A few years ago, there was a clear distinction between smartwatches and smart bands. The band was a compact wrist wearable that measured some basic essentials like heart rate and steps, while also boasting additional tools like a weather app and timer. Upon looking at the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro, it’s evident that the band form factor has evolved to look like a smartwatch, but the same cannot be said about its features.
Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro Specifications
- Display: 1.74″ AMOLED touchscreen, 336 x 480 px resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, 600 nits peak brightness
- Straps: Detachable straps, 22mm width, 130-205mm adjustable length
- Features: 5ATM Rating, Real-time Heart Rate Monitor, 24/7 Blood Oxygen Level Monitor, Sleep Tracking, Stress Monitoring, Sports Tracking, Pedometer, Meditation, Notifications, Idle Alert, Phone Finder, Weather Forecast, Music & Camera Control, Recorder, Alarm, Stopwatch, Compass, Barometer, Flashlight
- Sport Modes: Outdoor Jogging, Indoor Running, Outdoor Walking, Outdoor Cycling, Walking, Strength Training, Jump Rope, Freestyle (150+ more in Mi Fitness App)
- Sensors: 4-channel PPG optical heart rate sensor, SpO2 sensor, 3-axis accelerometer, barometer, rotor vibration motor
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, compatible with Android 8.0 and iOS 12+, dual-band L1+L5 GNSS, NFC (market dependent), microphone, and speakers
- Battery: 289mAh
- Colors: Black, Light Grey
- Dimensions: 46 x 33.35 x 9.99mm
- Weight: 22.5 grams without the strap
Xiaomi’s latest Pro Smart Band brings the same basic design as its predecessor with minor specification bumps. A slightly larger screen and bigger battery are the highlights, but is that enough to justify it over the regular Band 8 or its direct competitors from Amazfit and Huawei?
Design
The Xiaomi Band 8 Pro retains the basic design of the Band 7 Pro with a rectangular chassis and metal lip. The AMOLED screen has grown to 1.74 inches with a resolution of 336 x 480 px and a 60Hz refresh rate. Band 8 Pro boasts up to 600 nits of peak brightness compared to 500 on the Band 7 Pro and features a Gorilla Glass 3 reinforced display. The screen is easily readable even in direct sunlight, and there’s an automatic brightness option available.
The casing is once again made of plastic, and a metal lip has been added on the side, giving it a premium look and feel. Band 8 Pro comes in black and light gray colors. Xiaomi has introduced a new TPU strap design that attaches to the Band 8 Pro’s body via a proprietary quick release mechanism, which seems sturdier than the mechanism on last year’s Band 7 Pro, which had some durability issues with its attachment points.
The band lacks a traditional belt buckle, making the process of attaching the Band 8 Pro to your wrist a bit cumbersome at first. Band 8 Pro is quite light at just 38 grams (22.5 grams without the band) and is comfortable to wear 24/7. There are no physical buttons, as it has become the norm since the Xiaomi Band 6. However, we still feel that a power button would be a useful addition.
Band 8 Pro is 5ATM water-resistant, so you can comfortably take it to the pool and during shallow water activities such as surfing. The retail box comes with a USB charging puck that terminates in a USB-A connector, a quick start guide, and a warranty leaflet.
Characteristics
Band 8 Pro boasts the same health and activity tracking features as the Band 8 and Band 7 Pro, with 24/7 heart rate monitoring, SpO2 tracking, sleep, and stress monitoring. You can track 150+ sports modes, and the built-in dual-band (L1 and L5) GNSS satellite receiver ensures you can track your runs without bringing your phone.
Like all Xiaomi smart wearables, Band 8 Pro offers a diverse set of watch faces on the Mi Fitness app, with plenty of choices to suit any style. You can store up to 14 watches at a time on the Band 8 Pro, which is twice as many as on the Band 7 Pro.
Some watches come with customizable complications and can also serve as app shortcuts. You can customize their colors by holding the clock on the home screen. Band 8 Pro supports Always on Display (AOD) mode, with some first- and third-party watches mirrored on the AOD screen, while others get one of four default AOD themes.
Band 8 Pro features a basic RTOS that is operated entirely by swipes. You get customizable map-based widgets that you can group into groups of up to four. You can choose between a grid or list app layout. There are 23 built-in apps, but no third-party ones. The international version does not come with an NFC receiver, although units sold in China do. Two other notable omissions include the absence of a microphone and speaker, which means no voice calls.
Notification support is basic, as you only get a few lines of text, with no support for images, emojis, or video. The Mi Fitness app stores a month’s worth of health tracking and workout data, and you can sync your data with Apple Health or Google Fit, as well as Strava and Suunto.
Software and Performance
Band 8 Pro features a familiar swipe-based user interface that looks and works like other non-Wear OS Xiaomi wearables. The advantage over its non-Pro sibling is the larger screen that fits more content in widgets, notifications, and health and activity readings. The 60Hz AMOLED screen is fluid, and colors are saturated. Despite being basic in terms of features, the UI feels fast and runs without noticeable lag.
You get a fair bit of customization with the option to add up to four pages of widgets, each home to three complications at a time. Editing the widgets and their complications is done via the Mi Fitness companion app.
Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro widgets editing
Notifications come in instantly, but there’s no way to interact with them or send out preset responses. Connection was solid, and I experienced no dropouts while connected to an iPhone 15 Pro.
Health Tracking
We should start by saying that smart wearables like the Band 8 Pro are not medical-grade instruments, and as such, their health tracking features are merely useful for measuring trends in your general well-being.
Heart rate tracking on the Band 8 Pro is configurable in 1, 10, or 30-minute intervals, and you can also set alerts for high and low heart rate readings. We found that the heart rate and blood oxygen saturation readings from the new 4-channel optical PPG sensor matched readings from competing smartwatches and Smart bands at rest.
Band 8 Pro features a 4-channel PPG optical sensor for heart rate and SpO2 readings
We did encounter a few instances during workouts where the Band 8 Pro would over-report heart rate readings by up to 10 BPM compared to the Xiaomi Watch S3, which has a 12-channel PPG optical sensor.
Sleep tracking was on point for the most part with accurate go-to-sleep and wake-up times. There was a strange instance when the Band 8 Pro decided I was taking a nap during a haircut appointment. The sleep app on the Band 8 Pro gives you a detailed breakdown with percentages for deep, light, and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
You also get average heart rate and blood oxygen readings on the band, and you can change the breathing count beta feature, which can alert you to early signs of sleep apnea.
Activity Tracking
Band 8 Pro supports more than 150 sports modes, with most of them showing the same key metrics, such as time elapsed, calories burned, and heart rate. The stretching courses are a new addition that includes guided animations on how to warm up before a workout and cool down after one.
Outdoor mode receives support for more specific points like pace, cadence, stride, and can also collect data via the built-in dual-band GNSS receiver. GPS accuracy leaves something to be desired, as Band 8 Pro often struggled to display the correct side of the pavement during runs and walks and even showed that I had gone into the water during a recent walk along a lakefront.
Example of walking session with GPS tracking and activity metrics
Band 8 Pro also supports automatic workout tracking, training load, and VO₂ max with suggestions for recovery times. Step counting is accurate and on par with other wearables we recently tested.
Battery Life
Xiaomi Band 8 Pro boasts a 289 mAh battery that is said to last up to two weeks between charges with typical use and six days with AOD mode.
In our testing, we got 8 days of use between charges. This figure was achieved with the screen set to 50% brightness, all the health tracking features activated next to a workout every other day, and notifications. A full charge with the magnetic charger takes
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