Huami Amazfit GTS 2 mini in review: Functional and currently discounted smartwatch with Alexa

Huami has a total of eight watches under the Amazfit GT model name: Four round ones (GTR) and four square-shaped ones (GTS). With its 1.55-inch display, the square-shaped GTR 2 mini is the smallest of them. All except one have an aluminum case; the Amazfit GTR 2 is alternatively available with a steel case in the Classic edition. The AMOLED automatically regulates its brightness thanks to an ambient light sensor. However, Huami doesn't protect the display glass, which is rounded towards the edges, with a coating or with tempered glass as in most other models.

The smallest square-shaped Amazfit Watch doesn't have NFC, GPS, or a barometric sensor to independently track routes. Nevertheless, it has a microphone that allows it to communicate with Amazon's voice assistant Alexa. In addition, the BioTracker 2 sensor developed by Huami not only measures heart rate but also blood oxygen saturation.

These include alarms, task reminders, and a Pomodoro tracker. It promotes focused work with a timer that ensures that the user takes a short break of 5 minutes, for example, after having worked for a predefined period of time (25 minutes are the default); after that break, the user can get back to work for the same amount of time.

In addition, the device shows a weather forecast for several days and controls both the music player and the smartphone's camera. According to the manufacturer, the latter only works with some compatible smartphones - the iPhone 12 Pro used in our test is one of them.

If you connect to Amazon Alexa through the app, you can launch it with a widget. The corresponding widget didn't always respond immediately to requests like turning on a lamp, because the voice assistant needs a stable connection to the smartphone. Since the Huami watch doesn't have a speaker, it shows the requested information on the display.

The watch always shows how close you are to achieving your daily stand goal as well as the number of steps and active minutes you have targeted. This also applies to the heart rate and heart rate variability, measures that show the effects of stress on physical condition.

While the Amazfit GTS 2e displays the achievement of goals in three rings, the Amazfit GTS 2 mini only shows two: The activity minutes aren't displayed, even though there were 50 workout minutes on the day in question.

Based on the aggregated health data, Huami also calculates an index according to the PAI (Personal Activity Intelligence) health assessment system.

The fitness tracker logs the times at which the user falls asleep and wakes up, and it also registers power naps of 20 minutes or more during the day. In the chart displayed within the Zepp app, Huami combines the sleep phases with the logged heart rate.

Once again, we deliberately chose the same date as in the review of the Amazfit GTS 2e to show an example of the log: Despite using the same general parameters, such as the intensity for heart rate measurement, the two logs are not identical. Among other things, the difference in the assessment of breathing quality is striking, since the Amazfit GTS 2 mini rates it as weak, while the Amazfit GTS 2e rates it as mild.

Even switching the bands from the left to the right arm and vice versa didn't change the fact that the data captured by the GTS 2e always seems more accurate than that of the GTS 2 mini. While the latter also displays the sleep data on the wrist, the Amazfit GTS 2e only shows it in the app.

We compare heart rate and blood oxygen saturation measurements several times with the results of a medically certified pulse oximeter. The oxygen saturation was rarely within the measured range of the pulse oximeter, but the average deviation of 2% isn't unusual. There were deviations of up to 8 beats per minute in terms of heart rate.

More than 70 sports are installed on the Amazfit GTS 2 mini. Unlike the Amazfit GTS 2e, it doesn't automatically track walking, running, or cycling, but if you want to, it will automatically stop tracking when it detects a break. The total time between the start and end of the bike ride shown here was 3 hours; the automatic break detection reduced the workout duration to a net time of 2 hours. The Amazfit GTS 2e came to a net time of 2 hours and 5 seconds for this same lap, so it matches the Amazfit GTS 2 mini with the exception of a few seconds.

Unlike the Amazfit GTS 2e, the Amazfit GTS 2 mini only shows the heart rate and pulse zone in the app's log, not on the smartwatch. However, you're better off with the mini version during workouts, because it allows you to customize the data fields that are displayed. That is not possible with the Amazfit GTS 2e.

The Amazfit GTS 2 mini tracks routes with an altitude profile, and the Zepp app exports them if desired. In Google Maps, we compare the GPX track of the Amazfit GTS 2 mini with the simultaneous track of the Garmin Venue 2s: When looking at the details, the red track of the Amazfit GTS 2 mini isn't quite as precise as the gray track of the Garmin watch. This can be seen in the area of the train underpass and when crossing the street. At 4.68 kilometers, the total distance recorded by the Amazfit smartwatch is the same as that of the Garmin watch.

The Amazfit GTS 2 mini is available in Flamingo Pink, Midnight Black, and Sage Green. It has an MSRP of $99.99, but you can already find it at a discounted price on Amazon for $79.99 (20% off coupon).