Xiaomi Mi Band 4 Review - More Than A Color Screen Upgrade! (Coupon)

Design & Appearance

Moving to the design and appearance aspect of this review, Xiaomi Mi Band 4 still uses the elegant pure black appearance, with the borders being more rounded, elliptical, like the shape of a drop of water or a capsule.

Xiaomi Mi Band 4 occupies a space of 24.70 x 1.79 x 1.20 cm which is surprisingly the same as the third generation. However, change can be felt in the weight, as Mi Band 4 weighs 22.4 grams which are slighter more than the weight of Mi Band 3 (20 grams).

A change can be witnessed in the button design, this time Mi Band 4 uses an inverted ‘U’ layout to represent the non-pressable button rather than the groove used on the Mi Band 3. I really prefer the groove style which brings some uniqueness and elegance, meanwhile, the inverse U layout just gives the new Mi Band 4 a plain look. However, Xiaomi wanted to change something in the design to differ the Band from the third generation, so then be it.

P.S: Xiaomi changes the button layout to a compact one in order to add the large 0.95-inch color display in Mi Band 4 and surprisingly has the same dimensions as Mi Band 3.

The display cover of Xiaomi Mi Band 4 has also been upgraded, using a harder and scratch-resistant 2.5D tempered glass and supporting capacitive touch. I still have some scratches on the previous Mi Band 3, which was also 2.5D and scratch-resistance. Guess there’s some difference between scratch-resistance and scratch-proof. For safety, I would suggest purchasing a glass protector which will be soon available to avoid any accidental scratches on the band.

On the back is its heart rate sensor which area has been increased compared to the third generation. The metal point for charging has also changed and moved to the rear side, instead of embedded in the side border.

Coming up to the wristband, the design is basically the same as the second and third generations, and the same skin-friendly material is used. The shape of the button is almost the same as that of the previous generation.

The printed text is only illustrated in the review unit

The comfort of the Mi Band 4 has been improved with two major changes:

First of all, in the wristband part, the material of Xiaomi Mi Band 4 is soft to the touch. The TPU material used has passed ISO-10993-5/10 biocompatibility certification and European RoHS environmental protection certification. So it generally does not cause skin allergies.\
Secondly, the most commendable thing is that the buckle part of Xiaomi Mi Band 4 is stronger than the previous generations. When it is used as a new product, it needs to be fixed with a larger force, so it is very tight

Xiaomi Mi Band 4 wristband comes in five colors: graphite black, thermal orange, deep blue, burgundy and lotus green. These were the same colored wristbands which came with Xiaomi Mi Band 3. To make it simple for you:

Xiaomi Mi Band 3 users don’t need to purchase separate wristbands as they are compatible with the Mi Band 4, since the dimensions and the wristbands are the same.

However, daily charging will inevitably remove the main chassis. Over time, the main chassis will not be loosened. However, for user’s comfort, I hope that the future Mi Band products can consider the magnetic charging design and reduce the frequency of main chassis removal.

Similarly, the position of the charging metal on the charging port as well as the shape of the charging port has been completely changed. Now the main body will be nested completely in the port, which is much stronger and easier than the previous “semi-naked” charger. Hopefully, I will say goodbye to the difficult dust clean-up on the charging metal and sometimes unable to attach the main body’s charging metal to the port’s terminal on Mi Band 3’s semi-opened charging port.

In short, the design explains why Xiaomi has maintained the same price of Mi Band 4 as of Mi Band 3. There’s no major change in the design apart from the reduced area for the invert U shaped touch button. The grove can’t be felt as the screen is flat now. Even the dimensions are the same apart from the 3x more weight than of Mi Band 3. Last but not least is the larger 0.95-inch AMOLED display incorporated inside the same sized main chassis.