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r̥A smart band is a good compromise when you don’t want a full smartwatch but still want to track your fitness. Xiaomi popularised this lightweight form factor way back in 2015 when they launched the attractively priced Mi Band. It weighed less than a couple of coins and had a battery that you could charge and forget about for over a month. But it didn’t have a display and functionality was limited.
You could say they have now perfected the form factor after multiple iterations. This latest Mi Band 5 can rival any smartwatch in terms of the number of features it offers while retaining the diminutive form factor. It has a larger and better colour OLED screen, more tracking modes (including yoga), guided breathing exercise, stress monitoring, women’s health tracking and something called PAI (Personal Activity Intelligence).
New feature
It also has all the usual features like steps, heart rate, sleep tracking that you all probably know. But for us, the best new feature has to be the nifty magnetic charging cable. No need to remove the core to charge it - just bring the magnetic cable near and it quickly snaps onto the underside of the band.
You need to pair the band using the Mi Fit app and there are now hundreds of new watch faces so you can really customise to your heart’s content. Battery life is a fairly decent 10 to 14 days. Decent for a smart band that is because even the Mi Watch Revolve can achieve that. now.
Steps, exercise, sleep and heart rate tracking are quite accurate thanks to improved biosensors and algorithms but the stress monitoring is hit and miss. PAI gives you an overall health score but at this point, it seems more like a gimmick. Ultimately, we think that if you have a Mi Band 4, there’s no big reason to upgrade but the Mi Band 5 is no doubt the best version yet: fully loaded yet affordable and with a well thought out app. We just wish the design could have been updated too.
Price: ₹2,499
Pros: Vibrant 1.1” AMOLED display, magnetic charging cable, hundreds of watch faces, includes heart rate, stress level, breathing, PAI, sports, sleep
Cons: Dated boring design, bands are hard to swap, too large bezels on top/bottom, stress and step accuracy not 100%
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