Economic, light and eternal: these are the three adjectives that describe the Xiaomi Mi Band 3, the company’s smartband released at the end of May. What do I think of this product? Let’s find out together in this new review!
Light, economical and eternal: these are the three adjectives that I would like to give to the product we are going to review today. What am I talking about? But of her, of course: the Xiaomi Mi Band 3, the “new” (grant me this adjective) smartband of the Chinese company that has finally arrived in our hands. But let’s see together what I think and where to buy it at the best price on the market in this one review.
Design: a renewed icon | Xiaomi Mi Band 3 Review
Inside the package that contains ours smartband we do not find anything new compared to the previous model, the Mi Band 2. Present the body central of our smartband, a rubber bracelet, a charging cable (always too short!) and the inevitable manual for instructions. Let’s say that the content is essential, but, given the negligible cost, a second replacement bracelet or a longer charging cable would certainly have been accepted with pleasure.
About the design and construction Xiaomi Mi Band 3 has nothing different from the previous model. The design is always the one a oblong bean to which the Chinese company has now accustomed us even with the previous versions.
To commend the work the company has done on strap, decidedly more robust than the Mi Band 2. Even in practice it can be seen that we will have to exert a lot of force both to unhook the bracelet and to remove the body from its housing.
Immediately below the screen we find the “point touch“, The touch button will allow us to perform some essential functions such as turning on the display, going back and, holding it down, activating some functions such as searching for the device within a radius of 5 meters or the stopwatch. In the lower part of the device we find instead two pins dedicated to charging the smartband which takes place in about 2 3 hours.
Another thing the company has improved is the certification of the smartband for waterproofing. While the last version had the IP67 certification, in fact, the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 has the IP68 certification, which makes it waterproof up to 50 meters underwater, allowing us to keep it on even when we shower or wash our hands. Missing (and I add unfortunately, being a lover of swimming) the possibility of tracking a workout in the water.
Display: a little more than the essential | Xiaomi Mi Band 3 Review
The real difference between the second generation Mi Band and this one is represented by the display full YOU ARE, enlarged and brought to 0.7 ″. This intuition of the company pushes the potential of the newcomer from Xiaomi a little further.
To report a very annoying mole of the display: the visibility in direct sunlight. When we find ourselves in this condition, in fact, it will be very difficult to see the screen of ours My Band. However, things change considerably at the hint of even a very slight twilight. This flaw was unfortunately also present in the previous version and it is good that Xiaomi take this into account for a possible next version of your smartband, as this device is often used just outside, and therefore under direct sunlight.
Software and features: few innovations on the horizon but a lot of quality | Xiaomi Mi Band 3 Review
Despite being a more or less economical smartband (at times it has also fallen below 20 euros in special offers), we have almost all the functions we need. Below we list them all:
- Pedometer
- Calories burned
- Distance traveled
- Heartbeat counter
- Stopwatch
- Weather
- Hours of sleep (then divided into the appropriate application in light sleep and deep sleep)
- Notifications: this function allows you to read the name and text of the last 5 notifications received from enabled applications. Unfortunately we cannot answer directly from the smartband. In addition to text messages, you can see the name of who is calling us
- Device search: this function can only be activated if the device is connected to the smartband. Otherwise it will not be possible to trace the phone
- Main screen customization
- General device information
After analyzing the functions of the Xiaomi smartband in general, let’s now talk in more detail about the main functions.
The heartbeat detection it really surprised me a lot. However, in order to detect your heartbeat, we will have to tighten the bracelet sensibly and place our smartband as close as possible to the wrist. Nothing to say instead about the accuracy of the sensor, which perfectly measures the beats per minute of our body.
If you wish, it is also possible to activate the function thanks to which you can have the heart rate measurement. But be careful: this function will significantly decrease the autonomy of yours Xiaomi Mi Band 3. But we will talk about this shortly.
Unfortunately, since the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 it is not equipped with GPS, the pedometer of the smartband is not very accurate. In fact, it sometimes happens that the latter does not detect some of our movements or that it detects movements even if we move the wrist. Nothing so transcendental. However, it should be noted that the imprecision of the pedometer will falsify the values of daily calories burned and of distance traveled.
La companion app
Now let’s move on to the application that we will have to install through Play Store to be able to download all the data of the smartband directly to the mobile phone.
Once the device is turned on, the first thing to do is to install the application Mi Fit available for iOS and Android. Once the application is installed we will have to perform a update thanks to which the band will automatically update to the Italian language.
But what exactly is the application for? The application Mi Fit we will need it substantially to be able to set some functions of our Mi Band such as choosing which applications to notify and set the minimum daily step limit.
Autonomy: duration at the highest levels | Xiaomi Mi Band 3 Review
And we come to the strong point of the Mi Band series: the battery life. Like its predecessors, abundantly praised by the network, also the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 has a ‘excellent autonomy, especially by disabling the automatic periodic measurement of the heartbeat. Leaving the latter function enabled, in fact, the autonomy of the 110 mAh battery will suffer a lot. On average we can say that the duration of the smartband is between 20 days with average use and 5 days with intensive use and with all functions enabled.
The device is recharged via USB cable. As already said previously (I will never tire of repeating it) the cable supplied is too short and this will oblige whoever has landed like me to charge the device leaving it on the floor.
In order to charge the smartband we will have to remove the body real from the strap. This operation the first few times can be slightly annoying as the body is well stuck with the bracelet, thus making extraction very difficult. Once we get used to it, however, we won’t notice it anymore.
Conclusions: the smartband that never contradicts itself | Xiaomi Mi Band 3 Review
Before giving the final judgment on this fantastic Xiaomi device I feel I have to make a clarification. Unlike the previous Mi Band, this one Xiaomi Mi Band 3 did not bring striking news, but only small changes and improvements. Precisely for this reason I would recommend this smartband only to those who do not own a Mi Band 2 and only now enter the world of Xiaomi smartbands or at most own the first two Mi Band models, the My Band and the Mi Band 1s.
Nevertheless, in itself, the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 still remains the best smartband in its price range and it is the right compromise for those who want spend little e have everything (or almost).
They are well three official colors: red, blue and black. In case you don’t like them, they are still easily available at a ridiculously low price (very often even at less than 1 euro) spare bracelets.
Personally I preferred to buy the smartband di Xiaomi its Amazon, both for the guarantee that the seller offers, both because, honestly said, I was thrilled to have the device as soon as possible. At the moment the price on the well-known American e-commerce is around 29,90 euro. Otherwise you can buy the smartband on GearBest at this link (coupon: BAND311) at the really inviting price of approx 20 euro.
Points in favor
- Excellent autonomy
- Economic
- Strap with resistant closure
Points against
- Poor visibility in direct sunlight