AMAZFIT Band 5 Review - Alexa and SpO2 as an investment for the future
The success of Xiaomi Mi Band 5 is quite consolidated, beating its rivals in the sector head-on, thanks to a competitive price and complete features both in sports and smart, but despite this there are many users who have been disappointed by the absence of features such as support for Alexa and the ability to monitor the SpO2 value. Huami remedies these shortcomings and gives poco has also launched the new Amazfit Band 5 in Italy, apparently identical to the Xiaomi fitness tracker, but substantially different and that we discover together today in this complete review.
I do not dwell too much on the contents of the package, which naturally differs from that of Mi Band 5, proposing itself with a white hardcover in which the photos of the product are depicted and with a particular tear-off opening, which I honestly did not appreciate because once the package is opened there is no way to close it again. In any case, inside the packaging we find:
- Amazfit Band 5;
- USB charging cable with magnetic pins;
- manuals.
At first glance, Huami's wearable is identical to that of Xiaomi, but in reality there are some particular differences. Looking at the capsule of the two fitness trackers we can in fact see how that of Amazfit Band 5 takes on a more oval shape than the rounded and circular one of Mi Band 5, a detail that is also taken up by the touch buttons. On the right side of the capsule of the wearable Amazfit, we also find the persistence of a hole used as a microphone to communicate with the virtual assistant Alexa. On the back we can then see differences regarding the arrangement of the sensors between one and the other band, considering that the SpO5 sensor is present in favor of Amazfit Band 2. For the rest we have no differences in the thickness of the sensors, dimensions and weight equal to 11,9 grams, so much so that the straps of one or the other product fit perfectly, therefore being able to interchange them.
If we really want to be picky, the Amazfit Band 5 strap inside carries the inscription of the brand engraved, but the closure remains the button one, rather firm and above all made of skin friendly silicone, which does not generate any discomfort even during the most activities. intense sweating. There are also many holes to better adapt the bracelet to the various wrist sizes.
Sweat and water in any case will not give any problem to the Amazfit Band 5 as it is waterproof with certification for diving up to 50 meters deep (5ATM), thus allowing us to wear it in the shower but also in the pool and / or the sea, occurrence being able to record also the sporting activity of swimming.
No difference even for the display that remains with a 1,1-inch diagonal with AMOLED technology and a resolution of 294 x 126 pixels with 16-bit color depth. Integrated we find a soft touch button to return to the home and manage some menus, as well as an anti-fingerprint coating with 2.5D curvature. Navigation in the system interface takes place by swiping the display, while with a long press, from the home, it is possible to change the watchfaces directly.
We have a brightness of 450 nits, really sufficient to guarantee excellent visibility in direct sunlight and therefore face outdoor sports without any discomfort of legibility of the information returned. We have the possibility to calibrate the backlight on 5 different levels of intensity but there is no dedicated sensor. In any case, no fear for the night hours, as, through the application you can set that automatically the display settles on the minimum level, also eliminating the awakening of the same through the gesture of rotation of the wrist. And precisely about the brightness I have to make a note, as if it is true that Amazfit Band 5 and Xiaomi Mi Band 5 are equipped with the same panel, to the eye that of Huami seems to be brighter, thanks to better color management, well visible by comparing the system icons, which for Amazfit Band 5 are made up of colors with shades, depth effects and more beautiful animations. In any case, the home is animated by over 45 watchfaces, both static and animated, downloadable from the companion app, as well as being able to customize them with a photo to your liking. The basic watchfaces, however, are "modular", that is, with the exception of the time and date, it will be possible to choose which elements to display among steps, heart rate, calories, etc.
The software that manages the Amazfit Band 5 functions is the same seen on the Xiaomi band, except for some details related to the features of SpO2 and Alexa.
It is possible to manage incoming notifications on our smartphone, being able to be notified with a small vibration and related notification from each application, but no step forward compared to Xiaomi Mi Band 5, as it will only be possible to view the notification and then read it, but not answer. Also remains the flaw of not being able to view the emoji contained in the text. Of course we can't even receive photos, videos and / or voice messages, while for calls it is only possible to silence the notification or reject the incoming call. What is good instead is the perfect synchronization with the smartphone, thus avoiding double notifications, but above all by reading these on the Amazfit band and eliminating them, they will also be deleted from the smartphone.
For the rest, there is no shortage of useful functions such as the ability to manage camera shots remotely, also compatible with GCam, manage the music playing on the smartphone, view the weather and much more that we have already appreciated with the Xiaomi Mi Band review. 5, including menstrual cycle monitoring.
But let's come to one of the main features that could make you reach out to the purchase of Amazfit Band 5, or the support for Alexa, with which we could manage home automation, create shopping lists, set alarms, reminders, check the weather and much more. information of various kinds, check the weather and much more. Too bad that at the present time, the supported language is only English and in any case the implementation in my opinion was really bad. In fact, despite the command being given in English, the virtual assistant often does not understand or returns the server error message.
Fortunately, the company has stated that by the end of the year the update that will implement the Italian will arrive and we hope it will also fix the current bugs. The application that manages all the data collected by the smart bracelet is Zepp, available for both iOS and Android. We already know the interface and I will not elaborate much on this paragraph, but from here it is possible to analyze and view in graphic format the data relating to steps, calories, heart rate, recorded sports activities but also sleep. Moreover, compared to Mi Band 5, Huami's product was more accurate in determining the beginning and end of our sleep. It is also possible to record nap data as well as receive REM phase values. For all this, the SomnusCare algorithm was introduced, which uses AI technology for greater accuracy in detections.
Of course, it will be possible to best set the bracelet settings and draw on the watchfaces to customize the display.
Amazfit Band 5 is first of all a fitness tracker and under this point compared to Mi Band 5 a further leap forward has been made by integrating the sensor for reading the blood oxygenation, or the SpO2 sensor.
During the video comparison on Youtube, I evaluated the goodness of the sensor and the data collected by comparing it with a finger saturation and the result was definitely in line with expectations and with the more "professional" product used for the comparison. There are also sensors such as the heart rate monitor with the possibility of monitoring the heartbeat H24 with measurement details of 1 minute as well as being able to warn us in case of anomalies, thanks to the improvement of the proprietary BioTracker 2 PPG system. We also find 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope and sensor for sleep, but once again NFC connectivity is absent, while a Bluetooth 5.0 BLE module is used for the connection with the smartphone.
Finally, there is also the possibility of monitoring one's own stress index, which can possibly be decreased by using the breathing exercises proposed integrated in the Amazfit Band 5 software.
Let's not forget the PAI (Personal Activity Intelligence) function, which is a personal indicator on our health and training status, which conveys all the measurements and data collected into a single numerical score, but for more information we refer you to this article.
Comparing Xiaomi Mi Band 5 and Amazfit Band 5, both perform the measurements in the same way, with excellent precision in every area, even for the steps net of the absence of a GPS. However, there are 11 sports that we can track: outdoor running, treadmill, cycling, exercise bike, walking, elliptical, rowing machine, yoga, rope jumping, swimming in the pool and free exercise. Don't think that these are just marketing because a dedicated index value is available for almost all of them, such as the number of strokes for swimming or rowing. Also not to be underestimated is the fact that the Amazfit Band 5 is able to automatically recognize if you are doing a sporting activity (only walking and running outdoors) by alerting you on the display and via vibration, asking you whether to activate the recording of physical activity or not. .
All these features would not be possible without a battery to give the right energy to the wearable smart. We have a 125 mAh unit under the body which, without going around it too much, will allow you to obtain at least 10 to 12 days of autonomy at the maximum potential offered by the bracelet. A value that depends on many factors and therefore can certainly improve based on the use you make of it, reaching even 20/23 days without problems.
Charging is also very convenient, thanks to the magnetic base integrated on the cable that will not force us to remove the capsule from the strap as it did for previous generations.
PROJECTED IMPACT
I would say that we have come to the conclusion, but we must first make a reasoning related to the list price. In fact Amazfit Band 5 is available on the official Italian Amazfit store at the price of 44,90 euros with shipping in 24 hours, while the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 price list is 39,99 euros. Understand for yourself, therefore, that the difference of only 5 euros regardless of the Amazfit Band 5 win on all fronts.
The presence of the SpO2 sensor alone is a considerable added value, if we then add that as soon as possible the support for Alexa will be fixed and defined in Italian, well I would say that it is a lot of stuff and do not be afraid, because Huami is a company that always update their devices. So buy Xiaomi Mi Band 5 or Amazfit Band 5? Well I would undoubtedly say the second, unless you find a real bomb offer for Xiaomi's wearable and you are not interested in the functions related to Alexa and SpO2.
There remain two excellent low-cost fitness trackers and no competitor has yet managed to keep up with them, see Honor Band and Samsung Fit just to name and surname, but also Realme Band and company. In my opinion Amazfit Band 5 is the best proposal for those looking for a completeness of data to monitor their health.
Who has the mi band 4, it makes no sense to switch to 5, but if anything, to this amazfit, or wait for mi 6 ... I continue to not understand why not to insert a brightness sensor ...