Tool Reviews

Amazfit GTR 4 is a model from the new line, which is officially sold in Russia. The watch has a large round screen, a microphone with a speaker for receiving calls and a Wi-Fi module. Widget installation is also supported. All this, in theory, raises the gadget to the rank of a full-fledged competitor to Apple and Samsung. But how are things really? Let’s find out in the review.

Table of contents

Specifications

Design and Usability

Appearance has always been and remains the strong point of Amazfit watches. If the design of the GTR 3 Pro model is rather “streamlined”, then the GTR 4 has a more strict design, with flat ends of the body. At the same time, by adding divisions to the screen frame and red accents to the buttons, the watch does not look like a typical classic.

The buttons themselves are convenient and practical: the bottom one launches the sports mode, prompting you to select the type of exercise, and the top one opens the menu and returns to the dial.

Also, the top button can be rotated like a crown, scrolling through menu items and controlling other interfaces. For example, with its help it will be possible to scroll through notifications or adjust the brightness of the screen when the corresponding setting is open.

The watch strap is brown, made of artificial leather, with a classic metal buckle and a standard spring fastening (22 mm). It is harsh and tactile is not very pleasant.

In some markets, the watch comes with a black silicone strap that is more comfortable for everyday use. It is clearly softer and more elastic, but, as write in foreign reviews, this option is also not particularly suitable for sports – traces of sweat remain on the strap.

However, for sports, the GTR 4 is not the best option, regardless of the strap. The metal case with flat edges presses hard when the wrist is bent. And if you loosen the strap, the sensors on the inner surface will lose contact with the skin.

You can get rid of discomfort if you tighten the strap above your wrist. But during sleep, this will no longer save – after all, the watch is large enough not to feel it on your hand, especially when it is under the pillow. This is worth considering if you are not used to removing the accessory at night.

Screen

The screen is one of the highlights of the Amazfit GTR 4. It is a bright 1.43-inch AMOLED panel with a resolution of 466×466 pixels. Fingerprints and swipe marks are practically invisible on the glass, so the display will not look smudged even with heavy use.

In the sun, the screen does not glare, since the panel itself is flat. Auto-brightness is, and it works fine. Even in direct sunlight, there are no problems with readability.

In terms of sensitivity, the panel also did not disappoint, pressing and swiping are read quickly. Unless when working with notifications, swipes are always delayed. It is less than a second, but noticeable. And this – probably a software – problem spoiled the impression of the response as a whole.

Management and opportunities

Clock interface

The watch is running proprietary OS Zepp 2.0. Its interface is quite standard for modern smart watches. At the head of everything is the dial. A swipe down opens a two-page quick action curtain like on smartphones, and a swipe up reveals notifications.

Swiping left and right from the watch face lets you flip through mini-app cards for sports, weather, sleep, and more. There are also various summaries and metrics.

Clicking on the card opens more detailed information with data analysis and statistics that can be scrolled up with swipes. The list and order of the cards themselves is configured in the Zepp app on your smartphone.

Communications and music

On the watch screen, you can view messages from instant messengers on your smartphone, but the font is quite large, and often the text does not fill the entire output area. It does not look very readable and clearly needs to be improved.

Viewed messages are not synced. That is, notifications accumulate until you delete them from the watch with a swipe to the left and clicking on the trash (yes, in two actions) or all of them in a bunch.

Also, in the text of messages, media files are replaced by a square (□) or a word (for example, “video message”), and emoji are not displayed at all. Although it will turn out to respond to the message with a smiley, which is strange. There are also standard stub responses like “I’m busy. We’ll talk later.” There is no typing, as well as the ability to record voice.

The microphone and speaker allow you to answer incoming calls. The audibility of the interlocutor is not bad, in a quiet place or, for example, while driving, the function will be useful.

You can also use the microphone to dictate voice notes. They are stored in the watch’s memory. From it, they can be output to a speaker or connected Bluetooth headphones.

You can also listen to music directly from the watch, which sometimes allows you not to take your smartphone with you. There are about 2 GB of free space for tracks. To transfer from a smartphone, you will need to connect the watch to Wi-Fi – this is activated from the gadget curtain, and the password is entered in the Zepp application.

It is possible to control music on the phone, including from Yandex Music and other streaming services.

Functions for sports and health

Amazfit GTR 4 is equipped with a BioTracker 4.0 PPG optical sensor with two LEDs. According to manufacturer, it collects 33% more data than the previous generation.

There were no problems with tracking physical activity. You can measure heart rate, blood oxygen levels, stress levels and breaths per minute even at the same time by pressing one button (45 seconds of waiting).

The accuracy of all measurements is plus or minus the same as on the Apple Watch Series 5, which was also on hand during some tests of the GTR 4. The greatest discrepancy was only in the barometric altimeter – at an altitude of more than 1,000 meters, the difference in readings turned out to be about 10%, and closer to True, there were Apple watches.

Sports fans GTR 4 offers more than 150 different workouts. This includes basic activities such as running, cycling, swimming and yoga, as well as some very niche activities such as sailing, belly dancing, archery and even chess. Most are added explicitly for quantity. It would be better for smart accessory developers to increase the number of activities that are automatically recognized. There are only eight of them so far:

1. walking,
2. Treadmill,
3. street running,
4. elliptical trainer,
5. a ride on the bicycle,
6. indoor walking,
7. rowing machine,
8. swimming in the pool.

Sleep analysis with phases, scores and wake-up counter is also available. The work of the function did not cause any complaints, but sometimes the watch takes a simple lying in bed for a light sleep. Although this is a problem with many smart accessories.

With one of the updates, support for downloadable GPS routes should appear, but for now, you will have to be content with just regular path tracking.

Application installation

The manufacturer made a special emphasis on mini-applications for watches during the presentation of the gadget. The developers promised dozens of different tools that expand the capabilities of the accessory.

At the time of this writing, there were about 50 programs available for installation, but 90% of them were added as if for show. Some duplicate the standard features, some offer some useless advice, and some do not start at all.

Potentially useful apps include a calculator, water reminder, weight recording, Stocks for tracking stocks, and a GoPro client for remote photography. Although, again, Amazfit GTR 4 is inconvenient for outdoor activities and even more so for extreme sports.

Other features

The clock is synchronized with the calendar on the smartphone and shows the upcoming events. They also allow you to set alarms and search for your phone by sending a sound signal to it.

There is also the already familiar remote shooting with the camera running on the smartphone and the ability to view to-do lists saved in the Zepp application.

The watch itself can signal new notifications using vibration or a sound signal. There are usually no delays or gaps, but there is another problem – the watch continues to “click” even if it has been lying on the table for a long time. It would be nice to make the signals automatically turn off when the user removes the gadget.

Zepp application

The Zepp app has seen a significant change over the past couple of years and has received a more uniform design – without sections that differ in design. However, it did not become less complicated and overloaded. Many of the necessary settings still have to be searched for in several sections, along the way checking if they are on the watch itself.

At the same time, from the point of view of displaying data on sports and health, everything is very convenient – graphs and metrics are displayed in visual blocks on the Zepp home page. Almost all of them are clickable and collapse to display only the basic information.

On the Health tab, you can set goals for steps, weight, and sleep, as well as launch running, walking, and cycling modes. There is also an option that allows you to follow the progress of friends and family who use Amazfit devices.

The Profile tab allows you to manage the added devices. It is on it that all the settings of the GTR 4 watch, installed applications and dials are collected.

By the way, about the watch faces: there are more than a hundred of them, but many are paid, and payment must be made through Google Play. In other words, in Russia you will have to be content with the standard set.

Some watch faces have background animation, others are customizable (for example, heart rate can be replaced with battery percentage), and still others can change colors depending on the time of day. But the choice is still limited, and the available options can quickly get boring for those who are used to changing something often.

autonomy

The manufacturer promised up to 14 days of battery life and did not disappoint. The gadget lasted a full 15 days with constant notifications, systematic heart rate measurements and automatic screen brightness. Calls were only taken a few times for tests. If they are abused, the operating time will be significantly reduced. The same goes for GPS tracking.

The watch is powered by a complete magnetic charger, which is attached to the back of the watch. Full 100% takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes. There is no Qi recharge – you can’t charge from a smartphone with reverse recharge.

Results

Over the past couple of years, Amazfit watches have changed design, acquired new features, improved sensors, but the balance of advantages and disadvantages from year to year remains the same. On the one hand, this is a watch with a good design, an excellent screen, the ability to receive calls and top autonomy. On the other hand, it is still a gadget without an ecosystem of applications that would increase the life cycle of the device.

Yes, a start has been made with applications, a semblance of a store has appeared, but so far there is nothing to choose from. There is no feeling that the list of programs will be constantly updated with something really useful. For example, clients of music services, planners or instant messengers.

If the lack of the ability to expand watch usage scenarios does not scare you, then Amazfit GTR 4 for its 13,999 rubles looks like an interesting option. They may well become your companion, who will listen and save voice notes, broadcast calls from a smartphone, monitor activity and sleep. And, in the end, this watch does not need to be charged every day or two – this is still a very big plus.

Advantages

• Nice appearance.
• Bright display.
• Convenient wheel button.
• Excellent autonomy.
• Ability to receive calls.

Flaws

• Inconvenient body for sports.
• Overloaded Zepp application.
• A modest selection of decent dials.
• A minimum of useful applications in the store.

Buy

The author thanks Amazfit for providing the device for testing. The company had no opportunity to influence its result.