Xiaomi
miband started out making its own custom version of Android, MIUI. Then it
started making phones. Now, just 4 years on from first existing as a company
there is a whole range of other products you can buy besides phones. A tablet,
earphones, battery packs, routers, and even a fitness band.
It's the last of those that we have here.
The Xiaomi MiBand. The official price in China translates to $13 in the U.S.
which, however you choose to look at it, is an insanely low price for a device
in this category. But is it any good?
Read on to find out.
The hardware
Xiaomi MiBand
There's really not much to the hardware from the outside. You get
that impression immediately upon opening the box. This is no smartwatch
pretending to be a fitness tracker, or a fitness tracker pretending to be a
smartwatch. There's no controls, no display. Just a band and a silver dongle
with three LEDs on its outer face.
The band is made of silicon which while not particularly flashy does
mean the MiBand is very comfortable to wear. It's adjustable, too, in the same
way a watch band would be from the very small wrist right up to the not so
small. It does mark quite easily, but they're interchangeable at least. So if
it gets too damaged, there's a bunch of different colors to replace it with.
There's also supposed to be a leather band, but if you ever see one of those
for sale, make sure you send me the link.
As for the dongle, there's nothing to it,
really. Black on the rear, aluminum on the front and on the button/clasp and
three LEDs within. It charges via the pins on one end which dock into the
proprietary charger. It's an idea to keep that charger safe, too, since you
won't be using it that often and it's certainly small enough to lose. It's also
IP67 rated, so don't worry about taking it off when you get in the shower.
Inside, the MiBand houses a paltry sounding
41mAh battery. But numbers don't tell the story as Xiaomi claims 30 days
battery life and you know what? They're not lying. I've not worn this one long
enough to test that fully, but after 10 days there was still 74% of the battery
remaining. And that's outstanding.
The MiBand isn't the sort of device that
you're going to spend more than a couple of minutes setting up and adjusting.
It's a strap it on and forget about it kind of device. Just take it off once a
month to charge the battery.
没有评论:
发表评论