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Apple

Xiaomi Launches Mi Watch, Its $185 Apple Watch Clone 34

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Xiaomi, which competes with Apple for the top position in the wearable market, today made the competition a little more interesting. The Chinese electronics giant has launched its first smartwatch called the Mi Watch that looks strikingly similar to the Apple Watch in its home market. From a report: The Mi Watch, like the Apple Watch, has a square body with a crown and a button. It sports a 1.78-inch AMOLED display (326 ppi) that offers the always-on capability and runs MIUI for Watch, the company's homegrown wearable operating system based on Google's Wear OS. Inside the metal housing -- aluminum alloy with a matte finish -- are microphones on two sides for recording audio and taking calls, and a loudspeaker on the left to listen to music or incoming calls. The Mi Watch, which comes in one size -- 44mm -- has a ceramic back, which is where the charging pins and a heart rate sensor are also placed. The Mi Watch is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 3100 4G chipset with four Cortex A7 cores clocked at 1.2GHz, coupled with 1GB of RAM and 8GB storage. The company says its first smartwatch supports cellular connectivity (through an eSIM), Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, and NFC for payments. The Mi Watch should last for 36 hours on a single charge on cellular mode, the company claimed. The Mi Watch is priced at CNY 1,299 ($185) and will go on sale in the country next week.
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Xiaomi Launches Mi Watch, Its $185 Apple Watch Clone More

Xiaomi Launches Mi Watch, Its $185 Apple Watch Clone

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  • Why would a Chinese high tech firm rip off yet another Apple product when so much attention is being give to the IP theft problem? I really like the Apple watch, but there is a vast amount of room for improvement.

    The Chinese are perfectly capable of designing innovative products and a smart watch is a perfect way to demonstrate originality. Why on earth would they just make a cheap imitation?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      They don't look that similar anyway. The Apple watch has a more rounded, kinda retro aesthetic. There are no flat surfaces, everything has a curve including the screen at the edges.

      The Mi Watch is more boxy with flat sides and a tighter curve radius to the edges of the screen.

      The straps are completely different. The Apple Watch is thinner with the dial is larger relative to the body and seems to protrude slightly above the screen, where as the Mi's is a little bit further back.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • It is similar to the Apple Watch in much the same way the Apple Watch was similar to the first generation Pebble: both are square/rectangular, with a screen on the front, and a band, and a knob/buttons for control. The UI, the functionality, the battery life, the capabilities, and the price - all different. If you want to say the Xiaomi watch is very similar to the Apple Watch, then we have to say the Apple Watch is very similar to the Pebble.
    • I was in Hong Kong some years back and in a street market there was an "iPhone 6" packaged to look exactly like a genuine iPhone.
      It was not until you looked at the box carefully that you saw "Android 4.2" or what ever the version of Android was installed.

    • Why would a Chinese high tech firm rip off yet another Apple product when so much attention is being give to the IP theft problem?

      Because they don't give a flying fuck what we think about their IP theft.

      The Chinese are perfectly capable of designing innovative products and a smart watch is a perfect way to demonstrate originality. Why on earth would they just make a cheap imitation?

      They don't care about impressing you. The apple watch paved a trail and the cheapest way to start production/sales is to cut out a lot of R&D and just copy what exists. They want to make money.

    • It's not an Apple ripoff - it runs a different OS and doesn't need to be tethered to a phone to make phone calls, do email, etc.

      • It's not an Apple ripoff - it runs a different OS and doesn't need to be tethered to a phone to make phone calls, do email, etc.

        Apple Watches have been autonomous for at least THREE major generations now. The 3rd, 4th and 5th generation Apple Watches are available with LTE transceivers. IIRC, the only thing you need an iPhone for with them is the initial setup; however, some features do require a WiFi network.

        https://support.apple.com/guid... [apple.com]

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

        https://9to5mac.com/2018/06/25... [9to5mac.com]

        https://www.fastcompany.com/90... [fastcompany.com]

      • I defy anybody to tell the difference looking at these watches from more than 5 feet away.

        If you look at Apple's design patent, this watch looks to be in gross violation (https://www.theverge.com/2015/5/6/8558589/apple-watch-design-patent)

        I wish I could post pictures on /. I'm looking at a side by side of both and the physical U/I is *identical*

        I think you can do the things you mention with an Apple Watch (https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/use-apple-watch-without-its-paired-iphone-apd0443fb403/wat

  • That is more like what it going to happen with this. I wonder if having to wear one of these is going to become a legal requirement in China... whoo hooo!

    • That Applies to the USA as well you know.

      AND the US government keep pushing for a back door into encryption.

  • The Chinese electronics giant has launched its first smartwatch called the Mi Watch that looks strikingly similar to the Apple Watch in its home market.

    Does the Apple Watch look different in China? Or does the Mi Watch only look like the Apple Watch when it is in China? Here, watch this:

    The Chinese electronics giant has launched in its home market its first smartwatch, called the Mi Watch — that looks strikingly similar to the Apple Watch.

    Was that so hard? (Apparently, yes.)

    Then we're treated to a

    • What, you think TechCrunch employs editors? ... Or even people trained in writing, for that matter?

      When I read an article on a tech website nowadays, I’m impressed if they’ve managed not to misspell anything.

    • It doesn't run Apple apps, so it's as much a "clone" as any of dozens of other Android smart watches.

      • It doesn't run Apple apps, so it's as much a "clone" as any of dozens of other Android smart watches.

        It looks exactly like the Apple Watch. While a squarish smartwatch is pretty generic from a design standpoint, the crown shape and placement is almost identical. Which is funny because in the US, at least, I can't see there being much of a market for a watch that looks like an Apple Watch but isn't. If you like watches, you'll want something distinct. If you like Apple products, you'll want the real thing. If you just want to be stylish, that ship has sailed.

        • It's not even similar.

          The Apple watch looks more like the Pebble watch than this looks like the Apple watch.

          • Did you look? If it weren't for the Chinese writing, I wouldn't know which was which. I'm not an Apple or smart watch person, so I did an image searching after following the link to TFA. I guess the Xiamoi isn't as rounded? Otherwise I don't see any meaningful differences.
            Xiamoi [techcrunch.com]
            Apple [cdn-apple.com]

            • There's very little difference between any of these devices, from a cosmetic standpoint, because the current design aesthetic for electronics is minimalist.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • If I was looking to buy a knock-off watch, I think I would go for a fake Omega! Buying a reasonably expensive imitation of an Apple product seems daft, especially when it isn't identical and won't work in the Apple ecosystem.
    • This also doubles as a cellphone replacement. Takes a SIM card,,you can leave your phone at home or not worry about dropping it, losing it, or bending it if you leave it in your back pocket and sit on it.

      Better than Dick Tracy's watch.

      • Sure, it looks ok, I wouldn't give up my smartphone though. Remember when Slashdot didn't just rip off other tech sites for their stories though?!

      • This also doubles as a cellphone replacement. Takes a SIM card,,you can leave your phone at home or not worry about dropping it, losing it, or bending it if you leave it in your back pocket and sit on it.

        Better than Dick Tracy's watch.

        So does the Apple Watch. And it has an entire mobile and desktop ecosystem, a government-approved ECG function and Apps to make it even more useful.

        And it doesn't stream all your Contacts to China.

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