Xiaomi Mi Band 5 Review 2021: Should You Buy it?

At first glance, the Mi Smart Band 5 initially glance doesn’t look all that different from the Xiaomi Mi Band 4. It still pairs up a similar-looking tracker module with a TPU plastic strap that comes in six different colors (compared to eight for the Chinese version).

That’s a pair bucks below the last time I shared this deal and also the lowest price I’ve seen yet. Note that it’s being offered via a third-party seller, not Walmart proper.

It’s a small amount of plain in terms of design, and fewer stylish than Fitbit’s trackers, but it feels well built and nowhere as ‘cheap’ as some trackers at this price point.

With every new Mi Band, Xiaomi has sought to boost its uses outside of fitness and sports tracking which doesn’t change with the Mi Smart Band 5. It’s compatible with Android phones and iPhones, bringing you features just like the ability to look at phone notifications, view weather forecasts, control music playback on your phone and taking smartphone photos remotely. Bottom line: it crams in a very lot.

As far because the smartwatch experience goes, it’s a touch of a combination bag, just because of the limited amount of space at your disposal. Music playback controls and weather forecasts are well optimized, but notifications still feel a touch cramped.

Features like setting alarms and accessing the camera remote require digging into the Band’s settings, but thankfully it’s software that’s easy to induce to grips with and navigate once you recognize where things live.

We shouldn’t forget to speak about the Band faces you’ve got to select from thereon main screen. The bump in screen quality on the Mi Band 4 meant Xiaomi may well be a touch more playful and adventurous with faces, and with the Mi Smart Band 5 it’s added variety of animated faces that require to be synced over from the Mi Fit companion app. you furthermore may have more control over what health and fitness data is displayed on those faces, which might be changed on the device itself.

It does seem that a minimum of for the nonce, Xiaomi has ignored a number of the more status branded faces it announced at launch, including the SpongeBob SquarePants faces we were pretty much looking forward to trying out.

The Mi Smart Band 5 relies on the identical sensors as its predecessor to deliver its fitness tracking features: namely accelerometer and gyroscope motion sensors, plus a rate monitor. There’s no built-in GPS, but you are doing have the choice to use your phone’s GPS signal to map outdoor activities.

You can view basic fitness-tracking stats from the most watch screen or delve into the Status menu to determine more. There you will find your daily steps, distance covered, calories burned, idle alerts to point what proportion you’ve been inactive, and your seven-day step totals. Accuracy-wise, we put it up against a Garmin watch and found it produced similar data.

When you’re able to step things up, head to the Workout screen where you’ll be able to pick from 11 different sports modes. There’s outdoor running, cardiopulmonary exercise, cycling (indoor and outdoor), treadmill running, pool swimming, skipping, elliptical, yoga and a freestyle mode. As is often the case, the range of real-time metrics on offer varies. Though we were surprised to search out that it tracked strokes and stroke rate for indoor rowing, and even jumps for a skipping session.

While you’ll be able to see a good amount of information on the Mi Band itself, you’ll must head to the Mi Fit companion phone app, which is compatible with Android and iOS. It’s here where you’ll be able to see more within the way of trends and also the place to regulate band settings.

From a syncing point of view, we had no issues with either iPhone or Android in our testing. You’ll must jump into the app to sync data, and it’s pretty quick at syncing that data too.

The app itself can feel a touch busy. The Status screen gives you a snapshot of your most up-to-date data, which you’ll perforate deeper if you prefer. There are dedicated tracking screens for walking, cycling and running after you want to use your phone’s GPS, and you’ll connect with other Mi Band-owning friends.

Head to the profile tab and you’ll be ready to adjust goals, connect to Apple Health or Google Fit, sync over new watch faces, and founded the kind of notifications you wish to receive on the device. There’s a good amount to try and do here, so it’s definitely worth spending your time progressing to know this page to essentially get a way of what this fitness tracker can do.