Hello existing smartband owners/users,
Those who received Smart Band and are using it already, can you guys please let me know if it is good and worth getting one?
My Z2 comes with only noise cancelling headphones and no band. I like the concept of Smart Band but only disappointment is it is lacking display. I use Fitbit Force today and it is great. Now wondering if I should switch to SmartBand as I'll get Z2.
Questions:
1. Is Smart Band worth getting?
2. If 1st question is hard to answer, just tell me if you are extremely disappointed or extremely pleased with it as it is today in a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being lowest.
3. If you use Fitbit (any wearable for that matter), do you know if Lifelog works with other wearables?
4. Does Smart Band recognise that you are running/cycling/boxing/swimming without having to tell/update it?
Thanks in advance.
S
ksekhar said:
Hello existing smartband owners/users,
Those who received Smart Band and are using it already, can you guys please let me know if it is good and worth getting one?
My Z2 comes with only noise cancelling headphones and no band. I like the concept of Smart Band but only disappointment is it is lacking display. I use Fitbit Force today and it is great. Now wondering if I should switch to SmartBand as I'll get Z2.
Questions:
1. Is Smart Band worth getting?
2. If 1st question is hard to answer, just tell me if you are extremely disappointed or extremely pleased with it as it is today in a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being lowest.
3. If you use Fitbit (any wearable for that matter), do you know if Lifelog works with other wearables?
4. Does Smart Band recognise that you are running/cycling/boxing/swimming without having to tell/update it?
Thanks in advance.
S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any reply here? At least how is SmartBand? Is it good, bad or it plays no role or whatever? Thanks.
ksekhar said:
Hello existing smartband owners/users,
Those who received Smart Band and are using it already, can you guys please let me know if it is good and worth getting one?
My Z2 comes with only noise cancelling headphones and no band. I like the concept of Smart Band but only disappointment is it is lacking display. I use Fitbit Force today and it is great. Now wondering if I should switch to SmartBand as I'll get Z2.
Questions:
1. Is Smart Band worth getting?
2. If 1st question is hard to answer, just tell me if you are extremely disappointed or extremely pleased with it as it is today in a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being lowest.
3. If you use Fitbit (any wearable for that matter), do you know if Lifelog works with other wearables?
4. Does Smart Band recognise that you are running/cycling/boxing/swimming without having to tell/update it?
Thanks in advance.
S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Got it for free so I can't judge this.
2. Haven't used mine for long since I'm not using my Z2 as my daily phone yet. Seems to be pretty cool with notification features (seems like other apps can notify through it too). Build quality is good compared to my Fitbit Force, the band feels more flexible and the clasp feels more solid. Lifelog app leaves an annoying icon in the notification bar that I only managed to get rid of by disabling notifications from Android app settings.
3. As above. I have a Fitbit Force that works well. The SmartBand seems to track far fewer steps compared to it for some reason.
4. Not sure but the app seems to track all kinds of activities like reading, running, walking, etc. Might be based on app usage tracking though.
ksekhar said:
Questions:
1. Is Smart Band worth getting?
2. If 1st question is hard to answer, just tell me if you are extremely disappointed or extremely pleased with it as it is today in a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being lowest.
3. If you use Fitbit (any wearable for that matter), do you know if Lifelog works with other wearables?
4. Does Smart Band recognise that you are running/cycling/boxing/swimming without having to tell/update it?
Thanks in advance.
S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. For me, I feel it's too soon to tell. So far, it hasn't been life-changing but I'm enjoying it in my life.
2. Right now, I'd give it a solid 3. The band requires a lot on the app and it's not fully baked yet so I'm looking forward to future updates. One thing I was impressed about is the ability to update the firmware of the band itself so things that are lacking can eventually be improved in the future. Possibly my favorite feature is the vibrating for notifications. It's nowhere near perfect. Sometimes the band is vibrating for a long long time for certain apps' notifications or it notifies for silly little things. A little annoying but I have yet to miss a notification with the band. And I gotta say the band itself is mad comfortable. Had a bout with contact dermatitis but loosening it has cleared up that problem.
3. Dunno this one.
4. So far it only recognizes walking and running. It does it based on your stride and how fast you're moving and stuff. It's highly useless for me since most of my exercising is dancing. I take the measurements with a grain of salt. The app's supposed to update in the future with more tiles and stuff so we'll see.
Other notables, the smart wakeup is fun. Until you wake up so pleasantly only to see there's 10 minutes until your alarm goes off. I love/don't love this. The band is comfy but as a woman, I'm annoyed with the default black band and I'm eagerly awaiting the colored bands as well as some of the more fashionable concept bands. I hope they see the light of day otherwise I will have to fashion something of my own. The bookmark feature is something I will rarely use. As well as the weird tap to control thing. It's absolutely awkward to use.
And I think that's about all my impressions. And with none of the polish.
ksekhar said:
Hello existing smartband owners/users,
Those who received Smart Band and are using it already, can you guys please let me know if it is good and worth getting one?
My Z2 comes with only noise cancelling headphones and no band. I like the concept of Smart Band but only disappointment is it is lacking display. I use Fitbit Force today and it is great. Now wondering if I should switch to SmartBand as I'll get Z2.
Questions:
1. Is Smart Band worth getting?
2. If 1st question is hard to answer, just tell me if you are extremely disappointed or extremely pleased with it as it is today in a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being lowest.
3. If you use Fitbit (any wearable for that matter), do you know if Lifelog works with other wearables?
4. Does Smart Band recognise that you are running/cycling/boxing/swimming without having to tell/update it?
Thanks in advance.
S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. If you have a phone that is compatible with it ( 4.4 + BLE ) then it is definitely interesting, I have become addictive to the notifications, I used to miss calls and whatsapp messages with my phone in my pocket but not anymore, phone is always on silent and I get the buzz on my wrist. The activity tracking seems to be pretty accurate (steps), but there is about to be an explosion of fitness trackers hitting the market - it may be worth waiting a few months. The biggest drawback for me is lack of watch/time functionality, the notifications are great, the lack of alarm notification for non-Xperia phones is annoying, and Sony being Sony trying to prefer Xperia of other phones for functionality is going to be a pain.
2. 4, I've tried some other cheaper fitness trackers ( eg. MyKronoz for the watch function) and the quality of the smartband is very high compared to them
3. I'm not aware of it working with anything other than the sony smartband
4. Running yes, the others no. Sony appears to be releasing updates to lifeblogger that allows you to tell it you are doing these activities but only if you are using an Xperia phone ( I'm using galaxy note )
The lifeblog app is interesting - similar to Moves but not as accurate or intuitive ( location tracking, activity determination, location identification ), the location tracking for me is not accurate but the life tracking for sleep and phone based activities is becoming more engaging. There is also a tasker plugin to try and work around the lack of alarm notifications but i've not had the best of luck with it so far.
Hi All
I bought a P20 Pro around October last year hoping I could make use of the 40MP camera for my latest hobby, microscope photography.
I really like Open Camera which works really well for the kind of thing I like to do. I've been very active on the Huawei forum at https://uk.community.huawei.com/ but have kind of given up trying to make the P20 Pro work in the way I want.
What I really wanted was 40MP RAW for 3rd Party apps and I've banged on for months now but got absolutely nowhere. During that time, I think I've got a bit of a feel for Huawei as a company.
If you have a suggestion, they say nice things like "hopefully it will be included in a future release". But there is no further feedback about any issue. I get the feel that what they want to do is innovate a new phone every 6 months but do no support.
If you check out the customer service reviews at TrustPilot:
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.huawei.com
You can see their rating is only 1 star with users saying they left 1 star 'cos you can leave 0 stars!
A few months ago they stopped offering bootloader unlock to "protect us". Well, don't you just love it when someone takes something away from you and tells you it's for your own good? Reminds me of being a child!
Do you know what OS I use on my computer? Well, any one I fancy! It's my hardware!
The above is all a pity because the hardware is excellent, but the software included not much so. For example, jpegs are over sharpened and there's no option to adjust this feature or turn it off.
The phone only allows RAW for it's own stock app. There's no feature in the stock app to save anywhere apart from Internal memory. I want to use the camera software on my LCD monitor, but through HDMI, the stock camera app doesn't rotate, so the image on the LCD is always portrait! I can fix this with Open Camera but there's no support for RAW which I need for heavy post processing.
This all might sound quite negative but I've enjoyed participating in the Forum and the nice administrators sent me a Joby tripod to review (which I kept) and a 10,000mah power bank to say thanks. The forum admins are very nice, but the one thing that does stick in my craw a little bit is to keep being chivvied along saying an update would be soon, but after a few months of hearing the same thing, you know it ain't never going to happen.
If they told me 3 months ago they have no intention of fixing the issues, I would have sold the P20 Pro and got something else, so a bit of a waste of time.
But any road up..... I spotted the Mi9 with a luvverly 48MP camera and started to read the specs and ask questions on this forum. It sounded quite good and I was in Spain last week so I bought one.
I'm still learning, but am astounded that the phone is so cheap and in many ways, better than any Huawei phone, even the P30 Pro particularly with benchmarks. The battery in the P20 Pro is 4000mah and the Mi9 only 3300mah so which is better? Well, according to gsmarena, the Mi9 lasts longer as the Huawei Kirin chipset runs so hot. Maybe the P20 Pro is better if you fancy a fried egg?
But the real game changer for me is, of course the ability to unlock the bootloader and then the availability of ROMs. I'm still learning, but Xiaomi seem to like feedback and are offering weekly dev builds. In the 4 months I've owned the P20 Pro, there have been a couple of security updates and a Pie update, but none of the features anyone has asked for. My latest update was the Feb. 1st security update which I got in March. Now it's almost April...
By contrast, Xiaomi release the source code of their ROMs on day 1 so developers love them! If you check out the activity on the P20 Pro XDA forum, it's much lower than the Mi9.
So as I say, it's all a bit new for me, but I have high hopes of getting a phone that does exactly what I want. Somewhere between the developers and Xiaomi lies the features I'm looking for.
All in all, a good move for me. I'll likely be putting my P20 Pro on eBay soon. Unlocked an rooted lol.
Sorry to drivel on.....
Cheers
Steve
The lack of activity on the P20 forum is more than obvious, nobody at XDA likes Huawei for what they did, and probably never will.
Yes it's a bit of a ghost town!
It did make me think that Huawei simply wanted to clear the developers out of their market but even the hardware support for ordinary users under warranty is appalling with customers being told their phone has water damage (on an IP67 rated phone!) and the customers saying it had never been near water. Phones coming back still broken and on and on.
I think despite their reputation for innovation, the lack of support will kill them in the future.
Well, roll on Wednesday for unlocky flashy flashy!
Keep Smilin'
Steve
Haha, Steve. You seem to be the cheerful one, I hope your happiness and cheerfulness stay with you. Just don't join any telegram groups and you'll be fine.
Yes better than yesterday lol
Why shouldn't I join a telegram group?
Hello all,
Amazfit verge lite has launched 2 weeks ago now I think..
Just wondering has anyone got there hands on one yet?? If so what is like?
The thing that impresses me about this new watch is the battery life which is supposed to be 20 days on average use and also the price...it's a good watch for €75
I have the Amazfit Pace watch already and it's a great watch...but as @GreatApo stated recently that there will be no more updates for this watch by Huami so I guess it's at the end of shelf life
So share your thoughts please and especially if you have this watch....I'm hoping it will be a popular watch with lots of development behind it.
Thanks for reading.
Damoedge said:
Hello all,
Amazfit verge lite has launched 2 weeks ago now I think..
Just wondering has anyone got there hands on one yet?? If so what is like?
The thing that impresses me about this new watch is the battery life which is supposed to be 20 days on average use and also the price...it's a good watch for €75
I have the Amazfit Pace watch already and it's a great watch...but as @GreatApo stated recently that there will be no more updates for this watch by Huami so I guess it's at the end of shelf life
So share your thoughts please and especially if you have this watch....I'm hoping it will be a popular watch with lots of development behind it.
Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you looking for Verge lite, then better, i think, is to buy Verge at all. Verge lite is cutted version of Verge. If i understand right Verge lite have less sport modes as Verge, but have better battery usage experience. If with Verge you can be quiet 5 days with Verge lite you can be quiet about 20 days (information by Amazfit Verge web site). This is once good thing in Verge lite. About Verge lite in China Amazfit there is no information about memory at all. There is no information about possibility listen music without phone, there is no information about microphone or soundspeaker and ect. So Verge if this information is full in China Amazfit web site, then verge by specification is better choice. But keep in mind that there is in China already Verge 2, how calling some web site, or Nexo as calling China Amazfit web site it. I think this watch is better in many ways: better material, have some new features related with heart tracking and some others which have Verge
About Nexo you can find here - https://cn.amazfit.com/nexo.html. I believe that in China you don't understanding, so use Google translate
Damoedge said:
Hello all,
Amazfit verge lite has launched 2 weeks ago now I think..
Just wondering has anyone got there hands on one yet?? If so what is like?
The thing that impresses me about this new watch is the battery life which is supposed to be 20 days on average use and also the price...it's a good watch for €75
I have the Amazfit Pace watch already and it's a great watch...but as @GreatApo stated recently that there will be no more updates for this watch by Huami so I guess it's at the end of shelf life
So share your thoughts please and especially if you have this watch....I'm hoping it will be a popular watch with lots of development behind it.
Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think Verge lite is more like Bip in terms of software. I wouldn't compare it with Verge.
About the Pace updates, to avoid misunderstandings, I don't remember stating sth like that and even if I did say sth similar that doesn't come from Huami but my personal view.
GreatApo said:
I wouldn't compare it with Verge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But Verge lite is similar to Verge, just is less features and ect. It's like Verge's little brother/sister Even looks is the same or similar to each other
xdauser2019 said:
But Verge lite is similar to Verge, just is less features and ect. It's like Verge's little brother/sister Even looks is the same or similar to each other
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed it has the same or similar design/body, however, with that battery life and features it is a bip in a verge's body
I guess we will find out in the near future
GreatApo said:
Indeed it has the same or similar design/body, however, with that battery life and features it is a bip in a verge's body
I guess we will find out in the near future
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? Are you sure? Bip can be without charge by Amazfit about 45 days, Verge lite - 20 days, Verge - 5 days. Different between these models (all) is 25 (BIP vs Verge lite) and 15 days (Verge lite vs Verge). Specifications is almost the same which have Verge, so which models is closer to each other? :victory:
xdauser2019 said:
Really? Are you sure? Bip can be without charge by Amazfit about 45 days, Verge lite - 20 days, Verge - 5 days. Different between these models (all) is 25 (BIP vs Verge lite) and 15 days (Verge lite vs Verge). Specifications is almost the same which have Verge, so which models is closer to each other? :victory:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most/All power goes to the screen. Both verge feature an amoled, hence higher consumption. If bip had an amoled would also fall in the 20days category. That is the logic behind my thoughts, but of course I may be wrong.
I also think Verge Lite is more like "the new Bip", but with improved screen, main reason why battery life goes 45 -> 20 days.
Damoedge said:
I have the Amazfit Pace watch already and it's a great watch...but as @GreatApo stated recently that there will be no more updates for this watch by Huami so I guess it's at the end of shelf life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure about @GreatApo, but that was stated by me on my Pace ROM thread.
Let's wait and see.
I looking into devices at all, not just in battery
Saratoga79 said:
Not sure about @GreatApo, but that was stated by me on my Pace ROM thread.
Let's wait and see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha gee my bad lol lol....I keep getting mixed up between you 2 guys lol...I use your Rom and his watch face lol...so I apologize for the mix up....
The two of ye are amazing devs and keep up the great work! Our Pace would be so different without your work...thanks lads! ?? lol
Just one thing...as an upgrade to the Pace what would you recommend?
Damoedge said:
Haha gee my bad lol lol....I keep getting mixed up between you 2 guys lol...I use your Rom and his watch face lol...so I apologize for the mix up....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can you mix us? I am the handsome one... XD XD XD XD
Damoedge said:
Just one thing...as an upgrade to the Pace what would you recommend?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you like stratos chassis, go for stratos, but other than that and the waterproof feature, it is almost the same watch. Verge has an amoled screen, not visible under sun but better resolution and colors, however, the new Nexo watch may be better so if I were you I would wait to see some reviews and a global release.
GreatApo said:
How can you mix us? I am the handsome one... XD XD XD XD
If you like stratos chassis, go for stratos, but other than that and the waterproof feature, it is almost the same watch. Verge has an amoled screen, not visible under sun but better resolution and colors, however, the new Nexo watch may be better so if I were you I would wait to see some reviews and a global release.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha...nice answer lol lol...sure we are all beautiful ??
I heard about the Nexo...is that the one with only 24 hours battery life??
Yes I'll hold out for a while...I haven't bought anything major since my Fimi X8 drone a few months ago so the buying urge is coming soon lol lol...Aliexpress can be addictive lol lol...maybe a good 3d printer comes to mind.....any recommendations?
Damoedge said:
I heard about the Nexo...is that the one with only 24 hours battery life??
Yes I'll hold out for a while...I haven't bought anything major since my Fimi X8 drone a few months ago so the buying urge is coming soon lol lol...Aliexpress can be addictive lol lol...maybe a good 3d printer comes to mind.....any recommendations?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A proper technology geek should always have a Chinese package on the way ??
Nexo has 28h battery life on 4G. But lest see it in practice first.
Damoedge said:
I heard about the Nexo...is that the one with only 24 hours battery life??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes only 24 hours, but with 4G connection, which "eating" device battery very much. But you know what is most funny thing? For example Samsung or others manufactors much more expensive smart watches can't be more as this or similar time without 4G, so how much they will be if they have 4G?
---------- Post added at 06:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:05 AM ----------
GreatApo said:
A proper technology geek should always have a Chinese package on the way ?
Nexo has 28h battery life on 4G. But lest see it in practice first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In practic always happening much worst
GreatApo said:
A proper technology geek should always have a Chinese package on the way ??
Nexo has 28h battery life on 4G. But lest see it in practice first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha....oooh the Fimi X8 is keeping my evenings very busy lately ?? there is more controls on it than a NASA space ship ?...and in the instruction manual there's 40 pages on how to turn it on ???
Damoedge said:
Hello all,
Amazfit verge lite has launched 2 weeks ago now I think..
Just wondering has anyone got there hands on one yet?? If so what is like?
The thing that impresses me about this new watch is the battery life which is supposed to be 20 days on average use and also the price...it's a good watch for €75
I have the Amazfit Pace watch already and it's a great watch...but as @GreatApo stated recently that there will be no more updates for this watch by Huami so I guess it's at the end of shelf life
So share your thoughts please and especially if you have this watch....I'm hoping it will be a popular watch with lots of development behind it.
Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Today i read about Vertge 2 (known as Nexo), this watch will be animal in a certain aspect, even if you are in China. You can unlock with this watch your car (specific model) and to start it. Also this watch will call emergency help if you will be need it in some kind of situation and for that will no need smartphone (as i understand). There is eSim (by the way it works only in China) with 4G, which by the way copied from Apple's watch (in source was written that). Of course heart rate tracking which have much more power and you will be warming about unusual activity of it and ect. Also more powerful processor and ect. What's else? Oh i forgot to write, with 4G it can be without charge about 30 hours (exactly 28h), but this is with activated 4G, without 4G (working as i mentioned only in China yet) probably can be alive without charger 2 - 3 days as was mentioned in source. So it's not bad. Resoliution is better as Verge, more as 400, i can't remember excatly 460x460 or 480x480. AMOLED display and memory the same. About mircophone/sounspeaker is not mentioned, but will be strange if will not be it. But need to check about it. So if you need advise and if for you don't care possibility to talk with caller via watch or to listen music without phone via headphone Nexo i think is the best choice right now from not expensive models. By the way price must be from 125 to 180 euros, so it's really not expensive if to see what you will get with it And finally word: Verge 2 will be some models: average and something others
Change internal watchfaces
Hey guys! Does anyone know if I can and how to overwrite the internal watchfaces? I'm gonna give my Verge Lite to a friend and I've made a watchface for him, but everytime I unpair, the watchface goes back to the default.
I had a Mi Band 2 for about a year, combined with Notify & Fitness app it provided everything I needed or wanted. Except for the broken strap I didn't have any major issues with it, so I had no reason for an upgrade. But..once I saw the Fallout pip boy custom watch face for Mi Band 4, I was sold immediately Using Mi Fit app is mandatory for the time being, but frankly speaking it provides almost everything I need when combined with Mi Band 4 (with MB2 the functions are much more limited). So.. a short comparison:
- MB2 is smaller and less obtrusive. MB4 is taller and you can't really "hide" it. I would strongly prefer a more generic and flat band shape (like Honor Band for example).
- MB2 has "invisible" display, MB4 has clearly visible edges when the display is off
- MB2 doesn't have a lock screen function, but all it does in the shower is cycle through screens. MB4 gets unlocked by running water and can set/change some settings during shower.
- custom watch faces for MB4 are great, you can see all the stats with a quick glance
- starting/stoping a workout from the band itself is very convenient, also it displays real time stats on the band display during the workout
- steps, HR, sleep cycles seem to be about the same, I have no problems with MB2 or MB4
- Notify & Fitness app supports both, it is a must have for MB2 if you want to get most of it, but only optional for MB4. It's still a nice addition, so I'm using both N&F and Mi Fit. There seem to be no conflict when using both apps.
- Mi Band Tools is totally useless with MB4 (for me), it doesn't provide anything extra to Mi Fit (except custom watch faces). Integration with Sleep as Android doesn't work on my phone.
- Sleep as Android is next to useless for both bands, it ignores my night walks and counts them as a good sleep. I can't trust this app at all.
- Mi Fit and N&F (accurate analysis with 4.7 engine) provide quite accurate results (as far as I can say) with similar stats, detecting start/end of sleep automatically and night wake up periods correctly, no objections.
Functionally wise, and for my usage, it's not really an upgrade. But the new display and custom watch faces were worth the investment..
I was actually thinking of making a video comparing the Band 2 and 4, whether or not it's worth upgrading, I was pleasantly surprised by your thread
I had bought my MB2 back in October 2016, upgraded to MB4 about 3 weeks ago.
Never used, let alone heard of "Notify & Fitness," will definitely check it out later.
I agree with most of what you wrote, but I'll also give some of my insight.
- I didn't really notice the MB4 being that much bigger than the MB2, I'd compare the two bands' body-to-display ratio as picking up an "old" phone, with a 16:9 display, and a top and bottom chin, vs. a phone with no chins and notches. MB2 only had an "invisible display" in my opinion, because there was a larger air gap between the display and the top of the glass.
I'm super happy they went with an OLED display, despite the price - great contrast, and no wasted screen-on time!
- I usually had the Band 2 randomly vibrate when having failed to measure my heart rate in the shower, as the running water did indeed cycle thru the functions, however I've never had that or anything similar happen with the newer band (you could also enable the screen lock on it, however that only reduces the chance of it doing random things).
- I can't see any of the downloaded watch faces on my phone in the Mi Fit app (OP3T, with RR) (the placeholders are there, but they are blank, even when tapping on them, all I can see is their names), I also wish it would be a bit easier to create custom faces, though the band's been only out for like a month or two, I'm sure we'll get some AIO tools later down the road.
- Being able to start, monitor, and stop workouts from the band itself is indeed very convenient and useful (also, hooray for pool swimming finally being added), however I wish the real time (not the length of the workout) would be displayed with a bigger font, it's been real hard for me to see, even on full brightness.
- What's been bugging me is that now, on the MB4, you can 'Lift to Wake' even when DND is turned on, which wasn't a thing on the older one - which I preferred more. I know there's an option to disable the function from set time to another set time, but I wish there was a way to automatically have it turn off and then back on again.
- Being able to adjust brightness is a blessing, though I wish it wasn't hidden so deep within the settings. It would also be nice to be able to change the left and right swipe actions from the home screen - music playback controls have not worked more often than they had, and since I'm outside of China, I'm not able to use AliPay even if I wanted to, so that's just a wasted gesture, basically.
- The 'Weather' panel is nice to have, however it's not very accurate at all, I found myself checking the stock Google weather forecast on my phone - but that's just an 'unreliable' weather provider, which, along with most of the things I mentioned, could be changed via a simple software update.
- Lastly, it's kinda funny how when receiving notifications with special characters or emojis in it, the you just get a missing character - ⍰ - icon, but that's just nitpicking.
I was happy to see the new Mi Band 4's release price being almost exactly the same as the price I paid for my Mi Band 2 a few years ago (about 35 bucks).
Thank you for adding your experience. Just a few remarks to your comments, if you don't mind
- for custom watch faces you have to use 3rd party app or quite complicated manual setup with Mi Fit. I prefer N&F app as it works nicely with this great page https://amazfitwatchfaces.com/mi-band-4/top and it's basically a question of pressing the "use the face" button. I add interesting watch faces to my favorites while on a PC and then locate them quickly from N&F on the phone.
- if you want to have better (and automatic) control over MB4, I would suggest looking at Tasker and N&F app. You can turn on/off many settings based on different events, times etc., but it definitely isn't very user friendly (especially when you see both apps for the first time). Though once you get the grasp of them, you can have a lot of fun
- based on your Ali pay comment I assume you have Chinese version. Global one has music control for both directions. However I will probably never use it, so would definitely appreciate a customizable shortcuts to different actions. Hopefully future firmware release will contain it. Maybe if enough of us will send a feedback from Mi Fit app, they'll consider it..?
- weather is being said to be using Xiaomi servers with "automatically selected providers". I just disabled this item in the menu as my experience with inaccuracy is the same as yours. Using phone for such info is more convenient anyway.
- I hoped that they finally accepted the fact that people are using special characters around the world and could display them correctly in year 2019.. But so far we're out of luck. As a workaround you can disable notifications in Mi Fit and use those from N&F with "transliterate" feature (it replaces all special chars with standard ones). For Emojis there's a special custom FW version, but it's being said that it heavily drains the battery, so not sure how useful it is.
There are many videos comparing MB3 and MB4, but probably not a single one for MB2 vs. MB4 - I would certainly welcome one.. Btw. I paid ~40eur for the global version and full 2 years of warranty (Slovakia). Would be happier with lower price, but I didn't have the patience to wait for the shipping from China
_mysiak_ said:
Thank you for adding your experience. Just a few remarks to your comments, if you don't mind
[...]
There are many videos comparing MB3 and MB4, but probably not a single one for MB2 vs. MB4 - I would certainly welcome one.. Btw. I paid ~40eur for the global version and full 2 years of warranty (Slovakia). Would be happier with lower price, but I didn't have the patience to wait for the shipping from China
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Click to collapse
I only watched like one video on using custom watch faces, they didn't mention N&F, didn't know that was an option, my mistake.
I have used Tasker a few times before, but honestly, it's not that big of a deal for me to go that far, it's just something new I need to get used to, and it's taking a bit. I also don't really see any difference between the "sensitive" and "normal" options at the 'lift to wake sensitivity' or whatever the option is called.
I wouldn't go as far as to flash some custom firmware just to have emojis show up, it's just strange to see them missing in 2015+4
I actually want to go out for a run, just so I'd be able to say something about the workout tracking - I've used it for a few days when going to and coming home from work by bike, but that's like a 5 minute ride, so nothing conclusive there - only problem is I'm a lazy ass, and I don't do any sports anymore, let alone go for a run every now and then, I still need to convince myself
Got my Band 4 on eBay from Germany, not sure about the warranty, I just bought whatever had the best date of arrival to price ratio (tbh, my wristband broke for my Mi Band 2, I thought I had some replacements at home but I didn't, so I was like whatever, I'll just upgrade now)
I hear you about being lazy (I like "not a sports person" term more )..today I went to work on foot for the first time (instead of the usual public transportation) just to test the workout feature for 25 minutes..
Lada333 said:
- I can't see any of the downloaded watch faces on my phone in the Mi Fit app (OP3T, with RR) (the placeholders are there, but they are blank, even when tapping on them, all I can see is their names), I also wish it would be a bit easier to create custom faces, though the band's been only out for like a month or two, I'm sure we'll get some AIO tools later down the road.
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I've just found that AmazFaces app populates the "My band displays" in Mi Fit app with 3rd party watch faces with preview (just click on "Download" in AmazFaces app and it magically appears in Mi Fit ). It's probably even quicker than using Notify & Fitness or Mi band tools.
_mysiak_ said:
I've just found that AmazFaces app populates the "My band displays" in Mi Fit app with 3rd party watch faces with preview (just click on "Download" in AmazFaces app and it magically appears in Mi Fit ). It's probably even quicker than using Notify & Fitness or Mi band tools.
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I have completely abandoned the Mi Fit app (the only thing I'm losing out on, is syncing new watch faces, but I found one I like, not going to change it any time soon), I bought Mi Band Master, for like 3 dollars, it's working flawlessly for me.
I also purchased N&F, but I didn't quite like it as much, and some functionality (that was important to me, at least) seemed to be broken, so I stuck with MBM - they also have a modded mi fit apk which lets MBM authorize the band, so there's no need to have the Mi Fit app installed at all!
I'm really looking forward to what custom utilities we're going to get for this watch
Lada333 said:
I have completely abandoned the Mi Fit app (the only thing I'm losing out on, is syncing new watch faces, but I found one I like, not going to change it any time soon), I bought Mi Band Master, for like 3 dollars, it's working flawlessly for me.
I also purchased N&F, but I didn't quite like it as much, and some functionality (that was important to me, at least) seemed to be broken, so I stuck with MBM - they also have a modded mi fit apk which lets MBM authorize the band, so there's no need to have the Mi Fit app installed at all!
I'm really looking forward to what custom utilities we're going to get for this watch
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Click to collapse
Just wondering - which feature was broken in N&F for you? I tried Mi Band Master as well, but didn't really like it (too simple charts, no activity tracking, overall just not enough details). N&F is able to work as standalone app now too, but I find Mi Fit tolerable and will keep it at least until they keep providing FW updates for Mi Band. All in all, I'm so glad that I did not go with Honor Band 5 (even if I like it's form factor and SpO2 sensor more). I would be stuck with Huawei app and many features wouldn't be working as I don't have EMUI phone..
_mysiak_ said:
Just wondering - which feature was broken in N&F for you? I tried Mi Band Master as well, but didn't really like it (too simple charts, no activity tracking, overall just not enough details). N&F is able to work as standalone app now too, but I find Mi Fit tolerable and will keep it at least until they keep providing FW updates for Mi Band. All in all, I'm so glad that I did not go with Honor Band 5 (even if I like it's form factor and SpO2 sensor more). I would be stuck with Huawei app and many features wouldn't be working as I don't have EMUI phone..
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My main reason for trying out apps other than the official Mi Fit was to have smart alarm functionality - where it wakes you up when you're in light sleep some time before your set alarm. That worked a lot better with MBM for me, also, I set an "emergency" alarm 1 minute after my Band goes off, in case it doesn't vibrate for whatever reason, on my phone, MBM actually rang an alarm, whereas N&F just started spamming notifications, lmao.
Mi Fit's weather provider was interfering with the one I set in N&F, it just kept reverting back.
Charts are indeed more simplistic, and there's no support for processing the workouts YET in MBM, but I just found it overall to stand a bit closer to my heart
Also, I couldn't really get N&F to work without having Mi Fit installed, but even knowing now, that it's an option, I still don't think I would switch over to it.
_mysiak_ said:
- Mi Band Tools is totally useless with MB4 (for me), it doesn't provide anything extra to Mi Fit (except custom watch faces). Integration with Sleep as Android doesn't work on my phone.
- Sleep as Android is next to useless for both bands, it ignores my night walks and counts them as a good sleep. I can't trust this app at all.
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Click to collapse
My Mi Band 4 arrived today. I was using the MB2 with Mi Band Tools due to the integration with Sleep as Android, and for notifications of several apps and calls.
Now with the MB4, I saw that the Mi Fit app seems to have the same functions (app and call notifications) and start to thinking about uninstall MBT.
My doubt is precisely regarding Sleep as Android since i would like to "track" my sleep.
You think that SaA is inaccurate? Do you know any other app better than that?
Also, what do you think about the steps measurements with the MB4? I know that for this price range we can't ask to much, but it doesn't seems very reliable (and let's not talk about the heart rate sensor because is even difficult to know).
Thanks
CMC_PUBLIKUM said:
My Mi Band 4 arrived today. I was using the MB2 with Mi Band Tools due to the integration with Sleep as Android, and for notifications of several apps and calls.
Now with the MB4, I saw that the Mi Fit app seems to have the same functions (app and call notifications) and start to thinking about uninstall MBT.
My doubt is precisely regarding Sleep as Android since i would like to "track" my sleep.
You think that SaA is inaccurate? Do you know any other app better than that?
Also, what do you think about the steps measurements with the MB4? I know that for this price range we can't ask to much, but it doesn't seems very reliable (and let's not talk about the heart rate sensor because is even difficult to know).
Thanks
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Click to collapse
Well, from my experience SaA doesn't register wake up times in the middle of the night. Not only brief ones (take a sip of water or go to the bathroom and back), but even if I literally walked around the house for tens of minutes (with my toddler). Mi Fit and N&F showed correctly this period as a break in sleep, SaA considered it as a sleeping time. If it can't register this kind of disruption, I question other stats as well. The need for manual start and stop of sleep tracking is annoying too.
Recently I noticed that Mi Fit sometimes stops sleep tracking prematurely or starts lately. With N&F I get very consistent results and fall asleep/get up times are very accurate as well. Regarding light/deep sleep stats..they are all assumptions and each app gives different results, even if you select different version of sleep analysis in N&F. I do not really trust any of those stats in absolute values, but they should be "good enough" to provide trends. So even if they give us wrong results, as long as they are consistently wrong, we can still benefit from them as we see change in usual patterns (I can easily identify nights when I drank more than I should just by looking at sleep charts ).
Personally I find steps counter very accurate, when I manually counted 100 steps, MB4 and MB2 showed 100 as well. Sometimes they register "false steps", but at the end of the day it makes maybe 5-10% of overcounting, so IMHO "good enough" again. For tracking of longer walks/runs I consider it spot on.
I compared HR measurements between MB2, MB4, semi-professional (blood pressure monitoring device) and professional equipment (EKG) and they all provided about the same values while resting. You can verify it easily manually, there is no need for an extra device. Optical sensors have limits and in extreme conditions (heavy/fast hand movements, sweaty skin etc.) they can't provide accurate results, but for day-to-day usage they should be "good enough". They aren't intended as professional devices anyway.
Long story short, I use only N&F now and trust provided data as accurate enough for my non-professional usage.
_mysiak_ said:
Well, from my experience SaA doesn't register wake up times in the middle of the night. Not only brief ones (take a sip of water or go to the bathroom and back), but even if I literally walked around the house for tens of minutes (with my toddler). Mi Fit and N&F showed correctly this period as a break in sleep, SaA considered it as a sleeping time. If it can't register this kind of disruption, I question other stats as well. The need for manual start and stop of sleep tracking is annoying too.
Recently I noticed that Mi Fit sometimes stops sleep tracking prematurely or starts lately. With N&F I get very consistent results and fall asleep/get up times are very accurate as well. Regarding light/deep sleep stats..they are all assumptions and each app gives different results, even if you select different version of sleep analysis in N&F. I do not really trust any of those stats in absolute values, but they should be "good enough" to provide trends. So even if they give us wrong results, as long as they are consistently wrong, we can still benefit from them as we see change in usual patterns (I can easily identify nights when I drank more than I should just by looking at sleep charts ).
Personally I find steps counter very accurate, when I manually counted 100 steps, MB4 and MB2 showed 100 as well. Sometimes they register "false steps", but at the end of the day it makes maybe 5-10% of overcounting, so IMHO "good enough" again. For tracking of longer walks/runs I consider it spot on.
I compared HR measurements between MB2, MB4, semi-professional (blood pressure monitoring device) and professional equipment (EKG) and they all provided about the same values while resting. You can verify it easily manually, there is no need for an extra device. Optical sensors have limits and in extreme conditions (heavy/fast hand movements, sweaty skin etc.) they can't provide accurate results, but for day-to-day usage they should be "good enough". They aren't intended as professional devices anyway.
Long story short, I use only N&F now and trust provided data as accurate enough for my non-professional usage.
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Well, that was a very good explanation about what you think [emoji16]
Honestly, i never liked very much Mi Fit app and i still use Mi Band Tools because i need to spend (probably more than i wanted) time to figure out how everything works.
CMC_PUBLIKUM said:
Well, that was a very good explanation about what you think [emoji16]
Honestly, i never liked very much Mi Fit app and i still use Mi Band Tools because i need to spend (probably more than i wanted) time to figure out how everything works.
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Click to collapse
Mi Fit seems much better now, it used to be way worse. However I do not like the fact that it uses almost as much CPU as Android system itself. For no apparent reason it uses CPU all the time (albeit small utilization, but very consistent). One must ask what is it doing in the background.. So I rather uninstalled it.
If you have to learn how to use a new app, I'd suggest giving a chance to N&F. It can be overwhelming at first, but IMHO it's worth the time and money. Once you set it up to your liking it's really great.
_mysiak_ said:
Mi Fit seems much better now, it used to be way worse. However I do not like the fact that it uses almost as much CPU as Android system itself. For no apparent reason it uses CPU all the time (albeit small utilization, but very consistent). One must ask what is it doing in the background.. So I rather uninstalled it.
If you have to learn how to use a new app, I'd suggest giving a chance to N&F. It can be overwhelming at first, but IMHO it's worth the time and money. Once you set it up to your liking it's really great.
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Click to collapse
Do you own or work at N&F? Just kidding [emoji38][emoji38][emoji38]
Mi Band Tools is much simpler but N&F made me curious. I'll give it a try.
Just 2 more things:
-if you uninstalled Mi Fit, you now use customs fw to the Mi Band 4?
-Do you use N&F also as an alarm clock?
I've been using Sleep as Android not only because the ability of sleep tracker (being it reliable or not), the challenges to make people improve their quality of sleep, the warning about bedtime (in order to sleep the hours we want), the smart wake time period, and, finally, the lullabies.
Basically it's an AIO, instead of having a "bunch" of apps.
Thanks, and sorry for the testament. [emoji16]
CMC_PUBLIKUM said:
Do you own or work at N&F? Just kidding [emoji38][emoji38][emoji38]
Mi Band Tools is much simpler but N&F made me curious. I'll give it a try.
Just 2 more things:
-if you uninstalled Mi Fit, you now use customs fw to the Mi Band 4?
-Do you use N&F also as an alarm clock?
I've been using Sleep as Android not only because the ability of sleep tracker (being it reliable or not), the challenges to make people improve their quality of sleep, the warning about bedtime (in order to sleep the hours we want), the smart wake time period, and, finally, the lullabies.
Basically it's an AIO, instead of having a "bunch" of apps.
Thanks, and sorry for the testament. [emoji16]
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Click to collapse
It might seem that I have some profit from promoting N&F so much, but that's (unfortunately) not true. Just a happy user, spreading info around.
There are no custom FWs for MB4 (and probably never will be), so I'm still using only firmware provided by Xiaomi, just flashing it via N&F. I am subscribed to this topic on geekdoing.com, all the firmwares are listed there with download links. Be careful to wait for confirmation that newly released FW is stable and released in Mi Fit as well, one beta firmware bricked a few devices.
I tried smart alarm in N&F once or twice, but it worked just as a normal alarm (maybe because it was set up for 05:00 and there wasn't big enough time window to detect light sleep phase? ). As I don't need vibrations to wake me up, I'm sticking with standard alarm on the phone.
I am not discouraging you from using SaA, I was actively using it for years (even though purely as a sleep tracker), just that one should be aware of its possible limitations. It's still interesting app with some unique features and I really wish they fixed/improved sleep tracking with MB4. Sometimes I still track my sleep with sonar in SaA, I find it really fascinating that in ideal case they're able to detect even breathing. Just don't use it around dogs and small children, they are able to hear it
_mysiak_ said:
It might seem that I have some profit from promoting N&F so much, but that's (unfortunately) not true. Just a happy user, spreading info around.
There are no custom FWs for MB4 (and probably never will be), so I'm still using only firmware provided by Xiaomi, just flashing it via N&F. I am subscribed to this topic on geekdoing.com, all the firmwares are listed there with download links. Be careful to wait for confirmation that newly released FW is stable and released in Mi Fit as well, one beta firmware bricked a few devices.
I tried smart alarm in N&F once or twice, but it worked just as a normal alarm (maybe because it was set up for 05:00 and there wasn't big enough time window to detect light sleep phase? ). As I don't need vibrations to wake me up, I'm sticking with standard alarm on the phone.
I am not discouraging you from using SaA, I was actively using it for years (even though purely as a sleep tracker), just that one should be aware of its possible limitations. It's still interesting app with some unique features and I really wish they fixed/improved sleep tracking with MB4. Sometimes I still track my sleep with sonar in SaA, I find it really fascinating that in ideal case they're able to detect even breathing. Just don't use it around dogs and small children, they are able to hear it
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I thought that the fw upgrade option on N&F was for customs. If not, there's not much interest on having Mi Fit installed?!
CMC_PUBLIKUM said:
I thought that the fw upgrade option on N&F was for customs. If not, there's not much interest on having Mi Fit installed?!
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N&F will flash any compatible firmware BIN file. I download the official FW and RES files, flash FW first, then RES and band is updated. Mi Fit does it automatically, with N&F you need to download and flash files manually.