Xiaomi Smart Band 10 review: Same formula with a bit more polish
Xiaomi Smart Band 10
Pros
- Large and bright AMOLED display
- Great heart rate accuracy during exercise
- Detailed sleep stats
- Strong battery life
- Versatile wear options
Cons
- No heart rate variability data
- No built-in GPS
- NFC limited to select regions
Xiaomi is back with the latest version of its budget fitness tracker, and not much looks different at first glance. The Smart Band 10 keeps the familiar look and feel, sticking to the same design language that has worked for years. But once you start using it, a few changes stand out and push the experience forward a bit.
The real question is whether those upgrades matter. Let’s dig in.
Xiaomi Smart Band 10: One minute review
The Smart Band 10 brings some improvements over its predecessor, such as a slightly larger and brighter display. It feels nicer to use day to day, especially outdoors. The new electronic compass improves orientation tracking, particularly for swimming, and while not essential, it adds a bit more depth. Heart rate broadcasting is a useful feature for people training with third-party apps or equipment.
Sleep tracking has also been improved, with added efficiency and distribution metrics, plus guidance developed with input from proper research groups. In practice, the sleep insights feel slightly more informative than before although the tracker is generous at estimating your sleep time. The upgraded vibration motor allows for more customised alerts and helps distinguish between different types of notifications.
Battery life hasn’t taken a hit, despite the brighter screen and new features. You still get up to 21 days of use. The core tracking experience remains strong, and the Mi Fitness app keeps the data accessible.
That said, it’s not without its misses. Heart rate variability is still absent, which limits recovery insights and puts it a step behind some rivals. NFC remains restricted to China, so contactless payments are a non-starter in most markets.
The Smart Band 10 keeps things simple and focused. It does enough to stay ahead in the budget fitness tracker space without trying to do too much. Upgrading from Band 9 is hard to justify for most, but for everyone else, it’s a solid choice that gets the job done well.
View Xiaomi Smart Band 10 on Xiaomi.
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Xiaomi Smart Band 10 review: Design, hardware
Look & feel
When I first strapped on the Xiaomi Smart Band 10, the familiar shape was still there, but it felt a bit more refined. Xiaomi hasn’t changed the fundamentals, but the materials and finish now bring an extra layer of polish. The aluminum alloy case with its sandblasted finish still looks sharp, and there’s a ceramic option for those who want something a bit more elevated.
This is still a budget fitness tracker, but once again, it looks like it belongs in a higher price bracket. That sleek rectangular body feels well put together, with tighter bezels and just the right amount of visual weight on the wrist.
The screen has grown slightly to 1.72 inches, and while the increase isn’t dramatic, it does improve the experience. Brightness is up to 1500 nits, and animations are smooth thanks to a 60Hz refresh rate. It’s one of the nicest displays I’ve seen on a device in this price range. Outdoors, especially in direct sunlight, the difference from Band 9 is noticeable. The viewing angles are solid, and text is sharper at a glance.
Despite the larger screen and choice of materials, the weight remains light. The aluminum version clocks in at just under 16 grams without the strap, while the ceramic edition is a bit heavier but still comfortable for all-day wear.
Scratching is still something to think about. If you’re planning to hang on to this for a while, a screen protector might be a smart add-on. Xiaomi still uses 2.5D reinforced glass, but that won’t stop small nicks from showing up over time.
Navigation sticks with the same button-free design, relying entirely on taps and swipes. It works fine, but the usual complaint applies. During workouts or wet weather, a single physical button would come in handy. Just something to grab or press without fiddling with the screen. It would make it easier to return quickly to the home screen.
The quick-release strap system remains one of the highlights. It’s intuitive and fast. There are now 11 accessory designs available, and switching them out is a nice way to freshen things up. The pearl-chain option in particular pushes the device into fashion accessory territory. Still, for best results with health tracking, wrist placement is ideal. The Mi Fitness app does let you adjust the wearing method, but wearing it off-wrist means you’ll miss out on continuous heart rate and other advanced data.
Under the hood: One new addition
The biggest hardware change in the Smart Band 10 is the addition of an electronic compass. This gives the device orientation awareness, which helps improve swim tracking and could tighten up motion data across a few other sports modes. The rest of the sensor package sticks with the familiar setup from last year: accelerometer, gyroscope, PPG heart rate sensor, SpO₂ monitor and ambient light sensor. It’s a well-balanced set of tools that still covers most everyday fitness needs.
Heart rate tracking continues to be a strong point. Xiaomi has not revealed if the sensor has been upgraded, but in testing performance remains solid. During workouts, results stayed close to what I recorded with a chest strap, and continuous tracking throughout the day was stable and consistent.
Bluetooth 5.4 also carries over from the previous generation. You won’t see a dramatic difference, but syncing is fast and reliable. It also helps keep battery life in check, which is especially important now that the display is larger and brighter than before.
GPS support remains unchanged. You still need to connect to your phone for location tracking. Xiaomi introduced a Pro version of the Band 9 with onboard GPS, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a Band 10 Pro shows up later following the same pattern.
The linear vibration motor also sees an upgrade. You get more control over the feel of alerts, with custom patterns available for different types of notifications. That’s something that makes the device feel more personal in day-to-day use. A gentle buzz for messages, something sharper for alarms. Once you dial it in, it becomes one of those features you quickly get to appreciate.
Battery life: No change from last year
Charging is quick and hassle-free. The magnetic cable snaps into place cleanly, and you can go from empty to full in about an hour. That said, I rarely had to do a full charge. A quick 10 or 15-minute top-up every few days was usually enough to keep it running.
On paper, the Band 10 offers up to 21 days of battery life with typical use, or 18 days if you’re using the NFC version. That’s the same claim as the Band 9, even though this model now includes a larger, brighter display. Xiaomi stuck with the same 233 mAh battery, but thanks to some smart optimisation, the numbers hold up.
I’ve only been testing for about a week. But even with 1 minute heart rate sampling, detailed sleep and stress tracking and a couple of workouts, the band was at around 70%. You can fine-tune the tracking settings to save juice, but even with most features active, the drain is modest.
Battery life does take a hit when you enable the Always-on Display. Xiaomi estimates around 9 days, so that’s less than a half of what you get without it. Still, compared to most competitors with always-on screens, that’s not bad at all. If you like having the screen active at a glance, you can keep it on without having to charge every other day.
Once again, battery life is one of the Band’s strongest features. Even with more display power and extra tracking tools, Xiaomi hasn’t compromised much. That balance is hard to find in the budget wearable space.
Xiaomi Smart Band 10 review: Health & fitness tracking
Everything the Smart Band 10 tracks, you’ll view through the Mi Fitness app. That’s where the depth lives. The app is rather a simple affair but it does the job. Syncing is fast, and navigating to specific metrics or historical trends doesn’t feel like a chore. It’s not the most detailed platform out there, but is fine enough for most casual users.
On the wrist, you can glance at core stats like heart rate, SpO₂, stress and sleep. The heart rate sensor continues to perform reliably across the board. You can adjust the frequency of measurements depending on how much you want to prioritise detail or preserve battery.
One new addition this time is heart rate broadcast. It allows the Band 10 to share your real-time heart rate with compatible third-party apps and devices over Bluetooth. If you’re logging workouts in Strava or using Bluetooth-enabled gym equipment, this makes the Band more versatile without needing extra hardware.
Sleep tracking is upgraded. Xiaomi now includes sleep efficiency and distribution, and the Mi Fitness app introduces a sleep guidance feature developed with the help of the World Sleep Society. The data presentation has improved, and during testing the Band picked up short wake periods more consistently than previous models. Sleep duration stats lean towards slightly optimistic, but overall the results are believable.
Blood oxygen tracking via the SpO₂ sensor is still there. It works for spot checks and can run automatically as long as you tweak the settings. While the results shouldn’t be taken as medical-grade, they help identify patterns or anomalies over time. Resting heart rate numbers were also in line with those from other devices I tested alongside it.
The one thing that is still missing is heart rate variability, and it’s hard to ignore that gap. HRV is now a standard feature on many budget and mid-tier wearables, especially for users interested in recovery, readiness, or more nuanced stress insights. Xiaomi’s continued omission of it feels like a limitation, especially given how much other data the Band captures.
Xiaomi Smart Band 10 review: Sports tracking
The Smart Band 10 offers more than 150 sport modes, continuing Xiaomi’s approach of trying to cover just about every activity you can think of. From running and cycling to rowing, HIIT, and esports, the variety is definitely there. That said, most modes beyond the main ones rely on the same core sensor data, so the depth of insights for niche sports remains fairly basic.
Swim tracking is one of the areas that has been improved. Thanks to the new electronic compass and some algorithm tuning, Xiaomi now claims 96 percent lap count accuracy. I didn’t swim enough laps to test that claim in depth, but early signs suggest the tracking is much more stable than before. Heart rate monitoring underwater is also supported, for the first time, though results there should still be taken with some caution.
Running sees a more focused addition this time around. Xiaomi has introduced on-wrist running courses with pre-set intensities. These are useful, particularly if you are a beginner runner.
As someone who runs often, I was particularly interested in heart rate accuracy and GPS behaviour. As mentioned, the Band 10 uses connected GPS, which means it relies on your phone for location data. You’ll need to bring your phone with you on outdoor sessions, but once you start the workout, you can stash it away and handle the rest from the Band itself. Pausing, resuming, and ending a session is straightforward.
I tested the Band 10 on two runs in a mixed environment that included city streets and wooded sections, alongside a Garmin Forerunner 955 paired with a chest strap. The heart rate data was very close. On the first run, the Band recorded an average of 139bpm and a max of 150bpm, while the Garmin measured 138bpm and 149bpm. Distance came in at 6.02km on the Band compared to 6.16km on the Garmin. But that difference is due to the phone as the band itself does not track GPS directly.
The second run showed a similar pattern. The Band reported 144bpm average and 160bpm max, while the Garmin showed 143bpm and 158bpm. That is impressively close. Distance was slightly under again at 7.76km versus 8.01km. For general training, the Band 10 held up well and delivered results close enough to a high-end setup for most users.
The post-workout analysis in the Mi Fitness app provides a good overview of your performance, including pace, heart rate zones, and estimated calorie burn. However, hard-core runners might find the depth of analysis somewhat lacking compared to more specialized sports watches. You do get things such as Vo2Max and Training Load, but not much beyond that.
Xiaomi Smart Band 10 review: Smartwatch features
The Smart Band 10 doesn’t just focus on health and fitness. It also throws in a decent set of smart features, enough to cover most day-to-day needs. Notifications are handled well. Calls, messages, and app alerts come through reliably, and the larger, brighter 1.72-inch display makes them slightly easier to read. There are now more animated watch faces.
The updated linear vibration motor adds a nice touch here, too. You can customise the vibration patterns so that different types of alerts feel different on your wrist. You can also turn on system vibration for scrolling and back gestures, for example.
Beyond notifications, you get a handful of useful tools. The weather widget has been updated, there are timers, alarms and a ‘find my phone’ feature are all included. The flashlight now has two modes – constant light and flashing.
Music controls are available as well, letting you play, pause or skip tracks from your connected phone. But there’s no onboard music storage, so everything still runs through your mobile device.
NFC is technically supported again, but once more it’s limited to the China version. That means contactless payments remain out of reach in most regions. It’s a hardware feature that exists, but unless you’re in the right market, you won’t get much use out of it.
View Xiaomi Smart Band 10 on Xiaomi.
Buy if
You want a reliable fitness tracker that covers the basics well and doesn’t cost much.
You like the idea of a larger, brighter screen and a cleaner design.
You plan to use features like heart rate broadcasting or structured running sessions.
Battery life matters to you more than smartwatch extras.
You’re coming from an older tracker and want something more refined.
Don’t buy if
You’re already using the Smart Band 9 and are happy with it.
You want built-in GPS or advanced recovery metrics like heart rate variability.
You need full-featured smartwatch tools like voice control, payments or music storage.
NFC support is important to you and you’re not in a supported region.
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