Huami takes aim at Garmin with new Stratos 3 sports watch
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At an event at the IFA 2019 in Berlin yesterday, Chinese wearable manufacturer Huami launched two new smartwatches. The new Amazfit Stratos 3 and 3 Plus are the most professional sports watches the company has ever made.
The Stratos 3 is designed for a wide range of sports activities and during the press conference, Huami Founder Chairman and CEO, Wang Huang, was keen for the new Stratos 3 to be taken seriously as a proper, professional sports watch. Specs and stats were compared to Garmin's top models. That is a high bar to reach.
It features a transflective MIP display that is easier for outdoor runners to read even in direct sunlight. On the outside, there are four physical buttons for easy operation with sweaty hands. The idea here is that touch controls are tricky when you are moving around or exercising. The round display is capable of producing 260,000 colors, according to the manufacturer.
The sporty watch also features a dual-core mode that doubles battery life from 7 days to 14 days. Users can decide for themselves if they want to use it and can adjust it manually. The special feature of this energy-saving mode is that important functions such as 24-hour heart rate measurement, notifications and eleven different sports modes can still be used. It uses two chips, and two independent systems for this. You can choose from smart mode, ultra mode or hybrid.
Nineteen sports modes are supported, featuring more demanding endurance activities such as cross-country runs, hikes and climbs. The GPS can track the route continuously for 35 to 70 hours. A chip enables GPS positioning using three modes/four satellites for higher speed and accuracy. Huami said you can switch the mode of the GPS depending on whether you want more battery life or better accuracy. Working out the actual battery life is confusing, but Huami said to expect to hit two weeks with the display always from a single charge.
Huami is also working with Firstbeat to provide the Amazfit Stratos 3 with professional sports analysis features such as VO2Max data, exercise effects, exercise load and recovery time. Together with the specially developed heart rate sensor Bio-Tracker.
The strap is breathable, and made of silicone on the regular Stratos 3 and Fluorubber on the Plus variant.
The Plus version is a more premium version, essentially. Materials are upgraded such as titanium alloy instead of stainless steel for the body and a sapphire screen with grade 9 Mohs hardness.
The Stratos 3 will be available in early October for a price of €199.99. The Stratos 3 Plus will launch a little later, Huami didn't say when, and will cost €229.99.
