Xiaomi might not be the best known activity tracker brand, but it’s becoming more popular as word spreads about its appealing combination of low cost and well-featured functionality. The Mi Band 4 is the most recent release from this budget brand, and it’s the most fully featured yet.
The Background
Year on year, the Xiaomi adds even more features to the Mi Band without hiking up the prices. The Band 4 is the most recent development, boasting even more exercise profiles along with a better display. While the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 was last year’s best value tracker, this new model has improved on its functionality in several ways.
The Features
Although the Mi Band 4 doesn’t compete with high-end smartwatches and activity trackers, it does offer some excellent functionality for the price. Its updated Bluetooth 5.0 support ensures that there are no connectivity issues while the integrated heartrate sensor is another great feature.
The Mi Band 4 is designed for use in China, and when used in its native country, it offers even more functions such as public transport payments, contactless payments and the Xiao AI assistant. Elsewhere, the Mi Band 4 is capable of relaying emails, texts, calls and notifications. While you aren’t able to reply to them, it’s still nice to be able to read messages.
There are also a number of customisation options which come included in the Mi Fit app. These include custom vibration patterns, scheduling for automatic screen wake up, a night mode, a do-not-disturb mode and support for several watch faces.
The Design
The Mi Band 4 is certainly an improvement over its predecessor and, while the tracker looks quite generic with its unassuming case and black band, its improved display makes it worth the investment.
The Mi Band 4 features a 0.95in RGB AMOLED display with a 120 x 240 pixel density and 400-nit brightness. The display is touchscreen activated and is controlled with swipes and taps. It’s possible to detach the tracker case from the silicone band and switch the bands out with a wide variety of other options to give you even more versatility.
Fitness Tracking
As you’d expect, the Mi Band 4 tracks all your major stats – from steps taken and distance travelled to the number of calories burned, active heart rate and rest time. It also tracks your sleep patterns. There is no inbuilt GPS tracking functionality though, so distance metrics aren’t the most accurate unless you’re prepared to go for a run with your GPS-connected smartphone.
The Mi Band 4 also has several different workout modes and is capable of tracking a wide variety of activities including outdoor running, treadmill, walking, cycling and swimming – it can recognise no less than five swimming styles and record 12 data sets including stroke count and swimming pace. It has a 5ATM water resistance rating.
The Mi Band 4 pairs with a smartphone through the Mi Fit app. This has three separate sections – profile, friends and workout. All are easy to understand. You can connect with other users through the friends section to see their health data and activity levels while the profile area contains your own settings, goals and personal information.
Mi Fit data can be synced with Google Fit or WeRun which gives you even more flexibility.
What Are The Main Advantages?
- Water resistant to 5ATM
- Tracks a great range of exercises
- Interchangeable straps
- Integrated heart monitor
- Sleep tracking function
- Connected GPS functionality
- Bluetooth 5.0 support for better connectivity
- Displays notifications
What Are The Main Disadvantages?
- Cannot respond to notifications
- No integrated GPS function
Competition
The major competitors to the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 are the Samsung Galaxy Fit and the Fitbit Inspire HR however both of these devices are more costly and offer little more in the way of features and fitness tracking functionality. Nevertheless, if you don’t like the Mi Fit app, you may want to consider the Inspire HR since it uses the Fitbit app which is leading the way in fitness tracking and offers a refined user experience.
How Do We Test Smartwatches?
It’s our mission to help you to choose the best smartwatch or activity tracker for you by supplying you with the key information you need to make an informed decision. To achieve this, we always thoroughly test and review every element of each device, beginning with its appearance and design. We test to see if the watch is visually appealing as well as comfortable to wear, and also test the battery life and functionality.
We test all of the activity tracking functions to make sure that they’re fit for purpose together with the GPS and the data connectivity where applicable. We test processing power and speed, as well as the third-party downloadable apps to make sure that everything lives up to expectations. Finally, we present you with all the facts so you can choose.
In Summary
With each passing year, the Xiaomi brand adds even more features to the Mi Band range without increasing the prices to a hugely inflated level. The Mi Band 4 stands out from the crowd thanks to its improved display and exercise profiles without costing the earth. If you’re looking for one of the best affordable fitness trackers on the market today, you won’t be disappointed if you buy this device.
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