Xiaomi hasn’t made any moves to sell their devices in Australia, or indeed any western country so far, but it hasn’t stopped their products showing up here. One product that really made a dent is their super cheap Mi Band fitness tracker, which gives step count and sleep tracking in a cheap fairly robust package. Now Xiaomi has announced the updated Mi Band 1S with an integrated heart rate sensor for a similarly low price to the original Mi Band.
The Mi Band 1S, can track steps, and your sleep and with the Mi Band 1S, your heart rate. The band has a built-in vibration motor which can be used to wake you with a smart alarm feature or alert you to notifications or incoming calls on your phone. As well, the band can be used to unlock your device.
Like the original, the Mi Band 1S connects to your phone via Bluetooth and syncs data in the Xiaomi Mi Fit app available on Google Play.
In its TPU band the Mi Band 1s is IP67 compliant, meaning it’s dust and water resistant – which you’d expect for something that’s going to track all your movement. It’s also got a fairly long battery life for a device that’s tracking a lot of information; the band’s 45mAh battery will apparently last up to 20 days, though you will have to use a proprietary charging cable to re-charge it.
Pricing wise, the Mi Band 1s is set to go on-sale in China on November 11 for 99 yuan (about $22AUD). The band is currently up for pre-order on Geekbuying for $36.07 with a 20th of November release date.
Whilst the addition of a HR monitor is good, it seems an odd pairing for a device lacking a built in display. Would you carry/take out your phone in the middle of exercising to check if your heartrate is in the target zone? Much better to get an instant readout, as with something like the FitBit Charge HR. Also the typical two-piece form factor results in the Band coming loose from the band on occasions. It happened one too many times for me and my Band is now lost in limbo…