It's bigger and brighter, the new Xiaomi Smart Band 7

Xiaomi (Mi) have refreshed their fitness tracker the Xiaomi SmartBand 7. It comes in China and Global versions, the only real difference is that the Chinese version supports NFC payments (through Alipay). If you're lucky Alipay may accept your credit card as a payment type and then you can use it through the band. Both versions support multiple languages.

The 326 ppi AMOLED screen has been increased to 1.62 inches and is now much brighter (it can be distractingly bright), which is a 25% increase over the Band 6 display. The included USB cable has a magnetic connector on the end which aligns the connector with the band and holds it in place to charge.

Battery life is stated at 15 days, but that will be greatly reduced if various functions are turned on, such as some continuous readings.

Band 7 next to Apple Watch

There are a variety of straps that can be purchased apart form the standard black.

Watch faces are download to the watch (over 100 of them) via the Mi Fit app (now rebranded as the Zepp Life app). Some of them maybe quite Chinese in personality and seem quite odd to a western market.

The band has the following "health" functions: -

• SpO2 Monitoring
• Breathing Training
• Heart Rate Monitoring
• Sleep Monitoring
• Pressure Monitoring
• Female Health

SpO2 (blood oxygen content) and heart rate monitoring are continuous as is sleep monitoring (i.e. no need to tell the band you're going to sleep).

Band 7 supports 120 sports modes, some of which it will try and switch into automatically and it can be used for swimming down to 50m (but not diving). While training VO2 is estimated and time to recovery as well as aerobic and anaerobic exercise times.  Standard sports are directly accessed while others via the All Workouts.

They are: -

• Running
•     Outdoor running
•     Walking
•     Treadmill
•     Indoor walking
•     Race walk
• Cycling
•     Outdoor cycling
•     Indoor cycling
•     BMX
• Swimming
•     Pool swimming
•     Fin swimming
•     Artistic swimming
• Outdoor workout
•     Fishing
•     Skateboarding
•     Roller skating
•     Rock climbing
•     Parkour
• Indoor workout
•     Freestyle
•     Elliptical training
•     Rower
•     Indoor fitness
•     HIIT
•     Core training
•     Aerobic combo
•     Strength
•     Stretching
•     Stair climbing
•     Flexibility
•     Stepper (forward)
•     Stepper (backwards)
•     Gymnastic
•     Yoga
•     Pilates
•     Aerobics
•     Mass gymnastics
•     Cardio Combo
•     Cross training
•     Spinning
•     Horizontal bar
•     Parallel bars
•     Battle rope
• Dance
•     Ballet
•     Belly dance
•     Square dancing
•     Street dancing
•     Ballroom
•     Dance
•     Zumba
•     Latin dancing
•     Jazz dancing
•     Folk dance
•     Hip Hop
•     Pole dance
•     Break dance
•     Modern dance
• Combat workout
•     Kendo
•     Karate
•     Boxing
•     Judo
•     Wrestling
•     Tai chi
•     Muay Thai
•     Taekwondo
•     Martial arts
•     Kick boxing
•     Jujitsu
•     Fencing
• Ball workouts
•     Tennis
•     Football (soccer)
•     Cricket
•     Baseball
•     Bowling
•     Squash
•     Basketball
•     Softball
•     Gateball
•     Volleyball
•     Table tennis
•     Handball
•     Badminton
•     Beach volleyball
•     Wall ball
•     Billiards
•     Sepak takrav
•     Dodgeball
•     Water polo
•     Ice hockey
•     Shuttlecock
•     Futsal
•     Hacky sack
•     Bocce
•     Jal alai
• Water workouts
•     Sailing
•     Rowing
•     Dragon boat
•     Kayaking
•     Snorkeling
•     Flowriding
• Winter workouts
•     Curling
•     Ice skating
•     Indoor ice skating
• Leisure workouts
•     Hula hoop
•     Frisbee
•     Darts
•     Kite flying
•     Tug of war
•     Shuttlecock
•     Esports
•     Airwalker
•     Swinging
•     Shuffleboard
•     Table football
•     Somatosens
• Board and cards
•     Chess
•     Checkers
•     Weigl
•     Bridge
•     Board game
• Others
•     Jump rope
•     Archery
•     Equestrian

What the band can actually measure during say a board game is questionable to say the least. Other sports modes to seem to work and it will pick-up walking and running without having to actually switch to that mode. 

Tracking is reasonable and compares to other much more expensive devices.

Nicely Xiaomi have now added a lot of products to their international store, including the Smart Band 7 which retails for £54.99 in the UK version (mi.com detects your location and uses that to deliver a local store). Straps costs £9.99 (they do break and the button on the clasp can break too).

It is also possible to go to your friendly Chinese site and buy it considerably cheaper (though pricing has changed recently and shipping charges can be more expensive and there will be VAT/Tax added at the point of sale).

Padlock those fingers with a Kitty

This is another Xiaomi (supply chain) product made by Youdian, the Kitty Smart Touch/Fingerprint padlock. It comes in 4 colours (Coral Red, Mica Blue, Gold, Bluestone Green) and is 33mm wide by 15mm which and just under 60mm high (including the steel lock). The body is a zinc alloy and is IPX2 water resistant.

The fingerprint detector is about 1cm across.

In the factory reset state (as shipped) any finger touching the sensor will unlock the padlock. When unlocked an administrator fingerprint should be stored. Hold the required finger on the sensor for 8 seconds until the LED above the sensor goes blue, then 5 successful fingerprint readings will store fingerprint as the admin.

Locking the padlock will now only allow the admin finger to open it (the lock will open and the LED will go green).

If the padlock is unlocked and the admin then holds their finger on the sensor until the LED goes blue, then another fingerprint can be stored (again 5 successful readings are required). Up to 20 fingerprints can be stored.

It's not possible to delete individual fingerprints, but the padlock can be reset to factory default by unlocking, placing the admin finger on the sensor until the LED goes red, then removing it and placing on the sensor again. All stored passwords will then be removed.

There's a 100mAh/3.7V (cobalt polymer) battery inside, which Youdian claim will give a year's worth of standby (i.e. leaving the padlock locked and returning within a year it should still unlock). Multiple unlocks will reduce the time, so probably worth charging from time to time (the LED will stay red until it's fully charged). It is charged via micro USB and a USB-A cable is included.

The padlock does just work and it failed to open with non-registered fingers. Quite useful when you don't want to carry keys around and lock an e-scooter or bike (or even luggage). The padlock is quite secure, though it's probably reasonably easy to break if required.

It's available from your usual Chinese sites and costs around £15 (before VAT etc).

Mi Air 2S

This is definitely a Xiaomi product, though not available from the Mi UK store. The earphones are very similar to the Xiaomi True Wireless Earphones 2(TWE2) that were previously reviews. The main difference is a larger battery in the case (440mW compared to 300mW), the case supports wireless charging and play time is longer (the ear buds last 5 hours compared to 4 hours and with the case 24 hours compared to 14 hours).

Both support Bluetooth 5.0 and LHDC/SBC/AAC coding and BLE/HFP/HSP/A2DP/AVRCP though some are LHDC may only supported with Xiaomi phones or using the Xiaomi  MUIU app.

In terms of looks, they are virtually identical, except on the Air 2S's the side stub doesn't extend beyond the top of the earbud while on the older model they do.

The Air 2S do support a new dual core chip which in conjunction with the dual mics (per ear bud) improves latency considerably when noise cancelling.

There is a USB-C socket in the base of the case, which also supports the Qi wireless charging standard (the case needs to lie on its back).

Pairing is easy, just press the button the side for about 5 seconds and the white LED on the front of the case will start blinking and is then connectable from a phone/PC/etc. Once paired, opening the case (or clicking the button) should allow a previously paired unit to connect again (you may need to press the side button, opening the case doesn't always connect the buds).

The earbuds sit just outside the ear canal and can fall out if your heads moves violently, but they generally are comfortable and the sound quality is pretty good.

Tapping the earbuds will do the normal pause music, answer a call etc.

They are nice ear buds though maybe not worth the additional price compared to the TWE2 unless paired with a Xiaomi phone using the MUIU app and getting the enhanced latency.

Including the silicon case, available for about £50 from your Chines import site (and cheaper than the TWE2 from the UK site).

Now that the Bluetooth SIG have released the LC3 codec, which is better quality than the SBC, maybe manufacturers will issue a firmware update to support it.

Youpin (Xiaomi) Duka 40m LS-P Digital Laser rangefinder

This is a little unit that seems solidly constructed with an aluminium case measuring 86 x 22 x 11 mm. It comes with an attachable lanyard (quite fiddly to get through the hole) and it charges via miniUSB. It only weights 28g.

It has a backlit LCD and two buttons. The button (on the same side as the LCD) starts the laser and the side button changes modes. Unfortunately it's quite complicated to work out the modes as the instruction manual is in Chinese. Units can be set to metres, inches or feet.

The stated maximum distance is 40m and though not fully tested, if it's dark and you can see the dot, it does measure long distances, it can measure continuously as it moves around. It also measures: - 

• Area
• Volume
• Front and Back reference
• Pythagorean
• Max and Min
• One button angles

Though some are relatively easy to work out how to use, without an English manual some of the modes won't make much sense.

The sensitivity does seem to be quite good and it's possible to see the red dot in quite bright outside conditions, though in order to measure the distance of something small, it's likely to be very difficult just in trying to keep the beam steady enough to keep it on the target area. The measurements are accurate to about 2mm.

The main button on the side of the LCD.

Long press turns the ranger on or off.

A 3s press should reset the measuring mode.

A short press will start the measuring mode and another short press will store it (each time).

A 1.5 second press and it will start continuously measuring (the display will show the maximum and minimum measurements).

Clicking the side button will put the device into area measurement (a trapezoid will show on screen), then clicking the top button will measure one side and a second press the 2nd side and an area displayed.

The side button pressed again will put the system into volume mode (a cube is shown on the display) and then the top button pressed for the three measurements.

A third press on the side button will put the unit in Pythagorean mode - a triangle will show (a squared + b squared equals c squared) and pressing to top button will measure a and then b.

A fourth press and a double Pythagorean mode showing a two triangles. Then top button will be a, b and e (the edge and vertices of the triangle and the base c will be calculated).

A 5th press and it's subtracted Pythagorean as above, but c is the base length between the last edge (e) and middle length (b).

The 6th press should put the system in angle mode, so press top button and you measure the base of the triangle, then another press and it will measure the height and calculate the hypotenuse.

There is also a settings mode.

It costs around $16 from your Chinese eCommerce site.

Xiaomi (Yuwell) Pulse Oxymeter

This was listed as Xiaomi, but is made by Yuwell model YX303. It's a standalone unit powered by 2 AAA batteries and sized 58 x 32 x 34 mm.

The unit is hinged so you place you finger in between the two halves and then turn the unit on. The colour OLED will turn on and the screen will show a waveform and your pulse rate and blood oxygen level (pO2). It takes a few seconds to get a reading.

Quick pressing the button again will rotate the display 90 degrees, then again another 90 (so 180), again 270 and again back to the start.

If the finger is removed, the unit will indicate "sensor off" and turn itself off.

As a Xiaomi product it's at the upper end of the price range and there are other cheaper units out there. It's available on import for around £20 (not available through the UK site).

Maybe Xiaomi wine bottle opener

It's hard to tell whether it's Xiaomi or not (it's sold as, but there's no branding on the opener itself).

The unit is a cylinder about 6 inches long and just wider than the neck of a bottle. It has a rocker switch on the top and 4 white LEDs to indicate charge and is clear at the bottom, so you can see the cork etc. It has rechargeable batteries and is charged with via microUSB.

It's very simple to use, please the bottom of the cylinder over the top of the wine bottle, press the bottom end of the rocker switch (make sure to hold the wine bottle too) and the screw will move down, enter the cork and then pull the cork out of the bottle. The transparent area will illuminate blue while the cork is being removed and turn red when complete. It may be necessary to slightly wiggle the unit for the cork to completely come out the bottle.

The unit should come with a foil cutter, but this one didn't have one included.

Once removed, just press the top of the switch and the cork will be ejected.

That's it. Very simple.

Why? you may ask. If anyone has arthritis or other ailment that doesn't allow them to use a normal corkscrew, this is the product for them.

It can be found on your Chinese site as the Original Xiaomi Mijia Huohou Automatic Red Wine Bottle Opener Electric Corkscrew Foil Cutter Cork Out Tool 6S and costs about £20. Definitely worthwhile if someone likes wine, but cant open a bottle.

Xiaomi Portable Air Quality sensor

The portable air quality sensor definitely isn't available from the UK Mi store, but importable.

The unit measures about 6 x 9 x 2 cm and is a plain white case with an OLED display that shows the battery charge and the PM2.5 value. It's small enough to fit in a jean's or jacket pocket.

The sensor is branded SmartMi.

There's a button on the front that turns the unit on or off and a micro-USB socket for charging and that's it. Short pressing the button while the display is on will cycle between brightness settings (low, medium, high).

While it was sensible to do so, using it on the tube (is that ever sensible?) produced interesting results, especially on the Northern Line where PM2.5 levels could reach over 160ppm (not safe) in the deeper stations. The display will show a bar that's green, orange or red depending on the PM2.5 level 0-75, 76-150 and 150+ respectively.

Internally there's fan and a laser reflection/scatter system that measures the particulates.

Available through your Chinese import site for about £20.

Xiaomi Mijia LCD HandWriting Blackboard

This is either the most amazing piece of Technolgy or the most useless. It comes in two sizes, 10 inch and 13.5 inch screen (measured diagonally) and a stylus magnetically attaches to the side so it doesn't get lost (though it's easy to knock off).

The board is powered by a CR2032 coin battery which should last a year if the screen is erased 100 times per day.

It's a touch sensitive LCD screen, that's sort of like an e-ink screen, though it's black to start with and when you touch it, the screen goes white, though really green. It's a bit odd. The harder you press, the thicker the line (within limits), but it can produce some really good results and some drawings look really lifelike.

Since it only uses power to clear the screen, drawings will stay there until they're erased.

There's a switch on the side which when in the on position allows the button below the screen to erase what's on screen. There's no way to save anything, what's on the screen is it and touching the screen will just add more stuff. The only way to transfer images off the screen is to take a photograph of it. If the side switch is moved to off, then the button below the screen has no effect.

The stylus isn't anything special, it's literally just a pen shaped piece of plastic with a magnet inside and a pointy end. Anything can be used in its place (just beware of scratching the screen).

The case of the actual unit is reasonably thick ABS.

The 10 inch version is about £10 and the 13.5 inch around £18 from your friendly Chinese import site. Not a huge amount to spend on what's really a blackboard, but it's surprising good for drawing things and they seem to be popping up in TV quiz shows where contestants need to write/draw things as the contrast is pretty good and they're readable from a distance.

Amazing tech? The jury's out on this one, but cheap enough to have a play and not worry about it.

Xiaomi Smart Humidifier

Once again another Xiaomi product. This time a smart humidifier i.e. a device you fill with water and it squirts out a fine mist. It's smart as it can be controlled from Mi Home app (iOS and Android). It connects to the "Internet" via WiFi.

Setup is pretty straight forward, turn it on and then scan in the Mi App or scan the QR code on the instructions and you'll be taken into the app within the smart humidifier section. Once it's in config mode, it will transfer the WiFi settings to the device, update the firmware and then add the device to a room.

The Mi Home app does allow automation so the humidifier can be turned on if the humidity (from another sensor) drops below a certain level. It would be nice if Xiaomi supported Alexa integration, but currently they don't seem to. There are 4 settings on the device, light, medium and dense fog and auto where the unit will detect the humidity and produce for appropriately.

Not all the Xiaomi devices are available in the UK and it's only possible to add devices in that are sold in the region you've set the app to. Unfortunately a lot of devices that are available from import sites, aren't available in the UK so the fix is to set your region to Mainland China and all devices will appear (it's still possible to use the app in English).

As well as humidifying the water, there's a UVC light source that sterilises the water as it passes through, so any nasty bugs shouldn't survive the journey (not tested). It holds 4.5L of water which is enough for about 12 hours use and it will shut itself off (and the LED turns from Blue to Red and in app) if the water chamber is empty.

The only downside seems to be that if there are PM2.5 sensors, they'll pick up the mist / water droplets and report them as pollution and reading can go well over 1,000 ppm (which is pretty polluted) and that may cause issues if automating on pollution levels.

Can be had for about £50 importing from your friendly Chinese site (inc shipping).

Xiaomi Air Quality Sensor

Today's Xiaomi review is of the Air Quality sensor, it's about 10 by 6 by 3 cm with a 10 cm capacitive colour touch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480.

There's a PM2.5 particulate laser reflective sensor and Sensiron TVOC/CO2a and Temp/Humidity sensors which are used to measure the air quality. TVOC is a measure of total volatile organic compounds which cover a range of substances from detergents through flammable liquids and gasses. The CO2 values aren't actually measured but approximated through various calculations on the sensor.

This is not a professional device, so the readings will be reasonably accurate, but don't base anything medical on the readings.

It's WiFi connected and connects back to the Mi back-end services and can be controlled by the Mi Home App. In the Mi App it's necessary to change the region to Mainland China of the device won't be found (or lost if configured in Mainland China and then say switch to Europe, but it will come back again if the region is changed back).

There are a variety of display modes which show average values of sensor readings and a clock of course which is set using Internet time sources so stays accurate. Even though the region in the app is set to Mainland China, a local timezone in the device can be set, so the correct time will be displayed (some other Xiaomi devices will show Chinese time).

An especially useful feature is the BLE gateway which can monitor other Xiaomi Home Bluetooth connected devices, collect their data and send it back to the Mi Home servers. So say there's a Xiaomi Home temperature/humidity sensor in another room that the Mi Home app would connect to, the BLE gateway can download its data, send it to Mi Home and then it's accessible via the Mia Home app from anywhere. This is actually pretty useful if there are other smart devices in the home and say the temperature is quite low, then turn the heating on so it'll be nice and cosy when you get home.

Xiaomi True Wireless Earphones 2

Xiaomi make a lot of products, some look remarkably similar to each other. The True Wireless 2 earphones also seem to be Airdots 2 on Chinese sites, they are very similar to the Airdots 2S but the 2 have just USB-C charging while the 2S can also be wirelessly charged and have a longer battery life. The 2S variant isn't available of the Xiaomi EU site currently.

They are quite easy to pair, long pressing the button on the side of the case will put them into pairing mode, then connect to the phone and then opening the case or pressing the button will start pairing next time.

The earphones site on the ear much like the fruity company's original pods, so your mileage will vary on how well they fit or fall off. Personally in-earphones work better but lots of people are happy with this kind of design.

The earphones are Bluetooth 5.0 and support HD sound. They charge in around an hour and will play for 4 hours, though popping them into the case (which sarges them) allows up to 14 hours of play.

Each earphone has an infrared sensor and 2 microphones and tapping either earphone will answer a call (or hangup). Tapping twice on the left earphone will activate a voice assistant while tapping twice on the right will pause binaural mode and a single tap will activate single play. Removing an earphone will pause music play.

The binaural/single ear play are so it's possible to lend a colleague an earphone and they can listen to the same music you are (or listen to something else).

The dual microphones are used for noise cancellation, but as the earphones are only semi-in ear, that's mostly for speech etc and not for blocking outside noise during music play.

They are available from the Mi UK Store for £69.99 which is a bargain compared to their fruity counterparts, though Chinese (original) imports inc shipping can be had for around £30-40 (with a silicon case), the 2S are £10-20 more expensive.

Xiaomi Bluetooth Speaker 2.0

Another day, another Xiaomi product. These are mini Bluetooth cylindrical speakers (they measure about 2 inches in height - well 48mm - and 2 inches across - 52mm) and the come in black or white.

Though small, the sound produced is remarkably good for the size, obviously they cant compete with bigger speakers with large bass speakers for the depth of sound, but just to have some background music, they work well.

If they can be placed apart the sound improves dramatically if you place yourself in the central zone.

The speakers are Bluetooth 5.0 and operate in stereo, however pairing can be slightly fiddly. The centre of the base is a switch surrounded by a "multifunctional switch" so when the speaker's pointing up, pressing the speaker actually presses the central switch.

• Turn on by long pressing the switch (for about 2 seconds) and the speaker should turn on (blue light will flash)
• Do the same for the other speaker
• On Both speakers double click the multifunction switch and they should go into wireless stereo pairing mode
• The "master" speaker will flash quickly and the "slave" slowly
• Pair with a phone, laptop, other BLE device

The speakers also have a microphone and can be used to receive a call (tap the speaker when a call comes in and it will change to mic mode, however this can be annoying as the speaker can go into this mode even when a call isn't there by accidentally tapping it.

The power output is only 3W and the speakers are charged through a microUSB port.

The speaker are available from any of the friendly Chinese import sites and are about £20 (inc shipping). They're never going to compete with the big bass boomboxes, but for something that will fit in a jacket pocket and provide some background music and last for a couple of hours, they're really not bad.

Xiaomi Band 4

Xiaomi make everything or they invest in other companies to make stuff for them. If you want something for the home, there will be a Xiaomi (or more likely under the Mi brand) product available. An electric toothbrush, yes, a pen (called a signing pen), yes. Lighting, yes, speakers, smart speakers, humidifiers, air purifiers, air quality sensors.

Some of the products are available directly in the UK (there's even a Mi Store at Westfield in Shepherd's Bush), download the Mi Store app and set your country and you can order through the app.

However in the UK there's only a tiny subset of what Xiaomi actually sell, if you dare, head over to Aliexpress and search of Xiaomi or Mi and see the plethora of products available. Reign in your credit card as it's easy to just buy everything.

Amazfit are one of the companies that Xiaomi initially invested in (and now may well own, another is Segway/Ninebot). There's a previous review of the Amazfit Cor and though the screen is monochrome OLED, it's still quite a nice tracker. Unfortunately the strap eventually broke (which doesn't seem replaceable which seems a shame as the actual unit was working perfectly), so the to replace with a Mi Band 4.

Mi have regularly updated the band and it's very cost effective compared to the general (US) competition (Fitbit etc). It's not the prettiest of devices, the central "pod" (which is removed from the strap to charge) is about 4cm long by 1.5 cm wide and 1cm high. It has a colour AMOLED display and optical pulse/heart rate sensor on the base in contact with the skin. The strap is silicone and uses a pass through system and a knob that pushes into a hole on the other side.

The quoted battery life is 20 days, though this can reduce if certain settings are enabled (like heart rate read every minute and accurate sleep tracking etc), however it's still pretty reasonable with everything turned up to the max and won't need charging for several days at least. The band is also waterproof down to 50m (i.e. 5 ATM of pressure) so good for a swim in the pool or shower, but not recommended for deep sea divers.

There are lots of "watch faces" available (most are horrid) and if you're an Android/Windows user, then are are sites that show how to design and install your own.

To get the data off the band it works with the Mi Fit app (which is available on both iOS and Android). All customisation is done through the app, though some can be done through settings on the band itself, though it's a bit fiddly.

It can all the normal things a tracker can i.e.

• Notifications
• Controlling Music
• Calls
• Steps
• Calories

There's also workouts that can be tracked" -

• Outdoor Running
• Treadmill
• Cycling
• Walking
• Freestyle
• Pool swimming

The band can also display the Weather.

On the band itself it's possible to set (under More): -

• Do Not Disturb (DND)
• Alarms
• Music
• Stopwatch
• Timer
• Find Device
• Band Display (brightness etc)

Everything works, heart rate tracking is as good as any optical sensor device can be as if you're doing sport and the band moved away from the skin, it's not going to measure properly. Sleep tracking works very well and shows speeds of awake, deep sleep and REM sleep.

The Official Mi UK price is £34.99 which is still pretty good for the features, however if waiting a few days and ordering from China isn't an issue that will significantly reduces the cost.

Amazfit helping you build your Cor fitness

Amazfit are a relatively unknown brand in the UK, but they're big in China and are actually reasonably well known as as they make the Xiaomi Bands and it's possible to use Amazfit products with the Mi Fit app (which integrates into Apple Health - while the Amazfit branded app is standalone, though may offer some increased functionality with their products).

The Cor is the next generation on from the Arc which has a monochrome OLED display while the Cor is now colour. It has the usual complement of measurements, steps, sleep tracking, calories (made up as it's not tracking anything you eat etc) and pulse rate via n optical sensor under the body of the unit.

It's also possible to get notification from various apps and these can be enabled and disabled in the Mi Fit app.

Though the display is colour, it doesn't really add much to the previous and unless a preset display is chosen, some displays can affect battery life (as they get updated more often).

Step counting, heart rate and sleep tracking are comparable with the Fitbit AltaHR (wouldn't surprise if the actual electronics internally were the same or very similar), where Amazfit does excel is in price, the Cor can be had for around $40 from your favourite Chinese site. It's also waterproof to 5ATM so can be used for swimming and snorkelling and other water sports without fear of damaging it.

Amazfit are definitely a brand to watch in the fitness tracking department and they're constantly coming out with new products.

Recommended in terms of price and functionality, though the Mi Fit app doesn't yet compete with say Fitbit's, also battery life is claimed at 20 days and though it might not actually quite reach that, it will definitely last a week or 2 on a single 2.5hr charge.

Xiaomi Huami AMAZFIT A1603 Smartband

Xiaomi make lots of stuff, but they also work with partners and specifically Huami who make wearables (under the AMAZFIT brand). In the US it's known as the Amazfit ARC.

Though the functionality is almost identical to the Xiaomi Band 2, it looks much nicer and the silicon strap has a 'hatch' effect on it which is very comfortable to wear. The actual unit is permanently attached to the strap and has a soft 'brushed' metal feel. Underneath there's an optical heart rate sensor and charging pins and the top is a UV coated scratch resistant OLED display.

Like most trackers it measures steps but also sleep (you obviously have to wear it at night), distance and active calories. The battery life is VERY good (Huami claim 20 days). It can also display notifications from your phone (currently iOS and Android are supported).

As a bonus it's also water proof and can be used when swimming, though it doesn't track swimming.

There's a USB charging cable that is magnetically polarised so it 'snaps' on to the charging pins on the bottom of the unit, this also stops you getting it the wrong way around.

There is an Amazfit app available and through it's pretty basic, it does support all the devices features and notifications, alarms etc can be set through it. However, it the ARC also works with the Xiaomi Mi Fit app, which has a lot more features and links with Apple Health and Android Fit on the relevant platforms. The Mi Fit app also seems to have a few more advanced features like being able to track heart rate when sleeping which give more accurate results (though reduces battery life).

It's definitely a cut above the Mi Band2 in terms of looks and comfort and on a par with traditional fitness trackers from established US companies, though at a very competitive price. However, the apps of more expensive western vendors are generally quite a bit better with more functionality.

The list price is $99 from the US Amazfit site, but various Asian sites have it available for around £30 including shipping.