Xiaomi has dared to launch the Redmi Watch 5 Active in an affordable market crowded with smartwatch options for ages. Their strategy to be noticeable is to furnish the watch with the ability to call, a metal body, an IPX8 rating, a large screen, and 140+ sports modes, among others. Has Xiaomi tweaked the Redmi Watch 5 Active precisely beyond fitting it with a heap of features, giving them a fighting chance to stand tall among crowds dominated by brands like Noise and Boat? Let’s dive in and find out in this review.
Redmi Watch 5 Active
Rs 2,799
What Is Good?
- Great build quality and stylish design
- Reliable battery life
- Bright display
- Intuitive UI
- Decent health tracking
What Is Bad?
- Mic quality could have been better
- The display could have been brighter outdoors
Redmi Watch 5 Active Review: Pricing and Availability in India
The Redmi Watch 5 Active is priced at Rs 2,799 and can be bought via Flipkart, Amazon, and offline Xiaomi outlets. It comes in Midnight Black and Matte Silver colourways.
Redmi Watch 5 Active Review: Design and Build Quality
With a rectangular body and rounded corners around the edges, the Redmi Watch 5 Active possesses a design language that is shared among a bucket-load of smartwatches. But since the entire mainframe of the watch has been housed in a metal frame, its durability is enhanced making it suitable for any adventurous activity you throw at it — an uncommon sight in the budget tier. Note that the base of the watch is made of plastic hence not the entirety of the watch contains metal.
Another purpose the metal body serves is that it gives the watch a minimal look. Honestly, it speaks premium with the screen off making people turn their heads for a second look.
| Design | Specifications |
| Thickness | 11.4mm |
| Watch body material | Metal and Plastic |
| Strap quality | TPU |
| Protection | IPX8 |
| Weight | 42.2 grams |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.3 |
Taking the watch’s design to an insane level is the colour it comes in. I got the Midnight Black variant for review and it truly enticed me by how pleasing it looked. This colour pairs well with any outfit you pick, hence accessorising it with your OOTD is hardly a hassle. The strap quality is great, and I didn’t encounter any allergy on my wrist.
The watch comes with an IPX8 rating against splash and sweat. It is a great thing to have, though strangely, it doesn’t have resistance against dust.
Redmi Watch 5 Active Review: Display
The watch has a 2-inch display. Interestingly, the bottom bezel is thicker than the rest. It doesn’t diminish the charm of its design, but it’s something that easily catches the eye.
| Display | Specifications |
| Size | 2-inch |
| Type | LCD |
| Resolution | 320×385 pixels |
| Brightness | 500 nits |
Apart from its bezels, the screen is adept at displaying vivid colours with on-point consistency, so any watch face you set appears appealing.
The display is legible in outdoor conditions. That said, certain watch faces contain intricate elements which made it challenging to observe under direct sunlight. Even a few parameters of health tracking were obscured in this scenario requiring me to tilt my wrist to check. That being said, this issue wasn’t prevalent indoors. Using the watch at 50 per cent brightness was not an issue.
While it does not have an always-on display, its raise-to-wake feature works flawlessly. You also have the option to disable it when sleeping.
Redmi Watch 5 Active Review: Software and Performance
The UI is one of the strong suits of the Redmi Watch 5 Active. The watch comes with HyperOS and navigating through the entire UI and fiddling with each health tracking parameter were a delightful experience as they were generally smooth. It rarely lagged in my testing.
Besides this, I loved the overall look of the UI. It was a perfect blend of elegance and quirkiness for my taste. The best example is the animated heart logo when you measure your heart rate. Kudos to Xiaomi for this.
More importantly, it is quite intuitive. Tinkering with its basic settings is just a gesture away as a swipe-up from the homepage leads you to the quick settings page and checking notifications just needs a swipe-down. Widgets can be accessed by swiping right or left and they are customisable. Accessing the menu page is easy too since all it needs is pressing the button on the watch. By default, the menu page appears in a grid style; akin to the Apple watches. However, changing the layout to the list style will make sense as it gives each option a label simplifying the entire menu if the watch is meant for your parents.
The watch also supports the Bluetooth calling feature, which is quite handy when you don’t have the phone in your proximity. The call quality was loud and clear. An important point to note is that I have been advised to bring the mic close as people had a little tough time picking my voice clearly. Another quirk is that the display doesn’t show the caller’s name — this way, you get to play Russian roulette guessing who is calling you.
You also get nifty features like an alarm clock, music control, built-in Amazon Alexa, and camera control.
Redmi Watch 5 Active Review: Fitness and Health Tracking
On the Redmi Watch 5 Active, you get a standard set of health tracking: heart rate, SpO2, stress, sleep tracker and period. After testing this watch extensively, I can say that it has been able to monitor each parameter almost accurately.
| Health Tracking | Yes/No |
| Heart rate monitoring | Yes |
| SpO2 | Yes |
| Sleep tracking | Yes |
| Activity tracking | Yes |
| Stress tracking | Yes |
The Watch 5 Active is appealing to fitness enthusiasts as it has various workout options to track. I mainly used it for walking. To check how accurately it tracks my walking, I walked for 1000 steps, while manually counting them. The result it gave me slightly fluctuated from my counting by five to seven steps, which is pretty accurate for its price.
One of the reasons for its near accuracy at play would be its built-in GPS. While at it, the watch also leverages it to map your route which was missing in its previous generation.
What impressed me a lot was its sleep tracking. The sleep monitoring works flawlessly and with good consistency. However, it is essential to note that it can’t record the afternoon naps which are usually less than 20 minutes. It only displays the sleep and wake-up time, if the naps are under three hours.
The icing on the cake though is that it neatly packages each data it records in its health companion app: Mi Fitness App. It nicely shows each data and gives you a detailed breakdown when you want to see it. Another great thing about the app is that it has a wide collection of watch faces for you to choose from paired with the ability to add task reminders and events.
Redmi Watch 5 Active Review: Battery and Charging
The tremendous trait of the Redmi Watch 5 Active is its battery life. The watch had mastery of easily lasting up to six days on a single charge with every battery-draining feature enabled. I presume it can last 10 days or more in default mode.
| Battery | Specifications |
| Battery | 470mAh |
| Charging Time | 1 hour and 26 minutes |
The Watch 5 Active uses a proprietary pogo pin connector for charging. The pins connect magnetically at the back, without much fiddling required. However, it is a bit short so finding a space for it to charge without a possibility of getting damaged becomes a strenuous task.
It takes one hour and 26 minutes to charge from 0% to 100%.
Redmi Watch 5 Active Review: Verdict
At Rs 2,799, the Redmi Watch 5 Active checks all the necessary boxes.
The 2-inch display is large enough to keep track of health monitoring and beautifully exhibits each watch face. An AMOLED display could have made this display a lot more enticing, but this would bring its price up as well.
It offers impressive features like a bright display, reliable HyperOS, and a long-lasting battery life. It even covers fitness enthusiasts with a multitude of workout options to track. While at it, the watch can almost monitor all the important parameters like health rate, and spO2 accurately
On top of it, you can call all your companions via the watch. The call quality gets loud and clear but you will occasionally feel the necessity to bring the watch closer for your voice to get clearer.
All in all, the Redmi Watch 5 Active is an ideal choice for someone looking for a reliable smartwatch in the sub-Rs 3,000 price range.
