We all know that fitness bands belong to your wrist, right? Thatâs why theyâre called bands! Well, Xiaomi thinks a bit differently. Behold the Xiaomi Smart Band 8, one of the few wearables out there that you can actually wear as a necklace around your neck.
The idea is not entirely new, there are models in the Mi Band range that could also be worn around the neck, though they do require a special case for that purpose. The newly announced Smart Band 8 that the company showed today is designed with style in mind.
The Xiaomi Smart Band 8 is now much sleeker and sports a pill-shaped design, featuring removable lugs as well as a wide variety of wristbands (actually, the lugs are part of the straps themselves).
You can easily slap on a genuine leather band or a fancy chain bracelet-like one to suit your style. Thereâs also a special ring to allow wearing the Smart Band 8 like a necklace, as we mentioned above, and thanks to the redesigned looks, the setup is really classy.
But the Smart Band 8 is not all about looks! Thereâs an array of sensors inside that can track more than 150 sports. For runners, Xiaomi has designed a special running clip that allows the Smart Band 8 to be worn on your running shoes, measuring important parameters such as frequency, stride, and more.
The Smart Band 8 comes equipped with a 1.62-inch AMOLED display with a 60Hz refresh rate and auto-brightness capabilities. Thereâs a heart rate scanner onboard, sleep tracking, smart notifications, NFC for mobile payments, 16 days of battery life (6 days with Always-on activated), and 5 ATM (50 meters) water resistance.
Xiaomi has also baked a few interesting games into the Smart Band 8, such as Sudoku, 2048, math games, puzzles, and more. Whatâs even more interesting is that thereâs a boxing game that uses the Smart Band 8âs accelerometer, just like a JoyCon, and you can throw a few punches in the air to see how good of a boxer you really are.