Not coincidentally, it is still one of the best in the world, the Xiaomi fitness tracker introduced last year.

Introductory

The Mi Band series soon highlighted the need for affordable, yet usable, activity meters with knowledge. Perhaps we can agree that these stuff may have a relatively short career behind them, of course, Xiaomi is no exception - the first Mi Band was released in the summer of 2014, the Mi Band 1S in November 2015, and the next model in June 2016. And last year, the successor to Mi Band 2, the world’s most popular bracelet, was unveiled, Mi Band 3.

The principle behind the Mi Band series is simple and clear: to strive for the best value for money, while quality strikes the standard that can safely bear the Xiaomi brand name. What does this mean in practice? In our view, the former idea is mainly the following:

1. We don't find the most up-to-date, most knowledgeable tools on the market, but…
2. At a very low price we can get a tool that we can be "perfectly" satisfied with!

For a long time, it was also a question for the company how much the company could improve on an almost flawless product like the predecessor of Xiaomi Mi Band 2, but after the release, there was no question of going in the right direction. They have retained the great features of the older version, which required a comfortable and interchangeable strap, a small, lightweight and almost indestructible central unit, but improved on water resistance, battery life and display, and two more popular sports besides running. , cycling and swimming are also possible.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 3, now we know, has managed to get into the footsteps of its predecessor, and the price paid for the show is now barely half of its cost. So the question we are trying to find in our article is whether it is worth investing in Xiaomi Mi Band 3 with so many competitors on the market, and if so why?

Exterior and packaging

When we got to know the first Xiaomi products, we immediately realized that they were high on the Chinese average. Not only iron, but also packaging was special. Clean, simple, yet showy boxes came in, which showed not only outside but also inside, that they had a lot of work hours before they were perfectly polished.

This is also the case for the Xiaomi Mi Band 3. The white rectangular box with the transparent lid gives you as much as you need. The materials used make us feel that we are not dealing with fairs. The package shows everything you need, as you can admire the essential part of the bracelet that contains electronics under the transparent cover. This section is snapped into a hard cardboard at the bottom, which is slightly softer, and when you lift it up, it clicks on the accessories. These are the hinge, the charger and a description. Not much, but we really don't need anything else.

Looking at the exterior of the bracelet, Xiaomi didn't have much room for maneuver. As we wrote in the introduction, the predecessor was essentially perfect, and accordingly the world of form did not receive any radical change; left is the well-proven elliptical / drop-shaped central unit and the absolutely practical interchangeable strap. Weighing just 20 grams and measuring 17,9 × 46,9 × 12 millimeters, the device is surprisingly unobtrusive to wear, and we’ll talk a few more about that below. 

Internal

Display

As we wrote, the company’s display has improved, increased somewhat, so we can rightly expect the 0,78-inch OLED panel to improve usability. The software that comes to life under the touch-sensitive and scratch-resistant (the latter has not been tested, we have only read!) Display is very intuitive, the operation is also supported by the button at the bottom of the display. With a pixel density of 24 ppi in the 193-character image area, you simply can’t be disappointed. Xiaomi has taken user feedback into account when developing the new bracelet. One of the most common problems was with the readability of the display. Well, the new bracelet is visibly brighter than its predecessor thanks to improvements to the interior and display. A further development is the coating called au UV100, which has reduced the tendency to collect fingerprints and increased the wear resistance of the surface.

Water resistance

The predecessor, Xiaomi Mi Band, has 2 IP67 certification, so it is waterproof. You can take a shower and bathe in it; Mi Band 3 has also developed in this capacity compared to its predecessor. They've made the 5 atmospheric pressure waterproof so we can dive up to 50 meters. This is a whole different category, and it has the same capabilities as Xiaomi's newest classroom with Stratos.

Battery

Although there was no problem with the battery life of its predecessor, at Xiaomin it was decided to have a larger battery in the Mi Band 3, so a piece of 110 mAh was installed. The main reason for the decision was the display, which increased in size and thus suspected consumption. Experience from the release of Mi Band 3 suggests that the lifetime has improved, but not as much as would be justified by the increase in capacity.

Obviously, the standby time is influenced by a number of factors, which in any case can be encapsulated by the fact that we do not have to touch the charger frequently. We believe that the circus 20 day is a realistic, probably more intense skinning, when used for gentle use. 10 day, which seems to be a commodity value taking into account the price of the product. The Mi Band 3 will be in a state of war after an hour of charging, which could be faster.

We have attempted to summarize the complete hardware description in the table below.

Use

First of all, make sure that the activity meter is charged; The charging connector does not exactly follow the traditional scheme (see the picture above), the manufacturer saves valuable space, and the whole feeding process is not a bit more convenient - by the way, we believe that this is partly due to the 5 ATM water resistance. . Once that's done, you can download and install the Mi Fit app, followed by the usual pairing:

1. Activate Bluetooth on your smartphone;
2. Log in to Mi Fit (you can also use your Facebook or Google ID);
3. On the "profile" tab, use the "add device" option and then select the bracelet as applicable;
4. After the search, we have nothing else to do to confirm the connection attempt with the Mi Band button.

After the above sequence of actions, the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 will be able to track and transfer to our phone the basic fitness data (steps, distance traveled, calories burned, etc.). The former information is also available on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. At this point, it’s definitely important to point out that the Mi Fit app has been designed to work with Google Fitness software, making it possible to sync measured data to Google Fit.

You can bring the widget to life with the touch button, then you can scroll through the menu by swiping in the vertical direction, at some points (eg step) you can also find submenus by scrolling horizontally. You can return to the main screen with a single keypress on the device. Discovering Mi Band 3 isn’t exactly a vicious task, although programmers have delighted us with a toolkit that overlooks technical limitations:

• Tracking activities for cycling, running and swimming;
• Event reminders and weather forecasts;
• Checking the quality and phases of sleep;
• View real-time heart rate data;
• WhatsApp and Facebook messages, incoming calls;
• Call display and rejection (no microphone included),
• Phone search and resolution;
• Warning for long-term sitting. 

After Mi Band 2, what happened to the publisher can be booked as a significant improvement. The 0,78-inch is much more livable than its predecessor’s 0,42-inch display, plus the brightness has even increased - unfortunately, visibility is still not perfect in bright sunshine. When the activity meter came out, it only came with three different colored straps on the market, but now the supply has risen to over 300 (!), So with some extra effort, you're sure to find the right type for you.

The factory hinge also complied with the requirements of ISO-10993-5 / 10 biocompatibility and European RoHS environmental certification. Equally important, its length can be controlled at 12 points. A double ring implementation has been invented to properly secure the main module, which in our experience works quite efficiently, and we had no problems with comfort, but as mentioned earlier, the Gearbest 300 offers more aftermarket straps for the bracelet. It is advisable to keep in mind that although the strap provided at the factory is skin-friendly, this is not necessarily true of what was subsequently purchased for the activity meter.

It's a rather unfortunate task to talk about accuracy with this type of gadget. On the one hand, it is aware that it is not a medical device, and on the other hand, the credibility is influenced by thousands of factors (tightness of the strap, type of movement, sweat, etc.). A quick measurement of the case was made, and the countdown was quite unexpected:

• Instead of real step 343, we detected step Mi Band 342;
• 83 recorded the 89 activity meter instead of the heartbeat per minute.

Of course, we also measured the exact distance measured. It should be known that this will certainly never be accurate without GPS, since an algorithm calculates the number of steps and the average length of the step given in the application.

• At the temple walk, the 650 meter was replaced by 590 meters
• At a slow walk instead of 650 meters, the measured result was 630 meters

It is true that we were moving at a steady, walking tempo throughout the step counting, but we did not expect such a good result. There was no dramatic difference in heart rate measurement, but the Mi Band 3 was even more precise at rest, but it was observed that if the strap was tightened a little closer, the device could no longer measure.

We Fit

We probably won’t betray a big surprise with the fact that the Mi Fit has a sleek yet fairly showy surface that easily steals itself into the hearts of Xiaomi fans. If for some reason this doesn't happen, it is still worth a try with the Mi Bandage application with Hungarian roots (Tibor Borsos), which has already been installed by more than half a million people!

By the way, Mi Fit knows / offers pretty much the same as Mi Mi 2; obviously used to view the information provided by the activity meter. The phone finder, the closing screen, the panel related to the weather forecast, and the event notification can be considered as novelties. the thing blew out. Heart rate monitoring can help elite fighters in sporting life, as here the Mi Band 3 has the ability to vibrate during training to warn of a heart rate that is too low or too high.

Important and useful information is that we can choose a screen for a bracelet with the Mi FIT application, of which 3 are also available, and we even have the option to minimally resize the content of the screen to see what it prints.

Equally serious is the fact that thanks to the Hungarian MIUI community, we can also explain the bracelet, and after the Hungarianization we can even read messages with accented characters. We do not provide a description of the explanation now, but you can find everything in the MIUI.hu forum.

Evaluation

Thus, by the end of the article, we hope that we have managed to answer all the questions that arise. What is certain is that there was no huge surprise, the newcomer born from the refinement of Mi Band 2 continues to be a benchmark in the lower house. Don't get me wrong, we're not dealing with a flawless activity meter, the touch screen e.g. requires some practice / habit, fingerprint protection has not been an undivided success either. Although the visibility of the display has improved a lot compared to its predecessor, we can say that it is especially good, but it is still a bit problematic in bright sunshine. In our experience, no one will have a problem with the operating time, because even if the 20 days are not met, charging once a week is completely acceptable.

Mi Band 3 is actually already popular, as it is taken countlessly by the peoples. We here, in essence, just wanted to draw attention to the fact that for a price just over twenty-five dollars (~ 7500 HUF), it is certain that they will not lose sacks, and of course it is not incidental that the fan camp behind the gadget is worth more than any support.

So our opinion is that Xiaomi Mi Band 3 is worth the price today. Let's say this even if you miss out on quality extras that are questionable in the quality of cheap bracelets, such as the blood oxygen level and the ability to measure blood pressure. In return, what's in it makes it work well and reliably, free from frills and annoyances, supporting a great phone app.

Now you can buy the bracelet in the Banggood store for 7859 ($ XNXX) here: Xiaomi Mi Band 3 International Version
The bracelet is available at the Gearvita store a GVB3OOO You can buy coupon code now for 5890 forints (20,69 dollars) here:Xiaomi Mi Band 3 Global Version

Please note that according to the applicable laws and regulations, when ordering from abroad, including shipping costs, you do not have to pay customs and VAT below the order value below USD 42.

The process of Hungarianization

At the beginning we would like to state that we cannot take responsibility for the bracelets destroyed during the upgrade, and we would also like to ask everyone to be careful with the operation! Basically there are two ways to go and these are:

• If you don't have the latest Mi Fit 3.5.9 installed on your phone and NEVER been, then download the Hungarian Mi Fit MOD application, install it and connect to our Mi Band 3 bracelet. This will automatically update the firmware.

It is advisable to use the second method if the first one is no longer applicable:

• Check the following settings in the Mi Fit application: Profile → Mi Band 3 → Discoverability (on!) And the pairing restriction must be switched off! If we are done with this, we will unpair, that is, break the connection between Mi Fit and Mi Band 3;
• Clear Mi Fit (optional)
• Before upgrading, of course, the bracelet and the smartphone should also be loaded to at least 80% - sure what is certain, though, according to our experience, the procedure doesn't take so long;
• Install the Gadgetbridge latest release. or download the firmware or .res file to be installed on the bracelet on the phone - the system program is obviously the latter, the latter being the character set;
• We also delete the Mi Band 3 from the Bluetooth connections and then switch the phone to Airplane mode to make sure nothing interferes with the procedure;
• Gadgetbridge is Hungarian, its use will not cause any difficulty, but it's worth watching. First, pair the activity meter with the application (button in the bottom right corner).
• If the connection was successful, close the application, then use any file manager to locate the downloaded firmware file and open it !;
• Gadgetbridge will make one last warning, and let us reconsider whether all operations have been carried out properly. This operation takes approx. It takes 5-8 minutes, of course it is important that the phone and the Mi Band 3 are close together;
• If we do, we must do the same for the .res file. This will happen sooner because the character set is smaller;
• After the update, it is possible (it has come with us) that you cannot paged between pages. Don't be frightened, this is a natural part of the procedure, we will be remedying;
• Disconnect and remove the bracelet from the Gadgetbridge application (right icon, then the trash symbol above). If we do, let's get out of the app !;
• Now Mi Fit is coming. We can install the Hungarian Mi Fit MOD application or even use the official version. In the latter case, let's note if Mi Fit is updated in the future, it can refresh the firmware, which will obviously kill our entire work. Disable the Mi Fit upgrade or use the Mi Fit MOD app.
• After pairing, the above-mentioned problem will improve immediately (paging between pages), practically done!

Download:

• We Fit 3.5.9 (Hungarian MOD)
• Mili_wuhan_2.3.0.6 firmware (for non-NFC version)
• Mili_wuhan_2.3.0.6 res (accented Hungarian font)

Now this is going to be shocking for the first time, if we see the process itself, the whole thing is not so horroristic. It is important to know that unfortunately the translation can only be done with an Android phone.