Though we have been eagerly waiting for Xiaomi to unveil the Mi Band 5 in India, the Chinese giant has gone ahead and launched the first-ever Redmi-branded wearable in the country today. The Redmi Smart Band is an affordable fitness tracker that can be seen as a slimmed-down version of the popular Mi Band. It sports an LCD display, a heart rate sensor, and a fortnight worth of battery life.

Redmi Smart Band vs Realme Band

  • Design & Display

Both the Realme Band and Redmi Smart Band boast almost the same design. The two fitness trackers we are comparing two have rectangular screens upfront. It is just that the one aboard the Realme Band is slightly curved whereas the Redmi Smart Band’s screen is flat.

Design & Display

Software Features

Both the fitness trackers are pretty much on par when we talk about software features. If you’ve ever used a Mi Band in the past then you would feel at home with the Redmi Smart Band. It’s offering the same software experience, which supports calls and app notifications, alarms on the wrist, idle alerts, weather updates, and music controls.

  • Health Tracking

Both the fitness trackers are again not very different on the health tracking front. The Redmi Smart Band and Realme Band come equipped with a PPG heart rate sensor to enable 24 x 7 continuous heart rate monitoring. The fitness bands also use this heart sensor and other data to monitor your sleep pattern, which can be really beneficial.

Health Tracking

The fitness trackers also come equipped with a 3-axis accelerometer, which allows the Redmi Smart Band and Realme Band to track our steps and calorie count. This is also one of the segments where the latter leads over the former. The Realme Band supports 9 exercise modes, including yoga, cricket, hiking, running, walking, climbing, spinning, biking, and weight lifting. Redmi Band supports only five sport modes though, which include treadmill, outdoor running, exercise, cycling, and power walking.

Water Resistance

Realme Band boasts an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance while the Redmi Smart Band is claimed to be water-resistant up to 5 ATM/ 50 meters.

Battery & Charging

In the battery department, it’s obvious that the Redmi Smart Band is superior to the Realme Band. The former includes a 130mAh battery pack that can last you up to 14 days on a single charge while the latter houses a smaller 90mAh battery that offers up to 9 days of battery life.

Price

The Realme Band has been on sale in India for Rs. 1,499 for close to six months now. The company is currently offering Rs. 200 discount on its fitness band as part of the Realme Days sale until 11th September. It is available for Rs. 1,299 at the moment.

Redmi Smart Band vs Realme Band: Which One Should You Buy?

Though the Redmi Smart Band is priced a little higher than the Realme Band in India, I would suggest you get the former because of its ease of use. It includes a touchscreen, which might be an LCD panel, but still better than interacting with the UI via a single capacitive button. Xiaomi’s software is also more polished and fitness tracking should be pretty reliable as well.

Realme Band is the company’s first attempt at making a budget fitness tracker and it does have potential. We can expect the next Realme Band to certainly lock horns with the next-gen Redmi or Mi Band, offering a more polished and reliable experience. At this price point though, I feel the Redmi Smart Band will be a better wearable for an additional Rs. 100 in India.