Xiaomi just recently introduced its new smart watch xiaomi watch s3, which we had the opportunity to start testing even before the official presentation for the global market. It is a very interesting and stylish smart watch at an attractive price.
In our review, we will talk about all the functions of the watch, introduce you to its unique design and share our personal experiences from its daily use.
Where to buy Xiaomi Watch S3?
Gshopper as one of the first sellers in the world to offer a global version of the Xiaomi Watch S3. They send them via duty-free transport. Delivery will take 15-20 days.
Important: Objędavku z Gshopper do it exclusively through the Chrome browser (preferably through incognito mode with cookies enabled) on a computer or smartphone, otherwise you will lose our customer support. If payment via credit / debit card from your banking company does not work for you, start a Curve or Wise službu. Payments work 100% through these services.
Xiaomi Watch S3 Global Version
- Watches, duty free delivery
- Original strap + cover, blue
- Original strap + cover, yellow and green
- Original strap + cover, black
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You don't pay any extra fees for Standard Shipping.
We recommend choosing Standard Shipping, for which you will not pay anything extra. Customs fees and any VAT will be handled directly by the seller for you. Shipping can only be selected in the basket, after entering the delivery address. Delivery with this transport usually takes about 15 days, but it can take longer.
More coupons
You don't pay any extra fees for Standard Shipping.
We recommend choosing Standard Shipping, for which you will not pay anything extra. Customs fees and any VAT will be handled directly by the seller for you. Shipping can only be selected in the basket, after entering the delivery address. Delivery with this transport usually takes about 15 days, but it can take longer.
More coupons
You don't pay any extra fees for Standard Shipping.
We recommend choosing Standard Shipping, for which you will not pay anything extra. Customs fees and any VAT will be handled directly by the seller for you. Shipping can only be selected in the basket, after entering the delivery address. Delivery with this transport usually takes about 15 days, but it can take longer.
More coupons
You don't pay any extra fees for Standard Shipping.
We recommend choosing Standard Shipping, for which you will not pay anything extra. Customs fees and any VAT will be handled directly by the seller for you. Shipping can only be selected in the basket, after entering the delivery address. Delivery with this transport usually takes about 15 days, but it can take longer.
Technical specifications
| Model | Xiaomi Watch S3 (M2323W1) |
|---|---|
| Materials | aluminium frame; steel bezel; glass |
| bracelet | matte rubber |
| dimensions | 47 x 47 x 12 mm |
| Weight | 44 g (without bracelet) |
| Length bracelet | 140 - 210 mm |
| Display | 1.43" AMOLED with a resolution of 466 x 466 px (326 PPI) |
| Drums | 486 mAh |
| Keep holding on battery | 15 days (with always-on display 5 days) |
| Water resistance | 5 ATM |
| Sensors | heart rate and blood oxygenation sensor; accelerometer; gyroscope; electronic compass; barometer; ambient light sensor; hall sensor |
| charging | magnetic 2-pin dock |
| Microphone | Yes |
| Speakers | Yes |
| Operating system | HyperOS |
| Pozičke systems | Beidou; GPS; GLONASS; Galileo; QZSS |
| Bluetooth | 5.2 |
| NFC | Yes |
Classic watch packaging
The Xiaomi Watch S3 comes in a packaging that is typical for most watches. It is a thin longitudinal box in which we can find a watch with a bracelet spread out. Below them there is only paper documentation and a charging magnetic dock.
This time it is white and has a pair of pins. The box is made of hard and relatively thick cardboard, so the watch is adequately protected in the package.
Interesting and customizable design
The design of this watch is one of the biggest attractions. It is highly customizable, and not just because of the interchangeable bracelets. But let's start right from the beginning and let's first look at the official color versions that we can find on sale. There are only two color variants available, namely black and silver.
The colors differ not only in the strap, but also in the same color of the watch frame itself. However, Xiaomi offers several different straps in several colors and materials. The most interesting innovation in design customization is the replaceable bezel around the display. This way you can perfectly match the bezel with the strap.
With this step, Xiaomi is taking appearance customization to a completely different level. On sale you will find several sets that include a strap and a bezel. Although original sets are not the cheapest thing, as they cost around 40 EUR, we firmly believe that in the near future we will also find non-original alternatives on Aliexpress.
Currently, the manufacturer presented five sets together with watches. The first is a black Clous De Paris with colored numerals on the bezel and a leather strap. The second set is called Ocean Blue, and as the name suggests, the strap and bezel are blue.
The third set is two-tone, combines black with green and was named Dual-Tone Ceramic. The most striking is the fourth set for ladies with a yellow leather strap and a yellow bezel. The final, fifth design looks very similar to Clous de Paris, but is named Rainbow. The bracelet is leather, black with colored stitching and a black bezel with colored numbers.
AMOLED display and dials
Higher-quality watches traditionally have an AMOLED display, and the Xiaomi Watch S3 is no exception. It has a diagonal of 1.43", a refresh rate of 60 Hz, a resolution of 466 x 466 px with a pixel density of 326 PPI and a brightness of 600 nits.
The display is really excellent to look at, soft with rich colors, exactly as we imagine for a watch of this category. There is also automatic brightness adjustment or an always-on display with multiple looks.
Of course, there are also many different designs of the main dial. We can find up to 12 of them directly in the watch, and in addition, each of them includes the option of color customization directly in the watch. Additional skins are available in the Mi Fitness app under the online tab.
In the Mi Fitness application, we can also create our own watch faces with any background. We can start from four pre-prepared designs, which we then customize from the background, through the displayed data and their color to their location.
The aforementioned bezel around the watch display is relatively wide, which may not suit everyone in today's age of thin frames. Personally, we didn't like this design too much at first glance, but somehow we got used to it and after a few days of use, we liked the watch even with the wide bezel.
Menu and watch control
Xiaomi Watch S3 has a pair of buttons on the right side. The upper button is used to enter the main menu with applications, and the lower button has a preset activity tracking function during sports. However, this button is customizable, so we can choose another function in the menu.
The mentioned main menu shows pre-installed applications in the form of a grid, where we only see application icons without descriptions. However, many icons are correctly chosen, so we intuitively know what the function is. There are a few exceptions, but after getting to know the watch for the first time, you will get used to the icons.
The menu contains the following applications:
| Exercise | Activity | Well | Statistics | Training status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heartbeat | Vitality | SpO2 | Sleep | Degree of stress |
| Breathing | Alexa | The weather | Payments | Calendar |
| Events | Tasks | Contact | phone calls | Answering machine |
| Hudba | Camera | Alarm clock | Stopwatch | Timer |
| World time | Air pressure | Kompas | Find your phone | Flashlight |
| settings |
If the aforementioned display of applications in a grid does not suit you, in the settings you can switch the main menu to a list where the name of the application is also displayed, not just the icon.
The watch runs on the Xiaomi HyperOS operating system, currently in version 2.4.6. The overall operation of the system is completely trouble-free. The menu is smooth, without jams or slowdowns. However, the system is closed and you cannot install any other applications into it.
Tracking sports activity, GPS and training
The new Xiaomi Watch S3 smart watch will also suit active users who appreciate activity monitoring during sports. More than 150 sports are available. Basic sports include walking, running in nature, freestyle, hiking, cycling, treadmill, jump rope and swimming in the pool. The remaining sports are hidden under the item "More".
Here, sports are divided into individual categories: water sports, outdoor activities, training, dance, combat sports, ball games, winter sports, recreational sports, card and board games, and others. We can also find somewhat curious sports that we would not personally expect here. Examples include chess, e-sports, fishing, flying kites, tug-of-war or dragon boats.
The watch also supports GPS, or rather GNSS, as it uses multiple positioning systems, not just the American GPS system. In an open space within range of a smartphone, they get the position very quickly, but if the smartphone is disconnected or not available at all, the search for a signal sometimes takes longer than we would imagine.
We personally tried walking, where quite a lot of data is recorded. As for the accuracy of the position, it is not completely perfect, but there are no significant inaccuracies either. When walking, time, calories burned, average pace, average heart rate, steps, ascent and descent are displayed.
Furthermore, we also see a detailed graph of heart rate, pace, cadence, and here we also find the length of steps in cm, training effect and altitude. The watch also registers a kind of vitality in the form of a score that changes based on activity. Since we were pushing the stroller during the walk, the watch recorded very few steps - but this is a problem with all smartwatches.
In addition to the standard recording of various parameters during sports, the watch also has ten running trainings. Training consists of several time intervals of fast walking, jogging, sprinting or running.
Monitoring of vital functions
In the offer of monitoring vital functions, we find a kind of standard in the equipment of the watch, which is the measurement of heart rate, SpO2, sleep, stress level and breathing training.
The measurement of the pulse or SpO2 takes 20 seconds, while we can see this reading on the watch screen. After the last update to version 2.4.6. however, we somehow lost the "Start" button for starting heart rate measurement. The measurement works only automatically, according to the settings, where we have a choice of intelligent measurement, or measurement in an interval of 1 / 10 / 30 minutes.
When measuring SpO2, there is still a button to start the measurement, together with the all-day measurement, but we do not have the option of choosing an interval. There are warnings when SpO2 drops below the set value or a warning when the heart rate is high.
On the display of the watch, you can also view the graph of the measured pulse and SpO values2 for the current day.
Sleep and stress tracking
Sleep monitoring is already a common part of all smart watches. In most cases, however, this measurement is not very accurate, so the beginning of sleep is simply the time we got into bed and the end is the time we left the bed.
On its website, Xiaomi reports on a completely new sleep tracking algorithm that should be more accurate. However, we honestly did not notice any noticeable improvement. One night while testing the watch, we couldn't fall asleep for about an hour and just lay in bed, but the watch also counted this time as sleep.
In addition to the length of total sleep, the watch also displays individual phases such as deep, light sleep, REM and wakefulness. The heart rate or SpO2 is also measured, and the duration of individual sleeps over the last 7 days can be viewed on the watch display.
In the application, we can find a little more information, such as the sleep score, some statistics compared to other users or even one interesting thing. She is a sleeping animal. However, this data is displayed only if the application has recorded 7 consecutive sleeps. For some reason, the app didn't record our sleep on the last day of February, so we haven't found our sleep animal yet.
The stress level measurement takes up to 60 seconds, and all-day measurement is also available. A graph with measured values is also displayed, similar to heart rate and SpO2.
Bluetooth calls
The great news is that the Xiaomi Watch S3 also supports Bluetooth calls. Since they have both a speaker and a microphone, you don't have to take your phone out of your pocket to make a call. We can easily accept or initiate a call through the watch, if the smartphone is within Bluetooth range.
During an incoming call, the name of the caller is also displayed with diacritics and their phone number. In addition to accepting or rejecting a call, we can also cancel it by replying in the form of an SMS message. In the watch, we have preset three quick answers of the type "I'll call you later", but we can also easily define our own answers in the application.
A slight disadvantage is the volume of the speaker in the watch. It is not completely ideal, so if we are talking on the phone through the watch in a busy place, even the maximum volume may not be enough. Another problem arises if we use two SIM cards in our smartphone. When making a call from the watch, we cannot select the SIM card, so the call is always made from the first SIM card.
An interesting feature is the quick activation of an emergency call by pressing the bottom button three times. After this operation, the watch will make a call to an emergency number, but we must set it in advance in the application. Also, in the event of a fall, the watch should make such a call automatically.
NFC and watch payments
Initial information about NFC support was not very positive, but Xiaomi pleased many fans and added NFC support to the global version of the watch. Just the update to the mentioned version 2.4.6. brought support for payments through the Xiaomi Pay service.
Of the Slovak banks, this service is currently supported only by mBank, Prima Banka, 365 Banka and VÚB. However, it can be circumvented using the Curve service, which we already wrote about with the watch Xiaomi Watch S1 Active. The Curve card allows you to associate your own cards with this service, thanks to which you can pay with funds from your own card, even if you actually use a Curve card.
For reasons still unknown, at first the terminals in the stores were unable to recognize the card when we placed the watch. The terminal reported the warning "Unrecognized card, insert again". After we deleted the card from Xiaomi Pay and added it again, the payments started working for us.
Similar to other Xiaomi watches, here too, before paying, we must always select the payment application in the watch and click on the "Payments" button. At that moment, the 60 seconds during which the card is active in the watch will start counting down.
Security was also thought of, so when adding a card, we have to set a 6-digit PIN code, which the watch requires every time we take it off our wrist.
Endurance and charging
Xiaomi gives an average endurance of 15 days with normal use, with an always-on display it is 5 days. You can also find the exact conditions and settings under which this endurance was measured on the official Xiaomi website. In essence, these are default settings, preset dial design, 200 display lights per day, 15 minutes of talk time per week, and so on.
We personally did not use the always-on display, but we activated the continuous monitoring of the heart rate, SpO2 and stress levels. At the same time, we turned on extended sleep measurement and used NFC payments. We tracked only 4 activities, two of which lasted approximately 2 hours.
We drained the battery from 100% to 20% in 6 days. It is not a matter of poor endurance, as we used the watch quite intensively. Especially with such a watch, the durability is very difficult to estimate, as it depends a lot on use.
The watch is charged using a magnetic adapter with a pair of pins and quite quickly. You can see the charging progress in the table below:
| capacity | time |
|---|---|
| 20 - 50% | 10 minutes and 37 seconds |
| 75% | 20 minutes and 16 seconds |
| 90% | 28 minutes and 35 seconds |
| 100% | 43 minutes and 40 seconds |
Notifications, Settings and Control Center
Perhaps one of the most used functions of a smart watch is the display of notifications from various applications on a smartphone. In the Mi Fitness application, we can choose whether we want to receive notifications from all applications or only from selected ones.
Notifications are displayed without any problems, without delay, but one small thing still bothered us. If we receive a notification e.g. from Messenger, the watch display sometimes shows the application from which the notification comes first, and only then the content itself, i.e. the message. It only happens occasionally, not always.
Another problem is that the watch can't display smileys and only shows squares instead.
Let's also mention the control center, which can be accessed by swiping up from the bottom of the display. There are quick links for turning on do not disturb mode, turning off sounds, turning off the display lighting when raising the wrist, settings, flashlight, power saving mode, finding a smartphone and cleaning from water.
The settings offer changing the dials and their customization, connecting Bluetooth headphones, adjusting the volume of notifications or the intensity of vibrations. Several settings are related to the display, where we can choose the interval for the display to automatically turn off, wake up by picking up or double tapping, sleep by covering or always-on display.
Other settings relate to notifications, where we can choose whether the display should wake up immediately after receiving a notification, or whether we want to receive notifications only when the smartphone is locked. Here we also find automatic detection of sports activity, switching the layout of the main menu or adjusting the function of the bottom button.
Xiaomi Watch S3: Final evaluation
The Xiaomi Watch S3 is a very pleasant smart watch that offers quite a lot of music for a reasonable and attractive price of just slightly over 100 EUR. They will please you with a nice AMOLED display, an elegant design and the possibility of customizing the design using a replaceable bezel.
The watch works almost without any problems, the Xiaomi HyperOS system is smooth, and it also offers heart rate monitoring, SpO2, sleep length or stress levels. There is also tracking of activity during sports and a score of overall vitality.
Bluetooth calls, trouble-free notifications and NFC support for payments with the watch via the Xiaomi Pay service will also please you. The Xiaomi Watch S3 is definitely a very interesting choice if you are looking for a smart watch with NFC payments and Bluetooth calls at an affordable price.
The volume when calling is OK You just need to add sound 🙂 On what principle does the replaceable bezel work - how does the phone recognize the bezel?
Hello, Thank you for this review. I would like to ask you if the Xiaomi Watch S3 has an altimeter, a kind of floor counter like the one that Fitbit Blaze has.
Thank you in advance.
Has the Watch S3 einen Speicher für eg Musik?
No