Introduction: Xiaomi Mi Band 4
That is at the end of May 2018 Xiaomi Mi Band 3 published. Xiaomi continued the release cycle and presented the Xiaomi Mi Band 2019 in China at the beginning of June 4. We had to wait a few months before a multilingual global version was published, but the popular fitness tracker from China is now officially available in this country as well. The global version is CE-marked, but dispenses with NFC and the new Xiao AI functions. Our test refers to the Mi Band 4 Global.
Design and display
Xiaomi remains true to the compact design of the previous Mi bands. The bracelet is made of TPU, is 18 mm wide and adjustable in size between 155 - 216 mm. A pin buckle holds the bracelet tightly on the wrist. The bracelet size that is identical to the Mi Band 3 is practical. If you want to switch from the predecessor to the Xiaomi Mi Band 4, you can continue to use your old bracelet!
The 0.95 inch touch display is new. This is of the AMOLED type and now also displays colors (24bit). The high resolution of 240 x 120 pixels ensures a pin-sharp display with a low display diagonal. Special features of the AMOLED are the particularly strong colors and the almost infinite contrast. If black is displayed, the pixels that are lit by themselves simply remain switched off. As a practical side effect, the energy consumption of the panel is reduced.
Due to the high display brightness of 400 nit, the display remains very easy to read even in sunshine. There are a total of 5 brightness levels to choose from. What the display lacks is an automatic brightness adjustment. The panel is protected by a hardened protective glass. The 2.5D curved cut ensures rounded edges and an accompanying better look. The capsule-shaped tracking unit is removable and is charged via a 2-pin connector. The charging pins are now on the underside, so that the charger of the predecessor, unlike the bracelet, is not compatible! The fitness armband is waterproof to 5ATM (50 meters) and can therefore be worn while swimming without any problems.
Processing and delivery
There is nothing wrong with the workmanship. As expected, the Mi Band 4 is well made. Even after removing it several times, the tracker inlet and shutter will not decrease. The wearing comfort is excellent. The scope of delivery includes the TPU bracelet, the tracking unit, the USB charging adapter and a user manual.
Xiaomi Mi Band 4 features
Better tracking and new sports modes
The 6-axis motion sensor (3-axis acceleration sensor + 3-axis gyroscope) gives the Mi Band 4 new possibilities to track an even wider range of sports. There are a total of 6 sports to choose from. In addition to running, treadmill and walking, there is cycling, swimming and free training. All training units can be started directly via the smartband. A PPG sensor measures the heart rate of the user. This actually works pretty precisely and delivers reasonably comprehensible results even in the high pulse range.
No GPS, but MiFit GPS
A GPS module is not installed. Instead, the GPS of the connected mobile device can be used for more precise tracking. But even without GPS, the step counter delivers extremely precise results. Depending on the sport, the following data is collected, among others:
- Elapsed time
- steps
- Removal
- calorie consumption
- Speed
- stride
- heart rate
- Height difference
- Performance VO2Max
- Swolf
- beat number
All data is transferred to the MiFit app via Bluetooth 5.0 BLE and can be viewed in prepared statistics. In addition to the prepared display of all sports data, the MiFit is the control center of the Mi Band. Settings for the bracelet, the receipt of notifications, the weather or the alarm clock can be made directly via the app.
More than 53 Watchfaces
To customize the user interface, Xiaomi offers 53 different watch faces to choose from. The high-resolution AMOLED display opens up new options for displaying even more unusual watch faces. In addition to the time, date and steps, animations can also be displayed.
The possibility to develop your own watch faces for the Mi Band is particularly interesting. Own creations or watch faces from the community can be loaded directly onto the bracelet via the app (MiBand4 - Watchface).
-
- Watchfaces of the MiFit app
-
- Watchfaces the Mi Band 4 Watchface app
Language Assistant and NFC
!! The following applies exclusively to the Chinese version of Mi Band 4 !!
In China, the NFC model supports the Xiao AI language assistant. The Xiao AI is indeed equated with "Western" language assistants like Google Voice, Alexa or Siri understands so far but only Chinese, and is therefore of interest only to the Chinese users.
To what extent the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 will receive a Western language assistant remains to be seen. The Xiaomi company Huami has a close relationship with the Amazfit Verge already made. Instead of the Xiao AI, the international model of the Smartwatch with Amazon Alexa has appeared. The NFC function is also denied to the Chinese market, so that mobile payment with eg Google Pay is not possible!
Notifications, music control and more
In addition to sports functions, the Mi Band 4 also offers other functions that make everyday life easier for the user. Incoming app and call notifications on the smartphone can be displayed directly on the fitness tracker. For example, if you receive a WhatsApp message, you can call it up on the bracelet. However, it is not possible to reply to messages or SMS!
The music function enables the songs played on the smartphone to be controlled via the Mi Band. Songs can be paused and skipped, and the playback volume can be adjusted. The name of the currently playing song is also displayed on the fitness tracker.
Own vibration patterns, which can be created via the MiFit app, individualize the recognizability of incoming notifications. Other functions are:
- The display of the weather with weather forecast
- An alarm clock, a stopwatch and a timer
- A DND sleep mode so that no more notifications are received
- Look for the smartphone with the Mi band, or vice versa to search the Mi band with the smartphone
- Safely unlock the smartphone with the Mi Band
- Record the sleep and display the sleep data or sleep irregularities via the Mi Fit app
- A motion memory
Battery
The capacity of the battery has been increased to 135 mAh or 125 mAh (NFC model). Xiaomi itself specifies the battery life with up to 20 days.
In practice, a runtime of 3 days was measured at brightness level 24, 6-hour heart rate measurement and 16 hours of exercise / week as well as constant Bluetooth connection to the smartphone. A full charge takes 80 minutes.
Xiaomi Mi Band 4
Good workmanship
Pleasant wearing comfort
Waterproof to 5ATM and swim mode
Color display with good legibility
Individual watch faces
Precise pedometer
Functional range of the Mi Fit app
Receive notification content
Sound control
Good battery life
No automatic brightness adjustment
Heart rate measurement in the higher pulse range slightly inaccurate
No response to notifications
Global version without NFC and voice assistant
With the Xiaomi Mi Band 4, the Chinese electronics giant once again presents a very well-equipped fitness bracelet for a small price. The OLED display extends the range of functions even further. In addition to fancy watchfaces, the readability in sunshine has improved significantly.
Also interesting are the new sports modes. With the sport mode "swimming" and the 5ATM waterproofness, users also get far-reaching possibilities of use in the water. The battery life is still very good with realistic 16 days. Overall, the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 is unreservedly recommended!
