Mi Band 8 Pro how cool! Well done Xiaomi!
I must tell you that by now I had lost hope a little... I mean to find a Smart Band that went a little beyond the standards (albeit very good) to which we had become accustomed Xiaomi. And yet here it is! There Mi Band 8 Pro in all its beauty! Finally something where I'm sure it makes sense to change my old Amazfit GTS. And, despite being a sporty band, how elegant is the gray version!
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CONFEZIONE
Let's just start with the only thing that didn't convince me, the packaging. I must say really ugly, it looks like a €10 product. The internal plastic was also rejected, here too it seems to be a low level product. Luckily, at low level, only the box that I threw away in exactly 20 seconds remains. My version is the Chinese one, with the Chinese-English language, and inside we find:
- Mi Band 8 Pro
- Strap
- Magnetic charging cable with USB Type A connection
- Instruction booklet (Chinese language only)
MOUNTING
The assembly of the strap is very simple and certainly better than the old generations of Band where the body had to be stuck inside the strap. Now you just need to fit the 2 parts into which it is divided into the appropriate plug that you will find at the 2 ends of the band. The attachment is magnetic and very solid, you won't run the risk of it coming off even during training sessions.
DATASHEET
- Bluetooth 5.3
- Display 1.74″, 336 x 480 pixels, Touch Display
- Water Resistant 50m, IP68
- Scratch resistant, dust resistant
- Heart rate monitor, Blood oxygenation, Calories
- Step counter, pedometer
- NFC
- AMOLED display
- Compatible with Android v6.0, iOS 12 or higher
MI BAND 8 PRO CONFIGURATION
Let's get to the most debated topic for this Chinese version, namely the configuration of the Mi Band 8 Pro with the Mi Fitness application to have the English language on the band. I read on several sites that, even the same as the seller of this sample, who needed to set the phone in English to synchronize the band and be able to use it in English. If we had set the Italian language on the phone it would then have returned to Chinese. I can assure you that fortunately this is not the case. You will have to proceed like this:
- Leave the Italian language set on your smartphone
- Install Mi Fitness and select China as the region
- Log in to the application which will remain in Italian
- Enable BT and location on your phone, add a new device and your Mi Band 8 Pro will be detected, select it
- Confirm the pairing and the English language on the Band
- The game is done!
At this point on the "device" TAB you will find all the settings that you can change as you wish. You can enable App notifications, call notifications, SMS, weather, heart rate, sleep quality, blood oxygenation, stress level, sedentary alert, step/calorie/movement statistics, vitality score, reorganization and creation of widgets, application reorganization, vibration , sleep mode, ND sync, find device, set a password, update firmware.
CONTROLS ON THE MI BAND 8 PRO
Let's start from accessing the controls, then how to turn on the band. It will be possible to set the awakening with the movement of the wrist and the single touch on the screen will always be active. It will also be possible to set the always on display but in this mode the battery will obviously be consumed quickly. My advice is to keep the awakening active with the movement of the wrist. We can of course also set a shutdown timer from a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 60 seconds.
With the display active we can access all the functions with 4 simple swipes: right-left/left-right, bottom-top, top-bottom. Let's see what they are for:
- Swipe left-right right left: rotational access to a settings menu (where you will find DND, Alarm clock, activation/deactivation of awakening with movement, torch, vibration, find phone, other preferences, battery saving, screen active for 5 minutes) and widgets ( configurable via app)
- Swipe up-down: access notifications
- Swipe down-up: access applications
FIELDS
There are so many applications, I'll list just a few: blood oxygenation control, heart rate control, sleep quality, summary of daily activity, data history, vitality level, stress control, calendar, alarm clock, payments with NFC (for this Chinese version only in China), stopwatch, countdown, music control, search for your phone, take photos from your phone and many more. Obviously there are notifications from all the apps, including WhatsApp messages from which you can also open the message directly on your phone, and an infinite number of sports programs!
As for sports programs we have: walking, freestyle, hiking, cycling, treadmill, jumping rope, swimming and, listen carefully, others 150 sports categories! The activity detection will be very precise thanks to the integrated GPS which will keep precise track of our movements. My tests confirmed that it was decidedly more performing and precise than my "old" Amazfit GTS 2
HOW IT WORKS – MI BAND 8 PRO DESIGN
In this chapter I want to talk to you essentially about hard things, operation and design starting from the latter. When I saw it for the first time I was a little skeptical as it didn't look like a smart band (display too big) or even like a smartwatch (display too small). Instead I have to admit that I was terribly wrong! Now I love its 1.74″ rectangular shape! They are the PERFECT middle ground that will allow you to have both devices at the same time, excellent for training and equally suitable for use as a smartwatch in everyday use!
The display is a beautiful Amoled with a resolution of 336×440 pixels and scratch-resistant glass, it looks good outdoors and the colors are vivid and well calibrated. As for the design I can only say well done XIAOMI! Beautiful and the version with the gray strap is uniquely elegant. Vote 10!
Let's now come to the general functioning: I start from the autonomy which is truly excellent, I use it about 4 times a week for walking (about 40 minutes per session) and for the rest as a smartwatch. Well, I can easily do 10 days! The response to the touch of the display is excellent, to activate it, practically does not miss a single one. The automatic switch-on when moving (turning the wrist) is also absolutely perfect, which for example was driving me crazy on my old Amazfit GTS 2. As for the reliability of the steps, I think I can say it's good, checked with a professional treadmill , after the first calibration, it did not miss 50m over a distance of 4km! Outdoors, GPS does its part, satellite locking is fast, the route is marked and the statistics are very precise. I was amazed by the heart rate sensor, always tested on the professional treadmill: practically identical! the discrepancy is only a few BPM, sometimes not even one. Never seen anything more precise. Overall it deserves a good 9!
The only doubt concerns the strap, perfect as a hook but I fear subject to a lot of stress during the closure when it has to be bent to insert it into the housing. I fear that this area will risk wearing out and breaking. No problem, you change the strap.. but if there had been another method of closure I would have preferred it.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
While waiting for the global version, this Mi Band 8 Pro in the Chinese version it can easily be used by us too, as long as you learn a little English. As already mentioned, you will have the Mi Fitness application in Italian and the Band in English. As often, if not always, happens, when the global firmware arrives, the Chinese version will also be updated to the global one so then you will have everything in Italian (we give this possibility at 95%). Why buy it now? obviously for the price that thanks to GOOD BANG, our partner site, and with our coupon you can get a very interesting price! Shipping, practically FREE, is priority and will allow you to receive your order in approximately 15 days without the risk of incurring annoying customs duties. So, if you are looking for a product that combines the convenience of a band with the performance of a smartwatch then you have found it.
The time has been fixed with the latest firmware update
I also have the problem of the extra hour. Uninstalled the app several times but to no avail. If anyone has the correct procedure thanks.
On Samsung (s22u) I removed the automatic time zone from the phone settings and it solved the problem
It doesn't work on iPhone 13. I had already removed the automatic timer.
Any news on the global version?
Just packaging to be changed for a typo otherwise good one.
It does not update with the time change
Same problem even reinstalling several times nothing changes
Hi Francesco, yes it happened to me too. I had to remove it from the phone and reinstall it. Now everything is OK!
I've already done it three times but the time is always ahead by an hour... Any advice?