Xiaomi is not only known for flooding the market with smartphones under its own Mi brand, through Redmi, Poco and even Black Shark. She has also become a true expert in the field of wearable devices with her Mi Watch but, above all, with a Mi Band that now reaches its sixth generation.
The Chinese manufacturer has been selling its fitness tracker with great success for years and the latest addition to its catalog of “fitness” devices is the Mi Band 6 . Although the differences between the Mi Band 5 and the Mi Band 4 were quite small, this time it is true that there are significantly greater differences between the Mi Band 6 and the Mi Band 5 .
Is it worth the change?
All the changes between the Mi Band 6 and the Mi Band 5
Screen
The Mi Band 6 now offers a 1.56-inch AMOLED screen . The predecessor only offers a 1.1-inch AMOLED screen so Xiaomi has enlarged the screen by almost 50 percent. This should make it easier to read notifications and enjoy our personal photos that we use as wallpaper.
Despite having a significantly larger screen, the dimensions of the device have hardly changed. The Mi Band 6 measures 47.4 x 18.6 x 12.7 millimeters, while the previous version was very slightly smaller, measuring 47 x 18.2 x 12.5 millimeters.
SpO2 measurement
The latest generation of Xiaomi’s fitness tracker now also allows blood oxygen content (SpO2) to be analyzed during training. It is not clear if the brand can also activate this function in the Mi Band 5 through a software update since it has already been said actively and passively that the Mi Band 5 already has the appropriate technology, at least in the Chinese version.
Improved sleep tracking
The Mi Band 5 already allows us to record the quality of our sleep but now the Mi Band 6 improves to analyze naps and even night apnea, allowing the user to know the quality of their breathing while sleeping.
Automatic exercise detection
The new Mi Band 6 now supports 30 different fitness exercises, compared to only 11 in the 5 series. Another innovation is the connection to the Strava fitness community, which Xiaomi now explicitly names, as the Mi Band 5 can only be connected to Strava through third-party apps.
More striking is the possibility of automatically detecting up to 6 different sports, without having to do anything with the bracelet: running, cycling, elliptical, treadmill, walking and rowing.
Drums
The battery of the Mi Band 6 is the same as that used in the previous version, 125mAh. Of course, now the bracelet launches an extreme saving mode that, according to the brand itself, can take the autonomy of the band up to 19 days. If we do not use this mode, the autonomy of both devices is 14 days and their charging time is similar, 2 hours.
Price
The new Xiaomi Mi Band 6 , with more screen, more autonomy and a better sports measurement reaches the market at a higher price than what the Mi Band 5 used to do. The difference is 5 euros because the new bracelet costs 44 , 99 euros in Europe, while its predecessor did it for 39.99 euros.
Is it worth the change?
The differences between the Mi Band 6 and the Mi Band 5 are greater than between the Mi Band 5 and the Mi Band 4 due, above all, to a significantly larger screen. However, the new device doesn’t offer much beyond this and its blood oxygen meter. Many users would have wished for a more radical new edition that featured NFC (not just in China) and a GPS sensor that seems to stick with the Mi Band 7.
If you currently see the screen of the Mi Band 5 well, there are no great reasons to change the bracelet.