Xiaomi Mi Band 2 comes with an OLED screen, it's still darn cheap

Remember Xiaomi’s dirt cheap Mi Band fitness tracker? It was followed by the Pulse variant that featured a heartbeat sensor. Now the Chinese brand has added a third product, dubbed the Mi Band 2, to its fitness tracker line-up.

Mi Band 2 comes with roughly half-an-inch OLED screen that can display the time, steps, and heart-rate. The presence of a display is a big update in itself, considering that its predecessor lacked a screen. The OLED display is protected by the scratch-resistant glass.

Much like the last two Mi Bands, the new Mi Band 2 is IP67 certified. The first digit represents the level of resistance against solid particles such as dust, while the second digit represents protection against water. To be precise, the IP67 Mi Band 2 can withstand dust in moderate quantity and survive water immersion up to 1 meter for 30 minutes.

Xiaomi claims that the Mi Band 2’s wristband is made of a skin-friendly thermoplastic elastomer, which is a mix of plastic and rubber.

In addition to counting your steps (with a “military-grade” sensor) and heartbeats, the Mi Band 2 can also keep track of your sleep. If you sit in one place for too long (much like us poor writers), it can even nudge you to move. The device uses Bluetooth 4.0 LE (Low Energy) to pair with your smartphone. It’s compatible with any device running Android 4.4 KitKat or higher, as well as Apple devices running iOS 7.0 and above.

According to Xiaomi, the Mi Band 2’s 70 mAh battery will offer up to 20 days of standby time. The gadget will launch in China on June 7, and keeping in line with Xiaomi’s aggressive pricing policy, the Mi Band 2 is pegged at 149 yuan (approximately $23).

That’s about $7 more than the original Mi Band was, but still darn cheap if you look at what competitors have to offer. That pricing strategy worked well for Xiaomi’s market share (second only to Fitbit in the wearable market), if not for its bank account.

Who’s buying Xiaomi Mi Band 2?