Amazfit Neo Malaysia: A throwback to retro watches with a battery life that lasts for weeks

Amazfit is a brand that has built a reputation on value-for-money smartwatches over the past couple of years—often, with long battery life and full fitness functions to boot. Now, the company is set to launch the Amazfit Neo: a smartwatch dressed up in a Casio-like retro look, along with four weeks of battery life.

Ahead of a global launch, we have now received official word from Amazfit on local pricing and availability details—here’s everything that you need to know.

Price and availability

The Amazfit Neo will be officially available on the 10th of October 2020, with a pre-exclusive launch to happen via Shopee on the 2nd of October 2020. Do note that only 300 units will be available at a promotion price during the pre-exclusive launch.

Official pricing is as follows:

Amazfit Neo (Shopee pre-exclusive launch) – RM139 (300 units)
Amazfit Neo (Shopee official launch) – RM149

Only a single colour option of Black is available. To visit the official store, click here.

Specs

As you can see, the Amazfit Neo sports a retro design that looks reminiscent of Casio’s digital watches, while including a range of fitness functions and smart functionality. You’re looking at a square-ish screen, and controls are limited to four physical buttons—no touchscreen here. Instead, you’ll have a monochromatic STN display which displays the time (of course), and steps via the Always-on feature.

Amazfit promises that the 1.2″ display will be “easy to read” under bright light, and there’s also a backlight for use at night. It’s worth noting that most smartwatches in 2020 utilise OLED displays, so you might have to get used to a rather dated-looking display. With that said, this contributes to some seriously impressive battery figures: 28 days of battery life for regular use on a single charge, with 37 days promised in power-saving mode.

The watch also utilises a plastic body and a PUR strap, which contributes to a weight of just 32g. “Smart” functions such as notifications from supported apps are supported, while there is also a find-my-phone feature to… find your phone when you’ve misplaced it. Amazfit has also equipped the Neo with a BioTracker PPG optical sensor that supports 24/7 heart rate tracking, while there is a PAI Health Assessment System that scores your physical health via heart rate data.

Only three sports modes are available: running, walking, and cycling—although there is 5ATM water resistance. However, it’s worth noting that GPS is not available on the Neo, which means that any location tracking will have to be done via a paired smartphone. This, consequently, means that the Amazfit Neo won’t be suitable as a standalone fitness companion—not if you plan to track your runs or biking sessions.

From first impressions, the Amazfit looks like an interesting device, at a particularly attractive price point. However, options like the Mi Smart Band 5 are priced similarly, and offer similar functionality—with colour displays. Still, if you are a fan of Casio’s classic watches, this might be a worthwhile wearable to consider.