The Mi Band grows

Xiaomi’s beloved line of Mi Band fitness trackersAffordable pricing is synonymous to them. What really makes them special, though, isn’t the low barrier of entry, it’s the value you get in return. The Xiaomi Mi Band 7 nudged the series’ price up by around ~$10, but tweaks to the formula like a brighter, larger, always-on display and improved health tracking metrics ensured it was still a steal. But for the first time, it wasn’t the only option from the Beijing juggernaut. Xiaomi had a model with more upgrades and a smartwatch-styled design waiting in the wings.

Does the bigger, better, and bolder Mi Band 7 Pro — a.k.a. the Smart Band 7 Pro on the global stage — stretch that value proposition too far? Find out more Android Authority’s Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro review.

• Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro £84.99 / €99.99 / ~$80-120

The vanilla Smart Band 7/Mi Band 7 launched in Europe in late June 2022, but mere days later Xiaomi unveiled its second fitness tracker of the year — the then China-exclusive Xiaomi Mi Band 7 Pro. The West’s new Smart Band 7 Pro was not ready for four months.

As the first in the series to carry the Pro affix, the Smart Band 7 Pro expectedly brings a little more to the table than Xiaomi’s basic tracker as it looks to blur the lines between fitness band and budget smartwatch. The old pill-shape and wrap-around silicon bands are gone. Instead, the Smart Band 7 Pro features a rectangular face, a 1.64-inch 2.5D LCD display, a shiny metal-coated frame and quick release bands. The bands are also joined with a traditional jewelry clasp as opposed to the Band 7’s pin-in-hole buckle.

While some of the changes to the wearable’s feature set are more subtle than you might expect for a “Pro” model, the Smart Band 7 Pro does bring some notable additions such as built-in GPS support and an ambient light sensor. In an effort to offset the larger display, it houses a larger battery (235mAh vs. 180mAh on the Band 7).

Xiaomi’s health and fitness suite is carried over almost wholesale from the Band 7, including continuous blood oxygen (SpO2) monitoring, 24-hour heart rate monitoring and alerts, sleep, stress, and basic menstrual cycle tracking. There are 110+ activities to track, which is quite impressive. On-board apps will also be familiar, though the global model does support Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant out of the box when enabled via the Mi Fitness companion app, though there are reports that this won’t work in the US.

The Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro can be purchased in Light Gold (pictured), or Graphite Gray. You can combine either one with a variety different strap colors. Faux-leather straps in Pine Green or Moon Gray are also seemingly available, though I couldn’t find these on sale anywhere.

As with other Xiaomi fitness trackers, you can’t officially buy the Smart Band 7 Pro in North America, however, you can grab one via Amazon sellers or through import sites without much trouble.

The Mi Band series has always managed to wear more hats than you’d expect for such a cheap range of fitness trackersAlthough it has a great look, the actual wardrobe has been somewhat lacking. After seven generations of boring black pills, the Smart Band 7 Pro throws off its fitness band shackles and looks like a bonafide smartwatch; one that’s just as suited to a brisk morning jog as it is for casual or smart wear at any time of the day.

The rear’s polycarbonate shell may make it less premium, but the curved case and metal-coated frame are enough to distract from any close inspection. The latter will definitely scratch easier than a true metal frame, but based on my experience it’ll take a few bumps and bruises before showing any obvious wear. The tempered glass held up well to light knocks and the anti-fingerprint coating kept sweaty smudges to an absolute minimum.

Despite its increased size and weight, the Smart Band 7 Pro doesn’t feel any heavier on the wrist. As a long-time Mi Band 6 user (and Mi Band 3 before it), I can safely say that the additional bulk doesn’t register at all. While it might have been nice to see the addition of a crown or button — especially now that there’s ample room — for an extra input option and to complement the more sophisticated aesthetic, Xiaomi’s swipes and gestures do the job just fine at this price tier.

The stretched display provides a pleasant increase in screen space without having to use a larger form factor. The quality is still excellent; 2.5D glass fits seamlessly into the frame, hiding bezels that, although not thin, are easily overlooked. Xiaomi also increased the screen resolution to match the pixels per inches total of the regular Band 7. As a result, it’s just as crisp and bright (with a peak 500 nits), while benefitting from the Pro-exclusive ambient light sensor that will dynamically adjust the brightness to match your surroundings.

Xiaomi claims that the Band 7 Pro has a 50% higher capacity than the vanilla Band 7. Big numbers are one thing, but there’s an immediate practical advantage in that the extra space allows for two vertical rows of apps instead of one. The app title text has been removed, so you will need a way to remember the meaning of all the icons in your drawer. However, that’s a small price to pay for not needing to scroll as fervidly to get to the correct workout type when you’re warmed up and ready to go. The rest has been tweaked to make it look larger. While the result may look more like a watchOS wannabe now I can think of worse choices than imitating the most popular smartwatch platform. The watch faces are far more entertaining, with some repeats that are nicely scaled and some that are exclusive for the larger Band 7 device.

There’s plenty to like on the health and fitness front — hardly a surprise when it lifts the Band 7’s winning formula almost wholesale. Active rest and active heart rate trackingThe accuracy of the results was good enough when compared to control devices. As well as heart rate alerts, the Band 7 Pro’s SpO2 trackingIt can also alert you if your blood oxygen levels drop below 90%. It’s certainly not a medical-grade device, but having continuous SpO2 monitoring in the first place isn’t a given at this price tier. There are tons of activity modes. Perhaps too many, frankly, but I’m sure someone out there is specifically looking to dig deep into their Notes for checksSnowmobile workout statistics. It’s also handy to have automatic workout detection for common activities — namely running, walking, treadmill, rowing, and elliptical training.

Built-in GPS is the most significant upgrade to the Smart Band 7 Pro fitness suite. Mi Band users don’t have to carry around their phones anymore to view their route and other distance stats. It works well. It takes a few seconds to get a location lock, but after that, I didn’t encounter any issues with connection dropouts outdoors throughout my testing. The graph below shows my Galaxy Watch 4 comparing walking routes. While neither device is fully on point — both veer into people’s houses on occasion — the Band 7 Pro stuck far more closely to the actual path I took. Notably, it also picked up on my location far quicker than Samsung’s premium wearable, as you can see from the delayed blue start line.

Battery life can best be described as a glass half-full. It’s certainly worse than the Band 7, which managed around a week in our testing with advanced tracking features turned on. The Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro, on the other hand, managed to last around three days with its always-on display (AOD), active, continuous heart rate, sleep and SpO2 monitoring turned off, and the ability to track a daily workout using the integrated GPS. The last is the most draining with a loss rate of 10% after an hour-long hike.

Xiaomi claims that the Smart Band 7 Pro can last for up to 12 days with a single push. That might be true if you turn off all of the tracking and the AOD, but I’m not sure that’s necessary. Switching off the AOD alone and falling back on the reliable raise-to-wake gesture immediately boosted endurance by a couple of days, and even two or three days on a single charge is far from the worst we’ve seen from smartwatch-type trackers.

For a wearable that has “Smart” and “Pro” in the name (at least in the West), the Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro is kind of, well… dumb… and basic. It might look fancier than the regular Xiaomi Mi Band 7, but when stripped to its essentials, the functionality is identical, and with no app store present, there’s no way of adding new apps at all. This creeping sense familiarity is unfortunately reflected in the poor sleep tracking that is very finicky about when its actually activates. It also provides very little feedback or advice about your sleep patterns.

A lack of NFC outside China makes it difficult to make mobile payments. This adds to the non-Pro feel. There’s still no speaker, either, so no calls, verbal workout coaching, or message alerts beyond vibrations. And those vibrations? FearsomeIt’s not a good thing. If the Smart Band 7 Pro is resting on a table and it gets a ping it sounds like a pneumatic drill has gone off; it’s one of the few areas where the Smart Band 7 Pro feels cheap.

However, the real headaches come when you boot up the Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro’s companion app. The device pushes your towards the Mi Fitness app (formerly Xiaomi Wear) via a QR code on startup, and that’s for a good reason because unlike older Mi Bands, the Smart Band 7 Pro is, at the time of this writing, seemingly not compatible with Zepp Life, f.k.a. Mi Fit — the original Mi Band phone app. This is a bit confusing when you consider that the regular Mi Band 7 can sync up with Zepp Life just fine, but it becomes even more so when you realize that there isn’t feature parity between the two. Mi Fitness, for example, is tied to the metric system. It cannot sync with Zepp Life. Google Fit — two things that all other Mi Bands can do via Zepp Life, should you wish.

The Mi Fitness app is a more enjoyable visual experience because of its Apple-like UI. It also offers all the customization options for your watch faces. However, I’ve always found the ever-faithful Zepp Life to be much clearer and less fussy with its presentation of fitness data and workouts. While you could never use both at the same time anyway, the missing features in Mi Fitness stick out even more when you don’t have any other option.

The UI’s performance is generally good when switching between apps or workout modes. However, the notifications tray is a different story. It would freeze briefly in my testing, but it was almost always slow and stuttering when scrolling between messages.

The Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro is a large version of a great budget fitness tracker. Whether or not it’s worth it over the regular Mi Band 7 comes down to a simple question: is the extra expenditure worth it for a fitness tracker that looks more like a smartwatch and doesn’t require you to carry your phone around on a run?

The Smart Band 7 Pro is the best option if your answer is yes. It’s hard to find a tracker with this many features at this price. This is especially true for GPS support built-in, which is one of the most popular options in this price range. Fitbit Inspire 3, Amazon Halo View, Garmin Vivosmart 5, Garmin Vivomove SportAll can rely on connected GPS instead. Unless you desperately want a round face, it’s also a better pseudo smartwatch than Xiaomi’s own Watch S1 ActiveWhen you consider the price difference and the fact that they share the same software edges (seriously Xiaomi, fix your app parity).

If you do want a more well-rounded, reliable experience, the closest you’ll get at this price point is the Fitbit Versa 3 ($154.5 at Amazon) or Fitbit Charge 5 ($148.95 at Amazon) on sale. The latter is especially enticing in the US, as while you can import the Smart Band 7 Pro, it can push as high as $120, which isn’t far off the Charge 5’s typical ~$130-$150 discounted price on Amazon. The Charge 5 is undoubtedly a better fitness tracker, though if you can find the Band 7 Pro for under $100 (or you’re in Europe where the retail price is already low), you’ll likely find all of the pesky quirks a little more tolerable when you remember the cash you’re saving.