAh battery. This climbs to 15 days in basic watch mode. The battery can be charged from zero to full in about two hours.
Even if it is not a sports watch, the first Zepp-branded offering from Huami seems like a solid one. The company obviously wants to keep these watches distinct from the reminder of its lineup, as it is selling them through the Zepp website. What’s more, Zepp E works through its proprietary app and not the Amazfit app that is used for other Huami-made watches.
The international listing for Zepp E is up. The gizmo can be purchased in the US starting at $249 from August 25th and in the UIK from £250 starting September 1st.
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