Mi Band 2 – The best Rs 1999 can get you
Mi Band was a great success for Xiaomi. Following the Mi Band, Xiaomi has now launched Mi Band 2 in India. It is priced at Rs 1999. I have been using the Mi Band 2 for over 2 months. I am a fitness freak. I regularly go for jog and train for long distance running. I have used many fitness bands. The FitBit flex was my first band and when the band broke due to bad construction, it broke my heart as well. It was an expensive band and then I decided to go for cheaper solutions.
I lost the Mi Band in the busy Heathrow airport and then I got myself a Mi Band Pulse. Now with the Mi Band 2, I get better accuracy in tracking distance and heart rate.
Pros |
Cons |
| Accurate Pedometer | Does not track sleep during day |
| Better Heart Rate Sensor | App does not have social integration |
| Sensible Display functions | App does not support other fitness activities |
| Easy to use | Does not display caller ID |
| Long battery life | |
| At Rs 1999, it’s a steal | |
In the Box
In the box, you would find a proprietary charging dongle apart from the Mi Band 2.
Design
The Mi Band 2 is very similar to the earlier iterations in terms of design. The sensor is now slightly bigger and the notification LED lights are replaced with a OLED display. Below the display is a touch button but the screen is not a touch screen. The Band 2 is compact and light weight. It is powered by a 70 mAh battery. The display has a scratch resistant glass and an anodized metal touch sensitive button. Below the sensor is the heart rate monitor. The mi band 2 is IP67 water proof. The strap is larger and softer. It has a better locking mechanism.
Display
The monochrome display is a OLED display and it shows time, step count, distance, calories, heart rate, battery level and notifications as configured. The display is clear and crisp under indoors and it was visible on outdoors as well. But under direct harsh sunlight, legibility is poor.
Features
Lifting the Mi Band 2 will show the time. But you can see it by tapping on the button as well. The touch button cycles between different features of the band. Apart from time, step count, calories and heart rate are the key features of the strap. It can also track your sleep. There is no specific sleep mode, but the band detects that you are asleep and starts tracking sleep. I don’t like wearing anything on my wrist, while sleeping. So I did not test this feature a lot. But what I really liked is the idle alert. I have set that the band must alert me every 1 hour, if am sitting idle on a desk and it works perfectly. Alarms can also be set with the app. On the appointed time, the band vibrates. The Mi Band 2 supports alarms which you can set from the Mi Fit app.
Mi Band 2 can be set to show notifications. It can show incoming calls by vibrating. The caller ID is not displayed on the band, but just a generic call icon. It also supports notifications from a bunch of applications like SMS, email, WeChat, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Whatsapp. The Band can also be set to unlock your Android mobile. This feature is not available for iPhone.
Mi Fit App
The Mi Fit App is available for both Android and iOS. The app is control center for the band. The app helps in keeping a track record of your fitness activity like sleep, steps and hear-rate. If you have the Mi Scale, the app can also track your weight management goals. All the features of the app like notifications, alarm, fitness goals, idle alert, etc.. are all managed by the Mi Fit app.
The app can sync your data with 3rd party apps like Google Fit or WeChat. However it lacked social media integration. This is a feature I miss from FitBit. Peer connections and encouragement can be a good motivator. I wish such a feature come on the Mi Fit app soon.
Battery
I have used the Mi Band for over 2 months now. I use it every day and till date, I have charged it about 3 times. That is excellent battery life. The Mi Band and Mi Band Pulse gave me about 70-80 days on a single charge, but they did not have a display. I have disabled the Heart rate sleep assistant and this extended the battery life by another 5 days. A 20 day battery life is really good considering the standards in the market these days. Charging the band takes about 1 hour and once charged, I can forget about it for about a month. The dongle if missed has to be purchased again, so make sure you store it safely.
Verdict
The Mi Band 2, as a fitness band does one thing and that is to measure your steps. I have used a bunch of bands and among them, the Mi Band 2 gives the most accurate measure of distance. It does not calculate any ghost steps like while riding or brushing teeth or typing on a keyboard. In terms of accuracy, this is the next best accurate pedometer compared to a GPS based tracker. If you are into running, walking or jogging, then the Mi Band 2 is the best tracker that Rs 1999 can get you. Other features like time, sleep tracking, notifications, alarms are all added bonus.