Design, materials, layout and ergonomics
If you are familiar with the previous generation of the bracelet, then Honor Band 5 will not surprise you with its design, because it looks exactly the same as Band 4. Its shape is rounded, the glass is convex and in fact there is nothing supernatural. Standard, classic appearance of a fitness tracker. The only things you can highlight are the silver ring under the display and the pattern on the strap.
On the other hand, such discreetness may, on the contrary, appeal to those who prefer a strict look of accessories with a minimum number of attention-grabbing details. In addition, competitors have not gone far either, so I will not make any claims to this tracker in this matter.
The materials used are “correct”: plastic body and glass on the front. The latter has a good oleophobic coating. Fingerprints and stains may remain, but they can be wiped off very easily. Obviously, the glass front panel should be regarded as an advantage, because it is more difficult to scratch than a plastic one.
The dimensions of Honor Band 5 are small — 43×17.2×11.5 mm. It is even smaller than its closest and direct competitor from Xiaomi — Mi Smart Band 4. Due to this, the Honor bracelet will look good even on a thin wrist. Convenience is also good: the bracelet does not cling to foreign objects and goes well with clothes with long sleeves. Weight is only 22.7 g — it doesn’t bother you at all, even if you wear it without taking it off 24/7.
On the front of the module there is a screen and a touch button below it in the form of a silver ring. There are small grooves at the ends on the left and right, thanks to which the tracker is attached to the charging cradle. At the top and bottom are strap mounts. At the back there are markings and inscriptions, a slightly protruding window with sensors and a pair of contacts for charging.
The water resistance of the module is stated to be up to 50 meters (or 5 ATM). I think there will be no problems with this point when washing your hands, in the shower or in the pool.
I tested the Honor Band 5 in black. More precisely, it is black in all versions; only the standard straps may differ. You can also find dark blue, green and pink.
The strap is made of soft, pleasant rubber; there is a pattern of diagonal lines on the outside. The inner part is less rough and contains various service embossings. The material is pleasant and does not cause any skin irritation or other discomfort.
The strap, as you might guess, is removable. It looks like a classic watch, because it consists of two parts. There is a plastic clasp and a strap holder, which is additionally attached to the holes on it. The strap is attached to the module using small removable clips. The fastening feels reliable, I think such a phenomenon as unauthorized falling out is simply impossible to happen here.
Display
The 4th version of Huawei Band has a TFT display with a resolution of 80×160 pixels, although the same Huawei Band 3 Pro has an OLED screen with a resolution of 120×240 pixels. Most likely, such reductions in characteristics are caused by the desire to make the bracelet more affordable. But don’t forget that this is just Band 4 and it’s unreasonable to compare it with the Pro version. Let’s wait for the release of Band 4 Pro.
The display itself is color and touch-sensitive, color reproduction is good — the colors are rich. Of course, if you look closely at the image, you can see individual pixels, but this does not affect the overall picture.
During the day, on the street and in a lit room, information from the screen is easy to read, there is enough brightness. There are no problems with reading text in sunny weather.
Separately, we note the 2.5D glass that covers the surface of the display. This fact not only increases the strength of the screen, but also reduces its wear.
honor band 5 display
The fitness bracelet is equipped with a small 0.95-inch touch screen with a resolution of 240×120 pixels and a matrix made using AMOLED technology. When turned off, it is practically invisible, but if you look at it from an angle, you will notice that it is somewhat small. However, it is exactly the same as in Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 4. So no problem, it’s a matter of habit.
In general, the screen here is decent. Contrasting and rich, and most importantly — with sufficient brightness. Even on a bright sunny day it remains readable (if you select the required brightness). Viewing angles are excellent and content can be seen from almost any possible angle.
Brightness is adjustable within 5 levels. For normal indoor use or a cloudy day, levels 2 and 3 were enough for me. If it’s sunny outside, then naturally you need to raise it a little. You can also turn on the option to reduce brightness at night — this is useful. The screen will not glare during a certain period (but the period itself cannot be selected), and after it expires, the brightness will return to the previously specified level.
The display is activated by raising your wrist or touching the button below the screen. Everything is clear with the button, but with the gesture there are some nuances. It seemed to me that it works too often, even when it is not required in principle. On the one hand, this is good; time will always tell the first time. But on the other hand, it simply increases battery consumption from such frequent activation of the screen.
But I was pleased with the option to deactivate the backlight: I turned my wrist, looked at what I needed, turned it back and the display immediately went out — convenient. In general, it will be highlighted on its own for 5 seconds, which is also quite enough to read a notification, for example.
Why do you need honor band 4, what are its functions and capabilities?
In fact, a fitness bracelet is not just a fashion accessory, but a gadget that helps make our lives a little more comfortable and simpler, no matter how loud it may sound.
So, here is a list of the main functions of the Band 4 smartwatch:
- Displays the time, date and day of the week (yes, even such a smart gadget can perform the functions of a regular watch that costs a couple of dollars).
- Automatic heart rate monitoring and real-time heart rate measurement.
- Track various sports modes including running, walking and swimming.
- Sleep tracking using TruSleep technology, identifying sleep stages and recommendations for improving it.
- Count steps, calories and distance traveled.
- Notifications about calls, SMS and messages from social networks.
- Activity reminders.
- Alarm clock and smart alarm clock.
- Weather forecast.
- Timer.
- Stopwatch.
- Remote control of the smartphone camera.
- Phone search.
- NFC (this feature is only useful if you live in China).
- Show off in front of friends (joke).
Why such a gadget is needed, we seem to have figured it out. Let’s move on to the review of the Honor Band 4 bracelet.
As usual in reviews, let’s start with the unboxing. They came to us in a slightly wrinkled blue box:
- The fitness bracelet itself;
- Charger;
- USB – microUSB cable (length slightly more than 10 cm);
- Brief operating instructions in a language that is not entirely clear.
Blood oxygen level measurement
Huawei, announcing the start of sales of Band 4 Pro in Russia, mentioned that the bracelet has a function for assessing blood oxygen saturation. And it would be strange if the company released a bracelet under its main brand without a feature that has been available in devices of the Honor brand that it sponsors since the fall.
However, Huawei Band 4 Pro is already on sale, and the promised feature was supposed to appear only on April 20, with a firmware update — that’s what a company representative told us. But we already talked about how it all works in the review of Honor Band 5; it is unlikely that it will be implemented differently here.
Connection honor band 4
After the application has been downloaded and installed, launch it. Then follow the connection instructions:
1. Click add device (plus sign in the upper right corner of the screen).
2. Select Smart Bracelet from the list.
3. Select Honor Band 4.
4. Click “Pair”. At the next stage, we agree to synchronize via Bluetooth. Agree with the location determination (useful for weather forecasting).
5. Select a bracelet from the list.
6. Confirm pairing on the bracelet by pressing the icon that appears.
7. Click “Done”.
That’s it, the connection is complete, now all that remains is to update the bracelet software and configure it. After pairing, the bracelet will pick up the phone’s language and its entire interface will be translated.
By the way, the first update takes a long time, so you shouldn’t worry about it. For example, for me it took about 15 minutes to update.
The application interface is very simple and intuitive, so there should be no problems with setup.
It is divided into three tabs: “Home”, “Exercise” “Me”.
Home
The “Home” tab displays information about activity:
- For the current day.
- Recordings of classes.
- Sleep, Weight and Heart Rate tabs.
- Steps.
Clicking on one of these options opens more detailed statistics in the form of a graph with details by day, week, month or year.
Exercise
The next section of the menu is for training. Here you can start an exercise, set plans and monitor its progress. You can also start workouts from the bracelet itself in a specific interface.
I (settings)
This tab allows you to fully customize the following bracelet parameters:
- Goal
. In this tab you can set a goal for the number of steps and weight. - Profile
. Biometric data is set here: gender, date of birth, height and weight. This data is necessary for more accurate tracking. - Sending data
. From this point you can link the tracker to third-party applications Google Fit or MyFitnessPal. - Settings
. General settings, such as managing goal notifications, setting heart rate threshold, system of measures, etc.
Workouts with an ankle bracelet
The main difference between the Honor Band 5 Sport and the “regular” Band 3/4/5 is the ability to attach it to the leg and collect detailed statistics, which is only possible with this form of wearing the gadget. This is optimal for running — both outdoors and on a treadmill.
When connected to a smartphone, the device can build your track, but most importantly, it analyzes your technique in detail: cadence (number of steps per minute), ground contact time, landing impact, average overlap angle, average eversion.
Obviously, all this can be measured only if there is software support and appropriate sensors, as well as the ability to conveniently and securely attach the gadget to the leg. And Honor Band 5 Sport provides all this. Moreover, as we already noted, it automatically detects when you insert it into the clip.
And then there are two options. The first is that you can start a workout directly on the bracelet. The second option is that you can first attach the bracelet to your shoes (the most convenient way is on the laces of your sneakers) and only then start the workout through the application. The application will begin a countdown (3, 2, 1), and at the moment when you need to start, the gadget on your leg will vibrate.
An interesting detail: the manufacturer takes the concept of “workout” seriously, so a run shorter than 10 minutes and 1 kilometer is not considered a workout, and therefore, detailed statistics on it are not saved. But the bracelet is not aimed at those who just went for a five-minute run to clear their conscience.
The fact of the matter is that it is intended for motivated people who, even if they are not athletes, want to run regularly, often, for a long time and strive to improve not only external indicators — speed, distance, time — but and running technique. And for this, the application contains all the necessary information, as well as very valuable text recommendations.
Another mode that is available specifically in the “sports” version of Band 5 is basketball. But here is an important caveat: it is only supported on Android. If you use a bracelet with an iPhone, then alas. The Huawei Health app, even on Android, does not have this mode; you can enable recording of a basketball practice only through the bracelet itself, when it is inserted into the clip, and only if it is paired with an Android device.
For the basketball mode there are no lower restrictions on duration: he will record at least half a minute and talk about the training, giving a total score and an assessment of five indicators, including strength, acceleration, quality of jumps, jerks and movement (note the lack of uniformity of translation on different application screens).
Summary figures are shown in the form of diagrams (here “flipping through” workouts would be useful to see the dynamics, but this is not yet available), there is also more detailed data on jumps and movement speed.
We also tested the Honor Band 5 Sport in cycling mode, but in this case we did not receive any exclusive information. That is, even when the bracelet is inserted into the clip on the shoe, it does not count the number of pedal presses and other things. You can just as easily ride a bike using any other Huawei/Honor wearable device or strap the Band 5 Sport on your hand.
Of course, like other current bracelets from the manufacturer, Honor Band 5 Sport has a moisture protection of 5 ATM, which allows you to safely swim with it in the pool and swim in open waters (if the water is salty, you should then rinse it thoroughly under fresh water ). It gives the same swimming information as Honor Band 5.
Conclusion.
Pros:
— display of time, date and day of the week number of steps taken
— detailed sleep monitoring
— the same monitoring of your heart rate
— working and well-implemented notification alerts
— good vibration (alarm clock)
— normal operating time
— comfort of wearing
— high-quality assembly and materials
Cons:
— to fully display information you need two applications
I liked the bracelet — and this is considering that I have experience using two bracelets from Xiaomi, which I considered and still consider to be excellent devices for the money. The functionality is not much different from the Mi Bands, but at least the execution — both of the bracelet and of the applications — is completely different.
P. S. It measures steps in about the same way as the Mi Band, and is definitely better than a smartphone that adds up an extra thousand a day.
The store gave me coupon HSHR54, with which the price of the bracelet becomes $30. On Ali, the bracelet is on average five dollars more expensive.
Product provided for review by the store. The review was published in accordance with clause 18 of the Site Rules.