Less than a year after Xiaomi released the Mi band 4 last June, we now have news about the next iteration with the announcement of Mi Band 5. We’ve reviewed the previous iterations of the Redmi Band before, but the Mi Band 5 will be packing some much-needed changes as mentioned below.
A Good Balance of Price and Features:
The Mi band 4 was extremely successful as it brought a plethora of new features, the most notable one being the 0.95″ colour AMOLED display. This was a big improvement over its previous version which only had a 0.75″ White and black OLED display.
The new Redmi Band takes it even further with a 1.08″ colour OLED display. Similar to how Xiaomi has brought its smartphone price down with the introduction of its Redmi sub-brand, the Redmi band seems to be extremely affordable with its CNY 99 price tag. This translates to roughly Rs.1070, and this is less than half the price of the Mi Band 4, thanks to some sacrifices.
It also does away with its proprietary charger by using an integrated USB-A charger similar to the Honor Band. Everything is not so positive as it touts battery life of only 14 days which is lower than the 20 days of the Mi Band 4. Although this is slightly offset by the shorter charging time.
Another feature that is missing is the NFC chip which is usually used for easy payments. It has an optical heart rate sensor and also supports 5 sports mode opposed to Mi Band 4. Which had 6: Running, Swimming, Treadmill, Cycling, Walking, and Exercise.
Both have a 5 ATM water resistance hence it can be used for swimming without much worry. The Redmi Band also misses out on the 2.5D curved glass screen seen on the Mi Band 4. Instead, they’ve opted to go with a flat-screen, while this may come down to preference the curved screen was definitely more aesthetically pleasing.
The Redmi Band comes in four different colors: Black, Blue, Red, and Green. The Redmi Band is set to launch on April 9 in China. The global launch date is yet to be announced.
Great read. Brief and informative