Galaxy Watch 8<\/a> do this, too, but Xiaomi\u2019s implementation should, in theory, be more sensitive to the gesture.<\/p>\nIn fact, it allows a lot more \u2014 the settings screen showed us that it can read pinch, rubbing two fingers together, wrist flicks and writs shakes. Getting the latter two to work reliably is a bit of a challenge still, so I\u2019m going to give myself some time with that.<\/p>\n
For fitness, it may also help the watch understand when your muscles are getting tired, and how long of a recovery you might need afterwards. Though, we witnessed no such implementation for the time being.<\/p>\n
![\"Plenty](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG-20260228-194953.webp.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Plenty of exercises to choose from | Image by PhoneArena<\/p>\n
At its core, it\u2019s a smartwatch that will enhance the user experience from your smartphone. Delivering notifications and calls, of course. Then, there are the health features which are still tied to the Xiaomi Health app, instead of the Fitbit app that Google\u2019s Pixel Watches use.<\/p>\n
Said health features include heart rate measurements, ECG, blood oxygen measurements, stress levels, even VO2 Max. The app supports a huge amount of fitness tracking modes, from the cycling and running exercises to yoga, dance, darts, and frisbee.
\nThere\u2019s a combined \u201cCheckup\u201d app, which will follow all of your readings, including sleep quality and HR during sleep and give you some more in-depth data.<\/p>\n
On Google\u2019s side, you get the return of the Google Wallet, Google Maps, and Gemini right on the watch. Plus, a richer app system thanks to the Play Store. It even worked as a remote shutter button for my camera, even though I did not pair it to a Xiaomi smartphone. However, it didn\u2019t show me a remote viewfinder, just the shutter button.<\/p>\n
Does it look good?<\/p>\n
![\"Stainless](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG-20260228-154550.webp.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Stainless steel and sapphire glass | Image by PhoneArena<\/p>\n
It is a pretty good-looking smartwatch. It\u2019s kind of on the big side, with its 1.54-inch screen, but it\u2019s not too bulky or \u201ctall\u201d. The case is made of stainless steel polished to a shine, and both its front and back are sandwiched with sapphire glass for \u2014 hopefully \u2014 better scratch resistance.Since it\u2019s a Wear OS watch, it uses two buttons on the side \u2014 one is the app menu button, but also acts like a digital crown when you rotate it. The one below is your shortcut button to send you straight into a workout menu.<\/p>\n
![\"Pretty](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Watch-Faces.webp.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Pretty good watchface collection, too | Image by PhoneArena<\/p>\n
There are a lot of watchfaces to pick from, and I have to say \u2014 I liked more than a few of them, a lot looked inoffensive, and just a few select ones made me go \u201cew\u201d.<\/p>\n
The battery life
Xiaomi\u2019s Watch 3S used to run on the proprietary HyperOS, which was leaner and provided longer battery endurance. The new switch to Wear OS is sure to take a toll on that, as it has the Google services to sync to, the Gemini Assistant, and so forth.<\/p>\n
Yet, Xiaomi says the Watch 5 with Wear OS can last up to 6 days. With endurance mode on, it\u2019d even last 18, Xiaomi says. We have yet to test any of those claims.<\/p>\n
Price and availability<\/p>\n
![\"It](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG-20260228-161916.webp.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
It doesn’t look like Europe is getting a leather or titanium strap | Image by PhoneArena<\/p>\n
The Xiaomi Watch 5 launches immediately in Europe for the price of \u20ac299. No word on a launch in the States and we figure it\u2019s not going there.<\/p>\n
Read the latest from Preslav Kateliev<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Xiaomi just held a rather large and lengthy new product announcement event. While the peak of the show…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[49,48,195,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-506961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gadgets","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-gadgets","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Pinch](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG-20260228-194923.webp.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n