Amazfit GTS 4 Review: Apple Watch Design For Less

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The Amazfit GTS 4 is the sister product of the GTR 4 and features a stylish design reminiscent of the Apple Watch.

This wearable doesn’t have the same battery life as the GTR 4, but it’s much more durable than some of its competitors. But will its custom OS and tracking software stand the test? I monitored and looked at my exercise, sleep schedule, and vitals.

design and build

• Design inspired by Apple Watch
• 5 ATM water resistant
• Comes with speaker and microphone

Amazfit GTS 4 has 4 colors to choose from. Infinity Black, Rosebud Pink, Misty White, Autumn Brown. The first three include a 20mm silicone strap, while the latter has a nylon option. All straps have a quick release feature so you can change the strap of your choice.

My review unit is the Misty White version, which is a nice finish overall.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

At 27g, the watch is very light and comfortable to wear for long periods of time. After strenuous exercise, the strap may become sweaty, so be sure to wipe it off after use. Despite its delicate appearance, the watch is durable and water resistant to 5 ATM.

Amazfit GTS 4 has a 1.73-inch AMOLED screen, bright, clear and fingerprint-free. It’s glare-free and easy to use in the sun, and the display looks great in clear water, so you can still see the screen while swimming in the pool (with goggles, of course). .

There is an option to enable raise to wake. This means that the display lights up when you bring the watch close to your face. Additionally, an always-on display option is available, but this will save battery life.

The GTS 4 has a built-in microphone and speaker so you can make phone calls, but you’ll need to enable this feature in the accompanying app. By default, your watch will read out your stats after you complete a workout. Again, this can be turned off in settings.

You can also load music from your phone onto the watch, but Bluetooth earbuds are not supported, so calls and music must be played through the watch’s speaker.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Software and features

• Zepp OS 2.0
• Alexa integration
• 3rd party apps are not supported

Like its smartwatch siblings, the Amazfit GTS 4 is primarily a health and fitness tracking device. However, it includes features that are useful outside of exercise.

This watch runs on Amazfit’s proprietary software (Zepp OS) and does not support third-party apps such as Spotify. That said, many classic features are still available, such as the weather, calendar, voice memos, and navigation apps like compass.

You can also enable notifications for specific apps on your phone, and ping from WhatsApp or Messenger to send basic replies to friends and family. Alexa integration is also included and can be accessed by long-pressing the watch’s button.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Even on the go, you can use the offline voice assistant for basic functions like starting a workout or adjusting the brightness.

Swipe right on the home screen to see how many steps you took today, how many minutes you worked out, and how many times you stood up during the day. The latter turned out to be inaccurate, just as it did with the GTR 4.

Health and fitness tracking

• 150+ workout tracking modes
• some contradictions
• Zepp OS needs improvement

Amazfit smartwatches have always supported a wide range of workouts and the GTS 4 is no exception. The watch tracks over 150 workouts, including walking, running, swimming, cycling, and yoga.

Evil activities like disco dancing, tug-of-war and chess are also supported, in case you want to measure your vitals in any of these. Recorded.

The app provides a breakdown of calories burned during your workout, routes taken (if GPS is enabled during your workout), heart rate variability graphs, and more.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

GTS 4 auto-detects treadmill running, outdoor running, elliptical training, outdoor cycling, indoor walking, rowing machine, pool swimming and outdoor walking.

This sensitivity can be set to low, normal, or high. I personally found standard to be the best option. This is because having it higher will trigger your workout when you don’t need it.

Amazfit introduced a weightlifting tracking feature when the watch first launched, claiming it could recognize specific intensity-based movements like bicep curls and shoulder presses.

As with GTR 4, I found this feature to be inconsistent. Sometimes I couldn’t identify the correct move I was performing, and it didn’t always count reps correctly. Move can be manually added to his Zepp app, but you can’t enter a custom one if it doesn’t exist in the list of suggested ones from Amazfit.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

We found the GTR 4 to have trouble tracking swims in the pool, especially when counting laps. Luckily I didn’t run into the same problem with GTS 4. There have been software updates since the watch was first launched, which may have improved accuracy. However, it is difficult to correctly identify the stroke, and front crawls and freestyles are often confused with butterflies.

Tracking for other workouts, like hiking and Pilates, seemed largely accurate and in line with what we’ve seen on other wearables.

Aside from exercise, various health tracking features are also available such as heart rate monitoring, SpO2 (blood oxygen) measurement, stress and respiration measurement. All of these can be used individually or combined using the “one-tap measurement” feature. Again, all the results I got were similar to those on other devices.

Wearing the watch overnight can also track your sleep patterns. The data reflected how long you slept and showed you exactly if you were disturbed during the night. You can add additional data about activity (drinking, reading, etc.) to identify trends.

The GTS 4 has a nap feature and should detect if you’ve had a short sleep outside of your nighttime schedule. However, my records show when I was napping for much longer than I actually did, or when I was just relaxing, so it’s not the most reliable.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

The overall layout of the app is simple and easy to navigate. However, there is no official certification page to back up the advice. His rival Withings has a link to the health agency for that information. Additionally, some parts of the app have spelling and grammar issues.

battery life

• Up to 8 days with normal use
• About 2 hours to charge

Amazfit claims up to 8 days of battery life for “regular use” and around 4 days for “frequent use”. These numbers are generally accurate, and the watch can last up to a week, depending on how much tracking mode you use.

If you need to save some juice on the go, you can enable basic clock mode. This allows up to 28 days of usage.

Battery life isn’t as long as the GTR 4. But compared to other competitors that only last a few days, it’s still impressive.

A full charge from flat takes less than two hours, and a magnetic charger is included in the box.

Pricing and Availability

The Amazfit GTS 4 is priced at $199.99/£199.00 and is available from both Amazfit and Amazon in the US and from both Amazfit and Amazon in the UK.

This price is cheaper than other smartwatches on the market, such as the Pixel Watch. However, the tracking software still has some issues compared to its rivals, and the lack of third-party apps makes it unsuitable for everyday use.

If you can afford a little more, you can opt for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 or Apple Watch SE. Both have more accurate tracking across the board. You can find other options in our chart of the best smartwatches.

verdict

There’s no denying that the Amazfit GTS 4 is a great looking smartwatch. The sleek, slim and comfortable design is better suited for everyday life than the GTR 4. It also has an excellent week of battery life.

The tracking issues aren’t quite as disruptive as we found the GTR 4 when it first released, but there are still some inaccuracies. Overall, it’s good enough for basic tracking, but you can pay a little more and get a more reliable device with a wider range of features.

specification

• 42.7×36.5×9.9mm
• 27g
• 5 ATM water resistant
• 1.73-inch AMOLED screen, 341 ppi
• Tempered glass with anti-fingerprint coating
• 20mm silicone strap
• BioTracker 4.0 PPG Biological Tracking Optical Sensor
• gyro sensor
• geomagnetic sensor
• Accelerometer
• ambient light sensor
• barometric altimeter
• Wi-Fi 2.4GHz
• Bluetooth 5.0 BLE
• microphone and speaker
• magnetic charger
• About 2 hours charging time
• 300mAh battery
• Typical usage: Up to 8 days
• Basic clock mode: up to 30 days
• Heavy use: up to 4 days
• Supports Android 7.0+, iOS 12.0+
• 1 year warranty