HUAWEI Band | Gear Review

Less is more, that’s the driving mantra of the newest fitness band from HUAWEI. But is it really? We give the HUAWEI Band a go and here’s what we think.

Ok, let’s get this out of the way, WE ARE NOT FANS OF FITNESS BANDS. Why? For the sole reason that we always use our GPS watches and it would be silly to wear two watches at the same time.

But… when the big guns come off and we need to wear something lighter (and more fashionable!), that’s where the fitness bands comes in.

Why not just an ordinary watch?? Because as a triathlete, just telling time is never enough. :)

The HUAWEI Band comes in 3 colored strap options : white, cream, and black.

Here’s a short video overview of its functions.

Let’s admit it, those 920xt’s are nice and all, but there’s a huge market of people who doesn’t like to scream to everyone that he / she is a triathlete by the way they look outside of a race.  Nothing beats having a little bit of “high tech” a with a whole lotta style. I also got a couple of “what’s that?” looks while rocking the HUAWEI Band was on my wrist. Also, at 25g, it feels as if you’re not wearing anything at all. Now, if only it isn’t white…

The shiny circular bezel blends perfectly with the “snakey” skin texture of the strap and the glossy screen.

It also boasts that the bezel is scratch resistant too. The image above is how it looked like after we accidentally dropped the watch. The bezel took the hit but when we checked, it’s still looks like it came right out of the box. Can’t say the same for the screen though. As it’s already showing minor / thin scratches from normal use.

USAGE AND FEATURES

The HUAWEI Band, with its 128-by-128 resolution and OLED touch-display screen is a no-nonsense fitness band which allows you to track the time, how many steps you’ve taken in a day (plus the calories burned!), and monitors your sleeping activity too. We just find it odd HUAWEI tried to fit a square display in a circular watch. That sadly leaves a lot of unused real estate on the sides.

Walk and burn

So first thing’s first, the HUAWEI Band is a watch. So let’s talk about primary function first.

Time can be shown with a simple flick of a wrist. The screen automatically comes to life when you do the “what’s the time?” motion. You’ll also get a multitude of watch-face options with this one. Although one problem that immediately surfaced is the lack or 12-hour or 24 hour options. We prefer the 12-hour mode.

As for the fitness functions, the step counter is  basic but it does its job pretty well. It also gives a slight buzz when you’ve been sitting idle for too long.

Here are a few more options that you can play around with the HUAWEI app.

The HUAWEI Band has an options setting within the phone but the only thing you can do there is to change the watch display (as seen in the video above) and restart, or reset the watch.

You can also sync with your UP by Jawbone device if you have one. (Available at the SBR.ph Online Shop!)

THE HUAWEI APP

When it’s synced to your phone via the HUAWEI app, it has the ability to see who sent you an sms (cannot read it though) and who’s calling you. The HUAWEI app is an integral part of the device. You won’t be able to maximize most of its functions without it.

We all have our reasons for wearing watches. Aside from the universal need to tell time, smartwatches are adding boatloads of features which makes us want them even more. After wearing this for a week, we find ourselves looking for it every time we’re about to go out so we can track how many steps we’ve taken, how many calories we’ve burned, and even how well we’re sleeping at night when we get home. It’s actually kinda cool.

How many hours I slept last night

The quality of my sleep. I need to get some more of those deep ones! 

BATTERY LIFE 

At today’s day and age, where smart phones can barely last a whole day, it’s quite refreshing to see a device that can last up to 3 days on a single charge. We tried it and it indeed lasted for 3 days. It can actually go to 3 1/2 or even 4 days of heavy use but we needed to charge it already so we can review it further.

VERDICT

With just a charging cable included (when we got our demo unit), it took us awhile to figure out how to operate the watch. We had to research online that you need to download the app in order to operate some of its functions. We’re not sure if this (a cardboard box) is the original packaging that comes with the watch as it will definitely need some sort improvement too in that department. An operations manual would help too.

Priced at Php 2,990, we find it a bit princed on the high side for what it gives you (the sleep monitor is really cool though). So is less really more? In the end, we found ourselves craving for more. We kept looking for that something extra that will make the HUAWEI Band unique and stand out from the rest but just couldn’t pinpoint what it is. But make no mistake about it, the Huawei Band is a solid option if you’re looking for a fitness tracker.