Weibo

Huami, a Xiaomi sub-brand, has announced two new smartwatches.

The Amazfit Sports Smartwatch 2 features a built-in GPS, heart rate sensor, and costs 999 Yuan (~$150).

The Amazfit Watch 2S features a sapphire screen and costs 1,499 Yuan (~$226).

When Huami, a sub-brand of Xiaomi, announced that it was bringing a GPS-enabled smartwatch to the U.S. for just $129 last year, I was intrigued. At the time there weren’t too many affordable fitness tracker/smartwatch hybrid devices out there, and the selection outside of Android Wear devices was slim.

The Huami Amazfit PACE fell short of my expectations though. It was slow, had limited syncing options, a wonky touchscreen, and buggy notifications. But damn was that watch pretty.

Now Huami is back with two new smartwatches for the new year— the Amazfit Sports Smartwatch 2 and Amazfit Watch 2S.

Weibo

The classier smartwatch is the Amazfit Watch 2S. It features a sapphire glass screen and leather straps, though it’s missing a built-in GPS and a heart rate monitor.

Editor's Pick The best fitness trackers (September 2020) Fitness trackers have come an extremely long way over the years. No longer are they glorified pedometers; most standard fitness trackers nowadays can track your steps taken, distance traveled, caloric burn, and even your sleeping …

The Sports Smartwatch 2, on the other hand, comes with a 1.34-inch touchscreen display with 2.5D tempered glass (320 x 300), rubber straps, a built-in GPS, optical heart rate sensor, and 4 GB of storage. It also has a battery that Huami says will last 35 hours on a single charge in GPS mode. The Sports Smartwatch 2 is also able to track swimming this time around, and will be able to record laps, stroke efficiency index, and stroke style.

Both smartwatches have a water resistance rating of 5 ATM, ceramic bezels, as well as 316L stainless steel buttons.

The Sport smartwatch will run for (get it?) 999 Yuan at launch, which is roughly $150 USD. That’s a little more expensive than what the original PACE watch sold for in the U.S. The classier Watch 2S model will cost 1,499 Yuan at launch, or roughly $226. No U.S. availability has been announced. Huami says it’ll show off both devices at CES 2018, so we may be able to score some hands-on (wrists-on?) time with them.