Mi Smart Band 5 Review

Mi Smart Band 5 is the newest providing from Xiaomi within the health band class. This wearable succeeds the Mi Smart Band 4, and has a barely bigger show in addition to new options corresponding to a devoted ladies’s well being tracker, stress monitoring, respiration workouts, distant shutter, and Personal Activity Intelligence (PAI) Index to assist customers assess their general health. Also for the primary time, Xiaomi has launched a magnetic charger on its health band, eliminating the necessity to take away the capsule from the strap for charging.

After carrying the Mi Smart Band 5 for a number of weeks, here is my complete assessment of whether or not this new wearable is an effective buy or not.

Mi Smart Band 5 design

The new Mi Smart Band 5’s general aesthetic has not advanced a lot in comparison with its predecessors. It nonetheless has a capsule with a color show and a thermoplastic elastomer wristband with a loop buckle. It is alleged to have roughly 20 % extra show space than the Mi Smart Band 4, however that is hardly noticeable. There’s a touch-sensitive button beneath the 1.1-inch (126×294 pixels) AMOLED touchscreen, which has a 16-bit color vary. This is a downgrade from the 24-bit color vary of the Mi Smart Band 4’s show. However, the height brightness has elevated from 400nits to 450nits.

The weight of the Mi Smart Band 5 is barely 11.9g and it is comfy on the wrist. There additionally appears to be a coating for stopping fingerprint smudges. There are two contact pins on the again for the magnetic charger. The Mi Smart Band 5 feels premium when it comes to construct high quality, and there was no loosening of strap or buckle in my time with this gadget throughout the assessment.

Mi Smart Band 5 interface and software program

Xiaomi affords over 100 watch face choices on the Mi Smart Band 5, sorted into classes corresponding to exercise, artwork, science and expertise, enterprise, vogue, and extra. There are some nice choices to select from, together with animated ones, and this helps the in any other case bland show look quirky. These watch faces may be accessed within the Mi Fit app by going to Profile > Mi Smart Band 5 > Store.

Mi Smart Band 5 has a coronary heart price sensor on the again

Users can swipe up or down on the touchscreen to see their steps taken and energy burnt, their PAI index, coronary heart price stats, notifications, stress stage, respiration stage, and menstrual cycle monitor. Swiping left exhibits notifications, whereas swiping proper affords shortcut widgets that may be customised utilizing the Mi Fit app. The climate and music widgets are proven by default, however you possibly can add others corresponding to an alarm, stopwatch, and even exercises.

Apart from letting you learn e mail and textual content notifications, the Mi Smart Band 5 additionally allows you to reject and reply calls. Its interface is easy and simple to grasp. Text is readable and the brightness is adjustable.

The Mi Smart Band 5 has a bunch of software program options together with the flexibility to make use of it as a distant shutter in your paired smartphone’s digital camera. A world clock characteristic has additionally been launched so you possibly can see the time in numerous cities, and a brand new devoted respiration information can practice you to calm your self and focus higher. There’s a stress monitor that is ready to calculate your stress stage based mostly on coronary heart price variability information. It informs you whether or not you’re relaxed or strained. Xiaomi has additionally launched a menstrual cycle tracker that gives reminders on interval dates, ovulation days, and even your fertile interval.

There is a brand new PAI index (Personal Activity Intelligence) that exhibits you ways lively you have to be to remain wholesome. This is calculated by utilizing gender, age, coronary heart price, and different information factors. This new system is constructed to assist customers keep motivated, and it’s a must to maintain your rating at 100 or near that to be thought of “fit” by the gadget. It offers you every day scores on the premise of your exercises, and likewise affords solutions based mostly on the info collected.

Mi Fit app allows you to select which apps to get notifications from

I had no problem whereas pairing the Mi Smart Band 5 with the Mi Fit app on a Samsung Galaxy Note 20. The app’s dwelling web page affords complete particulars such because the variety of steps walked, PAI rating achieved, stress stage, and present menstrual cycle section. There is a profile tab that lets you choose watch faces, customise exercise objectives, and select which apps to get notifications from. You may even set alarms, occasion reminders, and idle alerts by way of the app. There is a Find Band characteristic that may assist you to find your gadget if misplaced. The Mi Fit app allows you to customise coronary heart price monitoring as nicely. You can select the measurement frequency, alert worth, and even whether or not the band ought to monitor exercise whereas understanding. You may allow random stress monitoring to measure stress ranges if you find yourself resting.

Mi Smart Band 5 specs and options

The Mi Smart Band 5 affords 11 skilled sports activities modes in comparison with the six on its predecessor. These are: out of doors working, treadmill, biking, indoor biking, strolling, elliptical machine, rowing machine, yoga, leap rope, pool swimming, and freestyle. The health band displays your coronary heart price throughout actions and figures out when the exercise has stopped, to pause monitoring robotically.

Mi Smart Band 5 affords stress monitoring

A 5ATM waterproofing ranking signifies that the band can be utilized in a swimming pool. I wore it whereas swimming and even within the bathe, and the Mi Smart Band 5 survived each checks with no hiccups thereafter. It is value noting that Xiaomi warns in opposition to utilizing this gadget in a sauna or whereas scuba diving. It additionally packs 512KB of RAM and 16MB of storage, and helps Bluetooth 5. Sensors on board embrace a three-axis acceleration sensor, three-axis gyroscope, and a PPG coronary heart price monitor. The Mi Smart Band 5 is appropriate with telephones working Android 5.zero or iOS 10.zero and above.

Mi Smart Band 5 efficiency and battery life

I used the Mi Smart Band 5 for a number of weeks and had no large issues. The contact interface is passable, and the exercise modes supply detailed information based mostly on the train you select. For occasion, swimming mode affords stroke price and data sorts of stroke as nicely. The leap rope mode counts skips, and the rowing machine mode counts stokes. The diverse watch faces with the choice to customize the default ones make for a fantastic addition. The coronary heart price tracker and the newly launched stress tracker managed to provide verifiable outcomes.

I additionally discovered no obtrusive issues with sleep monitoring, and the readings appeared to align with the standard of my sleep every day. Xiaomi has added REM detection to the Mi Smart Band 5, leading to extra detailed details about your sleep high quality. The new respiration mode is beneficial when you have to calm your nerves. Users can select to do guided respiration workouts for as much as 5 minutes. We had been additionally very happy with the accuracy of the interval cycle information and fertility reminders. This might show to be helpful for {couples} seeking to conceive.

The PAI index could also be an excellent addition for aggressive train lovers, however it did not actually encourage me as a lot as I hoped it will. The rating builds up over every week, and customers should be near 100 to take care of a wholesome ranking. I did not discover myself maintaining observe of the PAI index or caring whether or not I used to be near 100 or not. Also, it does eat up numerous the battery capability – you are even warned about that while you first allow this characteristic.

Mi Smart Band 5 comes with a magnetic charging cable

The Mi Smart Band 5’s battery lasted for about 9 days with half an hour of exercise day by day, computerized coronary heart price monitoring and notifications turned on, and PAI enabled as nicely. I additionally stored the brightness on the most stage always. By default, most of those options are off, and if they’re left that method, then the Mi Smart Band 5 ought to simply final for greater than 10 days per cost. The magnetic charger means there is not any have to take away the capsule from the wristband for charging. It took about 2 hours, 13 minutes to completely cost the wearable.

To take a look at the accuracy of step and distance monitoring, I counted 1,000 steps manually whereas carrying the Mi Smart Band 5. The health band counted 998 steps. I additionally coated a distance of 1km, verified upfront utilizing a automotive’s odometer, and the Mi Smart Band 5 calculated this to be 983m. Both these outcomes aren’t too far off the mark, and the Mi Smart Band 5 proved to be a dependable indicator for steps and distance monitoring.

Notifications and name alerts had been pretty dependable, however on some events I did discover that alerts did not come by way of even when the Mi Smart Band 5 was paired with the Mi Fit app on my Samsung Galaxy Note 20. It would even be good if the wearable might permit responding to texts with sensible replies and even emojis.

Verdict

The Mi Smart Band 5 aces all of the fundamentals anticipated from a health band. It is correct sufficient in monitoring, and may simply final for greater than every week per cost. It affords helpful new options corresponding to stress and menstrual cycle monitoring. The PAI rating did not do a lot to encourage me, however that is going to be subjective for each person, based mostly on their priorities. Priced at Rs. 2,499, the Mi Smart Band 5 is extra reasonably priced than the newly launched Samsung Galaxy Fit 2, which is priced at Rs. 3,999. The Samsung wearable affords 70 watch faces to select from, whereas the Mi Smart Band 5 affords 100. The former additionally does not observe stress and menstrual cycles, and solely affords 5 exercise modes.

The Mi Smart Band 5 is clearly a standout at its value level, and will show to be a dependable buy for most individuals. If you are in search of a health band that gives correct monitoring, dependable exercise information, and first rate battery life, you possibly can undoubtedly go for the Mi Smart Band 5.