In today’s world, people are becoming more concerned regarding their health and fitness. People want to keep track fo everything happening in their bodies. Because of this, the popularity of fitness bands is growing worldwide. A small watch can track your heart rate, breathing, and any more. One such popular band is the Mi band series. After the color screen release last year of the Mi band 4, the Mi band is finally official in China and the specs are staggering. With price as less as $40, you get to see some amazing features and accurate health records.
What’s Now On Mi Band 5?
Now we will look into what features you will be getting in the new budget fitness tracker from Xiaomi – The Mi Band 5 in detail.
Appearance
The looks are similar to that of the Mi Band 4. The band is available in Black, Blue, Pink, Orange, Purple, Yellow, Green, and Gray. The Mi Band 5 will also get 100+ new animated watch-faces. You can connect the watch with the Mi fit app on your phone and customize the display as you want. The strap holds the dial of the band tightly and you won’t have to worry about their separation. The main dial won’t fall apart unless you pull it hard enough. The straps use soft and dense elastomers designed to match the shape of each individual wrist.
Screen
Mi band 5 has a larger screen which means better in terms of smartwatches. A 25% larger screen is surely a noticeable improvement. The 1.2-inch AMOLED display offers a better view than that of the Mi band 4 which had an only 0.95-inch display. The screen also has a 2.5D tempered glass panel that is enough to prevent the interior. The bezel size is reduced and there is a huge area for display. The screen has a resolution of 126 x 294 pixels. The screen supports 100% of the P3 color gamut. This gives the band better outdoor visibility.
Fitness Activities
This band allows you to track five new fitness activities i.e. yoga, elliptical, rowing machine, jumping rope, and indoor cycling. Mi band 4 only allowed you to keep track of treadmill, basic exercises, outdoor running, outdoor cycling, walking, pool swimming, and counting steps. This is a significant improvement considering it is a fitness band. The yoga tracker keeps track of your breathing and also shows calories burnt.
Water Proof
The Mi band 5 is water-resistant up to 50m. This means that you can have the band even when you are swimming at deeper levels. This feature is similar to that of the predecessor.
Hidden Home Button
The home button is hidden in the new Mi Band 5. This can be due to the increased screen size. There used to be a small curve below the screen in the previous versions but it is completely hidden in the new one.
Supports NFC and Alexa
The Chinese version of the MI band 5 has NFC support in China. You can perform Union Quickpass payments with just a touch of your band. We are not quite sure is this feature will be available in the global version or not. Xiaomi released the band in two versions, the NFC version, and the non-NFC version. Let’s hope the global versions will support Paypal and other payment systems.
Remote Pictures
I don’t if this feature is that important or not but it is really fun to play with. After connecting your phone with the band, you can use the band to take pictures from your phone. This only works when the phone is inside the radius of the band.
Easier Magnetic Charging
Now you don’t have to disassemble the band to charge it. The charging interface is now just below the heart rate sensor and you can just charge at a touch. The two magnetic contact points attach easily to your band and start charging it. Usually, Mi uses its proprietary chargers with these bands but this time it has come up with something new. Without having to remove the band from its strap, you can now charge conveniently with almost the same charging speed. In my view, this a really great improvement over older versions.
Sleep Tracking
The Mi band 5 keeps track of your heart rate and breathing when you are asleep. This can help in identifying sleep problems like irregular and sporadic sleep patterns, and rapid eye movement. The collected data is transferred to your phone Mi fit app and the app gives you suggestions on how to improve your sleep. People with sleeping disorders can really benefit from this new feature of the band.
Sensors
The device has 6 main sensors i.e. accelerometer, barometer, proximity sensors, heart rate sensor, NFC chip, spo2 sensor. The 3-axis accelerometer helps you keep better track of your exercise. Despite having all these sensors you will not fell ant bulkiness in its size. The accelerometer and the barometer are the most accurate sensors in this device. The accuracy of the spo2 chip is yet to be known.
Blood Oxygen Tracking
The Mi band 5 can track the oxygen concentration in your blood for eight hours in a row with the help of a spo2 sensor. This spo2 monitoring feature is specially designed to keep track of your sleep. So you will get 28,000 readings in the span of eight hours. The band’s ability to store and process all this data is truly remarkable. This spo2 monitoring features work simultaneously with the sleep tracking feature and provide more detailed sleeping feedback.
PAI Scoring System
The smart band also scores your health on the basis of activity and heart rate. PAI stands for Personal Activity Intelligence. It rates your overall day by a score of 0-100. This makes health tracking a lot easier.
Women’s Health
By keeping track of the menstrual cycle, the MI Band 5 helps women to sanitize their health. You can manually track your menstrual cycle and the app will predict upcoming cycles and likely fertility windows. The presence of this feature in the global versions is yet to be known. If this feature is included in the global version then this band might quickly become the best selling fitness band in the market.
Should Mi Band 4 Users Upgrade?
If users were unsatisfied with the sensor accuracy and small screen size then the upgrade is worth it. The screen touch is more accurate and the colors on the screen are brighter. The band also focuses on women’s hygiene by keeping track of their menstruation cycle. In my opinion, replacing the Mi band 4 will turn out to b beneficial for fitness freaks and people who are really concerned regarding their health. The spo2 feature is truly remarkable and you should give it a shot. Some significant improvements over the Mi band 4 are:
- The presence of a spo2 monitor, PAI scoring system, women’s hygiene tracker, and remote pictures is a significant software improvement.
- Larger screen, NFC chip, small bezel, and more strap colors are noticeable hardware improvements.
Read more: The Difference Between Mi Band 4 Global And Chinese Versions
Specifications of the Mi Band 5
| Resolution | 126 x 294 pixels |
| Screen size | 1.2 inch |
| Screen type | AMOLED |
| Sensors | Heart rate sensor, SpO2 sensor, NFC, Accelerometer Barometer, Proximity sensor |
| Battery | 100mAh |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Colors | Black, Blue, Pink, Orange, Purple, Yellow, Green, Gray |
| Materials | Polycarbonate head and silicon wrist |
| RAM/storage | 512KB RAM, 16MB storage |
| Fitness activities | Outdoor running, Treadmill, Cycling, Walking, Freestyle, Pool swimming, Elliptical, Rowing machine, Jump rope, Indoor cycling, Yoga |
| Compatibility | Android and IOS |
Price of Mi Band 5 In China
The non-NFC version of Mi Band 5 has been priced at CNY 189 whereas the NFC variant costs CNY 229. Both of these models will go on sale in China on June 18. The price of the global version and detailed specs will be revealed only when the device launches globally. The price of the NFC version is equivalent to $32. With all the shipping costs, it might be available in the USA at around $35. The date of the global launch is not finalized yet.
Conclusion
All in all, Mi band 5 is a great improvement over the Mi band 4, and with all the great features and extremely low price, it is a fair deal. We will publish a detailed description of the global version once it is launched. Any feedback and recommendation are welcomes in the comment sections below.
