Xiaomi has added yet another affordable, entry-level fitness tracker to its Smart Band series— the Smart Band 9, and it’s pretty damn good.
In fact, it’s actually quite hard to believe just how good it is; it has a beautiful bright, bold AMOLED screen, loads of tracking features, and an insane battery life, many of which you’d find on more expensive fitness trackers. Yet, the Xiaomi Smart Band 9 will cost you less than a meal out.
Having put it to the test for nearly three weeks during some runs, workout and general everyday use, I can confirm Xiaomi has done it again, delivering yet another brilliant wearable with an attractive price. Read on for my full review.
Xiaomi Smart Band 9 review
Price and availability
The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 is available to buy now at Xiaomi UK, for a recommended retail price of £34.99— an absolute steal! The Smartband 9 comes with a standard TPU strap that’s available in five different colours: arctic blue, glacier silver, midnight black and mystic rose. However, you can also purchase other straps to build your own style.
Smart Band 9 vs Smart Band 8
On the surface the Smart Band 9 looks almost identical to the Smart Band 8, however, Xiaomi has introduced some subtle, yet significant new features. This includes a longer battery life— up to 21 days for the Smart Band 9 compared to the Smart Band 8’s 16 days— a much brighter AMOLED screen (the 8 was 600 nits whereas the 9 is 1200), and a more accurate heart rate sensor. Xiaomi claims it has a 16% rate improvement. The Smart Band 9 also provides a dives deeper into your sleep data too (more on that later).
Design and build quality
The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 is a little beauty. It has a sleek, sophisticated design, with a beautifully bright AMOLED display, making it hard to believe it costs less than £35. I’m glad Xiaomi didn’t change the size of its pill-shaped face, as I think it’s the perfect size. It’s small, but not so small that it makes navigating difficult. The sides of the face also have a matte finish, which keeps it looking clean and polished for longer.
The TPU strap is soft and very comfortable to wear. My wrist often gets quite itchy and sore with this style of strap, but having worn the Smart Band 9 for almost three weeks straight I experienced no problems with it. Xiaomi has also released a selection of affordable straps, so that you can build a watch that’s unique to you.
User interface
The Smart Band 9 is incredibly easy to use, even those who’d never owned a fitness tracker before would have no problem navigating its features. It’s very similar to a lot of other fitness trackers out there; you swipe left or right to flick through the different panels which display features such as heart rate, sleep tracking, music controls, etc.
Alternatively, if you drag the home screen down, you can see your smart notifications (although you can’t respond to these), whereas if you swipe up, you can access most of the watch’s features. If anything, it’s fun discovering everything it can do. The app isn’t too sophisticated, but it’s very easy to navigate, with everything laid out clearly.
Features
Although the Smart Band 9 doesn’t cost a lot, it has everything you need in a fitness tracker. It tracks your steps, heart rate, oxygen saturation (SpO2), sleep, stress levels, vitality, menstruation, and more. There’s even breathing training and even a torch (essentially the screen just goes white and really really bright).
Fitness fanatics can choose from over 150 sports modes, 10 specialised running courses and will get useful metrics to optimise performance, such as VO2 max and recovery score. There are also music controls, weather updates, a ‘find my phone’ and you can receive smart notifications. However, you can’t respond to messages.
My experience and accuracy
I tested the Xiaomi over two and a half weeks and I think it’s a cracking fitness tracker. I used it mainly for tracking my steps, runs, strength workouts and to track my sleep, and there was a lot I liked about it.
I thought the sleep tracking was excellent and very accurate. I always go to the toilet in the middle of the night and the Smart Band 9 picked up on the timings perfectly. I liked how the app provided a deeper analysis into sleep, such heart rate, blood oxygen data, your sleep score, type of sleep (REM, deep and light) and more. After seven nights of wearing the Smart Band, you also find out what your ‘sleep animal’ is, and while it isn’t a necessary feature, is a fun one. My sleep pattern was apparently similar to a koala (they stay up late but sleep soundly).
When I tracked my run I also wore my Kiprun GPS 500 so that I could compare the two. There were ever so slight differences between heart rate, distance and calories burnt with— the Smart Band 9 showing that I hadn’t run as far— however, they weren’t way off each other and no fitness tracker is 100% reliable.
In the app you’ll find lots of data too, including stride, cadence, pace and training effort. Even though it doesn’t have built-in GPS— instead it runs off the signal from your phone to get a GNNS signal— it still tracks your location really well. Obviously it’s a pain if you don’t want to take your phone out with you, but I think t’s a small payoff considering the price.
Other unexpected features I came to really appreciate included ‘find my phone’ which rings your phone for you, very handy if you’re misplacing it around the house; the weather updates and (really surprisingly) the torch. The latter was actually golden for when I went to the loo in the night as it meant I didn’t have to turn on a load of lights. Also, the battery life is superb. With ‘always-on’ display, Xiaomi says it lasts for 9 days, and it lasted 10 for me and, they’re right, it only takes an hour to fully charge.
Verdict
For those looking for an affordable fitness tracker, I don’t know why you wouldn’t consider the Xiaomi Smart Band 9. It’s functional, stylish and packed with plenty of features to keep on top of your health and fitness. Obviously it’s not 100% perfect and lacks built-in GPS, but I think that’s a small price to pay for such a good-looking wearable with an AMOLED screen, decent tracking, and fantastic battery life at such an attractive price.
Is it worth the upgrade for owners of the Smart Band 8? I guess it depends on how much you’d rather have a brighter screen (it is very pretty), better battery life, and more accuracy in regards to tracking. With every other feature the same, you probably don’t need to place an order any time soon. Although, if you do, it’s not like it’s going to break the bank.
