Comparison of Xiaomi Mi Band 7 and Mi Band 6

May 24, Xiaomi announced fitness bracelet Mi Band 7 (Smart Band 7). At first glance, there are few changes in it, so the meaning of the update from the same "six" raises questions. To understand, let's compare the known characteristics and features of these devices.

Screen

Screen magnification is the main difference of the new Mi Band 7. And its size has changed precisely in width. The resolution has grown proportionally, so the pixel density is the same as that of the Mi Band 6 – 326 ppi.

In practice, this means that the clarity of the image has not changed, the fonts will be approximately the same, but due to the increase in the width of the display area, more characters will fit in each line. This will be especially useful when displaying text notifications.

Display options:

• Mi Band 7: OLED, 1.62 inches, 490×192 pixels, 326 ppi.
• Mi Band 6: OLED, 1.56 inches, 486 × 152 pixels, 326 ppi.

Another improvement of Mi Band 7 is the appearance of the Always On Display (AOD) mode, which will allow you to constantly display the time. How this will affect autonomy is still unknown, but the innovation itself is an absolute plus.

And it is also worth noting a slight increase in peak brightness: if the Mi Band 6 has 450 nits, then the Mi Band 7 has 500 nits.

Case and strap

The expansion of the screen, of course, increased the dimensions of the capsule itself. In width, she added 2.1 mm, and in height and thickness, on the contrary, she became a little more compact.

Capsule dimensions:

• Mi Band 7: 46.5 × 20.7 × 12.25 mm.
• Mi Band 6: 47.4 × 18.6 × 12.7 mm.

Moisture protection is the same, 5 ATM, which means that the accessory is quite suitable for a pool or water sports. The shower, of course, will not harm him either.

Due to the change in the size of the capsule, the straps from the Mi Band 6 are unlikely to fit. You will have to buy new ones if you get tired of the standard black silicone. There are five single-color, two camouflage and two fluorescent to choose from - and these are just the official ones. A couple of hundred more species will eventually be released by manufacturers from AliExpress.

Functions

Both have an optical sensor for calculating heart rate and blood oxygen (SpO2), but on the Mi Band 7 both can be measured automatically 24/7.

In terms of sports features, the most important improvement was support for more sports modes - there are now 120 of them, while the Mi Band 6 had about 30 at launch. Four out of 120 are called professional, which probably suggests more detailed data on their effectiveness.

All other features available on the Mi Band 6 are also available on the Mi Band 7. This is monitoring sleep and women's health, displaying notifications and controlling music from a smartphone, assessing the level stress management, breathing training, Personal Activity Intelligence (PAI) physical activity analysis and so on.

Battery and Charging

Increasing the screen and the size of the capsule led to an increase in battery capacity. This allowed us to maintain autonomy at the usual level.

Battery capacity:

• Mi Band 7: 180 mAh
• Mi Band 6: 125 mAh

In fact, autonomy may even be a little better, since the manufacturer claimed 15 days of operation without recharge instead of the standard 14. But this can only be judged after a long use of the device.

With charging, everything is unchanged - the same magnetic connector that allows you to feed the tracker without removing the strap.

Connection

Mi Band 7 uses Bluetooth 5.2 to connect to smartphones, while Mi Band 6 uses Bluetooth 5.0. Go to the new more modern standard probably helped to reduce power consumption and increase autonomy gadget.

OS Compatibility:

• Mi Band 7: Android 6.0 / iOS 10 or later.
• Mi Band 6: Android 5.0 / iOS 10 or later.

Theoretically, the owner of a smartphone with Android 5.0 will not be able to connect the Mi Band 7, but it is rather difficult to imagine such a use case.

What is the result

The new fitness bracelet Mi Band is released once a year. And every year there are fewer reasons to upgrade from the previous model. It is optimal to switch to the latest version every two years.

Now the situation is very similar to last year'swhen the main argument in favor of the novelty was the display. In Mi Band 7, it is again increased, and this is the main point. Well, Always On Display is also a useful improvement.

Otherwise, there are no critical improvements. You can recommend the "seven" only to those who still have about Mi Band 5 or something even older. What do you think?