Filip Brož Activity monitors and fitness bracelets of all kinds have undoubtedly become the hit of recent years. Our market is literally flooded with various gadgets that offer different functions, designs and above all prices. The Chinese company Xiaomi, which needs no special introduction, has been targeting the price since the beginning. The company offers a wide portfolio of products, including the aforementioned fitness bracelets. This year, the Chinese retailer introduced the third generation of its fitness tracker – Mi Band 2.
The inconspicuous bracelet catches the eye at first glance with its OLED display, which is fairly legible in direct sunlight. On the other side, there are pulse activity sensors. Mi Band 2 is therefore not only intended for athletes, but will also be appreciated by seniors who want to have an overview of their body, activity or sleep.
Personally, I've been using it all the time with my Apple Watch on. I placed the Xiaomi Mi Band 2 on my right hand, where it stayed twenty-four hours a day. The bracelet boasts IP67 resistance and can withstand up to thirty minutes under water without any problems. It does not have a problem with normal showering, but neither does dust and dirt. In addition, it weighs only seven grams, so during the day I did not even know about it.
Regarding the user experience of use, I also have to highlight the very strong and rigid fastening of the bracelet, thanks to which there is no risk of your Mi Band 2 falling to the ground. Just pull the rubber band through the fastening hole and use the iron pin to snap it into the hole according to the size of your wrist. The length suits both men and women. At the same time, the Mi Band 2 can be easily removed from the rubber bracelet, which is necessary for charging or changing the strap.
In the paper box, in addition to the device, you will also find a charging dock and a bracelet in black. However, there are also other color options that you can purchase separately. The rubber surface is quite prone to small scratches, which unfortunately become visible over time. Considering the purchase price (189 crowns), however, this is a negligible detail.
OLED
The Chinese company surprised quite a bit by equipping the new Mi Band 2 with an OLED display, which has a capacitive touch wheel in the lower part. Thanks to it, you can control and, above all, switch individual functions and overviews. While the previous Mi Band and Mi Band 1S models only had diodes, the third generation is the first ever fitness bracelet from Xiaomi to have a display.
Thanks to this, it is possible to have up to six active functions on the Mi Band 2 - time (date), number of steps taken, total distance, calories burned, heart rate and remaining battery. You control everything using the capacitive wheel, which you just need to slide your finger over.
All functions are controlled in the Mi Fit app in iPhone. Thanks to the latest update, you can display the date in addition to the time, which is quite practical. The display with a diagonal of less than half an inch can also light up automatically as soon as you turn your hand, which we know from the Apple Watch, for example. Unlike them, however, the Mi Band 2 doesn't respond exactly and sometimes you have to turn your wrist a little unnaturally.
In addition to the aforementioned functions, the Mi Band 2 can alert you by vibrating and lighting up the icon of an incoming call, turn on an intelligent alarm clock or notify you that you have been sitting and not moving for more than an hour. The bracelet can also display some notifications in the form of the icon of the given application, especially for communication ones such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, WhatsApp or WeChat. At the same time, it is possible to send all measured data to the native Health application.
The synchronization of the bracelet from Xiaomi takes place via Bluetooth 4.0 and everything is reliable and fast. In the Mi Fit application, you can see the progress of your sleep (if you have the bracelet on your hand during sleep), including the display of deep and shallow sleep phases. There is also an overview of heart rate and you can set various motivational tasks, weight, etc. In short, all statistics are traditionally in one place, including detailed graphs.
When I think back to the very first version of this app, I have to admit that Xiaomi has come a long way. The Mi Fit application is localized into English, it is quite clear and above all functional from the point of view of stable synchronization and connection. On the other hand, I have to point out again the overly complicated first login and unnecessarily high security. After the umpteenth attempt, I managed to log into the application with my old account. I also did not receive an SMS message with the login code on the first attempt. Chinese developers still have room for improvement here.
The battery is unbeatable
The battery capacity has stabilized at 70 milliampere-hours, which is twenty-five milliampere-hours more than the previous two generations. A higher capacity is definitely in order, given the presence of the display. The Chinese manufacturer then guarantees up to 20 days per charge, which fully corresponds to our testing.
It's very convenient to know that I don't have to worry about charging every day like I do with the Apple Watch. Charging takes place using a small cradle that is connected to a computer via USB (or via an adapter to a socket). The battery reaches full capacity within a few tens of minutes. Even just ten minutes of charging is enough to last less than a day with the bracelet.
I tested the Xiaomi Mi Band 2 for several weeks and during that time it more than proved itself to me. When I compare the new model with its older siblings, I have to say that the difference is more than noticeable. I like the clear OLED display and the new functions.
Heart rate measurement takes place through two sensors, and thanks to this, the resulting values correspond with the values of the Apple Watch with a slight deviation. However, this is still only a cursory overview, which is not quite as accurate as measuring through the chest belt. But it is plenty enough for running or other sports activities. Sports activity, just like sleep, starts automatically as soon as the bracelet registers a higher heart rate.
Xiaomi Mi Band 2 you can buy at iStage.cz for 1 crowns, which is a real bummer these days. Replacement bracelet in six different colors it costs 189 crowns. For this price, you get a very functional fitness bracelet, which I personally found room for, even though I wear an Apple Watch every day. It was especially useful for me when sleeping, when the Mi Band 2 is more comfortable than the Watch. This way I had an overview of my sleep in the morning, but if you don't have a Watch at all, the bracelet from Xiaomi can provide you with a complete overview of your activity and heart rate.
Thank you for borrowing the product iStage.cz store.
"I also have to highlight the very strong and rigid fastening of the bracelet, thanks to which there is no risk of your Mi Band 2 falling to the ground" Well, I don't know, I reckon that the fastening/bracelet is the same as the previous generation. I thought it was solid too (I didn't believe the comments on the net) - but I've almost lost it a few times.
The bracelet together with the clasp is different from the previous version, the clasp is really stiff and you need to press a little. Otherwise, during testing, it never fell off by itself. Everything is holding, but I remember the first version had its flies and the strap would occasionally come undone by itself.
Try using it for 1/2 year to a year and we'll see how many dirty words there are in the article :-D.
I understand that for some it is the cheapest way to start, but……
I myself wrote such a micro-review on the first version, and in some respects, unfortunately, nothing has changed.
Worst things:
Unverified SW on mobile (I'm talking about SW on Android).
Not fully functional SW - even Chinese, not only English characters, some services are not regionalized, so they don't make sense, others don't work at all.
Incomplete water resistance (impossibility of immersion in water).
Big problems after 1/2 year of use - crashes, errors in notifications, unsaved results, errors in synchronization...
The belt needs to be replaced every 6-8 months (it usually falls out of the bracelet).
Email and sms notifications are completely non-functional, when someone calls you, even after 3 rings, which is already too late.
Critical security errors (It's so easy to inject an application from another application (at least on Android).
There will definitely be differences between the Android app and iOS. I've never used Android, and as I write in the article, the previous iOS app was terrible. Now I see considerable progress in it, except for the security and login. There have even been new updates during that time, including the bracelet's firmware. So I can't compare with Android... on iOS, it works fine with small flies, including graphs, etc...
As for notifications - during the month that I wore the bracelet, everything worked. When the phone rang, the bracelet vibrated, when a FB notification came, it also alerted me. On the other hand, I have AW for notifications, and I mainly used Xiaomi for sleep, which worked very well compared to the Jawbone UP3 (by the way, Jawbone includes sleep trackers), so the comparison is quite appropriate.
With regard to the purchase price, I am personally willing to forgive the Chinese manufacturer for all transgressions. Maybe I would stop enjoying it after half a year, but I used the first generation for less than a year and even though it looked terrible at the end (the bracelet), everything still worked. Again, for 1800 ducks, we can't ask for miracles...I recommend satisfaction and Mi Band 2.
I would like to ask, please, whether the smart wake-up works on the Mi Band 2, i.e. wake-up in a light phase of sleep, if it occurs before the alarm clock rings. It doesn't work with the Mi Band 1, although it should according to this review http://fonyzciny.sk/recenzia-xiaomi-miband/ little. Thank you
Just yesterday I read a review of this bracelet and some important things are not mentioned at all in the article.
– "The display is perfectly readable in normal conditions and quite poorly in bright sunlight, although the manufacturer claims the opposite."
– "The Xiaomi MiFit application is not fundamentally different from the previous generation of the bracelet
did not rework. You will still come across a combination of Czech and
English, as not all parts are translated." - it is possible that it is Android
– “If (in the application) you want to view
a distance statistic instead of steps, or an indicator of burned calories, nothing
you won't find that here.''
– "For example, with an SMS message, the bracelet vibrates twice and displays na for 2 seconds
envelope icon display. After that, the notification will disappear from the bracelet for good. At
notification of one of the selected applications, a short word appears on the display
APP and you will feel two vibrations again."
– “heart rate monitor – measurement
only on request and with the necessity of minimal hand movement, on which
the measurement is performed, otherwise it will not be performed. But I can say from personal experience,
that you can measure your heart rate even while running; just a few seconds by hand
do not move.'
It turned out to be an interesting piece, but I would be quite disappointed by these "flies" if I bought the bracelet based on your review.
Totally agree, at first I'm super excited and then I'm worried. The best thing that happened to me on version 1 was that I successfully complained about it ;-).
I also had a few observations on the old version, see my second post.
I have the miband 1S version, I've been using it for 9 months, the battery lasts about 36 days on a full charge, synchronization without problems, the wristband holds firmly on the hand, the heart rate sensor is not much, it's only indicative, as far as the number of steps is concerned, deviation is approximately +1000 steps per 10 steps. I have an iOS app, it's great in Slovak, no English names etc. Sleep measurement is great, probably the only and best function of the bracelet. Anyone who is an undemanding user will be very satisfied. The bracelet cost me 000e including postage.
Where can you buy it for 25e? In CR, the price of 2 is only around 1300 CZK, 25E is half the price! Do you give any warranty? Thanks
I bought it directly from China. Postage was already included in the price. Of course, if it goes wrong, it's not worth complaining, because the postage would cost more than the price of the bracelet. But for the price, great for an undemanding customer.
Great, thanks for the info. I saw that it goes for around 800 CZK on eBay, but I don't know if I should pay 500 CZK and have a 2-year classic warranty for it. :-/
Good day. Since I owned the bracelet approx. 14 days after the start of sales in China (the delivery time took 14 days), I was able to test it enough until then.
Tested with IOS iphone SE. The application is used in English, I didn't have any problems. Notifications without problems, synchronization too. As someone wrote below, the notification of the incoming phone is only after 3 seconds, so that bothered me. Another thing that bothered me is that when you turn on the don't disturb function on the bracelet, the bracelet doesn't even monitor your sleep, it doesn't show any data. Someone wrote about water resistance here. The bracelet is certified for resistance under running water (hand washing, showering, etc.) and I didn't take the bracelet off even in the pool and it works without problems when submerged up to 2 meters. Personally verified. Nothing happened to the wristband and I swam with it all summer. I sold the wristband because of it and what is really bad about it is the heart rate measurement (I used the wristband for running). the frequency sometimes had dropouts or senseless peaks, but the average was correct. Mi band 1 measures absolute nonsense, I feel that they have a set range from 2-60 BPS maximum. and that is definitely not enough for running. I believe it's just a software problem. (the application used was MI HR, of which I am also a beta tester) and recording Endomondo. I also agree that sometimes the belt does not measure the heart rate if you go through the MI fit application or directly through the button on the belt. because it's a shame. it looks like it's a metric device fault. so I would definitely recommend the wristband for easy tracking of activities such as steps, sleep distance and notifications. otherwise it is useless for runners. Skoda needs to learn from the manufacturer and correct mistakes
I have the same phone, but I don't receive messenger notifications on my phone. It bothers me. Do I only need to receive notifications at work?
The bracelet does not fit well on a slightly thinner hand because the display is quite large in length and does not copy the roundness of the hand. Otherwise, I'm surprised that someone laughs at this cynically...
SUNT