Xiaomi hosted its mega launch event yesterday where it took the lid off a number of new products, including the Mi 11 Ultra, Mi 11 Lite and Mi 11i. These smartphones were launched alongside other products such as the Mi Smart Projector 2 Pro, a new gaming router and also the much-awaited Mi Band 6.
The latter is the company's latest smart wearable which comes with a number of interesting upgrades over its predecessor — for example, a slightly bigger display and a few new features. However, despite its bigger display, the Mi Band 6 looks very much like the Mi Band 5 as it is built using the same design philosophy used while conceptualising the Mi Band 5. From design to specs and features, here are all the upgrades that the Mi Band 6 offers over the Mi Band 5.
The biggest upgrade that the new Mi Band 6 brings with itself is a much bigger display than the one we have seen previously on the Mi Band 5. As per Xiaomi, the display on the device is 50 per cent larger on the Mi Band 6 in comparison to its predecessor. For the former, Xiaomi has used a 1.56-inch AMOLED panel running at a resolution of 152×486 pixels and a high pixel density of 326ppi.
The display is claimed to bring a maximum brightness of 450 nits and also comes with adjustable brightness modes. For protection, Xiaomi has installed a sheet of toughened tempered glass with an anti-fingerprint coating. In comparison, the Mi Band 5 comes with a smaller 1.1-inch AMOLED display running at a resolution of 126×294 pixels and also supports a similar high brightness of 450 nits.
As mentioned earlier in the story, the Mi Band 6 follows the same design language as the Mi Band 5. This ensures that the two look cut from the same cloth, and nearly identical to the eye. However, there is one big difference between the Mi Band 6 and the Mi Band 5 design — the display. Because the new wearable features a 50 per cent bigger display than the Mi Band 5, there is an overall change in the design of the Mi Band 6 also.
Other than this, the other elements remain the same, as the Mi Band 6 brings the same shaped panel and strap as found on the previous generation Mi Band. The Mi Band 6 is a mere 12.7mm in thickness, and the adjustable strap is 155 to 219mm. The Mi Band 6 comes in many colour options for the strap, including Black, Orange, Yellow, Olive, Ivory, Blue. It is also 5 ATM water-resistant. This is the same level of protection for the Mi Band 5 as it can also survive 50 meters underwater for 10 minutes easily.
The Mi Band 6 also gets some interesting upgrades in the features department. For activity tracking, the Mi Band 6 offers tracking for 30 fitness modes. It can auto-detect six activities, including walking, treadmill, cycling, rowing machine (ergometer) and elliptical. In comparison, Mi Band 5 features 11 professional sports modes including outdoor running, treadmill, cycling, walking, freestyle, pool swimming, elliptical, rowing machine, jump rope, indoor cycling and Yoga. The tracker is also able to monitor running and walking automatically along with data points on pacing, kilometres alerts and heart-rate alerts.
The Mi Band 6 also supports SpO2 tracking. While the Mi band 5 brought with it sleep tracking, the Mi band 6 tracks the users breathing quality while sleeping in addition to sleep tracking. It can also track activities like breathing exercise, stress monitoring, female health tracking PAI (Personal Activity Intelligence) and Idle alerts. Users can also use the Mi Band 6 as a shutter button for the smartphone’s camera.
As far as the battery is concerned, the Mi Band 6 comes with a 125mAh LiPo battery. Xiaomi says the device can charge in less than 2 hours and has a standby time of 14 days. The device has Bluetooth 5.0 to connect with a user's smartphone.
This is quite similar to what Xiaomi had previously announced for the Mi Band 5. The previous generation smart band from Xioami used a magnetic charging dock for charging to ensure users don't have to take out the tracker from the rubber straps to charge it up every time. The Mi Band 5 is also rated to provide 14-day battery life and can be recharged from 0-100% in under 2 hours. In battery-saving mode, the tracker can last for up to 20 days on a single charge.
Mi Band 5 was launched in India last year and is currently available for purchase at Rs 2,499 via Amazon or Mi.com. The Mi Band 6, in comparison, remains a China-only product for now, with no India-specific details revealed yet for the product. However, it is expected that the device will be launched in the country in the coming months. The Mi Band 6 is priced at CNY 229 (approximately Rs 2,500) in China for the non-NFC variant. There's also an NFC variant which is priced at CNY 279 (approximately Rs 3,000)