Mi Smart Band 5 in Nepali market

The recently released budget smart band from Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi is now in the Nepali market. Although there is no word from the authorized distributors yet, various online retailers have listed the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 5 for sale at an average price of Rs 5,500.

An upgrade from its predecessor—the Mi Band 4—Xiaomi’s smart bands have always dominated the market for the range of features they offer despite the low price tag. The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 has a similar design to the Xiaomi Mi Band 4, with an oblong-shaped tracker set into a colorful strap. The body is 47.2 x 18.5 x 12.4mm and either 11.9g for the standard model or 12.1g for the version with NFC. (NFC version is not available in the Nepali market yet.)

The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 has a 125mAh battery, which Xiaomi claims can last for up to 14 days. That’s notably less than the 20 days of claimed life for the Mi Band 4, but Xiaomi’s previous band really did live up to that claim. A full charge should take around two hours, and Xiaomi has changed the charging method, opting for a magnetic dock rather than a charging cradle. This means you don’t need to take the strap off the tracker to charge.

Apparently, the Mi Band 5 also has a faster chipset compared to its predecessor, along with NFC (in some models), Bluetooth 5.0, 16MB of storage, and 512KB of RAM. There’s also a barometer (to measure atmospheric pressure).

As for the fitness features, the Mi Band 5 is water-resistant up to the depth of 50 meter so you can take it to swimming or wear it even in the showers and heavy rain. It also has 11 sport-tracking modes (such as running, cycling, yoga and pool swimming), and a heart rate monitor that can keep tabs on your heart rate 24 hours a day. The Mi Band 5 also has sleep tracking, and unlike its predecessor, can track how long you spend in REM sleep (as well as your time in light and deep sleep).