Xiaomi Mi Bro Air Smartwatch – In-Depth Review
MiBro it’s a new brand but still under the company Xiaomi, it is not competing with other Xiaomi devices but instead, it is bringing an entirely new generation of affordable smartwatches that fans can afford but still have that premium feel. It is their first smartwatch, and so far based on the different eshopping sites, it is well received. We got one in our arsenal and here is our in-depth review of the Xiaomi MiBro Air smartwatch.
When we received the Mi Bro Air, we are surprised with its solid make. It has a minimalist design, simple bezel with a single physical button on the side. The pusher button doesn’t have other functions but only works as a power button, off-screen button, and home button as well.
The Mi Bro Air smartwatch circular design is a combination of metal case with an ABS bottom cover. I have been wearing it for over a week now and so far I find it comfortable to wear. It is light and I think it is just the right size. As I have said, it is simple in appearance, sort of a minimalist type, not too flashy but still has that premium feel.
We can categorize the smartwatch as more of a casual type and unisex. Depending on the strap that you will attach, the smartwatch can have a sporty look or corporate look with the addition of a leather strap. Regarding its strap, the Xiaomi Mi Bro Air employs a quick release pin making it easy to remove. You can change the strap anytime. Based on its specs, the band is .20 mm you can easily find third-party straps available online.
Although we did not test, the smartwatch has a solid make which makes it splash-proof, wash proof, and dustproof as well. According to its specs, the wearable has an IP68 waterproof rating, making it safe mostly from the usual splashes of water.
Display and UI
Table of Contents
When it comes to display, the Xiaomi Mi Bro Air has a fully circular screen display. It has a 1.28” inch TFT LCD with a full touch screen interface. The screen is bright, sharp, with 240 x 240-pixel resolution. Aside from the metal bezel, there is an additional black bezel lining on the side of the screen, but it is minimal. Overall, it has a 95% screen to body ratio which makes the screen display wide look much better with its slim bezel.
For its brightness, there is an option to adjust it, which makes it brighter or dimmer and easy to read even in direct sunlight. Take note that the smartwatch doesn’t have an ambient mode feature, you have to manually adjust the brightness on the settings menu.
Great Easy to use UI – Love the Rotating Menu
I guess one of the best selling factor of the Mi Bro Air is its easy-to-use UI. Tap and swap, you can easily access most of its menus fast. Swiping right to left shows the rotating dial menus. The rotating menus, make it easy to access its functions. No need to swipe from pages to pages, just rotate the icons and access the chosen function. The rotating menus feel like it’s the mechanical rotating bezel of Samsung Galaxy on the screen display. We find it very fun to use, with a slight vibration makes it satisfying to use. Smooth animation, and with a very good response time.
Swiping from right to left shows the automatic activity tracking and other options depending on the added functions. For its activity tracking, additional swiping shows the stats of the activity. Swiping from the bottom to top shows the notifications. For easy access to its settings, similar to other Xiaomi wearable just swipe from top to down.
“Rotating menus feel like it’s the mechanical rotating bezel of Samsung Galaxy on the screen display”
Xiaomi Mi Bro Air Smartwatch Specifications
Display:1.28″ inch TFT LCD
Sensors: PPG Bio Heart Rate sensor, g-sensor
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.0
Battery: 200 mAh battery standby time 25 days
Waterproof Rating:IP68 Waterproof
Compatibility: Android and iOS
Features of the Mi Bro Air Smartwatch
Its rotating menu might be the best feature of Mi Band Air. But the wearable is more than just a premium look and a fancy menu. It is also packed with health and fitness sensors to keep you fit.
Sports functions included in the device are:
- Running Outdoor
- Alpanism
- Running Indoor
- Elliptical Machine
- Walking
- Cycling
- Badminton
- Yoga
- Tennis
- Basketball
- Football
- Free Training
Depending on the sport’s function, each sport might be accompanied by time, calories, steps, and heart rate monitoring. It is easy to use, just select the desired sports and tap on “Go” and a countdown timer starts to get you ready.
Heart Rate monitoring
The smartwatch has an accurate HR monitoring according to Mi Bro, it works very well even in different skin colors. It takes some time to measure your HR but it is ok, the cool animation gives you a bit of entertainment while waiting.
Automatic Activity Tracking
Aside from sports monitoring, it is able to track the steps, time, distance with graphs available directly in the smartwatch.
Watch Face Options and Custom Watch Faces
Aside from preloaded watch faces, you can install additional watch faces from the watch face market. There are at least several watch faces available for download. The choices are limited but it’s ok, at least there are additional choices. There is also an option for custom watch face, you can add your own custom background as a watch faces.
I love the custom watch face where you can add a custom photo as a background in your watch face. So far it is easy to use and works perfectly. Works well with the Android platform but we are having a hard time with the custom watch face for iOS support app.
Smart Notifications
The smartwatch supports push notifications with the option to read the messages in your smartwatch. You can toggle to allow it to receive SMS, social apps such as QQ, Skype, WeChat, WhatsApp, Line, Twitter, Facebook, Messenger, and other popular apps. Regarding the way its notifications work, the smartwatch vibrates when push notification works.
For example, when someone is calling, you will feel a series of vibrations with a pop-up icon showing that someone is calling. It also supports caller ID, for messages you can read the messages directly on the device. If it’s a social app, the message is accompanied by the icon of the app.
Battery Life
The smartwatch comes with a 200 mAh battery and can be charged via a magnetic charging cable. On its specs, it says that it lasts up to 25 days of standby time. Well, we only have the smartwatch for over a week, so we can’t really test the overall standby time. But seems like it is closer to its estimation, as the wearable still has a lot of battery life left, after a week of use. All is possible due to its low battery chip Bluetooth 5.0 and its processing chip.
There is no built-in GPS, so no worries about its battery life if you are doing some fitness routine. We are not sure if it has fast charging, but we were able to charge the device up to 65% in just 20 minutes.
Our Verdict on the Xiaomi Mi Bro Air Smartwatch
The Mi Bro Air is a good wearable, it got a good design, a lightweight durable body, and nice features. Plus it is very affordable compared to other wearables with the same feature offering. One of the main features of the wearable that amazes us is the rotating menu, it makes it easy to access the function compared to a grid-type menu.
In just one page, all of the information is readily available for access. Another customization that we like is the option to add a component, a function that you would like to access right away in the UI of the smartwatch.
Get Discounts:
Check the Official Product Page of the Smartwatch Here
Coupon code IMIBROFIT888
Coupon Price Discount: $3
Start Date: 03-04-21
End Date: 03-31-21
Smooth Synchronization and Connection
Regarding its Bluetooth connectivity, once you are able to pair it with your smartwatch. Connecting it again with your smartwatch is very easy, just open the app and it automatically searches for your device. We find it easy working with the iOS support app compared to Android which sometimes takes time to connect to your device.
The only thing that lacks is the dedicated support app for the Mi Bro Air, yes it has the Mi Bro Fit but it is a rebranded or shall we say personalized WearFit Pro app, that may not be entirely optimized for Mi Bro Air, it might be the reason why we received some inquiries about the difficulty of some to connect it with their device. But with our experienced everything goes smoothly ok so far, and no issues with the connectivity.
