Almost all large companies presented or announced in 2014 their fitness bracelets or smart watches. Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi also tried to release a device is in this spirit, but did it in his trademark style. Thus were born the device Xiaomi Mi Band – the most affordable branded fitness bracelets on the Ukrainian market. Let’s see what he has to offer for the price.
By the appearance of the box and set as a whole, the company Xiaomi always approached with special attention. Box with a bracelet made in the corporate style, but here, unlike other little boxes have not thought opening mechanism. After the cube itself has almost equal sizes of faces. Therefore, to open the lid or podkovyrnut worth it, or take on the diagonal of the upper corners.
Inside the box is a bracelet, USB cable for charging and paper documentation.
It is worth noting that currently comes only with a rubber bracelet strap.
Appearance and ease of use
As one would expect, at the beginning of deliveries was great excitement, resulting in buy tasty bracelet for 79 yuan ($ 13) could not all residents wishing to China. Residents of other countries had no choice but to wait more or less than the real price, or buy at a price that is. Even if we consider that the bracelet costs about $ 20, it is still much cheaper major competitors.
Bracelet itself consists of two parts: a rubber strap and a core which is actually “brains” of the device. During the announcement was shown a lot of interchangeable straps, but has not officially sold only rubber.
More precisely, the strap is made of a thermoplastic silicone vulcanizate (TPSiV). He is a nice touch, but does not look tacky and even boring. In the middle of the strap is a hole, which houses the core bracelet.
It is worth noting that no matter what side you insert it into the hole of the strap, in any case, it is symmetrical. Fixing bracelet on her arm made previously threading it into a loop, and then fixed on a familiar clasp. This type of mount is very reliable, because even if for one reason or another will open clasp, the bracelet using the tabs on the left hand, and will not fall.
The core of the bracelet is in the form of a cylindrical part made of polycarbonate and magnesium alloy. The entire lower part is painted black. The upper part of the silver, it is seen through the 3 LED warning.
During use of the bracelet used to having it on hand is very easy thanks to its light weight of 13.5 grams. It is important to remember that you can wear a bracelet on the right and on the left arm. The length of the strap is adjustable between 157-205 mm.
By the very construction of the bracelet no comments, but the appearance of the worth mentioning. Strap bracelet pretty easily erased that spoils the appearance. Significant advantage is that the bracelet is being protected class IP67 – which means that it is fully protected against dust and can withstand short-term immersion to a depth of 1 meter.
Software
To view this bracelet, you must have a smartphone that runs on Android since version 4.3 and above, or iOS. In addition, the smartphone must have Bluetooth version 4.0. These two conditions are required. Also worth mentioning is that without a connection to the smartphone bracelet is absolutely useless.
If you have a smartphone based on iOS, is to install the application you just have to find the App Store to find and install the application . At the time of writing the application was only available in Chinese.
If you have a smartphone based on Android, it is necessary to either use all known forum site and find there 4pda community Xiaomi Mi Band, a formal community Xiaomi in Europe – miui.su, or, being a user of a smartphone Xiaomi, go to the company application store and install it from there. In the app store Google Play application is available only in Chinese and English . As a result, in the first two cases, you can put down a Russified version of the application. We must note that applications submitted to Google Play and App Store, there is no ability to customize display notifications. In a review of the main features of the bracelet will be considered on the basis of an application with active notifications, taken from the community Xiaomi Mi Band Forum.
Functionality
After installing the application to put the bracelet on the arm and follow the instructions on the first run.
After that, we get to the main screen, which consists of several parts. Since the basic features of the bracelet is a pedometer and smart alarm clock, it is not surprising that the screen is divided into two parts. The transition between them organized with the help of a gesture from right to left. At the bottom is more detailed information on the number of steps you’ve walked and calories burned.
Application menu consists of settings, alarm clock, my profile, a fitness center, and share information. Let’s start with the settings.
This item displays the charge level of the bracelet and the number of days from the date of the last charge. There is also a point to “find my bracelet,” which allows you to find the device, activating it on vibrate and light indication. Color indicators can be selected from four – blue, orange, green and red. You can also choose what to wear wrist bracelet – right or left. An interesting feature is the unlock screen with the bracelet. To start the graphical user must specify the key and only then the function becomes fully active. It works quite correctly, but if the bracelet is far away, then activate the smartphone, you can use the graphical keys. Another great option is to inform you of an incoming call. To do this, there is a special setting in which you can select the interval after which the bracelet will vibrate and flash a color indicator.
Notification settings – this item is not available in all versions of the application. But in our case it is, therefore, consider it in more detail. This setting allows you to activate and configure notifications for any installed application. Immediately it should be noted that the settings are very extensive. Here you can choose exactly how the notification will inform you: using vibration or indicators. Number of vibrations and flashes can be set on your own. This also applies to the duration. You can also select the time interval in which to display the notification. Do not forget that the color LED indicators can also be set up. The result is that for each application may have its own unique settings.
Do not forget that for the notification needs Android 4.4 and above. Also, do not forget about the activation notifications in the settings. For owners of the smartphone Android 4.4 should follow the path – Settings -> Security -> Access to the notice, and for the owners of smartphones running on Android 5.0 – Settings -> Sounds & Notifications -> Access to notice.
Another interesting item – a Service. In total there are three available. Add no longer work. Alarm settings are quite simple and consist of a switch “Smart Service”, repeat and response time. Here it is necessary to clarify that the smart alarm clock wakes only by vibration of the bracelet. In this case, the smartphone does not produce any sound. Going a bit further into the essence of smart alarm clock and its principle of operation, in a nutshell it is to wake you up when you are in light sleep phase. It was then that person is easiest to wake up and will not feel discomfort. Therefore it is necessary to understand the fact that even if you have got an alarm clock on 7-30, it can wake you up to 30 minutes ahead of it because you’re in a light sleep phase. Informing about the alarm clock bracelet vibrates three times, the first time if you do not wake up, then after 5 minutes of vibration is repeated, and so as long as you do not get out of bed and start walking.
In the “fitness center” there are a variety of sports, in which you can apply bracelet. For example, now available jumping rope, press, treadmill assistant, as well as voting for new sports.
The accuracy of the pedometer largely depends on what hand he hangs. For example, if you wear it on the right hand, sometimes even cutting bread in the kitchen is considered steps. On the other hand, all these errors and not very significant in practice, will be virtually unnoticeable.
Results
The result is an inexpensive but quite functional bracelet that will track traveled distance, will help to analyze your sleep and gently wake you at the right time. Will come in handy function notifies you of incoming calls and messages of social networks. In general, a bracelet worth the money. With regard to autonomy, the claimed battery life Xiaomi Mi Band up to 30 days, but if you set up a vibration to all social networks, the index will decrease. In our case, the autonomy of the device up to 40 days. Good things and work with your smartphone, the bracelet will not be much to discharge him. At least, it is not noticeable in actual use. As a result, Xiaomi Mi Band can be called the best budget fitness bracelet on the market.
We liked:
+ Price
+ Functionality
+ Alerts
+ Availability of applications for Android and iOS
+ Endurance
We do not like:
– Absence of localization
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