Xiaomi Smart Band 7: an important difference in presentation

I still don’t understand why Xiaomi has discontinued the Mi brand for its products. Their bracelets will likely be called Mi Bands for years to come, although they are now called, generally speaking, Smart Bands. Fortunately, Seven offers at least two major display-related innovations, putting it on par with the Huawei Band 7. I mean, these companies really need someone with some imagination for product names!

The seventh generation of the bracelet, which will soon be joined by a Pro model with an integrated GPS satellite receiver, is not much different from the previous one at first glance. The shape is mostly the same, the top stays completely flat and doesn’t blend in with the belt well. But I like the hook-and-loop, which doesn’t have a classic buckle and therefore doesn’t bulge as my hand rests perfectly while typing. However, the difference is obvious when looking at it along with the six. For the first time, the screen already stretched almost the entire screen (honestly, there is still a lot of black at the bottom and top, as well as on the side), but in practice it was very narrow. The new bracelet fixes that. It’s now wide enough to make sense of the proportions – it’s still pretty straight compared to a Huawei bracelet – and the information on it is clearly visible and doesn’t push it too quickly into a new line. The bracelet itself has also become a little wider, but I don’t see any problem with that. It may look better, but it’s still barely noticeable on the wrist. Interestingly, however, the data on the screen diagonal – 1.62 instead of 1.56 inches – doesn’t indicate such a big change at all. But the former was really long and narrow, hence the large diagonal, but the new one has a quarter of the space.

Another important gain in the display is the ability to show the clock and other information at all times (which depends on the specific dial). Always on display, that is. Some people can do without it without any problems, because they do more for the longest possible battery life, but I want the clock to at least show the time when I have it in my hand. However, as with the biggest competitor, I would suggest a significant decrease in screen brightness in this mode, which unfortunately cannot be adjusted. The numbers are really huge, and this is especially evident in the evenings and in dark rooms, and I’m sure it affects the autonomy as well. This is tangibly shortened by the always-on display. In the absence of it, the bracelet can easily last a full week of operation and can even last more than ten days if some things are turned off, it has a battery supply of a maximum of four days. With automatic measurement of blood oxygen saturation (SpO .).₂) and continuous recording of heart rate, it needs a three-day charge, because consumption rises to about 30 percent per day. When I set the heart rate measurement to every half hour, I settled on about a quarter of the battery per day.

In terms of brightness, the OLED screen is the same as the previous one. At level four or higher, level five it’s bright enough to spot numbers even in strong sunlight, but inside we have a similar problem as with the always-on display. The wristband still does not have a sensor to automatically adjust the brightness, so the screen is often very bright and also consumes a lot of power. The same problem also affects the Huawei bracelet.

In other respects, the Smart Band 7 is a continuation and iteration of what we have already seen. However, he can now monitor SpO regularly₂, I don’t remember if the ancestor was able to do that, but definitely the blood oxygen measurement function was already in the Six. The bracelet also detects stress and now determines whether the user is breathing « quality » while sleeping. If I include that and « very accurate sleep tracking » (I’m not wearing anything at the time, so these capabilities are not relevant to me), I’d probably shorten battery life even more. I also neglected to keep track of the female cycle available to female users. It continues to calculate the daily activity index, which is then collected over the past seven days. The bracelet can be used to control the music playback on the phone, it can act as a wireless camera trigger in the connected phone, and of course there is an alarm and a countdown timer.

More important is the display of notifications, which they eventually fixed as much as possible. Now a little prettier and easier to read, but many other bracelets and watches still display this more elegantly, not like looking at some screens from the ’80s. Such a bracelet without GPS is suitable for basic data on movement, so much so that it is possible to orient ourselves, how far we have walked and the like, because the data for walking over a hill or jogging is very far from what is measured by devices with GPS via satellite. The consistency of these “measurements” is also very poor, because at the same ascent and descent, the rating of this bracelet varied by at least half and almost a full kilometer (measured with the others) in four kilometers. Fortunately, at least with normal walking, there are not many distractions, nor are there differences compared to what the competition is aiming for.

I’m a bit disappointed with the fun, tastefully designed set of ports, but that always gets better with time. And also because of the Slovenian absence of the bracelet itself, although it is in the Zepp Life app. The latter (here too I can repeat – what’s wrong with calling Mi Fit?) is quite logical and transparent. The first section contains the main data, from steps, heart rate, and SpO₂ And movement indicator for the last exercises. The second, called exercise, is a bit more confusing, as it combines real-time exercise monitoring with a list of past operations. The Friends section allows you to share activity and sleep data with other users of Xiaomi bracelets and watches, and the Profile section allows you to change the bracelet settings. You should move this from the last submenu to a more visible place. The most useless thing about the app is the fact that I can only log into it with my Xiaomi user account on one device. Of course I understand that the bracelet is connected to one phone so I can’t view data from it on another phone, but I don’t.

By increasing or by expanding the screen and the possibility to always display the watch, at Xiaomi they have expanded the competitiveness of their bracelet in an easy way, without interfering with the design and everything else. For around 55 euros, the Smart Band 7 remains an interesting accessory for key wrist data and monitoring of health functions that are barely felt by the user, but also look stylish enough to be worn on various occasions.

song:

• wider screen
• always on screen
• All important ‘health’ metrics
• price

We refuse:

• The screen is unable to adjust brightness automatically
• Always on display (always on screen) should be dimmed
• The battery lasts for a good three days with everything the bracelet has to offer
• Aside from the screen, there are no innovations worth noting
• Why did they cancel the Mi Band name???