Xiaomi Mi Band 5 launched: More features than ever, same cheap price tag
Xiaomi
- The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 has launched in China.
- It comes with 11 sports modes and a bunch of new features.
- The price of the Mi Band 5 starts at 189 yuan (~$26).
Xiaomi has launched the highly anticipated Mi Band 5 in China. Carrying forward the legacy of its predecessors, Xiaomi’s latest fitness tracker offers a ton of features at an ultra-cheap price point.
Everything from the display to the sensors gets an upgrade on the new Mi Band, making it more feature-rich than ever. Let’s take a look at all that’s new on the Mi Band 5 and how it differs from last year’s Mi Band 4.
Xiaomi Mi Band 5: Specs and features
To start with, the AMOLED display of the Mi Band 5 is slightly bigger than that of the Mi Band 4. It measures 1.2-inches as opposed to the Mi Band 4’s 0.95-inch screen. That’s not much of a difference but the screen now has smaller bezels and a larger area to display more information. The resolution is set at 126 x 294 pixels and it supports 100% of the P3 color gamut.
There are several new activity tracking modes on the new Mi Band 5; 11 to be precise. In contrast, the Mi Band 4 offered a total of six sports modes. Given that people are not getting out much these days, it’s nice to see the inclusion of more indoor activity features on the Mi Band 5. Check out all the new sports modes below.
- Outdoor running
- Treadmill
- Cycling
- Walking
- Freestyle
- Pool swimming
- Elliptical (New)
- Rowing machine (New)
- Jump rope (New)
- Indoor cycling (New)
- Yoga (New)
Besides the added sports modes, the Mi Band 5 gets a number of new tracking features and improvements. We’ll have to test out how well they work in our review, but for now, its definitely a step up from what you get with the Mi Band 4.
Improved sleep tracking
The Mi Band 5 now has improved sleep monitoring, with continuous heart rate tracking as you snooze. Xiaomi claims this will help identify sleep problems and based on the data collected, the app will give you suggestions to improve your sleep quality.
Blood oxygen tracking
The Mi Band 5 also gets a built-in SpO2 or blood oxygen tracker. This was absent from the Mi Band 4. The tracker can apparently detect your blood oxygen saturation levels every second, for 8 hours in a row. That’s a total of 28,800 reading in a span of 8 hours. This continuous SpO2 monitoring is also aimed at improving sleep quality. It will work in tandem with the Mi Band 5’s sleep tracking function to provide more comprehensive sleep quality feedback.
Women’s health and PAI scoring system
Other new features include menstruation tracking, breath training, remote control for your smartphone camera, and a new PAI Vitality Index. PAI stands for Personal Activity Intelligence and is a feature borrowed from Huami’s Amazfit wearables. It essentially gamifies health tracking by giving you a score between 1-100 based on your daily activity and heart rate.
Magnetic charging
Xiaomi
Apart from the new sports modes and tracking features, the Mi Band 5 also brings a major design tweak. Traditionally, all Mi Bands have had to be popped out of their silicone straps for charging. The new Mi Band 5 does away with that hassle and brings all-new magnetic charging onboard.
The band has a 100mAh battery which, Xiaomi claims, can keep the lights on for up to 14 days on a full charge.
NFC and voice assistant
In China, the Mi Band 5 brings support for NFC and the XiaoAI voice assistant. However, it’s unclear if the two features are also headed to the global variant of the band. It’s rumored that the global version of the Mi Band 5 will likely get both NFC and support for Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. But we’ll have to wait for the Mi Band 5 to step out of China to be sure.
Now that you know all that’s new with the Mi Band 5, here’s a quick table summarizing the specs.
| Xiaomi Mi Band 5 specs | |
|---|---|
| Display | 1.2-inch AMOLED 2.5D colour touch screen 126 x 294 pixels resolution |
| Sensors | Heart rate sensor SpO2 sensor NFC |
| Battery | 100mAh 14-day battery life (advertised) |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Sports modes and tracking | Outdoor running Treadmill Cycling Walking Freestyle Pool swimming Elliptical (New) Rowing machine (New) Jump rope (New) Indoor cycling (New) Yoga (New) Sleep PAI Health Suite Blood Oxygen Heart rate Women's health |
| Alerts and controls | Calls Message App notifications Alarms Calendar Music controls Remote camera control Find my phone |
| Charging method | Magnetic |
| Colors | Black, yellow, red, deep blue, gray, purple, pink, green |
| Water resistance rating | 5 ATM（50m water resistant) |
Xiaomi Mi Band 5: Price and availability
The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 comes bearing the same affordable price tag as its predecessor. In China, the regular variant of the Mi Band 5 without NFC will cost 189 yuan (~$26). Meanwhile, the version with NFC will come in at 229 yuan (~$32.38). Both models will go on sale in China on June 18.
The global Mi Band 5 launch and availability details are yet to be announced, but we’re guessing that the fitness tracker will cost around $30-$35 when it steps out of China. We’ll update this article with more Mi Band 5 availability information as and when we know more.
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