Wearable fitness trackers, also sold as ‘smart bands’ are fast entering the line of top selling gadgets today as today’s generation is exploring more ways to stay fit. This trend has encouraged every smartphone maker to launch its own line of fitness tracker models that can supplement the functionality of its smartphones and also help compete effectively with its peers.
Budget fitness trackers are among the largest searched gadgets today. Offering a wide range of functionalities related to monitoring and improving the fitness related activities of the users, these smart bands are fast catching up with their more expensive counterparts. Therefore, you need not burn your pockets to land on a good fitness tracking smart band.
Xiaomi and Huawei are among the leaders in the smartphone domain. They are also authoring some of the fast selling fitness trackers today. While some select smart bands of these two brands can make good picks with their interesting features, looks and performance, the selection of a good smart band must take into account a number of aspects.
Here I have compared two fitness tracker models, one from Xiaomi and the other from Huawei. This article is meant to guide your choice between Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 and Huawei Band 6 by letting you land on a comparative understanding of their specifications, features and functions.
Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 Vs Huawei Band 6
Huawei Band 6 hit the stores when Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 had already adorned the wrists of a lot of fitness enthusiasts. If you had been keeping track of the industry news in the media last year, you would have probably known the Huawei and Honor split. Despite the split, Huawei and Honor are still powering their smart bands with the same app. Hence, Huawei Band 6 and Honor Band 6 have got very less number of dissimilarities between them.
Considering the fact that Huawei Band 6 came out for sales a few months after Honor Band 6 hitting the market, we see that the former is only a rebranded version of the latter. Hence, comparing between Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 holds good to understand how Honor Band 6 differs from Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6. Nevertheless, the subsequent releases by these twins might sport some differences in future as they start depending on their own independent technologies and designs.
Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 and Huawei Band 6 have many things in comparison and quite a few things in contrast. A comparative exploration of their build, hardware and functionalities can surface several insights about your choice between the two.
How do they display
The most striking comparison between these two models is their big screen display. The display size in Mi Smart Band 6 is 1.56 inch AMOLED and the PPI is 326 (152 x 486 pixels). For the third year in succession Mi has continuously increased upon its Band display size, while retaining the dimensions of the wearable fitness tracker. Huawei Band 6 sports a 1.47-inch display. In Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6, Xiaomi has retained the classic look of the fitness band. On the other hand, Huawei has crafted its wearable like a smart watch as the band is much wider than a regular fitness band.
Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 and Huawei Band 6: How do their features compare?
Huawei has also incorporated a physical button on its wearable device to summon the wake up and also fulfill a shortcut function. In combination with the touch display, you can use this physical button for navigating the menus. On Xiaomi‘s smart band you do not find a physical button and hence need to depend on the touchscreen alone.
Water-resistance features have not developed much in both these models when compared with their previous generation offerings. Most users find the 5 ATM rating sufficient. May be deep sea divers might look for something better. In this case, they would go rather for a sports watch and not settle with a smart band.
In line with most budget fitness tracker models, you land on a polycarbonate build in both these models. This goes with a silicone band, which you can choose from a range of colors.
Sensors and battery life
Both Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 and Huawei Band 6 have similar technologies with little difference between them. Both of them come with a 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, and sensor for PPG heart rate and SpO2.
The other important aspect of comparison is the battery life. The Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 sports a 125mAh battery while Huawei Band 6 is powered by a 180mAh battery. Nevertheless, both of them can last up to two weeks on a single charge.
Xiaomi Mi Smart Band and Huawei Band 6 Functionality compared
The Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 has a total number of 30 sports modes among which 6 feature auto-recognition. The Xiaomi fitness tracker also can keep track of the personal activity intelligence also known as PAI. This feature helps in quantifying the level of your activity with regard to how hard your heart worked throughout the day. Xiaomi says it has significantly enhanced the accuracy of the stats. The sleep tracking feature includes recording the sleep breathing quality measured through the blood oxygen sensor. This feature can effectively spot sleep apnea.
There is a slight difference between the Huawei Band 6 and Honor Band 6 though they share a lot of similar features. One of the differences happens with the SpO2 sensor. While the Huawei smart band keeps tracking the blood oxygen levels 24X7 without the need to push any buttons for this purpose, the Honor Band 6 does this only on demand with the push of a button. The other difference we can find between these two models is that the Huawei smart band comes with 96 sports modes while the honor version has only 10 sports modes. Among the 96 sports modes of Huawei Band 6, 11 occur pre-set on the device while you need to download 85 on the smartphone app.
It is important to note that none of these two devices come with in-built GPS. Therefore, you need to tap into the smartphone connection for taking advantage of the connected GPS.
The other fitness tracking functions are almost common between these devices. You have a number of features in both these gadgets to keep a close watch of your fitness and health round the clock. One aspect that is missing in both of them is the altimeter that can keep a count of the floors you climbed. However, this is a rare feature to spot in a budget priced activity tracker. The usual features like stress tracking is available on both these gadgets.
Both the gadgets sport standardized non-fitness features you can expect in a lower end fitness tracking equipment. Some of them are calls and messages notification, function to mute the incoming calls, different band faces, music controls, app notifications, find my phone function and alarm.
Which one to choose between Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 and Huawei Band 6?
When it is the question of choosing the best one between Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 and Huawei Band 6, the selection must take into account a few important points. If a very big screen is your top priority while not looking to settle with a smart watch, you will find Huawei Band 6 weighing on the positive side sidelining the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6. On the other hand, it will be a close call if you have to choose between Huawei Band 6 and Honor Band 6. Huawei Band 6 tracks the SpO2 levels round the clock without any prompting. On the other hand, whenever you need to take a reading of SpO2 levels on your Honor Band 6, you can do it only with the push of a button. Otherwise, their features perfectly match with each other.
The Xiaomi Mi Smart band 6 is one of the top selling fitness tracking bands for years. We notice that the sixth version slaps on a larger display and SpO2 measurements. This improvement is highly welcomed in the subsequent upgrades and hence this fitness tracker has evolved over the years becoming much better than the earlier releases. On the whole, both Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 and Huawei Band 6 are great picks in the budget smart band segment for their great fitness tracking functions. Therefore, to guide your decision, you must consider your design and brand preferences.
Price is an important point of comparison between these two fitness tracker models. Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 is available in black on Amazon carrying a price tag of Rs. 2,999. While buying Huawei Band 6, you can choose between four colors namely black, green, pink and amber for a price of Rs. 4,490 on Amazon. It comes with a free Huawei mini speaker CM510. Honor Band 6 also sells on Amazon at Rs. 2,999, the same price as that of Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6.
Base your choice on your expectations from the fitness tracker and how much you are willing to spend on your smart band.
