Xiaomi Mi Band 3 Review: Sleek, Affordable Life Tracker

This Xiaomi Mi Band 3 review aims to inform about the features and functionalities and provide useful insight about Mi Band 3.

It’s affordable, but is it sufficient?

If you’re looking to get a new fitness tracker, you’ll find lots of alternatives at a selection of various costs. However, you’d have a hard time locating a device that’s less costly than the Xiaomi Mi Band 3.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 2 is one of the finest and most affordable health and fitness tracker.

Fortunately, the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 is still an inexpensive device, but it comes with a great deal of brand-new functions, including waterproofing, a larger screen, and an improved layout.

Design

• Light fitness tracker that’s comfortable to put on when sweating
• Not the best-looking device, however not unsightly either
• Larger display than the Xiaomi Mi Band 2, yet still restricted in functionality

The Xiaomi Mi Band 3 does not intend to surprise you with its design, yet it looks much better than previous physical fitness trackers.

It’s exceptionally light on your wrist at 20g, which indicates we did not truly notice we were wearing it. The measurements of the tracker are 17.9 x 46.9 x 12mm, so this will not seem like putting on a smartwatch – it’s a great deal smaller.

Display

The screen is larger here than on the Xiaomi Mi Band 2 – it’s a 0.78-inch OLED panel that rests along your wrist. Although we found that attribute reasonably unstable, you can swipe your finger throughout the touchscreen to scroll through the menus.

It often took a few faucets or drags on the screen to get into the food selections we needed, so this isn’t the most convenient device to interact with. That problem got better with time as we got to know the device, but we still found ourselves having to swipe or tap continuously as the screen wasn’t responsive sufficient.

There’s a secret button at the bottom of the display, which you can hold back to activate functions or press to return. This worked rapidly whenever we offered it a fast tap when browsing the food selections.

The screen itself is black and also white, with a pale blue shade to the white. So you won’t be getting a dynamic readout of your stats. However, the resolution is proficient at 128 x 80 pixels. If you desire a tool that’s bolder and can give all of your stats on a huge display screen, you’ll wish for something larger and extra costs like the Samsung Equipment Fit 2 Pro.

Our main trouble with the display screen on the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 is that it’s illegible in direct sunlight.

We took the tracker out operating on a bright day, and we discovered it a battle to check out any one of our stats without detecting a dubious area. That implies you might find it challenging to see your information if you need it rapidly when you’re on the action.

Waterproof

The Xiaomi Mi Band 3 can go swimming or get into the shower, as it’s likewise waterproof to 50 meters – that’s a valuable attribute and one you won’t locate in some trackers that set you back a bargain more.

You’ve likewise obtained the option of 3 different bands for the Mi Band 3: there’s a black design – the one envisioned in this evaluation – along with blue and orange.

It has a silicone strap, and we found it comfy to wear throughout the day – even when sweating – yet it does not look especially trendy. Xiaomi doesn’t provide any other materials for straps yet. Still, based on what we saw after the Mi Band 2 was released, we would certainly expect to see a selection of third-party retailers marketing alternative straps quickly.

Physical fitness

• Normal step-tracking technology constructed in
• Heart rate sensing unit on the back, which we located unstably
• No GPS monitoring

Action monitoring on the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 appears to be very accurate.

You’re never going to get a flawlessly precise result from a wrist-based tracker, but we discovered it to be in the ballpark for tape-recording our daily action matter.

On the back of the tracker is a heart price sensing unit that rests directly on your skin. This isn’t always on so that it won’t be continuously tape-recording your heart rate. Instead, you need to trigger it to get a rating through to your wrist and have it tape-recorded in the Mi-Fit app.

We found the heart price tracker usually functioned well when we were resting still, but we got unusually differing results when out and also about. You must stand still and possibly even sit down to obtain an accurate reading from the tracker.

That’s not particularly beneficial, as you’ll usually want to tape-record your heart rate when out working out.

Activity Monitoring

You’ll find the tracker will tape-record your range when you’re running also. However, don’t expect this to be super-accurate as there’s no GPS on this gadget. This will not be a big offer for laid-back runners, as you can obtain alright arise from your phone’s GPS, yet if you desire something a bit more specialist, you might wish to look elsewhere.

The tracker is additionally designed to track cycling and swimming, yet we haven’t checked it for either of those activities yet.

One disappointment we had with the Mi Band 3 is that you can not begin monitoring the tracker itself. Instead, you’ll need to start an activity session from within the app and then maintain it taking place in the tracker as you work out.

It could be more useful to begin sessions within the tracker, which is something you can do on a lot of other tools that set you back just a little more.

Specifications and various other functions

• Uncertain what tech is running inside the tracker
• Rest monitoring technology is limited however valuable for fundamentals
• Extra data consisting of weather as well as notices

Throughout our testing duration, we located the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 functioned quickly, although we don’t know precisely what tech is powering this gadget.

Every little feature of Mi Band 3 functioned well throughout our testing, with the various features firing up quickly.

The Band 3 uses rest tracking, and many thanks to the slim and light layout we did not see. We were still wearing the tracker in bed, also on some warm and even uneasy nights.

The sleep stats it documents are extra limited than on a lot of top-end trackers. It offers you stats for the sleep period, when you’ve gotten up and when you’re in deep and light sleep.

Sleep Tracking

It doesn’t offer details on your Rapid Eye Movement, like some top-end Fitbit products or a committed tracker like the Nokia Rest. In case you need to know the number of times you awakened in the evening and obtain a little advice on exactly how to enhance your sleeping patterns, the Mi Band 3 will possibly fit you.

As stated, there’s also NFC on another Chinese variation of the Xiaomi Mi Band 3, permitting you to use it for contactless repayments. However, there’s currently no word on whether other regions will certainly get that functionality.

Climate information is displayed by default – you’ll obtain the low and high-temperature levels for the day, and also the following number of days, as well as a brief projection.

You can additionally have a selection of notices beamed to your wrist, consisting of calls, texts, alarm systems, pointers, and application notices from a range of third-party services.

These are all easy to make possible via the app. While you won’t have the ability to reply from your wrist, Band 3 will undoubtedly offer you a quick buzz when you’re getting a telephone call, as an example, so you can take your phone from your pocket to check it.

Application and compatibility

The Mi Band 3 comes with Bluetooth 4.2 technology within. It’s able to work with smartphones running Android 4.4 and above or Apple iPhone running iTunes 9.0 or above as soon as you’ve downloaded the Mi-Fit app to your phone.

The application is easy to set up on Band 3.

It breaks down the data right into days, revealing your sleeping pattern, step count, heart rate, weight (if you choose to enter it by hand), and a lot more. The user interface is easy to use, and also it’s straightforward to find and review the statistics you need to see.

You can also start your tracking sessions from within the app. The settings allow you to transform specifically how the band works – you can pick which applications can send you notifications, whether you desire the tracker to shake for a telephone call, and even more.

The Mi-Fit application does precisely what you require it to, yet there’s no thorough malfunction of the information to keep you inspired and encourage you on what you can do much better in the future.

Battery life

The Xiaomi Mi Band 3 has a 110mAh battery. We utilized the tracker for 2 weeks for our last evaluation, as well as after that duration. It had 72% battery left.

That was from a full charge with rather wide use, so it should quickly last for at least one month, or probably closer to 6 weeks, from a single charge.

Xiaomi states its band will certainly last for 20 days in standby mode, but we discovered it lasted longer when in use, so you won’t need to charge this every evening like some physical fitness trackers.

It’s an excellent task. The battery lasts as long as it does, as charging up the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 isn’t the most convenient thing to do. To port it right into a proprietary battery charger, you need to pop the tracker out of its band. So this will not deal with your regular mini USB or USB-C cable television.

When that’s done, however, it does bill swiftly – we located that it went from around 50% to 100% in about half an hour. You will not have to bill the Mi Band 3 that frequently– but ensure you don’t shed the battery charger, as you won’t have the ability to utilize the chargers from your various other gadgets.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 3 is a relatively basic device that’s appealing and also affordable.

It does not bear down your wrist, as well as it supplies a great series of features that you’ll likely be more than happy with if you’re mostly concerned with points like taking a peek at your everyday step matter.

And, just like many Xiaomi products, genuine emphasis is the cost.

Who is it for?

The Xiaomi Mi Band 3 is for anyone seeking to monitor their action matter or other fundamental physical fitness stats. They do not want to invest lots of money in a tool to have those features.

As preferred as trackers from the similarity Fitbit and Samsung is, those tools can be pricey, as well as if you don’t mind losing the weird function in return for a much-reduced cost, the Band 3 might be right up your road.

It’s also slim, light, and too comfortable to use. Some modern trackers can obtain rather beefy to fit in those additional attributes and magnificently vibrant displays, so the Xiaomi is completely matched to any individual who wants a smaller tool.

Should I buy it or not?

As we saw in this Xiaomi Mi Band 3 review, there are drawbacks to the Mi Band 3. The temperamental heart rate tracker and distance monitoring do not make this a viable option for an excellent GPS-toting running watch.

Only buy this if you want basic statistics like your step count and rest tracking; you shouldn’t be aiming to obtain the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 if you desire exact measurements that will aid you in adjusting your workout program.

But there’s nothing incorrect with just desiring a fundamental physical fitness tracker to keep an eye on your steps, which’s precisely where Xiaomi is pitching this device.

Xiaomi might be overreaching with a few of the added features, yet considering that you can watch on your action count for this little cash, the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 is a quite remarkable little tool.

No products found.