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New Xiaomi Mi Band is ridiculously cheap

The new wearable fitness tracker will have a battery life of 30 days and doubles up as a security key for your Xiaomi smartphone.

Aloysius Low Senior Editor
Aloysius Low is a Senior Editor at CNET covering mobile and Asia. Based in Singapore, he loves playing Dota 2 when he can spare the time and is also the owner-minion of two adorable cats.
Aloysius Low

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Xiaomi's Lei Jun showing off the security features of the new fitness band. Aloysius Low/CNET

BEIJING, China -- Apart from announcing the new Xiaomi Mi 4, Xiaomi's CEO Lei Jun pulled a "one more thing" at the press conference and announced a new fitness band. The Xiaomi Mi Band is the company's first wearable gadget, and comes with a set of nifty features that are pretty impressive.

The Mi Band will retail for the ridiculously low price of just 79RMB (which converts to $13, £7.5, AU$13.5). It has a 30 day battery life, which is impressive compared to some of the smartwatches and fitness bands on the market today. It also doubles up as a discrete alarm clock.

Another cool feature that was announced is its ability to work as a proximity security unlock for your Xiaomi smartphone. If you hold your phone in the same hand as you're wearing the band, the phone will automatically unlock without requiring a password. It will not work if you're holding the phone in your other hand.

Global availability was not revealed.