Although Xiaomi 13 Ultra and the Pad 6 garnered significant attention at Xiaomi’s recent launch in China, it was the long-awaited Mi Band 8 that stole the spotlight, capturing the interest of customers and users alike.
At the recent event, Xiaomi unveiled the highly anticipated Xiaomi Smart Band 8, featuring a familiar design but introducing several new ways to wear the wearable.
In this article, we take a closer look at the details of Mi Band 8, which has been the talk of the town.
Price and Availability
The standard variant of Xiaomi’s Mi Band 8 is priced at 249 Yuan (~Rs 2,975), while the NFC variant is priced at 299 Yuan (~Rs 3,575) in China.
During the early bird sale, customers can avail a discount of 10 Yuan and 20 Yuan on the standard variant and NFC variant of Mi Band 8 respectively.
At the moment, there is no information on the global release or availability of Mi Band 8, including in India.
Now that we have discussed the pricing and availability, let’s delve deeper into the specifications of Mi Band 8.
Specifications and Features
Firstly, let’s talk about the design. While other bands may have been overshadowed by feature-packed budget smartwatches, Xiaomi has remained true to its pill-shaped design for Mi Band 8, while incorporating minor upgrades to enhance customization.
The watch strap of Mi Band 8 has undergone a change, with the engulfing bands no longer present.
Instead, the pill-shaped module now features a metallic texture available in black (with black silicon strap) and gold (with ivory silicon strap) color options.
Positioning itself as a fashion-forward fitness tracker, Xiaomi is emphasizing that Mi Band 8 can be worn as a versatile accessory with options such as a pendant, a bean-shaped activity pill that can be fastened to shoe laces, and more.
Now let’s talk about the display. Mi Band 8 features a 1.62-inch AMOLED touchscreen, similar to Mi Band 7, with a 60Hz refresh rate, up to 600 nits of peak brightness, and a pixel density of 326ppi.
With a focus on keeping it stylish and trendy, Xiaomi offers up to 200 watch faces on Mi Band 8, which can be easily changed via the Xiaomi Health app.
During the event, Xiaomi mentioned that some users have tried to play games on the small display of Mi Band 8, which was intriguing to the team.
As a result, Mi Band 8 now comes with special watch faces that allow users to play games such as 2048, ping-pong shooter, trivia, and more.
The fitness and health tracking features of Mi Band 8 have remained largely unchanged.
The wearable now boasts support for over 150 sports modes, including walking, running, cycling, weightlifting, swimming, and more.
Mi Band 8 also offers continuous heart rate and sleep tracking, blood oxygen monitoring, menstrual tracking for females, and many other health and fitness features.
Now, let’s talk about the battery, which is certainly not the least important aspect.
Xiaomi claims that Mi Band 8 offers improved battery life, lasting up to 16 days on a single charge in standard mode (better than 14 days on Mi Band 7), with the always-on display (AOD) disabled.
When the always-on display (AOD) is enabled, the battery life of Mi Band 8 is reduced to approximately 6 days on a single charge.
Xiaomi claims that Mi Band 8 supports fast charging, allowing the 190mAh battery to be fully charged in just 1 hour.
The device also comes with a magnetic charger in the box, providing added convenience.
