Update: Xiaomi is teasing its audience with photos of the Mi Band 2 on Twitter, so it may be the company is finally preparing to launch its new tracker.
After a new cheap fitness tracker? When the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 launches later this year, it may be a great product for your wrist.
The new fitness tracker has been confirmed by Xiaomi's CEO Lei Jun, who said at an event "We look forward to the new version of the Xiaomi Band".
It's set to be a follow-up to the Xiaomi Mi Band 2, which currently features in our best cheap fitness tracker guide - and despite its super low price comes with fitness tracking, sleep monitoring and a bunch of other features too.
Xiaomi Mi Band 3 release date and price
Right now we don't have an exact release date set for the Xiaomi Mi Band 3, but Xiaomi's CEO has confirmed it'll be on sale by the end of the year.
We've also seen some leaks - which you can read about below - that suggest the company will be ready to announce a new fitness tracker in the coming months, so hopefully the wait shouldn't be much longer.
Xiaomi posted on Twitter an unclear photo of a fitness tracker with the question "can you guess what it is?". It turns out this was just the Xiaomi Mi Band 2, but the mystery around it and teaser suggests we may be close to the announcement.
As for price, all we have to go on is the pricing of the Xiaomi Mi Band 2 that at the moment costs somewhere around £28 / $35 / AU$50. It may launch for a little bit more than that, but expect the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 to be cheaper than your average Fitbit tracker.
Xiaomi Mi Band 3 news and leaks
Back in February this year, renowned Twitter leaker Roland Quandt informed us a new Xiaomi product had passed through the Bluetooth certification process and it's expected that this was the Xiaomi Mi Band 3.
If that's the case it suggests the band may soon be ready to be released to the public.
Those at AndroidTR also spotted a device that looks like the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 inside the official Mi Fit app that you pair fitness trackers from the company with on your phone.
Screenshots that appeared within that app - which you can see below - show a similar looking device to the Mi Band 2, but it suggests you can press on the screen as well as the hardware button below the display.
The Mi Band and Mi Band 2 didn't have a touchscreen, and this will be an impressive addition considering the lack of fancy display tech is one way the company keeps the cost down for its fitness trackers.
Apart from this, there's little known about an updated version of the Xiaomi Mi Band. Considering the second generation Mi Band came out in 2016, it makes sense the company wants to update it soon, so we've put together a few ideas for what we want to see when it launches.
What we want to see
As we don't know much about the Xiaomi Mi Band 3, we've put together this guide on the things we'd like to see the company improve for its next generation tracker.
1. More accurate tracking
Back in our review of the Xiaomi Mi Band 2, we had a few reservations about the accuracy of the fitness tracking tech on board. The tracking wasn't awful, but there were a few situations where it didn't keep up with some of the competition.
For that reason we'd like to see Xiaomi put a real focus on improving its fitness tracking credentials for its next gen tracker.
2. A slimmer design
Even if you love the Xiaomi Mi Band 2, it's hard to call it a gorgeous piece of wristwear. For that reason we'd like to see Xiaomi improve the design for the next generation with a slimmer build and more rounded edges.
Design taste is always going to be different for everyone, but if the company can slim the Band 3 down a little it should make everyone a little bit happier to wear the next tracker from Xiaomi on their wrists.
3. Keep the price low
No matter what the company is, there's always a worry each passing generation of gadgets will see the price go up and up. We don't expect a big price hike on the Mi Band 3, but we want the company to keep the cost as low as possible.
New tech and improvements are always going to cost money, but the highlight of the Mi Band 2 is its ultra low price, so we want to see the company keep the new band's RRP below the £50 / $60 / AU$90 mark if possible.
4. Add integrated GPS
At this price point, you're never going to see Xiaomi include a proper GPS tracker inside its fitness devices, but it could have a real winner on its hands if it did.
Failing that, we're asking Xiaomi to include connected GPS features on the next gen tracker, so we can always just use our phone to keep an eye on our location and let the band handle everything else.
5. More colors
This one is simple. You can only buy the Xiaomi Mi Band 2 in four different colors - that's black (the most popular) an orange, green and blue.
That's not many considering you're always wearing this on your wrist, so we'd like to see the next tracker from Xiaomi come with a full wardrobe of choices when it comes to dressing up your wrist.
Perhaps we could even see some different material straps to make the tracker a little more formal than the silicone option that you currently have to wear.
from TechRadar - All the latest technology news http://www.techradar.com/news/xiaomi-mi-band-3
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