My favorite $150 smartwatch just got a style upgrade – and looks double the price

I recently reviewed Amazfit’s Active 2 Smartwatch, and it was one of my favorite wearables for its features relative to price. When I heard about a new form factor for the affordable smartwatch, I didn’t think much about it. But after spending a week with the new Amazfit Active 2 Square<!–>, it’s become my preferred choice for a sub-$150 smartwatch.

Also: The best sports watches you can buy: Expert tested

This new square form factor of the Amazfit Active 2 Square–> launches with only the professional option, and a price $20 more than the round model. That additional cost is likely due to the larger display — and the same reason why I have come to prefer it over the round model.

With the vegan leather 20mm watch band and the classy default watch face, the Amazfit Active 2 Square looks like a standard classic watch on your wrist. It is sleek, professional, and thin, so it’s perfect for the office or a night out. 

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Amazfit also includes a red silicone band so with just two clicks you can switch over to an exercise band made of a more porous material, while keeping you comfortable and a 5 ATM water resistance for most environmental conditions.

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The square watch has two buttons on the right side with the top button set to open the app launcher and the bottom button helping you quickly start a workout. You can add one more button action with a customizable long press of the upper right button.

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The watch has a microphone and speaker, so you can record voice notes, activate voice commands, and receive phone calls right from the wrist. GPS positioning proved accurate compared to other sports watches, and heart rate performance was also reliable for an affordable watch. The watch is a perfect option for people looking for a sleek watch and a desire to have an extensive amount of health and wellness data available on their wrist.

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The Zepp smartphone app is well-organized and provides a stunning amount of data and metrics. The first display you see when you launch the app is the home screen, which has the overview, Biocharge metric, sleep, and exertion categories on four separate tabs so you can clearly view all of your data. Other core metrics include resting heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep duration, sleep apnea risk status, and skin temperature. 

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The Performance Analyzer contained within the Zepp Aura module of the Zepp smartphone app provides graphical summaries of key data and then provides summaries, performance analysis, and improvement recommendations. This kind of information is key to making a worthy fitness companion, and the specific guidance provided by Zepp Aura has been very helpful for planning future workouts.

ZDNET’s buying advice

The Amazfit Active 2 Square–> extends the capability of the Amazfit ecosystem to another form factor. With the robust Zepp app, it’s a great smartwatch for new users, as Amazfit has worked hard to help people understand new ways to understand their health besides just looking at health metrics in isolation. 

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