Xiaomi Band 8

Product Information

There is, at least, breathing rate data available - again, you’ll have to find this and turn it on in the companion app’s settings - though this is still in beta. And when we did turn this on, nothing appeared in our sleep reports. For those planning to use the device in Pebble Mode, we should also note that our tests found that you’ll only lose around 5% of battery per hour of running. The Smart Band 8’s battery capacity doesn’t take the same leap forward as we saw with its predecessor, but it is still bigger - and you can expect the newer device to be fairly long-lasting.

Band 8 review - Wareable Xiaomi Smart Band 8 review - Wareable

The Smart Band 8 is also capable of high and low heart rate notifications, though this is another feature that you’ll have to turn on manually. This isn’t necessarily a negative, though. You can’t have it all at this price point, after all, and the few smarts present here actually work very well. Interestingly, the Mi Fitness app will still point out your lowest HR from a particular 24-hour period, as shown above, and this was always very in tune with our Oura and Garmin.

There are thankfully some insights that are a bit more useful, though, and they generally come from when the device is instead attached to your running shoe. Pebble Mode Notifications may be a little cramped on that 1.64-inch display, and you still don’t have the ability to really do anything with them other than view, but they are at least customizable through the Mi Fitness app and come through reliably.

Band 8 hands-on: Comprehensive fitness tracking on a budget Xiaomi Smart Band 8 hands-on: Comprehensive fitness tracking on a

Some, like Garmin and Oura, simply take your lowest heart rate reading from sleep, while others, like Xiaomi and Apple, instead look for your lowest reading when you’re in an awake and inactive state. As shown above, all three devices registered a maximum reading of around 170 BPM on one test run, while the average reading was 4BPM higher than Garmin and 8BPM higher than Whoop - both much more in line with our effort.This product and its features are not designed to be a medical device, and are not intended to predict, diagnose, prevent, or cure any disease. Typical usage mode test conditions for the Xiaomi Smart Band 8: Fully charged, factory default settings, and static display, with high-precision sleep monitoring, in-sleep breathing quality monitoring and all-day stress monitoring turned off. Heart rate monitoring every 30 minutes and message notifications (100 messages, 10 calls, and 3 alarms per day) enabled; wrist raised to engage screen 200 times per day; app data synchronised once per day; blood oxygen manually measured twice per day; and exercise monitoring for 60 minutes per week. And largely thanks to being able to see that shiny metal frame, the look has now elevated far above previous generations. While we’ve seen previous Smart Band devices barely change from their predecessors, the Smart Band 8 offers some genuine reasons to get excited. It means swiping through menus and viewing graphics and stats is much smoother - and much more in line with what you would see from a smartwatch with a much loftier price tag. Features, OS and ecosystem

Band 8 - Xiaomi UK Xiaomi Smart Band 8 - Xiaomi UK

This splits your night’s sleep into either light or deep sleep, though this expands to include REM sleep and heart rate monitoring (leading to more accurate sleep stage information) after you enable the setting. However, anybody looking to get anywhere close to the most out of the Smart Band 8 will want at least a few of these features enabled, and that’s naturally where things begin to decline. It’s not just the case that’s been improved, either. The display, despite being the same 1.64-inch size and 192 x 490-pixel resolution as its predecessor, can now reach 600 nits of brightness.Xiaomi’s proprietary OS is also very zippy - a feeling that's is aided by that bump-up in refresh rate we referenced earlier. In its condition out of the box, with most of those power-intensive features turned off, as we mentioned above, the battery drain is very minimal. Typically, we saw it lose around 5-7% per day, which roughly equates to Xiaomi’s estimate of 16 days. An hour-long, aerobic run will see the Smart Band 8 advise taking the next 63 hours off to recover, meanwhile, and tag the workout as mostly anaerobic despite an average HR reading of 153. It is made from plastic that has a metallic finish and - yes it's a little cheap feeling - but it's a nice-looking reflective coating, and one that means you're not just wearing a dull hunk of plastic on your arm.