Xiaomi Mi Band 4 Review: One of the Best Fitness Budget Band

Xiaomi Mi Band has been around in the market for a time. The company has released version after version each year with minor upgrades in each release. This Year Xiaomi released the Mi Band 4. The fitness band has many of the features from previous bands and some new features. The major thing you would notice in the Mi Band 4 is the Color display. The fitness tracker comes with a color OLED display with significantly improved outdoor viewability and a higher resolution. The band is set to launch in India soon and I got my Mi Band 4 from Aliexpress to try and review before it launches in India.

Mi Band 4: Design & Display

Xiaomi Mi Band 4 may look very simple fitness band on your wrist until you fire up the display in its full-color glory. The color display is seriously amazing and you have the option of switching the watch face through Xiaomi’s Mi Fit Application.

The fitness band looks similar to the Mi Band 3 but has major changes towards the bottom and top. The Mi Band 4 has flat front display opposed to Mi Band 3. The button is just a small touch-capacitive area marked with a small circle. For interacting with the band you have to swipe up and down across the screen and tap to select. it’s simple to navigate around the mi band 4. Mi band doesn’t even feel if you are wearing it because of light in weight. The Mi band weighs 21g. Below the tracker is the Heart Rate tracker and Charger connector. Xiaomi has done away with side charger connector and instead released a pogo pin connector for easy and efficient charging.

The Screen of Band 4 is slightly bigger than the Band 3, measuring 0.95 inches. The resolution is also high and interactions are very rarely missed taps and swipes on the band. The Strap size is same as the Mi Band 3 and because of this, you would be able to use the Mi Band 3 straps on the Mi Band 4. Xiaomi straps tend to break from the lock and it’s advisable to get a steel strap for better safety of the core. It’s advisable to also have scratch guard applied on the band for better operation and safeguarding the screen. The Mi band 4 gets scratched easily.

Previous Mi Bands had an issue of visibility in sunny conditions and that is solved in the Band 4, thanks to the new better OLED Display which lights up to 400 nits. Whether you are indoors or outdoors the band 4 have got you covered. Xiaomi with the Mi band 4 has tried to give a budget-friendly replacement to smartwatches.

Like the predecessor, the band 4 is waterproof up to 50 meters (5 ATM). You can take this band in the rains or shower and control your Bluetooth music without even touching your Bluetooth speaker.

Mi Band 4: Fitness Tracking & Performance

Mi Band 4 has always-on fitness tracking and steps counts are pretty accurate on the band. This has been improved over the years with each Mi band launched. The band does counts steps when you are traveling and irrelevant step counts are added because of the activities and hence I feel there should be an option to turn off steps count so that accurate count can be obtained.

The Fitness tracker comes with a heart rate sensor which is located below the core and does not offer continuous heart rate tracking to of course save battery. You get an option in the Mi Fit application to turn on continuous tracking in set minutes interval.

While performing workouts you need to activate the workout mode from the band or from the application to track continuous heart rate monitoring during the workout period and shows you how you’re doing on the band’s display.

The Band 4 does not come with a GPS and instead it latches on to your phone’s GPS location and works in conjunction with Phone GPS for a connected GPS Experience. To have your running trail in the Map you need to carry phone along with you. Mi Band 4 doesn’t offer all the features you expect in the band but that’s something understandable because of the price point that it comes.

There are various modes in the band like – cycling, swimming, and walking which are preset in the band so that accurate tracking can be provided and I have doubt about it since the band is improved drastically in terms of fitness tracking.

In previous Mi bands, you needed the application to start the modes but in the latest Mi band, you can directly start the mode from the band itself without the requirement of the phone or application. It even congratulates you when you hit milestones like 1KM, which is a nice touch.

The Mi Band 4 may not comprise of all the feature that I may be looking for in a fitness band but the price bargain leaves me with no complaints at all. The band provides more value to casual exercisers and gadget fans because of the performance and price of the band.

Mi Band 4: Other Features

Xiaomi apart from above-mentioned features comes with a sleep tracker and thanks to its lightweight you don’t feel you are wearing a fitness tracker in the bed. The sleep data is pretty accurate and it provides you with data like – Deep Sleep, Light Sleep and awake time during the sleep.

The default display showcases the time nice and clearly. There’s also an activity loop, visually displaying how much exercise you’ve done today, there is a battery percentage indicator and the date.

You can also get notified for an incoming Call or message/Email from an application through the Mi Fit smartphone application. Unfortunately, you can’t reply to a notification from the band but in case of a call, you can decline the call or silence the phone.

Mi Band 4: Battery Life

The Band 4 comes with a 135mAh battery and the xiaomi claims a 20 day battery life but if you use the band with workout sessions and notifications the battery will drain drastically and during my testing I was able to get battery life of 15 days, though your final day-count will depend on your watch face, activity tracking and general usage.

Charging up the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 is pretty complicated. You have to pop the fitness tracker Core out of its band and slot it into a proprietary charger, so this won’t work with a micro USB cable. It does charge quickly.