Xiaomi Mi Band 6 First Impressions: Bigger Display, SpO2 Monitor, And Up To 14 Days Battery Life

Xiaomi hasn't changed the base design but the new Mi Band now brings a bigger and crisper display than its predecessor. It has a 1.56-inch (152 x 486 pixels) OLED display offering 326 PPI and approximately 50% more real estate than the Mi Band 5. Resultant, the size remains compact yet the display offers significantly better space for easier content visibility.

The touch response also seems to have improved but Xiaomi hasn't upgraded the peak brightness. The edge-to-edge OLED still offers the same old 450 nits peak brightness, which isn't that big of an issue but could have been better with the new generation. The Mi Band 6 supports 60+ band styles, and only a handful of them look good.

Moving on, the Mi Band 6 retains the same old good build quality and ease of comfort wearing. It can be personalized with six strap color options. The fitness tracker is 5 ATM water-resistant and the OLED display has a tampered glass with anti-fingerprint coating.

 

It's impressive how such small capsule packs in a range of useful sensors. The Mi Band 6 comes equipped with a PPG Heart rate sensor, a 3-axis accelerometer, and a 3-axis gyroscope. GPS is still not offered, which is a slight bummer but the tracker can use your phone's GPS to track the path during outdoor workout sessions. The Mi Band 6 can monitor your heart rate throughout the day (24/7 heart-rate monitoring with customized intervals).

It also comes fitted with a SpO2 monitor to track your blood oxygen levels. You can check most of these stats on the wrist itself, thanks to the bigger display that now accommodates more data than the predecessor.

The wearable can also monitor your sleep cycle and stress. You can see up to a week's sleep data on the OLED screen. Xiaomi has also tried to simplify sleep monitoring by giving one single score. The Mi Band 6 analyses your sleep pattern along with breathing and gives a score to help you better understand your sleeping cycle. We will analyze the new data in detail since the feature is still in the beta phase.

Mi Band 6 Fitness Features

The new Mi Band can now auto-detect six fitness activities- outdoor running, walking, treadmill running, indoor rowing, cycling, and elliptical training. It seems to be doing a good job of detecting my steps throughout the day.

Besides, there are 30 exercise modes to choose from and the most important ones are covered such as outdoor running, treadmill, walking, cycling, swimming, rowing machine, yoga, freestyle, dance, indoor fitness, etc.

I am expecting the Mi Band 6 to last more than 10 days with my usage pattern. In my two days of usage, which consists of heart-rate monitoring at 30-minute intervals, brightness set to 70%, auto-detection of most workouts, sleep analysis, workouts, and other day-to-day features, the battery has dropped just 10%.

The budget wearable is fuelled by a 125 mAh battery that as per Xiaomi will last more than 14 days on one full charge. The wearable supports magnetic charging and the charger comes bundled in the package.

As far as the connectivity is concerned, the Mi Band 6 is compatible with both Android (Android 5.0 and above) and iOS (iOS 10 and above) devices. It connects via Bluetooth 5.0 and requires the Mi Fit app installed on your smartphone. Importantly, the wearable is also compatible with the Starva app, Google Fit and Apple Health via API integration.

Should You Consider Buying The Mi Band 6?

Our favorite budget fitness tracker has gotten better with the yearly upgrade; however, the price bump is quite noticeable this year. That extra premium brings a bigger display that offers more information and better content visibility, a SpO2 monitor, third-party app support and a range of workout modes and fitness features. This could be the ideal budget fitness tracker for most price-conscious fitness enthusiasts. We will soon bring our comprehensive review of the Mi Band 6.