Xiaomi has quietly released a feature-packed new fitness tracker, offering blood oxygen saturation (SPO2) monitoring and Alexa integration for just $50 (about £40 / AU$70). The Amazfit Band 5 has appeared on Amazon US for pre-order, with a shipping date of September 30.
We saw the Amazfit Band 5 name mentioned back in July, but at the time we believed it was simply another name for the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 5. It didn't seem like an unreasonably assumption, considering Xiaomi's rather inconsistent naming strategy.
Now, however, it appears that the Amazfit Band 5 is something different altogether, and is packing some much more impressive features than you'd expect at this low price point.
Alexa voice controls will allow you to ask questions, set notifications, schedule alarms and control compatible smart home devices hands-free, while SPO2 monitoring will watch out for unexpected drops in blood oxygen saturation that could be a sign of a hidden health problem (such as sleep apnea).
The Amazfit Band 5 will also offer all the usual tools you'd find in a modern fitness tracker, including 24-hour heart rate and activity tracking to build up a picture of your overall health and fitness over time. There's also sleep tracking, plus menstrual tracking with alerts for keeping tabs on your cycle.
Fitness for less
The listing on Amazon US was first spotted by TizenHelp. At the time the device was available to pre-order in both black and orange, but now only the orange band appears to be available.
The device has also appeared on Amazon UK in an olive green color, but the listing seems to be incomplete with a very low-resolution image, and no details about its specifications. We'll keep you updated once it becomes more widely available, and give you a full review as soon as possible.
- Check out our full guide to the best fitness trackers
