The most popular and best-selling smart bracelet from Xiaomi has introduced about 1 month ago. As early as about one week, I am testing the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 and in this article, I have something to tell you.
The next generation of Mi Band 5 fitness tracker has received many useful functions and features, but is everything really that good?
The first moment I wanted to mention is the price tag. The lowest price in online stores from China was about $30. Of course, if you want to buy an additional strap or protective film, then the price will increase by 2-3 dollars.
Aliexpress.comThe main changes were – a larger screen 1.1 inches with an AMOLED display, an increased number of sports modes. Useful features such as stress detection, breathing training, and others have also been added. An important change was the charging method, which allows you to not remove the strap from the bracelet, as it was on all versions of the Mi Band.
The most important question remains: is it worth buying Xiaomi Mi Band 5 or do you already have Mi Band 4? You will learn about all this in a detailed review.
Xiaomi Mi Band 5: Specifications
| Xiaomi Mi Band 5: | Specs |
|---|---|
| Screen: | 1.1 inch AMOLED screen with 126 by 294 pixels |
| Sensor: | Heart-rate monitor, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer, NFC |
| IP standart: | 5ATM waterproof |
| Connection: | Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Battery: | 125mAh |
| Standby time: | up to 14 days |
| Size: | 47.2 x 18.5 х 12.4 mm |
| Weight: | 23g |
| Price: | $28 |
Unboxing
The device comes in a black box with the same rectangular shape as its predecessors. On the front part, you can see the picture of the bracelet, logo, and model name.
On the back of the box is a list of technical specifications. And on the side faces are the main features and functions. Everything is written in Chinese, as there is no global version yet.
Inside the box, I found the Mi Band 5 fitness bracelet itself, an instruction that is also all in Chinese and magnetic charging.
The last element is very important for many users. Since removing the strap in the bracelet each time to charge was not a convenient solution.
Design
If you put two models of fitness bracelets Xiaomi Mi Band 5 and Mi Band 4, then it will be difficult to find a strong difference between them.
Dimensions almost remained the same, also the new generation weighs about 23 grams. Therefore, they sit in the hand very comfortably, and even during sleep they will not bring you discomfort.
Also, a big change was the screen size, which grew by 20%. That is, from 0.95 to 1.1 inches. In width, it remained the same, but in length, it became a little larger. In addition, the screen resolution received a larger size – it is 126 x 294 pixels.
AMOLED screen provides good brightness and high contrast. The viewing angles are high, and the maximum brightness of 450 nits will allow you to use the screen even in sunny bright weather.
The front surface of the screen received a protective glass with a 2.5D effect. In practice, it looks good, but in fact, the glass got scratches from falling onto the asphalt.
Just below the screen, there is a touch button that activates the screen. With the NFC version, it is made in the shape of the letter U only upside down, and without NFC it has a round shape.
The case is made of matte plastic and I have no complaints about the build quality. On the back, there is a two-pin magnetic connection for charging and various sensors for detecting heart rate or personal activity intelligence (PAI).
The silicone strap remains removable and it has many different colors. But a significant minus was not the compatibility of the new generation Mi Band 5 strap with previous versions, as it was before. Therefore, if you had Mi Band 4, then with the new generation you will have to buy new straps.
Naturally, the presence of water protection has remained the same – this is the standard 5 ATM. You can easily swim in them in the pool, take a shower, but you cannot immerse over 50 meters.
Well, we figured out the appearance, but let’s see what are the main functions of the new generation of fitness trackers from Xiaomi in 2020.
Functions and Features
The presence of a large screen made it possible to use a large number of different watch faces. The variety is very wide and when compared with Mi Band 4, then the new fitness tracker already has more than 100 different types of watch faces. They can be installed through the Mi Fit application, but I will talk about it a little later.
In addition, you can choose a custom watch face, for example, with your photo. There are also now modular watch faces in which you can customize the cells in the order that suits you best.
The main menu of the new Xiaomi Mi Band 5 fitness bracelet is called up or down with a swipe. It is typical, as in its predecessor, but there are a large number of different functions.
Naturally, in the menu of the Mi Fit application, you can select and configure the sections that you will use. I can say the same thing about sports modes, for example, you can remove unnecessary ones, and often used ones can be put on the top list.
Now the status section has the ability to track your activity not only one day but also for the last week.
Of the new features on the Mi Band 5, we can note the presence of the PAI index. It monitors the state of your health and should be kept from 100 points so as not to get cardiovascular diseases.
Also, women’s health, stress detection, respiratory training, and distance photography have emerged from new features.
There are more sports modes, now the fifth generation of the bracelet uses 11 different sports modes. Let me remind you that Mi Band 4 had only 6 types of training. Like previous generations, the GPS tracker is tracked through a smartphone. But I noticed an interesting feature that during a sudden run, the bracelet automatically turns on the training mode. This is a pretty handy feature that is also on the Apple Watch.
As for the heart rate sensor, like previous generations, the sensor can work with inanimate objects. Therefore, you should not count on accurate indicators.
The remaining features remained the same, but I note that the user interface works many times faster and I did not notice any delays. For example, now controlling the music player is fast and switches songs without much delay, as was the Mi Band 4.
Now about the most important, the new generation of the Mi Band 5 tracker has two modifications with NFC and without an NFC module. Currently, contactless payment only works in China. Therefore, we can only wait for the global version, where perhaps NFC will work in all countries of the world.
There are also slight differences between versions with and without NFC. For example, the NFC module has an infrared sensor that works better when tracking your activity, sleep, and other indicators.
As for the application, the new smart bracelet is paired with the same Mi Fit application as its predecessors. The main functions have remained the same, but now the number of different watch faces has become more. An animation appeared on the watch faces, which in turn works without brakes.
Battery
The small change in Xiaomi Mi Band 5 was the battery capacity and it was reduced to 125 mAh from 135 mAh, as it was on Mi Band 4.
Thus, the battery life will be about 14 days. If you use the bracelet quite actively, then the estimated time will be about 10 days. The indicator is not quite bad, considering that the watch has wide functionality and larger screen size.
As I said, in the new generation Mi Band 5 there is no need to take out the capsule. Since the manufacturer made a magnetic charge, which is a pretty stronghold.
Conclusion and Reviews
Xiaomi Mi Band 5 is an incredible smart bracelet that has a long list of useful features. For example, the PAI function, stress detection, women’s health, breathing training, camera control, and many different animated watch faces came from the new here.
Of the minuses, I can note that the bracelet exists only with the Chinese version and only two languages are available – these are Chinese and English. Also, the NFC module does not work outside of China. Another tricky moment was the incompatibility of the straps with previous generations of fitness trackers.
Otherwise, if you already have a fourth-generation, then I do not see much point in updating to the fifth. But if you are annoyed by the charging method, then the update makes sense to be.
Price and Where to buy cheaper?
As I already said, the new fitness bracelet is available only with the Chinese version, the price tag for Xiaomi Mi Band 5 is $30.99.
If we compare the prices of Mi Band 4 and the new generation of Mi Band 5, then the difference is not significant, but the number of functions and features is quite wide.
