Which activity tracker to avoid fat during the crisis?

• The massive development of teleworking and the restrictions due to the pandemic are impacting our physical activity.

• While waiting for better days, the activity sensors make it possible to better monitor it and maintain a level of daily effort.

• Sold for about forty euros, the new Band Style trackers from Oppo and Mi Smart Band 6 from Xiaomi can simply be transformed into health and fitness allies.

With the strengthening of teleworking and distance learning courses due to the Covid-19 pandemic, our daily physical activity is experiencing a marked slowdown. And for many, the 10,000 daily steps recommended by the World Health Organization to keep us fit are rarely achieved.

If they do not practice a sport regularly, the most sedentary can stimulate their activity by following it with a connected bracelet.

Today, Oppo's new Band Style and Xiaomi's Mi Smart Band 6 have nothing to do with the older

, much more ordinary generations of

They can now be practical and economical health allies to invite us to move.

tested them and found that they go well beyond basic functions.

The simplest: Oppo Band Style

Continuing its rise in the world of the smartphone (we expect firm feet are Find X4!), Oppo is investing in the world of connected bracelets with its Band Style.

Supplied with two bracelets, one dedicated to sport (in black silicone), the second for everyday life (in black or beige, with a metal hoop), this Band Style offers a fairly comprehensive range of functions.

On the menu: activity and sleep monitoring;

sports monitoring (12 activities; including swimming);

measurements of heart rate and blood oxygen level (SpO2);

notifications, music control… without forgetting the weather, smartphone camera control… Don't throw away any more!

Distinguished by the absence of a physical button, its 1.1-inch AMOLED touch screen (126 x 294 pixels) allows fluid and simple navigation by simple movements from bottom to top and from left to right.

Named HeyTap, the Android and iOS application offered allows, in addition to a perfect customization of the bracelet, to set objectives (number of steps and calories burned daily), but also to examine its data in the form of graphs.

Our opinion:

The simplicity of use of this activity sensor is its strength. Aimed at everyone, it provides a permanent health and fitness companion on the wrist. SpO2 measurement is a plus and can detect respiratory deficiencies. With an autonomy of a good week depending on the number of requests made, this Band Style does not stand out from its competitors, but remains in a correct average.

A few small regrets however: the Band Style does not include GPS.

You must therefore keep your smartphone on you if you want to memorize your route during a walk or any other sporting outing.

It is also impossible to respond from his screen to a message received.

Finally, it does not have an “Always On” permanent display mode.

It is thus possible to choose whether it lights up when you move your wrist or by flicking your index finger on your screen...

The most complete: Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6

The Chinese manufacturer is not at its first attempt: this Mi Band activity sensor is the sixth it is launching. The third largest smartphone seller in France is therefore advancing its Band 6, a tracker with an Amoled screen 49% larger than that of its predecessor (1.56 '' against 1.1 ''). Originality: this one can be personalized thanks to wallpapers with characters from

. Enough to attract a younger clientele.

Without a physical button (probably to facilitate its sealing), the Mi Smart Band 6 offers most of the measures that can be expected from such equipment. From daily activity monitoring to sleep monitoring, including measuring heart rate and blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), the main thing is there. 30 sports activities, including swimming, can also be quantified. Notifications from the smartphone to which the bracelet is paired are not forgotten.

For its part, the Mi Fit application (Android and iOS) allows you to set a step goal, but also to discover your PAI (Personal Activity Intelligence) daily.

Behind this acronym, an index based on the measurement of daily activity, correlated with that of heart rate.

Its value scale goes from 0 to 125. Above 100, this PAI indicates a lower risk of hypertension… It is up to everyone to keep it at the right level.

Our opinion:

Xiaomi offers its new sensor notable progress, such as a larger screen, as well as an SpO2 sensor which can prove useful for anticipating certain respiratory deficiencies, such as sleep apnea.

We regret the absence of a GPS chip which would allow outings with route tracking without a smartphone on the leg.

For its part, the Mi Fit application has changed little and is struggling to get rid of a cluttered appearance.

A little extra: the measurement of the level of stress on a scale of 0 to 100, an indicator that may be worth monitoring when the current health conditions impact our daily lives as rarely.

On arrival the two are (almost) equal

A little cheaper than the Oppo Band Style, the Mi Smart Band 6 offers more or less the same functionalities and has the same drawbacks, such as the absence of a GPS chip.

On paper, the Xiaomi tracker is above all better said, with a larger screen (but you can hardly see it), a very slightly longer autonomy with its 125 mAh battery against 100 mAh for the Oppo bracelet, as well as the measurement of 30 sports, against a dozen for its rival.

And it offers in its evaluation of the quality of our sleep, that of REM sleep, Oppo's

only evaluating light and deep sleep.

On trial, its screen is a little more readable, but its ergonomics are substantially identical.

At Oppo, the second bracelet is an undeniable plus to take care of your look.

But the differences remain marginal.

For buyers, price and affinity towards one brand rather than another will undoubtedly condition the purchase more than the intrinsic qualities of this or that sensor.

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• Covid-19

• Vaccination pass

• iOS

• android

• Connected wristbands

• Telework

• Health

• high tech

• Xiaomi

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