It’s been a year since the Mi Band 4 was announced, now Xiaomi is unveiling the Mi Band 5, with many subtle changes that make the wearable better overall. Xiaomi’s Mi Band line consists of fitness smartwatches that have been regarded as the gold standard in the tech community with a simple design paired with great value. This year it gets even better with a larger AMOLED display, a new charger that actually makes sense and improved fitness tracking.
The Mi Band 5 comes in two variants, the non-NFC and the NFC variant with the NFC version being the only one with IR detection.
Display
The display has been expanded by 20% bringing the size from 0.95” to 1.2” diagonally. The resolution is 126 x 294 and, thanks to the display being upgraded from OLED to AMOLED, supports 100% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut with a peak of 450 nits. This new display also brings 100+ new animated watch faces, including ones based on popular series, including Neon Genesis Evangelion, Case Closed, Hatsune Miku, and SpongeBob SquarePants. Each of these is accompanied by their own coloured bands to match.
Colours
The silicone bands come in 8 different colours, including; Black, Blue, Pink, Orange, Purple, Yellow, and Green. The majority of the bands also dual-toned which is a nice addition.
Charging
Another arguably big change is the new charging mechanism. The previous Mi Band 4’s charging mechanism was pretty cumbersome, and well, widely despised. It required being taken out of the strap and then plugged into a cradle-like charger. This year, Xiaomi has fixed this issue. The charger simply magnetically attaches to the back of the watch and charges. The battery is 125mAh and Xiaomi claims that on a single charge the watch can last 20 days, the NFC variant lasts 14 days, both are impressive for the price.
Sports Modes
The Mi Band 5 also comes with 11 new sports modes, 5 more than what the previous generation offered. Outdoor running, Treadmill, Cycling, Walking, Freestyle, Pool swimming, Elliptical (New), Rowing machine (New), Jump rope (New), Indoor cycling (New), Yoga (New). To improve this experience further, Xiaomi has improved tracking, although that can’t be confirmed until Xiaomi releases the watch.
Everything Else
Other new features include a new SpO2 (blood oxygen) tracker, menstruation cycle tracking, breath training, waterproofing, improved sleep tracking, a remote control for your phone’s camera, the XiaoAI voice assistant and the PAI Vitality Index. PAI is an abbreviation for Personal Activity Intelligence and aims to advise on your amount of activity and exercise.
Pricing and Availability
The Mi Band 5 is going to be released in China on June the 18th and will go for CNY 189 (~$27USD) for the non-NFC variant and CNY 229 (~$32USD) for the NFC variant. The global launch date is yet to be announced, but it is rumoured that the global variant will come with Amazon Alexa, this is yet to be confirmed.
The Mi Band 5 improves in many areas over the last generation while keeping the same affordable price tag, keeping it as a strong competitor for companies like Fitbit and Garmin.
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