Fitness bracelet Xiaomi Mi Band Pulse 1S: description, features, reviews

2015, it seems, was the year when wearable devices finally began to enjoy commercial success. Of course, they have been produced for years, and fitness trackers in particular, but they either lacked something, or most of them seemed simply too expensive. A little earlier, Xiaomi impressed everyone with its Mi Band product, which featured many popular features, such as counting the steps and sleep time, but lacked the raisin in design and the heart rate monitor, although it's hard to complain about such shortcomings when a thing costs only 13 $. This time, the manufacturer, following the scheme for the name of budget but multi-functional smartphones, offered a sports bracelet Xiaomi Mi Band 1S Pulse, which significantly improved the functionality and kept an incredibly low price of $ 15. In addition, the company's global distribution system has improved much, and impatient customers are likely to be able to purchase the device at this price, regardless of the country in which they live. So what has improved, in comparison with the previous model, and will the new generation be as popular as the previous one?

Design performance

One look is enough to determine the manufacturer of this gadget. Inside the usual simple square cardboard box with the MI logo there is a fitness tracker capsule, a silicone bracelet and a small adapter for charging from the USB port. Although the packaging has not changed much, in comparison with the original version, its content has been substantially updated, promising to give even more for the money spent and demonstrating it with a pretty pretty look. Fitness tracker is a subminiature 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 is a plate made of brushed aluminum, under which are hidden 3 LEDs, which show through microscopic holes, completing a beautiful and harmonious design. There are two contacts on the side for charging the battery, and below it is a heartbeat monitor.

Capsule tracker weighs only 5.5 g and complies with the standard of protection against water and dust IP67, so that the user does not have to worry about the safety of the device, leading a normal lifestyle. The attached bracelet weighs 14 grams and has a length of 225 mm. It is adjusted on the wrist by a simple push pin in the range 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 a completely new Photo Plethyamo Graphy (PPG) heart rate monitor. Holders of wrists of larger or smaller size 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 hands or when he is being removed.

Bracelet and charger

The true beauty of the design of the Xiaomi Mi Band Pulse 1S fitness bracelet lies not only in the small size of the tracker itself, but in how the Xiaomi accessories blend with it. The capsule is placed inside any of the numerous accessories, and although the kit contains a tightly 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, simply insert it into the attached docking station, which is connected to a 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 an available USB connector. The battery is fully charged in just a couple of minutes, since its capacity is only 45 mAh.

Software

What is an intelligent bracelet without software designed specifically for it? Not much, of course, since in this case it will be difficult to access all the data it collects. Fortunately, Xiaomi offers quite decent software - the Mi application Fit, which was used in the previous model. This time, the Xiaomi Mi Band 1S Pulse program, of course, supports the heart rate monitor and all the additional indicators that it tracks. Steps are recorded throughout the day and counted at the end of the week so that the user knows how good or bad was his result this time. Comparison of the fitness tracker with Google Fit and Android Ware suggests that the readings of the devices are very close. For example, their wearing for a week gave the result of 106 thousand steps from Google and 99 thousand from Mi. In addition to this, the application estimates the distance traveled and the calories consumed for the selected period of time.

Working with Mit Fit

Data can be presented in several ways, although in general, navigation in Mi Fit can be quite confusing. The main screen shows the number of steps or sleep time for the previous night, depending on when the application opens. The program and the fitness tracker automatically switch between sleep and pedometer modes, and there is no way to set the desired mode. At the top of the screen is a large pie chart that looks the same as most other Xiaomi applications. It shows the steps, distance traveled and calories burned, as well as a radial scale showing the percentage of the daily rate. Svaypom called the window, which shows the total sleep time, as well as the duration of a deep, and, of course, a circular schedule to achieve the target. The view is very beautiful and has a colored status bar and a navigation bar if the phone has soft buttons. Transitions between screens are beautiful with subtle 3D effects throughout the application, featuring a pleasant and complex design.

View statistics

Clicking on the big wheel on the main page displays day or night statistics with a breakdown throughout the night or a day with a full schedule and markers to facilitate visual perception. Touching any line of the chart will result in more detailed information on it, and the averaged indicators of all activity are placed below. A small button at the bottom of the screen allows you to switch between day and night statistics for the last 24 hours. Difficulties begin when you want to find the rest of the statistics and historical data. To do this, the user must return to the main screen and touch the section in the upper left corner of the chart. This will trigger another daily tracking page, which this time shows averaged data for each day instead of the detailed minute by minute. Buttons in the form of plus and minus at the bottom 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

User's manual is written in Chinese, so it will be difficult to understand it. The first thing to do is download the Mi Fit program from the Google RIau store (or the App Store, because the fitness bracelet is compatible with the iPhone running iOS 7.0). Next, you should ensure the wireless connection of the tracker with the phone via Bluetooth and create an account if it does not already exist. The tracker can be synchronized with Google Fit. However, here there are problems, because the downloaded application does not support the measurement function of heart rate. The solution consists in downloading and installing the software from the manufacturer's website, for which you will first need to change the security settings of your smartphone by granting permission to launch applications from other web pages.

Further use of the device does not cause complications. It automatically connects and synchronizes data when the application is opened, and at other times it autonomously records user activity, without depleting the phone's battery with a permanently-on wireless connection.

Battery capacity and settings

If you open the application settings, you can see another large pie chart, this time - to display the battery statistics and the duration of the device. According to user feedback, the battery life of the fitness tracker should be at least 20 days on one charge, which SmartWatch can only dream about.

Search function and other settings

Using the search function, you can find the Xiaomi Mi Band Pulse 1S fitness bracelet in case it is lost, forcing it to vibrate twice silently. This means that if the fitness tracker is on a soft surface (for example, on the couch) that does not resonate with vibrator vibrations, then this function will be quite useless.

You can also set the place of carrying the capsule - on the right or left hand, or on the neck. This slightly changes the algorithm for tracking statistics to achieve maximum accuracy. As with any paired Bluetooth device on the Android platform, you can use a fitness tracker to prevent the phone from locking while they are connected. 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 alarm clock, and also receive notifications from the smartphone programs. True, this function is limited to only 3 programs, this is probably for the best, because otherwise the device would vibrate constantly, without giving any visual information. Incoming calls can also activate the bracelet, but this application of the Xiaomi Mi Band 1S Pulse fitness tracker will result in a slight reduction in the battery life of the phone and fitness tracker.

Availability of data

Owners who need to keep track of the length of the night rest as closely as possible find that the monitor monitors the heart rate to check if the user really sleeps, and compare the data to better determine the deep and easy phases of sleep. Unfortunately, this information is not stored and is not available outside the heart monitor, which only contains a history of manual scanning of heart rate. In addition, the device automatically informs about the number of steps taken during the day at 21:30, and data on the duration of sleep are offered after the owner of the Xiaomi Mi Band Pulse 1S fitness bracelet wakes up and gets out of bed.

Advantages and disadvantages

Bracelet Xiaomi Mi Band 1S Pulse user reviews are praised for its unbeatable price, ease and convenience, several options for placing the capsule, including the ability to wear on the neck, long time without recharging, automatic counting of steps and sleep duration, a large amount of statistical data in a graphic and numerical Presentation, integration with Google Fit. At the same time, navigation in the Mi Fit application is inconvenient, and heart rate data is not automatically saved together with the rest of the information.

Conclusion

The manufacturer when creating the fitness tracker Xiaomi Mi Band 1S Pulse did a great job and really improved the previous model due to more reliable chips and a completely new sensor heartbeats frequency. The capabilities of the monitor are not implemented until the end, because the program does not store this data unless the user himself initiates such measurements. Nevertheless, it is difficult not to recommend a smart bracelet to those who are looking for a device to measure the time spent on training and sleep, even if these data can not be integrated into other fitness applications. This last remark may be crucial for some users, since many users have invested their time and energy into the services of My Fitness Pal, Fitbit and countless others serving to monitor their nutrition, the number of calories burned, and so on.

And yet, Mі Fit provides an excellent breakdown of the sleep cycle and other data that can easily be manually uploaded to your favorite fitness application, even if the need to do this is constantly annoying. Only for $ 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.