My favorite smart tracker! The Xiaomi Mi Band is just a great product. It does not matter if you have the Xiaomi Mi Band 2, 3, or 4, it works really well. This is always my go-to model for holidays and it never disappoints. Let’s have a look at the Xiaomi Mi Band 4, before the Mi Band 5 hits the market!

Introduction & Specifications

I went to The United States of America with the Xiaomi Mi Band 2, I went to South East Asia for five months with the Xiaomi Mi Band 3, and I went to Cuba with the Xiaomi Mi Band 4. This lightweight activity tracker is just the ideal travel partner. It tracks your sleep, your steps, your heart rate, shows notifications, and it has fantastic battery life. Just looking at the specifications, it is a really powerful device. Let’s dive into this model, while the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 is just released.

Specificaitons
Brand:	Xiaomi
Model:	Mi Band 4
Bluetooth:	Bluetooth V5.0
Software Support:	Android 4.4+, iOS 9.0+
Screen Size:	0.95"
Screen Type:	AMOLED
Resolution:	120x240 RGB
Operating Mode:	Touch Screen
Battery Capacity:	135mAh
Standby Time:	Around 20 days
Usage Time:	Around 10 days
Charging Time:	Around 2 hours
Application Name:	Mi Fit
Supported Languages:	Up to 38 languages
Mi Band Language:	English, and other common languages
Waterproof:	5ATM
Heart Rate Sensor:	Yes
Band Size:	155-216mm
Band Width:	18mm
Xiaomi Mi Band Weight:	22g
Package Content:	1x Xiaomi Mi Band 4, 1x Charging Cable, 1x User Manual

Unboxing

The box of the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 is pretty large, considering the content of it and the size of the Xiaomi Mi band 4 itself. On the front, we find a picture of the Xiaomi Mi Band 4. on the back, we find specifications and features, which we also see on the side. Inside, we just find the charger, the Xiaomi Mi Band 4, and a Manual. That’s it! The box could be smaller, reducing waste and materials used, but at least there is no excessive use of plastic inside.

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Hardware & Design

I personally like the design of the Xiaomi Mi Band series. Small, elegant, and suitable for both men and women. The simple way of controlling the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 is just a sign of the genius design of this tiny device. In this case, there is a fully functioning touch screen and a touch button. This makes it way more convenient to control it and jump through the menus.

At the back, we find the charger pins, the two bronze circles. We also see the heart rate monitor, which uses 2 LEDs. This will make the reading more accurate and precise. The strap itself is made of TPU, but I had it break on me twice with the Xiaomi Mi Band 3. Luckily, in Asia, you can get replacement bands quite simple. Let’s hope that is not the case with the Xiaomi Mi Band 4.

Stop spending too much on different smart trackers. Get the all in one Xiaomi Mi Band 4! CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS!

You see where the actual display is, where I hoped it would be a bit larger. This was my opinion without using it though. Now that I have used it, I can confidently say that this size is big enough. The just-announced Xiaomi Mi Band 5 has an even bigger display, but the 0.95″ display on the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 is big enough too.

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How To Operate?

Operating the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 is pretty simple. You have the button, which is underneath the display, which acts as a home button. Pressing this will wake up the screen. Now, you can just swipe over the display as it touchscreen and navigate between the menus. Once you reach a menu you want to enter, simply press it on the screen and you enter it. If you want to go back, you click on the home button once and you are back one step. Really simple, just like your smartphone.

Battery Life

Man, this is one of the best features of the Xiaomi Mi Band 4! The battery life of this tiny device is just mind-blowing. While on holiday, I can use the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 for at least two to three weeks on a single charge. I have heart rate monitoring turned on, it tracks my steps and sleep, and I get notifications from WhatsApp and calls. I had to charge the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 in the last few days of our three week holiday in Cuba. Amazing.

Charging the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 goes quickly. In around one to one and a half hours, you are 100% charged and good to go for another two to three weeks. You have to click the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 in some sort of cradle, and the pins in that cradle will make contact with the charging points on the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 and charge it. This is a safe way, as you can not misplace it. I preferred the charging way of the Xiaomi Mi Band 2 and 3, where you have to slide it into some sort of charging sock.

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Software

The Mi Fit application is a simple, but very powerful application to track your healthy progress throughout your day. From the main screen, the Workout tab, you see your steps, sleep data, weight, and heart rate. You also see your latest activities and on what streak you are with hitting your daily step goal. This gives you basically all the information you need on a single page.

The second tab, Friends, is used to show the progress of friends. Here you can see the steps they took, the hours they slept, and their current weight. From here, you can send nudges to them which will result in a small vibration on the Xiaomi Mi Band.

The last tab, Profile, is your personal profile. Here you can set up your account, fill in the information, and see your connected devices. There are a lot of options and settings to go through, so make sure to play around with this so you are not missing any important feature.

Clicking on your device will bring the settings page for that device. For example, you can see the battery percentage and the different features, like notifications, alarms, and heart rate settings. Make sure to check that out too.

If you are an Android user, CLICK HERE to download Mi Fit.
If you are an iOS user, CLICK HERE to download Mi Fit.

How To Connect?

Once the Mi Fit application is set up, you can add your Xiaomi Mi Band 4. In the top right corner, you see a “+” sign and when you click on it, you go to the screen where you need to select your device, in this case, “Band”. It will start searching for it right away and this might take a minute. Once it finds the band, you have to click on the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 itself to confirm the connection and it will continue to make the connection. This whole process might take a minute or 2, which is slightly longer than we saw in other products.

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Stop spending too much on different smart trackers. Get the all in one Xiaomi Mi Band 4! CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS!

That’s it! You are now connected and ready to explore the software and features of the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 in the Mi Fit application.

Watch Faces

Yes! Just like the Xiaomi Redmi Band and the Bakeey Q81, there are numerous watch faces available in an App Store like environment! Here, you can just select a few defaults, and it will switch right away. In the case of the Xiaomi Mi Band 4, there are dozens, maybe even hundreds of different watch faces available and custom made. You can simply download and use them on your device. With this ability, you can personalize the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 even further and make it suite special situations, like weddings or business meetings.

Notifications

You can get notifications from ALL of your applications on your smartphone. If you go the Device Settings of the Xiaomi Mi Band 4, you can enable or disable all the installed applications. This way, you only get notifications that are important for you. For me, it is normally just WhatsApp, Signal, and phone calls. Besides that, I don’t need to feel a vibration.

Features

Such a tiny device must miss some features, right? It can not do it all! Well, this is a pretty complete device. It has the most used activities, there is just one activity missing. It tracks your sleep, it tracks your heart rate, and it has a useful application. I’m pretty happy with it. You can, of course, add NFC for Europe, which is now only supported in China, and another AI instead of the Chinese Xiaomi AI. Also, maybe more sport activities. Let’s have a look at what this device has to offer!

Activities

Staying fit is important, especially with the ongoing pandemic. You want to stay fit and lose weight. With the Xiaomi Mi Band 4, you can track several activities, but unfortunately not all. If you go for a walk or a bike ride outside, you are fine with this version. I miss Indoor Cycling, which I use all the time.

Stop spending too much on different smart trackers. Get the all in one Xiaomi Mi Band 4! CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS!

These are all the available activities on the Xiaomi Mi Band 4:
Outdoor Running, Treadmill, Cycling, Walking, Freestyle, and Pool Swimming

When walking, you get notified every kilometer and it will measure your heart rate. I like that this tiny device is able to track everything I want to see when walking or cycling.

Sleep Tracking

Tracking your sleep can give you some real insight into why you wake up tired. Maybe you walk around in your sleep or you are only in light sleep. With the Xiaomi Mi Band 4, you can see the Awake time, Light Sleep, and Deep Sleep. Unfortunately, you are unable to see the REM sleep, which is considered the case for resting and restoring your energy. Even without the REM sleep, you still get some information on how your night was. Really handy and helpful.

Here is how a night is shown on the Mi Fit application:

Heart Rate Sensor

With the 2 LEDs inside the Xiaomi Mi Band 4, you can measure your heart rate automatically, or doing it manually. Automatic measurements can be set to 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or 30 minutes. It is up to you on how often you want your heart rate to be measured of course. Settings it to 1 or 5 minutes, can impact the battery compared to 30 minutes, of course. Once you set the frequency, you can see the results in the Heart Rate tab of the home page.

Here is how the Heart Rate logs look like:

Waterproof

Jumping into the sea of the pool is no problem with the Xiaomi Mi Band 4. This smart tracker is waterproof until 5ATM, which equals about 50 meters! That is deep! Don’t worry when you wash your hands, walk in the rain, shower, or swim with the Xiaomi Mi Band 4. This tiny device can handle it all. during our holidays, I almost never took it off, even when swimming in the ocean or jumping from cliffs. Just make sure to clean it with fresh water afterward.

Others

You can teach the software how to recognize activities, like walking the stairs for example. This is called Behavioral Tagging. You have to start the activity from the Mi Fit application and end it once you are done with it. This way, you share the data you collected with the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 while doing the activity and Xiaomi is better able to develop it for future generations.

Stop spending too much on different smart trackers. Get the all in one Xiaomi Mi Band 4! CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS!

You can also add friends and follow their activity throughout their day and send them nudges. This is a fun simple feature but keeps you connected to your close friends, which is a good thing in this global pandemic.

If you have music playing on your smartphone, you can control it from your wrist too. Just swipe right or left from the home screen and you enter your music controls. Simply pause it or skip to the next song, all from your wrist, and no need to take out your smartphone. This is especially handy when you are running outside or sitting on a bike.

Conclusions

I do miss some sports activities, like Indoor Cycling, which a lot of people use. I hope they make it available with an update or at least in the Xiaomi Mi Band 5, which is just released. NFC is supported mainly in China, which is a downside if you live outside of China. You can not make full use of the features offered by this tiny device.

There is an AI Assistant available, also in Chinese. Hopefully, someday, Google Assistant will be available. I would love that!

The Xiaomi Mi Band 4, what a lovely device. This tiny smart tracker offers a wide variety of features and they work well. You can track your steps, heart rate, activities, and sleep for over 2 weeks on a single charge. That is impressive. You have loads of different watch faces to choose from, and that adds value too. You can make it really personal to you or to the situation you are in. This is a smart tracker for everybody, if you are a male or a female, small or big, this device offers real value and I just love to use it.