Xiaomi has announced the Mi Band 1S today. The wearable tracker is everything that the original Mi Band was and adds a few really nifty features. When Xiaomi jumped into the space of wearables, it was taking on the heavyweights likes Fitbit and Jawbone and not many thought that Xiaomi would be able to disrupt the market especially given the fact that the tracker doesn’t come with any screen and relies on your smartphone for you to be able to read any data. However, given the surprising amazing accuracy of the tracker coupled with an extraordinary pricing, the Mi band went on to become one of the most popular Xiaomi products out there, in turn making Xiaomi the second biggest player in the wearables market.
The successor of the Mi Band is called Mi 1S and brings the ability to measure your heart beat over and above measuring the calories that you burn, the steps you take and the quality of your sleep, kind of like the Yu YuFit. Xiaomi has also retained the IP 67 rating of the tracker, which means that you can use the Mi Band 1S under 3 feet of water for 30 minutes like the Mi Band.
However, if you think that you would be able to use the cool colorful bands that you picked for the Mi Band with the Mi Band 1S, then that is not going to happen. This is because, thanks to the added heart monitoring sensor, the weight of the tracker has gone up by about half a gram and the thickness has been added by about one millimeter. Xiaomi has retained other goodness like the ability to unlock your Mi phone using the tracker with the 1S too. With no native display available, you will once again be relying on your smartphone display to be able to see your readings from the band just like you did with the original Mi Band.
The Mi Band 1S will be available for $15, while the original Mi Band will go down to $11 price point. Without a doubt the Mi Band will be first available in China and later on across the world, and rest assured that India will be one of the first countries to be getting it. It will ship starting November 11th in China.
Edit: The band is going to be called Xiaomi Band Pulse and not Mi Band 1S.
