Hello everybody!
Recently I bought my first fitness tracker and I’m eager to tell you about it. It’s Xiaomi Mi Band 2. It’s a renewed version. Some people had the previous version, and they were waiting for the tracker with a display. I didn't have the previous version, but I read a lot of reviews and descriptions about it, so I have my opinion about both of them.
The outer appearance and complete contents:
My tracker arrived to me in a usual brand box, which was sealed with tape. The box was decent and its surface was something like craft paper. I liked the way everything looked inside.
In a small hollowed, but the most prominent place, there was the main part of the bracelet - a capsule with a display, a pulse counter and a charging connector, just below there was a band itself. In a separate compartment there was a charging cable.
The band is made of silicone, but soft to the touch. For different wrists, there are 9 holes. The button fixes the bracelet well and fastens with a click. I have a rather thin wrist, and I fastened it on the third hole.
On the one hand - it looks very loose, but it doesn’t squeeze the wrist, and the the heart rate monitor fits the wrist well.
The screen is 0.42 inches OLED display Dialog. When it’s on, it lights with a very cute blue color. The button is touch-toned.
The capsule contains the charging pods. It has a rounded shape, and the band has exactly the same shape as the capsule recesses, and thanks to this capsule, it sits firmly and it's protected from water. It is inserted into the band from bottom, I mean, from the wrist side, unlike the previous versions, which excludes the possibility of accidental loss of it.
The charging cable isn’t very long, on the one side, it has a connector for the capsule, on the other - a usual USB. But there’s no charging unit in the set.
The App
For the band to do its job well, I mean, show you the charts and save the measurement history, you need to install a free Mi Fit app on your phone. I have an Iphone, so I don’t know anything about the version for Android. To connect the band with the phone, you need to turn on Bluetooth. For one of the functions, Bluetooth must be switched on permanently. And by the way, don’t forget to follow the latest app updates.
This is how the "Profile" page looks (if you want, you can add a photo)
The registration is very simple, I won’t say much about it. The app will ask you for your data: gender, height and weight.
On the basis of this: a) by weight - you can keep your statistics of losing weight with a schedule, if you make data daily or when you want and b) thanks to your data, the bracelet itself will roughly calculate the step length and based on this, it’ll transform the number of steps done into kilometers or any other measurement suitable for you.
The storage
Display by Xiaomi can show icons, depending on the settings and just a pre-installed watch.
In the app, you can see all the options for how these labels should look:
But now the main thing:
1.This is something that a lot of people were waiting for - a display that can show the time, the number of steps done, kilometers, calories, pulse and battery power. Pressing the touch button will change these icons. And if you want, you can remove everything, except for the clock.
There are two possible forms of showing the time. You can choose which you like more.
2. The band understands the gesture of raising your hand, as if you want to see the time like on usual watch. It displays the clock on the screen, and then you press the button, if you want to change it.
3. Steps walked.
The step counter in this band has some errors. For example, when I worked with documents and turned over pages of a heavy folder, it recorded an extra 20 steps. In the app, it’s very convenient to observe the activities during the day in some particular moment. For example, I can follow how much I was walking to lunch and how much I spent walking back, both in time and distance.
Well, there are also the charts for the day, week, month in the form of columns.
For yourself, you can set the norm in "thousands", a maximum of 30,000 steps. I put 6 thousand to begin with, because I'm just getting use to walking more.
The easiest way to monitor your steps is in the app on the main "Status" page, as each time it is loaded, it displays the current state. When the set norm is reached, the stars appear around the digits:
4. Kilometers walked. If it transforms the steps into kilometers, it transforms them fairly accurately. I checked by Google maps, and it was right.
5. Pulse counting. It measures the pulse, shining through the skin with green rays. It can’t be used in motion. I mean, you can’t control your heart rate during exercise or make sure that it’s within certain limits. To determine the pulse, don’t move for a few seconds. The device doesn't take the pulse very accurately. In a minute interval, it can show quite different measures.
Most of the settings for notifications are set on the "Play" page, I will tell you about them below:
There you can also see that the app can be synchronized with the iPhone "Health" app and the band data will be sent there. But I don’t want to stop here.
6. The alarm clock. It is installed in the application - once, daily and only on weekdays. It wakes you up with vibration, gently, unobtrusively, but very effectively. There’s no so much more loved function of the "smart alarm clock" in the application for IOS app. It means that, it will wake you up in the "right" phase of your sleep.
7. Vibration notification about phone calls, sms and some apps (I don’t have these applications installed on my phone). It’s convenient if you leave the phone, but no further than 10 meters (roughly). It was quite useful for me a few times. I like this function very much.
8. Sedentary alerts. If you want you can use it. I like that function. Every hour the bracelet the screen will draw a very nice person standing up from the chair and accompany it with vibration.
9. DND function (Do not disturb) You should set the time interval when it should be turned on.
On the first day, or rather the night, I didn’t turn it on. And on the second night, I had already done it, because turning over in bed, I sometimes made this gesture with my hand, from which the clock on the display brightly lit up, and it even woke me up with its bright blue figures. In the interval you set, the bracelet won’t vibrate on calls, sms, sedentary alerts, or show time from any move.
10. Sleep monitoring. Standard band will understand your sleep and analyze it only based on your "sleep moving".
But if you tick the Heart rate sleep assistant (you can see it on the screen), then the band will measure your pulse during sleep, and the result should be more accurate. I noticed that this uses up the battery more than any other function.
In the morning in the loaded app, you will see a chart and a digital definition of deep and light sleep. Deep is with darker stripes, light is with light ones. You can click on the bar and find out what time interval it was. You can not influence your sleep data, so this is another function-toy. Just analyze. Based on my own feelings, the information is more or less true.
If, suddenly, for some reasons, you don’t agree with it, at what time and when you fell asleep or woke up, you can change this time manually. I will give an example. I was at the cinema in the evening . Of course, I didn’t move for a long time. The bracelet thought that I went to bed and began my analysis. Then I "woke up" and got home, and then, went to bed again, till the morning. I found out about this in the morning, downloading my night data. I fixed the time of sleep for real time. It can also happen if you like to read in bed, practically without moving, or watching TV before going to sleep, without getting out of the bed.
11. On reaching your "goal by steps" the band will vibrate and draw a small banner, and in the app it’ll show up a record. An absolutely innocent function, and not really necessary.
The battery.
When the display appeared, the time period for one charge was reduced. (Mostly, but, of course, not only because of this), For someone it is very important. But I have nothing to compare with, so I'm happy with what I have. With almost all the functions that can put the battery on, the tracker worked for almost 17 days. I consider this as a very good result.
With Heart rate sleep assistant turned off, the device can work even longer. The indicator can be monitored always and everywhere.
A fully discharged bracelet should be charged at maximum of 180 minutes, that is 3 hours. In fact, of course, it takes less.
The band has a degree of protection - IP67. The first digit means that it is absolutely dust-proof. The second number means the possibility of a short dive with the band on, to a depth of 1 meter. You can wash your hands, take a shower, and not to worry about the device.
As for the damages of the band ... During the first week of using it, I managed to scratch the glass of the display, but the scratch is visible only at a certain angle and under certain lighting, and doesn't interfere with looking at the icons and numbers, so I'm not really worried.
By the way, only the black band is considered to be original. I have nothing to say about the colorful ones.
So, I think that this fitness tracker won’t suit the person who is nuts about sport or counts his/her pulse whilst doing some exercises, and for those who want to know the exact number of the steps walked. As the measurements from that band can’t be considered as the exact ones from the point of view of medicine and from the point of view of health benefits, as it has some faults in the results. But, this fitness tracker is a good, well done toy for the interested (not very nuts about the exact numbers) person. I got used to living and sleeping with it on my arm, and not to pay any attention to it. And I hope that I’ll become even more get used as it’s very healthy to walk a lot!
Thanks for reading my huge review! I hope, it’ll help you understand whether you really need that “toy” or you don’t.
