2015 seems to have been the year when wearable devices finally began to enjoy commercial success. Of course, they have been released for years, and fitness trackers in particular, but they either lacked something, or most of them seemed just too expensive. A little earlier, Xiaomi impressed everyone with its Mi Band product, which presented many popular functions, such as counting steps and sleep time, but it lacked the zest in the design and the heart rate monitor, although it is difficult to complain about such shortcomings when a thing costs only 13 $. This time, the manufacturer, following the naming scheme for budget, but multi-functional smartphones, offered the Xiaomi Mi Band 1S Pulse sports bracelet, which significantly improved functionality and maintained an incredibly low price of $ 15. In addition, the company's global distribution system has improved significantly, and impatient customers are likely to be able to purchase the device at this price, regardless of which country they live in. So what has improved compared to the previous model, and will the new generation be as popular as the previous one?
Design
One glance is enough to determine the manufacturer of this gadget. Inside a regular plain square cardboard box with the Mi logo, there is a capsule of a fitness tracker, a silicone bracelet and a small adapter for charging from a USB port. Although the packaging has not changed much compared to the original version, its contents have been significantly updated, promising to give even more for the money spent and demonstrating this with a pretty nice look. The fitness tracker is a super miniature ellipse with a width of 37 mm, a height of 13.6 mm and a thickness of 9.9 mm. Plastic "washer" Xiaomi Mi Band 1S Pulse - black. In its upper part there is a plate of brushed aluminum, under which 3 LEDs are hidden, visible through microscopic holes, completing a beautiful and harmonious design. On the side there are 2 contacts for charging the battery, and at the bottom there is a heartbeat monitor.
The capsule of the tracker weighs only 5.5 g and meets the IP67 water and dust protection standard, so the user does not have to worry about the safety of the device, leading a normal lifestyle. The included bracelet weighs 14 grams and is 225 mm long. It is adjustable on the wrist with a simple pressure pin in the range of 157–205 mm in circumference. The strap comes in 6 different color options, including black, blue, orange, turquoise, green and pink. The tracker is equipped with military grade Bluetooth 4.0 chips and an accelerometer, as well as the brand new Photo Plethyamo Graphy (PPG) heart rate monitor. Holders of larger or smaller wrists will have to buy another strap or type of accessory (for example, a pendant) so that the tracker can function correctly. According to the owners, the Xiaomi Mi Band Pulse 1S fitness bracelet is incredibly comfortable and so light and flexible that most of the time they do not notice it at all. He is remembered when washing his hands or when he is removed.
Bracelet and Charger
The true beauty of the design of the Xiaomi Mi Band Pulse 1S fitness bracelet is not only in the small size of the tracker itself, but in how Xiaomi accessories are combined with it. The capsule is placed inside any of the many accessories, and although the package includes its tight-fitting regular silicone hypoallergenic strap, users can additionally purchase all kinds of design solutions, including those made in the form of a pendant. To charge the tracker, just insert it into the supplied dock, which connects to the USB cable about 15 cm long. There is no separate network adapter, but it is likely that each new owner already has more than one such charger or, at least, at least a free USB connector. The battery is fully charged in just a couple of minutes, because its capacity is only 45 mA ∙ h.
Software
What does a smart bracelet cost without software created specifically for it? Not so much, of course, since in this case it will be difficult to access all the data he collects. Fortunately, Xiaomi offers quite worthy software - Mi Fit application, which was used in the previous model. This time, the Xiaomi Mi Band 1S Pulse program, of course, supports the heart rate sensor and all the additional indicators that it monitors. Steps are recorded throughout the day and are counted at the end of the week, so that the user knows how good or bad his result was this time. A comparison of the fitness tracker with Google Fit and Android Ware suggests that the readings of the devices are very close. For example, wearing them for a week yielded 106 thousand steps for Google and 99 thousand for Mi. In addition to this, the application estimates the distance traveled and calories burned over a selected period of time.
Work with Mit Fit
Data can be represented in several ways, although overall navigation in Mi Fit can be quite confusing. The main screen displays the number of steps or sleep time for the past night, depending on when the application opens. The program and fitness tracker automatically switch between sleep and pedometer modes, and there is no way to set the desired mode. A large pie chart is displayed at the top of the screen, which looks the same as in most other Xiaomi applications. It shows the steps, the distance traveled and the calories burned, as well as a radial scale showing the percentage of completion of the daily norm. A window is called by swipe, in which the time of sleep as a whole is shown, as well as the duration of the deep, and, of course, a circular graph of achieving the planned indicator. The presentation is very beautiful and has a colored status bar and navigation bar if the phone has soft buttons. The transitions between the screens are beautiful with subtle three-dimensional effects throughout the application, featuring a pleasant and complex design.
View statistics
Pressing the large wheel on the home page displays daily or night statistics, broken down throughout the night or day, with a full schedule and markers to facilitate visual perception. Touching any line of the chart will lead to the issuance of more detailed information above it, and the averaged indicators of all activity are located below. A small button at the bottom of the screen allows you to switch between daily and night statistics for the last 24 hours. Difficulties begin when you need to find the rest of the statistics and historical data. To do this, the user must return to the main screen and touch the area in the upper left corner of the graph. This will bring up another daily tracking page, which this time displays the average data for each day instead of the detailed minute by minute. The buttons in the form of plus and minus in the lower part of the display allow you to display the average values of the day, week and month, displaying information in both numerical and graphical form, as well as the results for each category. The night mode button allows you to switch between tracking fitness and sleep, for which there are similar options for displaying information.
Xiaomi Mi Band 1S Pulse: getting started guide
The user manual is written in Chinese, so it will be difficult to deal with it. The first thing to do is download the Mi Fit program from the Google І store (or the App Store, because the fitness bracelet is compatible with iPhone running iOS 7.0). Next, you should provide a wireless connection between the tracker and the phone via Bluetooth and create an account, if it is not already. Tracker can sync with Google Fit. However, problems arise here, since the downloaded application does not support the heart rate measurement functionality. The solution is to download and install software from the manufacturer’s website, for which you will first need to change the security settings of the smartphone by providing permission to launch applications from other web pages.
Further use of the device is not difficult. It automatically connects and synchronizes data when you open the application, and the rest of the time it autonomously records user activity, without discharging the phone’s battery with a constantly turned on wireless connection.
Battery capacity and settings
If you open the application settings, you can see another large pie chart, this time to display battery statistics and the duration of the device. According to user reviews, the battery life of a fitness tracker should be at least 20 days on a single charge, which any SmartWatch can only dream of.
Search function and other settings
Using the search function, you can find the Xiaomi Mi Band Pulse 1S fitness bracelet in case it gets lost, forcing it to vibrate twice silently. This means that if the fitness tracker is on a soft surface (for example, on the couch), which will not resonate when the vibrator vibrates, then this function will be pretty useless.
You can also establish the place of wearing the capsule - on the right or left hand, or on the neck. This slightly modifies the statistics tracking algorithm for maximum accuracy. As with any paired Bluetooth-enabled device on the Android platform, you can use the fitness tracker to prevent the phone from being locked for the duration of their connection. This option is available in the application or in the system settings of the smartphone.
In addition to this, you can set the alarm time of the Xiaomi Mi Band 1S Pulse, as well as receive notifications from smartphone programs. True, this function is limited to only 3 programs, this is probably for the better, since otherwise the device would vibrate constantly without giving any visual information. Incoming calls can also activate the bracelet, but such an application of the Xiaomi Mi Band 1S Pulse fitness tracker will result in a slight reduction in the battery life of the phone and the fitness tracker.
Data availability
Owners who need to track the duration of their night's rest as accurately as possible will find that the monitor controls the heart rate to check if the user is actually sleeping, and also compare the data to more correctly determine the deep and light phases of sleep. Unfortunately, this information is not stored and is not available outside the heart rate monitor, which only contains a history of manual scanning of the heart rate. In addition, the device automatically at 21:30 notifies you of the number of steps taken during the day, and data on the duration of sleep is offered after the owner of the Xiaomi Mi Band Pulse 1S fitness bracelet wakes up and gets out of bed.
Advantages and disadvantages
The Xiaomi Mi Band 1S Pulse bracelet is praised by users for its unbeatable price, ease and convenience, several capsule placement options, including the ability to be worn around the neck, long working hours without recharging, automatic calculation of steps and duration of sleep, a large number of statistics in graphical and numerical presentation, integration with Google Fit. At the same time, navigation in the Mi Fit app is inconvenient, and heart rate data is not automatically saved along with other information.
Conclusion
The manufacturer, when creating the Xiaomi Mi Band 1S Pulse fitness tracker, did a great job and really improved the previous model thanks to more reliable microcircuits and a completely new heart rate sensor. The monitor’s capabilities are not fully realized, since the program does not save this data if the user himself does not initiate such measurements. Nevertheless, a smart bracelet is difficult not to recommend to those who are looking for a device to measure the time spent on training and sleep, even if these data cannot be integrated into other fitness applications. This last remark may turn out to be decisive for some users, since many users have invested their time and energy in My Fitness Pal, Fitbit and countless others that serve to control their nutrition, calories burned, etc.
Nevertheless, Mi Fit provides an excellent breakdown of the sleep cycle and other data that can be easily manually downloaded to your favorite fitness application, even if the need to do this is constantly annoying. For only $ 15 you can buy an incredible set of equipment in a good assembly, which accurately tracks the performance for a small fraction of the cost of competing products.