Amazfit Verge smartwatch launches in the US at $160 with GPS, voice assistance, and more great features
Huami is quite possibly the largest tech company you’ve never heard of, having shipped an impressive 18.1 million wearable devices around the world in 2017 alone. Founded only half a decade ago, this Xiaomi-backed outfit sells ultra-affordable activity trackers and smartwatches under the Amazfit brand, which has been steadily growing in popularity on the Western Hemisphere in addition to China.
The company’s latest China-first product is called Amazfit Verge, fetching $159.99 in the US starting today ahead of December 18 shipments. That’s an incredibly low price point for a feature-packed smartwatch that looks a little like the Huawei Watch 2 Sport.
That’s a compliment, mind you, and it’s hard to find a single essential feature missing from the impressive spec sheet of this “fine-looking smartwatch for the fashion-conscious fitness enthusiast.”
The Amazfit Verge is even cheaper than Mobvoi’s TicWatch C2 while offering everything from built-in GPS functionality to an optical heart rate monitor, NFC support for wrist payments, and “onboard” music for “phone-free exercise.”
Somehow, Huami also claims this bad boy can run for a whopping 5 days between battery charges, despite sporting a no doubt power-hungry “bright” 1.3-inch AMOLED display. Voice assistance technology with smart home integration represents the icing on this deliciously inexpensive cake, with Amazon Alexa support coming at the end of the year, according to The Verge.
The same publication confirms what’s merely suggested in Huami’s press release and on the US product webpage of the Amazfit Verge by omission. Namely, that some sort of a proprietary OS runs the software show here rather than Google’s Play Store-accessing Wear OS platform.
Supported music streaming services and digital wallet apps are also unspecified, which might be additional cause for concern, but if it makes you feel any better, the Verge (the smartwatch, not the tech website) has the ability to make and receive voice calls by connecting to an Android phone’s Bluetooth chip.
The company’s latest China-first product is called Amazfit Verge, fetching $159.99 in the US starting today ahead of December 18 shipments. That’s an incredibly low price point for a feature-packed smartwatch that looks a little like the Huawei Watch 2 Sport.
The Amazfit Verge is even cheaper than Mobvoi’s TicWatch C2 while offering everything from built-in GPS functionality to an optical heart rate monitor, NFC support for wrist payments, and “onboard” music for “phone-free exercise.”
Somehow, Huami also claims this bad boy can run for a whopping 5 days between battery charges, despite sporting a no doubt power-hungry “bright” 1.3-inch AMOLED display. Voice assistance technology with smart home integration represents the icing on this deliciously inexpensive cake, with Amazon Alexa support coming at the end of the year, according to The Verge.
The same publication confirms what’s merely suggested in Huami’s press release and on the US product webpage of the Amazfit Verge by omission. Namely, that some sort of a proprietary OS runs the software show here rather than Google’s Play Store-accessing Wear OS platform.
Supported music streaming services and digital wallet apps are also unspecified, which might be additional cause for concern, but if it makes you feel any better, the Verge (the smartwatch, not the tech website) has the ability to make and receive voice calls by connecting to an Android phone’s Bluetooth chip.
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