Huawei’s sub-brand Honor has just launched its Honor Band 5 in India. And while Xiaomi Mi Band 4 hasn’t made to the country yet, it’ll be announced soon to compete with Honor’s new wearable. If you look closely, both these fitness trackers offer a similar set of features at comparable prices. So, what’s the difference? Is the Honor Band 5 better than Mi Band 4? Let’s check out the same in our one on one Honor Band 5 Vs Mi Band 4 comparison battle.
Xiaomi Mi Band 4 vs Honor Band 5
Mi Band 4 Vs Honor Band 5: Design
As evident, none of the two fitness trackers have gone through any major design changes compared to their predecessors. The Honor Band 5 looks exactly the same as Honor Band 4 with a sleek rectangular form factor and a prominent circular home key. Furthermore, it comes with a textured silicone strap and is available in Navy Blue, Light Pink, and Black color options. The Mi Band 4, on the other hand, takes you back to the old-school Mi Band 2 with the pill-shaped circular design. The home button here is quite tiny and simple compared to the Honor counterpart. Interestingly, it offers more color options, including Black, Purple, Orange, Burgundy, and Light Pink. Note that the straps need to be removed in order to charge the Mi Band 4. And while you can replace the straps on Band 5 by unfastening the screws, it can be re-charged directly by affixing the given charging cradle into the charging plug. Overall, while the design is a personal preference, we’ll give it to the Honor Band 5 for a seamless and contemporary profile.
Mi Band 4 Vs Honor Band 5: Display
Both the Honor Band 5 and Mi Band 4 feature a 0.95-inch AMOLED panel with a resolution of 240×120 pixels and 282ppi pixel density. This is further followed by 2.5D glass on top to protect the screen against fingerprints and scratches. You get a total of 8 watch faces that can be accessed within the band on Honor Band 5. Whereas, on the Mi Band, you get four built-in watch faces, tailgated by dozens of more in the Mi Fit app. When it comes to the number of watch faces, Mi Band 4 has a clear advantage here. Moving further, the user interface is almost similar on both the bands with simple swipe navigations. That being said, both the displays go off after some time to save battery and hence need to be awoken by tapping the home key. There’s also a lift wrist to awake feature for added convenience.
Mi Band 4 Vs Honor Band 5: Fitness Features
As for the sports and fitness features, the Honor Band 5 incorporates around ten different sports exercises modes. This includes indoor running, outdoor running, swimming, indoor cycling, outdoor walking, indoor walking, free training, and more. Moreover, it gets Huawei’s proprietary TruSleep 2.0 sleep monitoring and TruSense 3.0 Heart-rate detection which make use of AI-driven algorithms to offer correct readings. The band also houses a Blood Oxygen level measurement tool backed by SpO2 technology, which is available in the global variant. The Indian unit is yet to get this feature. Coming to the Mi Band 4, it packs in similar fitness features including an optical heart rate scanner, sleep tracking, and multiple sports exercises modes. It, however, lacks any sort of Blood oxygen measurement feature.
Mi Band 4 Vs Honor Band 5: Battery
The Mi Band 4 gets powered by a 135mAh battery, compared to the 110mAh unit on Honor Band. And while Honor claims a battery life of up to 14 days, the Mi Band takes it further by touting a whopping 20-day endurance with a single charge. However, do note that the Xiaomi’s offering takes about 2 hours to charge, which is nearly double the time taken by Honor.
Other Features
Both the bands feature 5ATM water-resistance, allowing them to withstand a depth of up to 50 meters and hence can be taken in the swimming pool. Having said that, you can track different swimming styles and record performance data on either of them. It’s worth noting that the Mi Band allows you to control music on your phone directly from the band while there’s no such feature on the Honor Band 5. Also, the former gives you an option to silent calls while the latter settles only with the reject button. Both the trackers let you see notifications and come in separate NFC models, allowing for contactless payments (only in China as for now).
Mi Band 4 Vs Honor Band 5: Price
Price is indeed a decisive factor for many. That said, the Honor Band 5 has recently been launched in India and can be bought for a price of Rs. 2,599, same as its predecessor. Whereas, in China, it starts at CNY 189 (about Rs. 1,800) for the standard model, and goes up to CNY 219 (about Rs. 2,100) for the NFC variant. The Mi Band 4, on the other hand, hasn’t been unveiled yet for the Indian market. However, prospective buyers can still import it from Chinese e-commerce sites like Gearbest. In China, the price has been kept at CNY 169 (roughly Rs. 1,700) for the regular model and CNY 229 (approximately Rs. 2,300) for the NFC variant. As far as the Indian price is concerned, we expect it to be priced around Rs. 1,999, akin to the Mi Band 3.
Wrapping Up
Overall, both the fitness trackers offer similar features at competitive prices. The Honor Band 5 offers a better design, faster charging, and a feature-rich experience. Whereas, the Mi Band 4 takes the cake when it comes to battery life, playback controls, and support for third-party apps while still undercutting the former by a good margin. Having said that, make sure to go through our detailed review for the Mi Band 4 before proceeding with the purchase. Also, the existing Mi Band 3 users looking for an upgrade can check out our detailed Mi Band 4 vs Mi Band 3 comparison here.
