If you find existing fitness trackers a little plain and ordinary in their design, the new Amazfit X might be for you. It features a futuristic-looking curved display that wraps around your wrist, and a metal case for extra durability and polish.
We've seen ultra-affordable wearables from the Amazfit brand before, but this time its parent company Huami – working in partnership with Xiaomi – is taking the crowdfunding route to production, putting the Amazfit X up on Indiegogo.
There doesn't seem much danger of the product not going on sale in August as planned though, as it has already attracted more than 10 times the original funding goal of US$20,000. Crowdfunding also lets Huami offer an early bird pledge level of $149 for the wearable, with the standard retail price listed at $329.
The 2.07-inch color AMOLED screen on this device has a 92-degree arc, and its maker says it's elongated to fit as much information on the display as possible (cutting down on scrolling time). You've got a choice of watch faces and more than 40 widgets to pick from. Even with that large color screen, an impressive seven days of battery life is quoted, and apparently the battery is curved to fit as well.
In terms of health monitoring and fitness tracking, the Amazfit X can monitor everything you would expect, including heart rate and sleep quality. GPS is on board too, which means you're able to track your running or cycling routes without having to carry your smartphone around with you.
Blood oxygen levels can be measured too, giving you an idea of how hard your body is working, and the device will even have a go at trying to figure out when you're stressed – if your heart rate rises, you might get a prompt to take a break and take a breath. As is par for the course on these sorts of trackers, you'll also get reminders to move around if you've been sitting in one place for too long.
There are a total of nine different sports modes to make use of, offering both tracking and coaching tips to improve your workouts and exercises: indoor fitness, indoor cycling, pool swimming, walking, outdoor running, outdoor cycling, open water swimming, treadmill and elliptical.
As those swimming modes suggest, the Amazfit X is waterproof to a depth of 50 meters (164 ft). The wearable doesn't support third-party apps, so you can't stick Spotify or Uber on here, but it will alert you when you get a notification on your smartphone.
From the specs on show and Amazfit's track record we've got no reason to believe this won't be a good quality wearable when it finally arrives. That said, the usual crowdfunding caveats apply. The Indiegogo campaign runs for another month and, if all goes to plan, shipping is estimated for August.
Source: Amazfit
