Mi Band 2 is the 3rd wearable gadget and 1st
smartwatch released by Xiaomi. I define it as a smartwatch as it has advance
features compared to conventional watches and it shows current time!
Mi Band 2 was officially released on 7 June 2016. It is the
2nd generation of Mi Band, after Xiaomi released Mi Band and Mi Band
Pulse. Let we start to sneak deeper on this product.
Before Mi Band 2
Mi Band 2 is the first wearable band launched by Xiaomi
which can show current time and date. Previously, Xiaomi has launched their
first wearable smart band, Mi Band. It can count your daily steps, record your
sleeping pattern, be as an alarm clock and unlock your phone instantaneously. It shows all the details by
connecting with app Mi Fit, which is available at Apps Store or Google Play.
However, the negative side of Mi Band is it doesn’t show
current time. There is only three dots on the panel of the band that indicate
you has reach 33%, 66% or 100% your daily steps. That’s mean you have to wear a
watch that shows you the time and another steps-counter. Feels like an idiot
huh?
After that Xiaomi launched Mi Band Pulse, which is almost
identical to its predecessor, but equipped with heart beat sensor. Now, it may
record your heartbeat. But still, it still cannot provide you exact time.
Now, with the launching of Mi Band 2, Xiaomi has produced a
rich features wearable band with extremely low prices compared to other
competitors. Seems like the development team has identify the weaknesses in the
previous model.
Design
Mi Band 2 now has 0.42 inch OLED screen, which shows you
specific detail on the watch. It is a major improvement, compared to previous
model that has only 3 blipping points.
There is capacitor button inserted in the current model,
which is used when users cycle over the modes available at the watch.
The strip of Mi Band 2 is has hypoallergenic properties. It
is smooth to be touched and comfortable to be wear, even for people with
sensitive skin.
The default colour of the strip is black, but you may change
the colour of the strips by buying the strip separately. It is available in 4
colours, which is black, orange, green and blue. However, you cannot fit the new
tracker into older Mi Band strip.
The new design of Mi Band 2 looks so elegant. In my opinion,
it perfectly blended if you wear the band with the black strip. It shows a
mysterious identity of the wearer, but at the same time looks elegant and
modern.
Features
Finally, Xiaomi released a watch! Look, I mean now Mi Band 2
can provide you current time and date.
Steps-counter feature which is a Mi Band feature is
retained. Now, you can see how many steps you have walk over the day through
your watch. It reduces hassle, and save time.
Next, the band show distance covered for the whole day. You
may change the units, either metric or imperial.
There is also calories burned panel. It shows you amount of
calories burned by analysing your movement and steps over the time.
Again, a previous feature brought from previous model is
retained, which is heart beat tracker. You need to cycle over the mode, lift
your wrist up like you are reading the watch, and it will track your heart
beat.
Lastly, there is battery mode that shows you amount of power
left before you have to charge the band.
It is quite impressive that entry-level smartwatch have all
those features. Simple but complete for daily use.
Mi Fit
To connect your phone to the band, you need to download app
Mi Fit. Your phone need to have 4.0 Bluetooth type in order the connection to
be stable. Mi Fit enhances the features of Mi Band 2 even more.
By adding using this app, it
enhances the features of the Mi Band 2. You may scroll the history of your step
counter. It also enables the users to track their sleeping pattern. It detected
your deep sleep or light sleep pattern. You may compare your sleep pattern,
either you sleep well, don’t get enough sleep or oversleep.
This band can also replace your
alarm clock. You can set your alarm, and it will vibrate at the pre-set time.
To switch off the alarm, you need to press the capacitor button once.
Then, you may set the band to
vibrate when your phone receive any notifications. You may enable or disable
this feature. In order it to properly functioned, you need to switch on the
Bluetooth at your phone all the time in order the band may connect to the phone
and receive the signals.
Another interesting feature of the
band is it may unlock your phone automatically without passcode. Again, you
need to switch on the Bluetooth at your phone so that this feature can be
activated. Press standby button at your phone and bring the phone closer to the
band. The phone will be unlocked. However, this feature can only be activated
by Android phone users which has at least Android 5.0 with Bluetooth 4.0.
This feature is very useful,
especially when your hand is wet and you can’t unlock your phone. Also, when
your hand is wet, your phone cannot detect your fingerprint. By using the band,
just put your phone close to the band, and your phone will be unlocked
instantly.
Pros and cons
There are few aspect that Mi Band
clearly has advantages compared to other competitors:
Value in money
The band has a
price tag lower than RM200. To be clear, the price ranges from RM 100-RM150.
The price is clearly lower compared to other smartwatches at the market. One
Gadget had once do a promotion and sell the band at price only RM99. The price
looks low, but you get a feature-rich smartwatch. Clearly value for every penny
spent.
Long last battery
Every time you
charge the band, it will last for around 20 to 30 days, depend on users’ usage
style. If you think 20 days is a short period, let me clarify here. Other
smartwatches last around 3-7 days only before they need to be charged.
Water resistant
Did I ever tell
you that this band is water resistant? Mi Band 2 has IP67 splash resistant
certificate. It is splash, dust and corrosion resistant. But don’t wear it when
you are swimming or diving.
Lightweight
The watch is fairly
light, and make you feel convenient especially when you are running.
However there are few flaws of this
band:
Not durable
I used the watch
since October 2016, which means around 4 month since I first used this watch.
However, the strip now seems cannot fit the tracker properly.
There is two
lining in the strip, which is inner and outer lining. Inner and outer lining
has to fix properly so that it can fit the tracker properly. But, the inner and
outer lining now has torn, and it cannot hold the tracker fit in the socket.
The tracker now occasionally fell out from the socket. It is hard to find a
missing tracker if it lost especially in a crowd place, and a strip without a
tracker is just nothing.
Cannot be charged with USB cable
To charge the
tracker, you need a special cable and it cannot be charged by USB cable. A
little bit annoying thing when you live in an era where USB cable is used at
almost gadgets and not at Mi Band 2.
Limited features
Although Mi Band 2
now shows current time, it can’t be used as a stopwatch. Compared to other
smartwatches, some of them allow you to read the notifications through the
watch. You can even take pictures by your smartphone camera or play games from
your smartwatches. But, remember that most of those features are equipped at
smartwatches which have price tag around RM400-RM1200. Hopefully the low price
of the Mi Band can compensate those limitations.
Cannot be sync with other fitness apps
I read on an
article in Internet that Mi Band developer team has not share the code
publicly. So the band cannot properly connect and sync the data with other
fitness apps such as Endomondo and Strava. The band can only properly
functioned with Mi Fit. I assumed that there is locked features or the band
still has extra potential if it has capability to connect and integrate with
other apps.
Inaccurate algorithm
Sometimes the
algorithm not properly functioned. It track my sleep pattern inaccurately. It
shows that I wake up in the middle of the night, although it is not. However, I
only encounter those problems rarely.
Heart Beat Tracker doesn’t function properly
Remember that I have
share the steps for Mi Band to track your heart beat at the top of my post? However,
it is certainly impracticable. I had read few feedback at the comment section
of Mi Fit, and most of users argued that update released in November has cause
this problem to arise. The tracker can only read my heart beat when I put my
index finger on the bottom of the tracker, and still there is only 50-50 chance
that it will be successful.
So far, the watch works properly,
except when I charge the band, I have to ensure the socket is properly connect
with the charger so that it will be charged. Haish too much usage of words ‘charge’.
Honestly I quite satisfied with the watch. For the watch strip’s problem, just
buy a new strip. Problem solved.
The watch is sold at Lazada at
vary prices, around RM107.90-RM129.99 There is also several online portal that
sold the band such as One Gadget and Direct D. I am not so sure that there is
any retail shop that sold the watch, but I certainly confident that major of the
shop will sold it at higher price.
If you are looking for simple,
value in money but rich-features smartwatch, you may take Mi Band 2 into your
consideration.
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