release date, price, design, functionality, all about the smart health connected bracelet

The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 comes to take over from the popular Mi Band 4. If it looks, it remains faithful to its predecessor, it brings several important new features that are expected on a smart health connected bracelet worthy of the name. Here's what you need to know about the latest model from the Chinese brand.

Xiaomi is a hit with its low-cost smart health connected bracelets from the Mi Band range. The firm is continuing its momentum and has just launched a new model: the Mi Band 5. While its predecessor the Mi Band 4 notably brought the introduction of a color screen, this iteration of 2020 also arrives with its share of novelties. Design, technical specifications, features, this is what awaits us with the Xiaomi Mi Band 5.

? What is the release date of Xiaomi Mi Band 5?

Xiaomi presented the Mi Band 5 at a conference on June 11, 2020. The bracelet arrives on the Chinese market from June 20, 2020. In Europe, the accessory should be marketed from the beginning of August on the market European. Remember that the Mi Band 5 is already available for pre-order at Gearbest for delivery in early August.

? What is the price of Xiaomi Mi Band 5?

The Mi Band 5 is offered at a price of € 39 on Gearbest, the same price as the Mi Band 4 when it is launched. A Mi Band 4 that we find today for much cheaper than that. Xiaomi does not risk a price increase while brands like Huawei and Honor are also very aggressive in this sector and Oppo has also just launched its own low-cost smart health connected bracelet.

What design for the Xiaomi Mi Band 5?

As you can see in the illustration visuals of this article (all coming directly from Xiaomi), the Mi Band 5 is aesthetically very close to the Mi Band 4. If we take a look at the two products without dwelling too much on the details, we can even confuse them.

The AMOLED screen that equips the smart health connected bracelet is still larger with its diagonal 1.2 inch, against 0.95 inch for the Mi Band 4. The bracelet itself is however not to be much more bulky, Xiaomi especially reducing the margins to increase the size of the slab. We are awaiting the official dimensions of the Mi Band 5 to confirm the fact that it remains as compact. Xiaomi also announces a higher brightness to better see it outdoors despite the sun's rays.

We hope this time that it will be easier to get bracelets of a color other than black. In Europe, finding other colors through official channels was an obstacle course on the old Mi Band models, forcing either to be content with black, or to go through import via a Chinese dealer. Small message for Xiaomi: Europeans also love colors!

? What are the new features of the Mi Band 5?

The Mi Band 5 is distinguished by the presence of a magnetic charger. The Mi Band 5 can thus be recharged more simply than before. No need to remove the tracker from its bracelet to connect it via USB as on previous models, it is now enough to position the magnetic charger on the back of the device without removing the bracelet (see below). A much more practical system for users remains to be seen what this implies in terms of charging speed. Regarding autonomy, the manufacturer has not yet announced anything. The Mi Band 4 could last 15 days, we hope that its successor will do at least as well despite the arrival of new energy-consuming features.

Another major novelty, long requested by the community and even expected on the Mi Band 4: NFC. Up to now, only the Chinese versions were compatible with this technology, the models intended for the international one did not. The Mi Band 5 will benefit from NFC in Europe. This technology (we tell you everything about NFC in a dedicated file) allows, among other things, payment on contact, and therefore avoids taking out your smartphone to pay with Google Pay for example. Then just approach the bracelet of the payment terminal to validate the transaction. We are still waiting to see with which applications the Mi Band 5 will be compatible. Users who imported Mi Band 4 from China had the unpleasant surprise to find that the NFC of their smart health bracelet was useless for them, because the device only supports a Chinese payment service.

In terms of physical exertion and sport, the Mi Band 5 continues to complement itself with the support of five new activities: indoor cycling, elliptical, rowing machine, rope jumping and yoga. For health, Xiaomi has thought of women by adding a monitoring of the menstrual cycle. Of course, all the functionalities for monitoring activity, sleep and health already present on the Mi Band 4 will also be found on the Mi Band 5 Finally, the Mi Band 5 offers 11 modes of monitoring (for different sports) of physical condition and distinguishes REM sleep alongside deep and light sleep. Like the previous models, the Mi Band 5 promises autonomy of 14 days thanks to a 185 mAh battery.

What do you think of this new iteration? We await your opinion in the comments.

AB SMART HEALTH REVIEW