Perhaps this is due to the improved Bluetooth 5.0 support, with the Mi Band 3 only supporting Bluetooth 4.2. I found that the Mi Band 4 didn’t have too many connectivity issues, with my review set staying connected to my smartphone without any of the disconnects that you sometimes associate with Bluetooth-connected wearables. This got looser after the first few times, but I still didn’t like having to use that amount of force initially. Personally, the Mi Band 3 was easier to charge for me-plugging in the Mi Band 4 into the charging dock was difficult due to its new design. This requires removing the band from the strap, and inserting it into the charger, which would wear out the strap over time. However, even though the battery life is good, I found the charging process of the Mi Band to be quite difficult. I also alternated the heart rate detection method from “Automatic heart rate detection” to “Turn off”, depending on what I was using the band for. In addition to that, I kept my smartphone and band connected via Bluetooth, and set up the notifications to be pushed from my smartphone to the device. Keep in mind that this depends on the amount of work you’re putting the band through-this includes the number of workouts, if you keep it connected to your smartphone at all times, and other usage-based patterns.Īs I mentioned, I kept the Mi Band 4 on my wrist for a good 2 weeks, while keeping the display brightness at 3 out of 5 blocks (you can increase this to a max 400 nits by swiping down on the main screen>more>settings). Xiaomi promises up to 20 days of battery life with the Mi Band 4 I got around 14 days with mixed usage of the band, which is still pretty impressive. This is a significant jump from the Mi Band 3’s 110mAh-sized battery, but both expected battery lives are estimated to be around 20 days (we’ll get to real-world figures in a minute)-perhaps this is due to the new, larger, colour display. There’s also a new NFC variant, although the set I used was the non-NFC version-the other difference is that the NFC variant comes with a smaller 125mAh battery, as opposed to the 135mAh battery on the review set I have with me. What’s improved, in terms of underwater usage, is a new six-axis sensor (3-axis accelerometer + 3-axis gyroscope) which helps to track swimming patterns, with multiple swimming strokes now able to be detected. This worked out great for me, with the lightweight nature of the band meaning that I practically left it on 24/7 (including during showers) during the review period. The 5 ATM water rating is nice, meaning that the Mi Band 4 can be submerged in water down to a depth of 50m. I can’t deny that the colour screen contributes to a more aesthetic watch face as well, which is certainly something I appreciate. Unfortunately, this method is rather cumbersome to employ, but it’s still a better option than having to be limited to the Mi Fit app’s range of watch faces.Īlthough there isn’t much of a difference in functionality, but the larger colour display does improve visibility of the Mi Band 4’s display tremendously, especially under sunlight-where you’d expect to be using your fitness band. Perhaps the reason why this isn’t obvious is that the Mi Band 3 has a darker tint over its screen, which hides where the screen ends and the bezel begins, helping the screen look bigger than it actually is.īut the new colour display now lets me choose from a variety of different watch faces on the Mi Fit app, and you can access a vast library of watch faces using this workaround. While the jump from a 0.78″ screen to a 0.95″ panel is a 40% increase in screen real estate, the difference in size isn’t really perceivable to me. The Mi Band 4 weighs 2g more than the Mi Band 3, which is perhaps due to its larger display. Xiaomi has also bumped up the price of the Mi Band 4 to RM149, with the Mi Band 3 originally sold for RM129. In fact, you can still use the same straps from the Mi Band 3, although the charging points at the bottom of the device are slightly different. Physically, both trackers aren’t all that different, other than the colour AMOLED display. Improvements over the Mi Band 3īefore we proceed, let’s examine the differences between the Mi Band 4 and its predecessor, the Mi Band 3. But given that the Mi Band 4-for all its fancy coloured watch faces and notification icons-is primarily a fitness tracker, I’ve tried my very best to put myself though the paces in order to gauge if the Mi Band 4 is indeed a good buy for a fitness tracker in 2019. I’ll confess, I’m not the most avid user of fitness functions on smartwatches or wearables, with device functionality and display sometimes taking a greater degree of importance to me. Right off the bat, it looks pretty similar to previous iterations of the Mi Band, but the biggest difference is that Xiaomi has equipped their latest fitness tracker with a colour AMOLED screen-finally.
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