Product Review: Xiaomi Mi Band

The Xiaomi Mi Band is a smartband produced by Chinese company Xiaomi Tech. It resembles a bracelet and can be worn on either hand or on the neck. At the time of writing, the Mi Band can be hard to find outside of mainland China and its territories. In fact, I got mine from the only Xiaomi shop in Hong Kong. It costs about HK$120 (US$13), including the proprietary charger and a spare strap of a different color.


It came with a simple recycled box. Inside it is a partially charged Mi Band, a leaflet with Chinese text, and a proprietary charger. The spare strap came in a separate package. The Mi Band itself has no physical buttons and can only be controlled through the Mi Fit app available on Google Play and the Apple App Store. It must also be noted that the Mi Band will only work when paired with an Android KitKat-running or iOS-powered smartphone. The Mi Band's strap is 9 mm thick and 36 mm in length. It is made of hypoallergenic TPSiV material (similar to rubber), which has anti-UV and anti-microbial properties. Mi Band straps of different colors and materials (including leather) are sold separately. Meanwhile, the Mi Band charger module can be connected to a 5.0 V external power source.


The Mi Band functions mainly as a fitness monitor and a sleep tracker. It also has smart alarm functions and notifies the user through vibration if there are incoming phone calls. Exclusive to Xiaomi smartphones, you can also unlock them without a password through the Mi Band. The Mi Band is water-resistant (IP67) and comes with a whopping 30-day battery standby time - better than most smartwatches and smartbands in the market. As for the Mi Fit app, through it you can customize the usage of your Mi Band - like the notification light color. It can also be connected to the WeChat application. In addition, the Mi Fit app will adopt whatever language is set on your smartphone.


I've been using the Mi Band for more than a week now and I'm loving every bit of it. It monitors the steps I take including calories burned and also my sleeping pattern. I only remove it when I take a shower but I wear throughout the day - at work, at the gym, and in bed. There's nothing not to like about the Mi Band. For its price, it does wonders. And for those who like tinkering their device, there's also a way to enable the Mi Band to notify the user for text messages, IM chats, and more.

RATING: 5 out of 5 STARS

Note: Xiaomi did not pay me for this review.

Til then...

xoxo Nash