The Mi Band 3 was my very first introduction to the world of fitness bands (I actually still have it and it still works). And its not just me as Xiaomi Bands have become synonymous for fitness trackers for quite some time. They’re packed with just enough features for the newbie fitness fan, with bright colorful displays and a price that is very affordable.
Now for those who want to take it up a notch and want an even bigger display, stylish new form, more tracking features but still easy on the wallet? That’s where the new Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro comes in.
The Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro has a huge 1.64-inch AMOLED display, health monitoring features like Sleep monitoring, all-day SpO2 and heart rate monitoring female health tracking, support for 110+ sports modes built-in GNSS, and 12 day battery life.
Should you make the upgrade?
Here is our Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro review:
What’s in the box
The Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro comes in a rectangular box with the render of the device in front. Inside you’ll find the watch unit, a User manual (the heaviest item in the box), and the USB-A to dual pogo pin charger.
DESIGN AND BUILD:
As the name suggests, this is the ‘Pro’ version of the Xiaomi Smart Band 7. It is wider than the band, .but a still a tad slimmer than most smartwatches. It actually looks like a narrower Apple Watch if not for the absence of a crown.
The device design is clean and simple and does actually look more premium for its price. There are two band colors, Black and Ivory but there you have a choice from 6 TPU straps, Ivory, Olive, Orange, Blue, Black, Pink and 2 special edition straps: Pine Green and Moon Gray. It is easily removable, all you have to do is press on the buttons on the straps. Do note that if you have wider wrists, or a bit on the plus side you might want to check the fit first. I only have three adjustment holes left on the strap.
I have the Ivory White variant, which looks more like off-white. I do like this color as most of my smartwatches are already black. I am however, not sure if it will stay white after a month of daily use.
The Smart Band 7 Pro weighs about 30 grams but still feels very light and comfortable to wear for the entire day or even at night. Just make sure to remove it from time to time to clean it for hygienic purposes.
Located under the smartwatch, are the sensors, which include the heart rate sensor, blood oxygen sensor, and magnetic charging port.
Overall build quality is excellent and the Smart Band 7 Pro has up to 5ATM water resistance so you can wear it when you take a dip in the swimming pool.
To setup/pair the Xiaomi Band 7 Pro easily, download the Mi Fitness app on your phone first, then plug in the Band 7 Pro to turn it on. Open the app and ‘Add Device’ and choose Smart Band 7 Pro.
Once you’ve paired it with your device, make sure to update the firmware and once that’s done all you need to do is familiarize yourself with swipes. Since the Xiaomi Band 7 Pro does not have any physical buttons, all controls are done via swipe and tap.
Swipe down from the home screen to bring down notifications. You can choose which ones you want to be notified of via the Mi Fitness app as well. Swipe up from the home screen to go into the main menu and access the pre-installed apps. You can’t add any more apps, but all of the pre-installed ones are useful, except maybe for Alexa. Swipe left from the home screen to bring up Alexa, Weather, and music controls. Swipe right from the home screen to bring up the quick settings menu.
To change the display face with a long press on the main information screen. There are 5 choices available from the Band but you can choose over 150 different ones via the Mi Fitness app.
Overall, the Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro has a functional design that is well-built and could probably keep up with any active lifestyle.
DISPLAY:
The best part the Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro is its large 1.64-inch AMOLED display. The display is bright and colorful and you can easily read the text and icons because of its 280 x 456 resolution with a 326ppi.
The Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro is actually just slightly wider at 1.64-inches than the Band 7 (1.62-inches), but it actually looks a lot wider due to its rectangular frame. The screen is covered with 2.5D micro-curved tempered glass with anti-fingerprint coating.
The Auto brightness setting deserves mentioning because it works quite well even outdoors under the bright sun. Always on Display (AOD) is also available and works great. I just wish there were other options besides the black and white clock display, even if just a digital one.
If you prefer not to use AOD then you could opt for the raise to wake option which also works well so you don’t have to tap the screen to see the time.
FEATURES:
The Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro is equipped with a Heart rate sensor (with blood oxygen sensor), Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Ambient light sensor. It covers all the usual health monitoring features like all-day heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring, stress level monitoring, sleep monitoring, and even female health management, which is useful for female users who want to keep track of their reproductive health.
It also has built-in GNSS, meaning it supports BeiDou, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and QZSS systems to keep track of your location during outdoor activities such as running. It likewise supports over 110 workout modes that are divided into different categories including water sports, outdoors, training, Dance, Combat, winter sports, ball sports, and recreational. There is even equestrian and autoracing.
The Xiaomi Fitness APP also debuts a new fitness feature called “Competition”, so you can set daily exercise goals for yourself, and invite one of your friends to compete on workout achievements: the daily step count, calories burned, workout time, etc.
When paired with your smartphone, you can also control music or use your smart band as a camera shutter. The find phone feature is pretty useful especially if you often misplace your phone.
Lastly, when it comes to battery life, the Band 7 Pro has a 235mAh battery that Xiaomi says is capable of lasting up to 12 days on a single charge. Though that will depend on your personal usage and set preferences. I’ve been using it for the past four days and I’m still at 54 percent. Fully charging the device takes just over an hour.
FINAL WORD
The Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro offers more than enough reasons for those wanting to take their fitness journey up a notch and upgrade from their fitness bands. It has a bigger display so you can easily see the results of your activities and offers most of the monitoring features you need so you can understand your body in real time. My only complaint is that the sleep monitoring can be a hit or miss as it sometimes fails to record my sleeping time at night.
The Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro is priced at PHP 4,599 and is available on Xiaomi Philippines’ official stores on Shopee and Lazada, as well as on its Tiktok shop.
For more information on Xiaomi products, please visit mobile.mi.com/ph/.
