The $23 Xiaomi Mi Band 2 is now official

After quite a few leaks and even a couple of early pre-sales events, Xiaomi's latest fitness tracker was officially unveiled today. Despite its name, the Mi Band 2 is actually the third installment of the extremely popular wearable, but offers a major upgrade over its predecessors.

The Mi Band 2 now comes with a lot more tech on board. On top of the already familiar step counter, sleep tracker, heart-rate measurement and notification alerts, the accessory now has an OLED display instead of the usual three LED array and a round physical button on the front. This allows the Mi Band 2 to show the time - a very requested feature for the old models, as well as step count and heart rate right there on the device screen.

This will definitely help you get more use of the unit even while untethered form a phone, but the Mi Band 2 will still serve as an extension to your headset through the use of its Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity. The band will notify you for calls, messages, as well as events form third-party apps with an icon. This time around, thanks to the OLED display, Xiaomi's traditionally active community will have even more to work with when implementing custom features for an even better experience.

Xiaomi Mi Band 2

Other features on the Mi Band 2 include IP67 water and dust resistance, as well as an impressive 20-day battery life, which is surprisingly close to what previous generations have achieved in the absence of a display. Xiaomi has also managed to preserve the tantalizing price point as best as possible and plans to sell the Mi Band 2 for $23 on the local market.

The official retail launch in China is set for tomorrow, but, as we already mentioned, some e-tailers are already running pre-orders. TinyDeal has a listing for $42.99 and the early promotional price is even better over at Geekbuying - $39.99.

If you find a better deal online, be sure to let us know in the comments.

Source 1(in Chinese) | Source 2