Xiaomi Good Band 9 Lively assessment

Xiaomi’s Good Band lineup (previously Mi Band) is now in its 9th technology, and the Good Band 9 Lively is essentially the most reasonably priced out of the bunch. With its €25/£20 prompt retail value, this plastic nugget is among the maximum reasonably priced smartbands available on the market.

Xiaomi Good Band 9 Lively specs

• Show: 1.47” TFT LCD touchscreen, 172 x 320 px solution, 60Hz refresh price, 450 nits top brightness
• Straps: Removable proprietary straps, 135-215mm adjustable duration
• Options: 5ATM score, Actual-time middle price observe, 24/7 Blood Oxygen point observe, Sleep monitoring, Pressure tracking, Sports activities monitoring, Step Counter, Meditation, Notifications, Idle Alert, Telephone Finder, Climate Forecast, Track and Digital camera Keep an eye on, Alarm, Stopwatch, Compass, Barometer, Flashlight.
• Sports activities Modes: Outside Run, Indoor Run, Outside Stroll, Biking, Mountain climbing, Trekking, Soar rope, Freestyle (50 extra in Mi Health app)
• Sensors: PPG optical middle price sensor, SpO2 sensor, 3-axis accelerometer, barometer, rotor Vibration Motor
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, Appropriate with Android 8.0 and iOS 12+
• Battery: 300 mAh
• Colours: Black, Beige White, Red
• Dimensions:46 x 27 x 9.99mm
• Weight: 16.5 grams with out strap

Attaining that value level needed to include some compromises, and they’re proven within the TFT LCD with its thick bezels, all-plastic construct, and elementary design. You continue to get the standard fitness and process monitoring options we’ve come to be expecting from Xiaomi’s wearables, however is the discount value sufficient to justify going for the Lively over its siblings or competing gadgets?

This reviewer had the Band 9 Lively strapped to his wrist 24/7 for over two weeks, and those are his findings.

Design

Xiaomi Good Band 9 Lively is an reasonably priced smartband made fully out of plastic. The software is formed like a nugget, with the one-piece TPU strap hugging it snugly. The one visible trade from the Band 8 Lively is the moderately raised lip across the show, which must be offering higher coverage, and it unquestionably is helping in opposition to the occasional dink in opposition to doorknobs and desk corners.

The 1.47-inch TFT LCD provides a 172 x 320 px solution and 60Hz refresh price. It’s best rated at 400 nits of brightness, which is okay, even if considered in direct daylight open air. Nonetheless, an OLED panel like those at the Good Band 9 or 9 Professional is miles higher with regards to viewing angles, distinction and brightness.

We’re additionally lacking bodily buttons right here, which has been the norm for the Band 6 days, however we’re nonetheless now not satisfied that the all-swipe gesture navigation style is one of the simplest ways to head, particularly when your palms are rainy.

Good Band 9 Lively makes use of proprietary straps, which can be offered by means of Xiaomi, and we’re already seeing listings from third-party makers on AliExpress. The retail bundle comprises the Band 9 Lively, a black TPU strap, Xiaomi’s proprietary two-pin magnetic charging cable, a snappy get started information and a guaranty leaflet.

Our assessment unit arrived along Xiaomi’s legitimate Luminous strap, which provides a touch of favor and capability for runners with the fluorescent components sparkling at midnight for more secure night runs.

Like its predecessor and reputedly each and every smartband in the previous couple of years, Band 9 Lively is 5ATM water-proof, that means it could maintain dives in recent water as much as 50 meters. In layman’s phrases, you’ll be advantageous taking it to the pool and bathe.

Options

Good Band 9 Lively includes a mild trail sensor with an optimized fitness and health tracking set of rules. It could actually observe your middle price and blood oxygen saturation 24/7 whilst additionally providing sleep and tension monitoring. Xiaomi may be bringing over 50 sports activities modes, masking the entire elementary choices you’d be expecting.

Circling again to the entry-level value, Xiaomi not noted GNSS satellite tv for pc positioning at the Band 9 Lively, so that you’ll must depend on your smartphone’s positioning knowledge to trace your runs.

Like the remainder of Xiaomi’s good wearables, Band 9 Lively comes with get entry to to loads of watch faces by the use of Xiaomi’s Mi Health better half app. The one problem is that it does now not get computerized brightness keep an eye on. Because of its TFT LCD nature, Band 9 Lively does now not make stronger At all times on Show (AOD) both.

Band 9 Lively pairs in your Android/iOS smartphone by the use of Bluetooth 5.3, and you’ll be able to sync incoming notifications to buzz your wrist. You’re restricted by means of the cramped horizontal house on its display screen, and there’s no method to respond to incoming messages. There are not any audio system or microphones at the software itself, so Bluetooth calls are a no-go. You’ll be able to, on the other hand, keep an eye on track playback out of your wrist and use the Band as a far flung shutter on your telephone’s digital camera.

Tool and function

Like its predecessors within the Xiaomi Good Band collection, Band 9 Lively boots a familiar-looking real-time running gadget (RTOS), which is fully operated by the use of swipes. The UI contains of card-based widgets, although you’ll be able to’t customise or team other widgets right into a unmarried card like you’ll be able to with the extra top class Good Band fashions. The app structure is list-based and lines 16 integrated apps with out the choice so as to add any third-party ones.

Navigating the UI feels easy due to the 60Hz refresh price, and the entirety works as anticipated. The display screen is just a little wider than the single on vanilla Good Band 9 however it’s nonetheless noticeably extra cramped than the 1.74-inch 336 x 480px panel at the Band 9 Professional.

The Mi Health smartphone better half app retail outlets a month’s value of health-tracking
and exercise knowledge and you’ll be able to sync your knowledge to Apple Well being or Google Have compatibility in addition to Strava and Suunto.

Mi Health app interface

We examined the Band 9 Lively paired with an iPhone 15 Professional. Connectivity between the 2 used to be nice, without a interruption in knowledge sync and a few minor delays in incoming notifications.

Well being and process monitoring

Middle price monitoring at the Band 9 Lively is configurable in 1, 10, or 30-minute periods like its predecessors and you’ll be able to have 24/7 tracking for a greater general image of your HR fluctuations. Readings from the Band 9 Lively are in line with the ones from the Xiaomi Band 8 and 9 collection and also are consistent with those from the Huawei Watch Have compatibility 3.

The similar will also be mentioned in regards to the SpO2 readings, which can be similar to what you’d get with the opposite smartbands on this value vary, with all coming in or round the similar end result with some minor deviations.

Sleep monitoring at the Band 9 Lively options the usual set of metrics like overall sleep time with a breakdown of sunshine, fast eye motion (REM), and deep sleep levels. Throughout the process our assessment, we discovered the Band 9 Lively to be faulty relating to go-to-sleep and wake-up occasions in comparison to the Huawei Watch Have compatibility 3.

Sleep knowledge from the Good Band 9 Lively throughout the Mi Health app

Xiaomi’s newest band additionally confirmed constantly longer sleep occasions than its competitor and it additionally failed at jotting down wake-up occasions all over the night time, which used to be now not the case at the Huawei wearable. Some other annoyance is that you simply don’t get the deep sleep time at the band itself, so you must pass into the Mi Health app every time.

For exercise monitoring, we examined the Good Band 9 Lively along the Huawei Watch Have compatibility 3 on the fitness center the place each had been put to the take a look at of a mean exercise with a mix of treadmill operating and weightlifting.

Band 9 Lively pattern exercise knowledge

Band 9 Lively underreported the stairs and overall run distance. Each gadgets recorded equivalent leads to middle price readings all over workout routines. Nonetheless, we discovered that Band 9 Lively exceeded most middle price readings by means of round 10BPM, which appears to be a development on Xiaomi wearables.

The absence of a devoted GNSS tracker throughout the Band 9 Lively manner you’ll must carry your telephone if you wish to jot down outside runs.

Battery Lifestyles

Band 9 Lively includes a 300 mAh battery, which Xiaomi claims can last as long as 18 days of use with moderation or 9 days with extra motion.

In our assessments, we discovered the Band 9 Lively to final us 8 days with show brightness set to 60%, the entire fitness and process monitoring options activated along a exercise each and every different day, and notifications.

That’s excellent sufficient staying power in our books, although we’d in finding it laborious to succeed in the marketed 18 days until you flip off lots of the fitness monitoring options and decrease the show brightness significantly.

What’s now not so excellent is the gradual charging, which took over 90 mins to head from 0 to 100%.

Verdict

Xiaomi Good Band 9 Lively is essentially the most reasonably priced health tracker from the corporate, and it delivers a tight general bundle with its compact and durable construct, water-proof design and respectable battery staying power. You get the standard mixture of fitness and process monitoring options and a wealthy better half app that sums up developments in your fitness, sleep and process.

The TFT LCD isn’t the brightest round, and it’s a substantial step down from an OLED show like those on different Good Bands from Xiaomi and its competition. Sleep monitoring leaves so much to be desired and the construct high quality, whilst respectable, feels noticeably inexpensive than the vanilla Good Band 9. Given the Lively title, we anticipated a integrated GNSS satellite tv for pc receiver to trace outside runs and hikes, which is a neglected alternative right here.

On the finish of the day, Xiaomi’s Good Band 9 Lively is value taking into consideration only for its entry-level asking value, which is difficult to overcome. If you wish to have a extra top class smartband enjoy, we’d advise you spring up for the vanilla Good Band 9 or its extra top class sibling – the Good Band 9 Professional.

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