This armband might not be there. Xiaomi Smart Band 7 – review
From the very beginning, I have a very ambivalent attitude to the Xiaomi Smart Band 7. To the extent that the band came to me for a long time in the box, even intact. The name itself is something else, because officially Xiaomi got rid of the “Mi” and now it’s just Xiaomi Smart Band 7 or in short Xiaomi Smart Band 7. A handful of changes compared to Mi Banda 6 and a higher price made it the least expected by me Xiaomi smartband. And I don’t want to suggest anything at the beginning, but I tried to find at least a few pluses that would explain the purchase in a logical way. The latest Xiaomi band reached me well before the Polish premiere, but … see the second sentence in the previous paragraph. I got the Xiaomi Smart Band 7 in the global version from the Hekka store and I am writing this only because I made an appointment with them. They were to send the art for testing, and I would throw a link from the Xiaomi Smart Band 7 to the text. I did so, but I do not urge you to buy there, because at the current prices and the euro exchange rate, it is not very profitable. And the band itself, quoting the classic, let’s not anticipate the facts. Since this is Band 7, below you will find my observations that relate to the seven most important issues.
First, the screen
The display in Mi Bands changed from generation to generation. It got bigger, the resolution changed, but so did the display type. It was most noticeable between the Mi Band 3 and the Mi Band 4, where the colorful AMOLED appeared for the first time, or between the Mi Band 5 and the Mi Band 6, where the screen grew significantly and was 1.56 inches. According to an unwritten rule, the screen in Band 7 is also larger, slightly, but still, because it is 1.62 inches. And it will be accurate when I write that the Mi Band 6 was the maximum of this form, where it was impossible to squeeze something bigger. The new band is the perfect confirmation of these words, because the larger screen influenced the dimensions of the band itself. The so-called lozenge is more than 2 millimeters wider.Xiaomi Smart Band 7 The resolution has also increased (to 192 x 490 pixels), which allowed to maintain a high pixel density. Seriously, the display is extremely sharp and there is no chance to catch a single point with the naked eye. I also think that the wider screen makes it easier to use gestures, especially right / left flushes. It is also influenced by a slight curvature at the edges, but it was already in the six.
The biggest novelty here is Always on Display, i.e. the always-on-screen function
It’s strange that it was not there before, because AMOLED, as I mentioned, is from Mi Banda 4. By default, this function is turned off, so you have to go to the screen settings to turn it on. This can be done directly from the band or in the Zepp Life app. This is nothing more than a simpler, black and white version of the shield that we currently use on the band. The mode can work automatically (and it does it surprisingly well!) Or at times we set.
Second, the appearance
On the one hand, it’s cool that we have a larger screen in general, but on the other hand, it brings with it more problems than it seems at first glance. Xiaomi Smart Band 7 only seemingly looks the same as its predecessor. Or else, the overall design is the same, so if you don’t know and haven’t seen these wristbands, you probably wouldn’t have noticed the difference. But when you have both generations next to each other, you can see it straight away. As I mentioned, the new band is wider, and thus also has a new strap, adapted to the larger lozenge. This means that the straps from Mi Banda 6 do not fit, so if someone used a better fancy strap or bracelet, then Banda 7 has to buy something else.
Xiaomi Smart Band 7Besides, the strap or clasp looks the same as before. We have a metal dynx which we put in one of the 13 holes. I fasten the belt with an eight on a 17 cm thick wrist. The smartband is still great on the hand and during the day we can forget about it that we are wearing it at all. Xiaomi Smart Band 7 together with the classic black strap weighs 26 grams. It’s not much, because it’s a simple band after all. It is also resistant to water (5ATM) and sweat, so we can easily bathe with it, swim, fly after rain, and when it gets dirty, wash it under tap water.
Third, the battery
According to Xiaomi, the Band 7 should last a maximum of 14 days with such a normal load or 9 days with intensive use. All because the band has a larger battery with a capacity of 180 mAh (125 mAh in Mi Band 6). Well, I can tell you right away that you can put it all between fairy tales. Xiaomi Smart Band 7 did not last even a week, at least in my case.
After the first day, almost 1/4 of the battery flew out and in the evening it stopped at 77%.
The second day was not any better, because after another 24 hours it was already 60%. Five days after disconnecting the charger, 9% of the battery was present. The next cycle was a bit better, but also without any revelation. After the first day, 19% was lost, and I had to reconnect the headband after 6 days. I would also like to point out that there is no intensive use of the band. It was connected to the phone, on the default settings, without using any training modes in progress, but with sleep and heart rate monitoring. Not only that, it lay on the desk for almost two days, I didn’t even touch it, and 7% of the battery leaked anyway. Therefore, I conclude that the operating time of the Banda 7 is tragic and no larger battery will help here. This is no longer what Mi Bands once offered, we charge the battery as in the case of the six, i.e. through a magnetic charger attached to the bottom of the band. Importantly, we no longer have to remove the lozenges from the strip. It is a very convenient solution, but it is one of the novelties from the time of Mi Banda 6, not this version.
Fourth, system and operation
The idea of using Xiaomi Smart Band 7 has not changed, but minor changes can be seen in the appearance of icons or options. However, it is not important enough to describe it in detail. The screen has grown a bit and I have the impression that the font in the menu or settings has also grown a bit. Overall, everything works fine, but you don’t feel any mega fluidity here. When the planet moves on one of the discs (the one in the photo) or when scrolling through the menu, you can see gaps in the animation. On the other hand, I am a bit bothered by the scrolling option names, which greatly affects the readability and “finding myself” in the options. But it probably couldn’t be done otherwise, because the screen is narrow, and the Polish equivalents of the English option names are usually longer. We connect the band to the phone via Bluetooth and we can operate it through the Zepp Life application. Yes, it is currently the official application to manage not only the latest band, but also earlier Mi Bands, previously known as Mi Fit.
The headband includes 5 factory-added shields. They all look fine, and I mostly used the one with the hour in the middle, the pedometer on the top, and the battery status on the bottom. Of course, this can be freely configured and in place of the steps, you can insert, for example, calories burned, weather, heart rate or UV index. In short, the possibilities are many and the rest of the Pierdyliard dials can be downloaded from the store.
Fifth, functions
Band 7 has a lot of classic features that should be found in a cheap band. Displaying notifications, weather, sleep quality monitoring, checking the heart rate, turning on the alarm clock, flashlight or access to the calendar are standard. There is also a menstrual cycle tracker, breathing exercise and a blood oxygen sensor, but new to the seven is that the latter is even smarter. We constantly monitor the blood oxygen saturation when we are at rest and get alerts when oxygenation is lower than it should be.
Xiaomi Smart Band 7 – measuring blood saturation In the new band we will find about 120 different training modes and this information is repeated wherever we can only read about Xiaomi Smart Band 7. Only do we really need it, since we most often use several, well maybe a dozen or so modes? There were about 30 modes in the Mi Band 6. There is a lot more here, but I don’t think anyone would want to know how many calories they burned while playing bridge, playing board games with friends or playing CS. Seriously, there’s an esports mode too. For me, it is an excess of form over content.
Xiaomi Smart Band 7 The band does not have a built-in GPS, so it pulls location information from the phone. And he does it surprisingly well, because I even called a moment ago and it took 3-4 seconds to catch the fix. There is also no built-in NFC, at least in the version of the band I tested. Goodbye contactless payments.
Sixth, updates
And here is a huge surprise. As I mentioned at the beginning, the Xiaomi Smart Band 7 came to me quite early, and despite this, after the first connection with the phone, the Polish language was immediately available. No messing around, installing special versions of the application and wondering which bush to click to make it good. During this time, at least two updates of the band have appeared, so it can be assumed that the support will be at a high level. Currently Band 7 is running on version 1.27.0.4.
And seventh, is it worth it?
Here you have to ask yourself a banal, but very important question – Is it worth buying a band such as Xiaomi Smart Band 7? I will answer right away that no and I will also support it with a few arguments. The Xiaomi Smart Band 7 is not a better band than the Mi Banda 6 to immediately fly and buy it, spending a hundred more at the same time. All significant changes can be listed by an average carpenter on the fingers of one hand. Yes, there is a slightly larger screen and a longer battery, but this does not translate into real benefits. Maybe there is Always on Display, but it affects the life of the battery that supports the operation of the battery for a short time. There were a lot of modes, but I feel like it was like “let’s see what else we can add.” Do we have a run in the stadium? And let’s add one with obstacles and a dog chasing us. Do we have chess? And this is also bridge and macao. But why, if few people will use it anyway, limiting themselves to the most popular modes?
Xiaomi Smart Band 7 The latest band went to Poland for PLN 249, so it was a bit “burned” at the start. It was several dozen zlotys more than in the case of Mi Banda 6. It was also the price for the basic version of the band, so without NFC, which users have already managed to convince. Currently, in this amount, if we try well, you can have two Mi Bands 6, and with a finger in four letters, we will buy Mi Banda 6 with NFC below PLN 200. Going the other way, if we add about one hundred zlotys, we should find Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro, a completely different and much better band with built-in GPS and NFC. Xiaomi Mi Band 6s. If you are looking for Mi Band, choose Mi Banda 6 or Smart Banda 7 Pro. If, in turn, you are already using Mi Banda 6, do nothing and use it further.
