All you need to know about the Rs 999 Xiaomi Mi Band fitness accessory

Xiaomi launched the Mi Band alongside the Mi 4i in India at the global launch in New Delhi on 23 April, 2015. The Chinese smartphone giant announced that the Mi Band will be priced at Rs 999 for India and the first 1,000 buyers will get the fitness band for a mere Re 1. If you want a Mi Band for the price of Re 1, head to the Mi.com website, get a free account and then register yourself for the sale on May 5, 2015. First lucky buyers will be given the Band for a mere Re 1, while the others can buy it for the regular price of Rs 999. Registrations have started and the sale will commence on Mi.com on May 5.

At the global launch in New Delhi, there was an attendance of over 2,000 people, which comprised of fans and media personnel. Xiaomi announced a free Mi Band for every person attending the event. The lucky ones who got a free fitness band went home that evening to setup the Mi Band to their wrist and connect it to their account, resulting in a server overload for new account registrations till late that night. So what is the Mi Band and why is it popular?

Well, reviewers and critics around the world claim that the Mi Band is one of the cheapest and best wearable fitness devices out there. It is a simple device that is needed to be worn on your wrist and paired with your smartphone, be it Android or the iPhone. The Mi Band needs to be worn at all times, day and night, so that it can monitor your activities throughout the day and create a database of how much of exercise you are getting and how much you need to do more.

The Mi Band is an IP67 certified device, which means it is water-resistant and dustproof. It comprises of a simple polycarbonate body with an aluminum front face embedded with just three multi-colour LEDs for status. It measures 36mm in length, 14mm in breadth and 9mm in thickness with just 5g to its weight. It is a detachable unit which goes into a silicone band and available in multiple colours to suit your style. Built into the gadget is a simple electronic circuit, complete with intelligence for monitoring your movements, and three LEDs and a vibrator as the alert mechanism. The Mi Band features an ultra-thin 8mm 41mAh battery that lasts almost 30 days and an accelerometer along with Bluetooth v4.0 LE connectivity.

All you need to do is to download the Mi Fit app from the respective play store and pair the device with your smartphone. Sign in an account and your app will now setup the device and download the data as and when required. The device can also be used as an alert by using its LEDs and vibrator. You can make the device vibrate when you receive a call or notification or use it as an alarm to gently wake you up. You can also use the Mi Band to automatically unlock your smartphone when it is connected to the device and is in a close range.

When paired with the app, the device monitors your daily fitness levels. It can track your walking, running and sleep activities to calculate the amount of calories you have burnt during the day. You can set a target for the day and the Band will alert you when you have completed the set target. If you want to see how much of the target you have achieved during the day, all you need to do is raise your arm with the Mi Band on your wrist (similar to looking at the time in your wrist watch) and the three LEDs will light up according to the percentage of the target completed.

You can then use the data on the smartphone app to analyze your fitness level and your sleep patterns to make necessary changes to your life for a healthy future. Optionally, you can also share the data with your friends to show how fit you are.

However, the Mi Band seems to be a device, which could do more than what it is meant for. We hope the developers at Xiaomi are reading this article to help improve the features of the Mi Band and the app in additional areas. If they manage to improve the app and the firmware for the Mi Band, maybe it could additionally do the following:

1. It could be used for alerting you if you are out of range from your smartphone. So in case you forget to carry your smartphone with you while heading out, the Mi Band can buzz you to remind you.
2. It could be used for finding your smartphone if it is lost around the house or office. A simple nudge on the Mi Band could command the smartphone to sound an alarm.
3. It could be used along with your calendar to alert you about upcoming appointments.
4. It could be used as a reminder for health reasons. For example, you can set it up to remind you about drinking water periodically or take a walk if you are sitting for too long or even remind you that you need to sleep at specific times to get adequate rest.
5. It could be used as an alert system to notify you that you are out of cell-tower range or if the smartphone’s internet data is not working.
6. It could be used as an emergency alert system in case if natural disasters, via the smartphone’s app.
7. It could be paired with Google Maps to help you navigate through turns while driving or alert you when your destination has arrived if you are a commuter.
8. It could be used as an alert system in case you are a website administrator to notify you when your web server is down.
9. It could be used as an emergency alert system — it could send out an alert to your loved one’s number in case you are in trouble.
10. It could vibrate in case of unauthorized use of your smartphone when you are sleeping.