Xiaomi Mi Band 3 review: The most popular smart bracelet of the year

Appearance

Let's Start with the fact that Mi Band 3 even in appearance is not very similar to a sports bracelet. They Usually have bright colors symbolizing speed, energy and youth. Mi Band 3 looks like a real aristocrat on this background.

  The Soft black silicone strap will not attract attention even in combination with a strict business suit. The Streamlined capsule looks elegant and discreet. In General, fans of classics will be satisfied.

However, no one canceled the interchangeable straps. If you want, you can turn Mi Band 3 into a trendy teen gadget, a stylish bracelet or an "army" bracelet.

Basic functions

In reviews of gadgets of this kind first of all it is accepted to describe, as they well consider steps and calories. However, the main purpose of Mi Band 3, in our opinion, is not in this.

First of all, all use notifications about calls and messages. It is Very convenient-you can see who is calling or what they write, without pulling the device out of his pocket. The Vibration of the bracelet is felt well, the Cyrillic alphabet in the notifications is displayed correctly.

In Addition, it is possible to set a reminder of an important event. At The appointed time, Mi Band 3 will display a preset message. Another useful feature is to turn on your phone's silent mode directly from the bracelet. Useful If you sit at an important meeting and suddenly remembered that forgot to mute the sound.

Students, students, office workers and all people who have to get up early will like the built-in alarm clock. He will certainly wake up his master at the appointed time, without overdoing all the loved ones. And before leaving the house you can specify what the weather on the street. Mi Band 3 is able to show current weather conditions and forecast for several days.

The Bracelet can also help you out in the event that you can not find a smartphone. It is Enough to press one button on it that the lost device began to issue loud signals. The gadget also has a built-in stopwatch and several formats for displaying time on the screen.

What about sports?

Of course, Sports functions have not gone. Mi Band 3 is able to record steps, distance traveled and calories spent. Software algorithms are able to distinguish between slow walking, fast walking, running and some other types of activity. Data on other sports will have to be entered manually.

However, it is necessary to soberly assess the capabilities of the bracelet in this area. Since the Mi Band 3 is missing GPS, the accuracy of the estimate of speed and distance traveled leaves much to be desired. Ordinary users will have enough, but it won't be enough for serious sports.

About the same can be said about the monitoring of sleep and the readings of the heart rate. An Approximate understanding of the quality of sleep and the frequency of heart contractions Mi Band 3 gives. But it is necessary to draw conclusions from them with very great care. It Should be remembered that objective data can be obtained only with the help of special medical equipment, and Mi Band 3 is in no way included in its number.

Autonomy and protection

As we have described in a recent comparison, the screen in the new version of Mi Band has become slightly larger, the backlight is brighter and the number of functions has increased. Therefore, it could be expected that the autonomy of Mi Band 3 would be slightly lower than that of the predecessor.

These fears were only partially justified. The Capacity of the battery in the new bracelet equals 110 Ma · h, which provides up to 20 days of work on one charge. We remind that the life time of Mi Band 2 could reach a month. So some deterioration of this parameter is, but not catastrophic. Anyway, all competitors work much less.

But water resistance in the new bracelet has become better. The Protection of Mi Band 3 corresponds to the class IP68, which allows not only to soak it under the shower, but even swim without removing the bracelet.

We can not say anything About the resistance to shocks and falls-not checked. But It is well known that the convex shiny surface of the capsule Mi Band 3 scratches. Therefore, we advise you to paste the protective film at once.

Additional accessories

The Smart bracelet is always in a high-risk zone. The Host can hit it or scratch it at any time, the strap may break, and the charging transactions will fail.

If you bought a bracelet from another manufacturer, you will have to work hard to find the components for it. In Some cases it is very expensive or impossible at all.

Xiaomi Products are extremely popular, so the accessories for Mi Band 3 on the market a great variety: protective films, chargers, interchangeable straps of any size and color. Some of them are not inferior to the original products, but cost a penny.

Conclusion

To summarize, we would like to underline again the main idea of this review.

Mi Band 3 is a great gadget that costs every penny of its price. However, perceiving it exclusively as a fitness bracelet is not entirely correct. In addition to sports features, it has a number of convenient features that will be useful to you regardless of whether you train or not. First of all, it's about displaying notifications, a reliable alarm clock, weather forecast and searching for a smartphone. Yes, and the number of steps from time to time to look curious.