Honor Band 9 Review: Big Screen Boost

Worth When Reviewed

Unavailable within the US

The Honor Band 9 is the follow-up to the Band 7, with Honor skipping a Band 8 for the most recent instalment of its funds health tracker.

The headline information is that Honor has beefed up the dimensions of the show, launched new color choices and is bolstering its health insights by telling you your health age.

It’s nonetheless a tracker that can monitor your coronary heart price and exercises and guarantees to do this for as much as two weeks earlier than you have to take into consideration charging it once more. 

At £49.99, it’s going up towards funds trackers with larger screens just like the Huawei Band 9, Amazfit Band 7 and each the Xiaomi Sensible Band 8 and Band 8 Professional. There actually isn’t a scarcity of inexpensive choices already, so does Honor actually shake issues up on the funds finish of the health band market?

Honor’s newest band is aiming to interrupt into our greatest health tracker chart

Design & Construct

• Three new colors
• Ditches a bodily button
• Waterproof as much as 50 metres

The design language of the Band 9 hasn’t drastically modified from the Band 7 with the one key distinction right here being that the display screen you’ll be swiping your fingers throughout has acquired wider and is now larger decision.

You’re nonetheless getting a 43mm-sized band that matches up a polymer case with a TPU band. That band now is available in Cloudy Blue, Phantom Purple or Black colors and you’ll take away the straps to swap in a brand new or completely different one.

The Band 9 is now slimmer than the Band 7 and that’s undoubtedly a optimistic transfer, although the tracker stays slightly drab-looking and doesn’t actually shake that funds price ticket despite some barely nicer supplies being in play.

Mike Sawh

Mike Sawh

Mike Sawh

An odd transfer right here is that there’s now no bodily buttons, which actually helps to maintain the Band 9 extra streamlined, however from a navigation and interplay perspective you’re reliant on tapping on the display screen or utilizing the elevate to wake to work together with the Band 9.

There’s a purpose buttons are good to have on trackers and it could’ve been good to not less than have the one included on the Band 7 to make it a extra intuitive tracker to make use of.

Nothing has modified on the sturdiness entrance right here so Honor is sticking to a 5ATM waterproof score, which implies it may be used for swimming and holding on whenever you’re within the bathe.

It’s fairly comfy to put on day and evening, doesn’t weigh heavy in any respect at any time and does not less than tick that all-day put on field very comfortably. It’s simply 16.3g with out the strap.

Display screen & Audio 

• 1.57-inch AMOLED show
• Responsive elevate to wake
• No microphone or speaker

Honor has moved from a 1.47-inch AMOLED touchscreen to a 1.57-inch panel, with an improved 256 x 402 pixel decision. It’s a display screen that goes fairly brilliant and does provide the power to regulate that and in addition helps utilizing it in an always-on mode. Fortunately, it does even have a fairly responsive elevate to wake assist if you happen to don’t wish to go for having the display screen on 24/7.

Mike Sawh

Mike Sawh

Mike Sawh

The display screen, as talked about, is wider than its predecessor and does put it a lot nearer in look to trackers just like the Huawei Band 9 (1.47-inch show) and trackers just like the Oppo Watch Free (1.64-inch show).

The display screen gives good colors, although there may be some slight fuzziness there, whereas colors are a contact saturated for my liking. It’s a adequate high quality display screen for viewing your stats on, nevertheless it’s not breaking new floor for display screen high quality at this value.

If you wish to make calls right here, then it’s not massively shocking to find Honor doesn’t embody a microphone or speaker, just like the Band 7. So when you would possibly have the ability to see when calls are incoming in your cellphone out of your wrist, you’re not going to have the ability to reply them.

Software program & Options 

• Runs on proprietary OS
• Works with Android and iOS units
• Consists of Discover my Cellphone and music controls

The Honor Band 9 runs on fairly related software program to the one which was working on the Band 7. That’s an working system that also appears so much like Huawei’s Lite OS, so if you happen to’ve used considered one of Huawei’s trackers earlier than, then the feel and appear of this can really feel acquainted.

There’s the primary watch display screen, the place you possibly can swipe up and down or left and proper to see knowledge widgets, notifications and get into the primary menu display screen. That menu display screen might be organized as icons in two columns or in a single stream of menu icons because of the broader show.

Mike Sawh

Mike Sawh

Mike Sawh

You continue to use the Honor Well being companion smartphone app to set issues up and once more appears so much like Huawei’s Well being app. The software program on the band actually feels so much nicer to work together and spend time with and doesn’t take lengthy to become familiar with the place issues dwell or what it will probably do.

Whenever you’re not involved about monitoring your steps or coronary heart price there are smartwatch options like viewing notifications, accessing music controls, viewing the climate and there’s additionally a helpful discover my cellphone mode. Having that further display screen actual property does assist make a few of these options slightly extra usable. Notifications have slightly more room to unfold out on and the widgets are so much nicer to look at as nicely.

In the end although the options haven’t modified from its predecessor. You’re getting a Bluetooth improve leaping from 5.0 to five.3, however within the grand scheme of issues, the expertise of utilizing the Band 9 feels so much like utilizing the Band 7.

Health & Monitoring 

• 96 exercise modes
• Tracks coronary heart price and blood oxygen 
• Doesn’t provide built-in GPS

The first aim of the Band 9 is to do the entire stuff you’d count on a health tracker to do nicely. In order that counts your steps and motivates you to maneuver extra. It’s additionally going to make a robust sleep-tracking companion and be helpful for constantly monitoring metrics like coronary heart price.

When it comes to delivering that, I’d say the Band 9 does a reasonably stable job of it. I discovered step counts had been about 500 steps throughout the step monitoring from two different health trackers. There’s a pleasant exercise monitoring widget on the band to maintain a monitor of progress, although it’s fairly gentle on further options that nudge you to remain lively all through the day.

Mike Sawh

Mike Sawh

Mike Sawh

For sleep monitoring, I discovered sleep period captured was usually in step with sleep monitoring from Oura and Garmin. You’ll get sleep scores and an evaluation of your sleep levels, although it’s the rating that can probably be essentially the most helpful so far as understanding if you happen to’ve had a very good evening’s sleep.

Turning to it for metrics like coronary heart price, stress and blood oxygen and it’s a little bit of the same story to our time spent with the Band 7. Coronary heart price monitoring has its good and dangerous moments. Resting coronary heart price knowledge might be in-line with different trackers I examined it towards, however ranges and real-time readings will also be noticeably excessive – at instances 5-10bpm larger.

That places a query mark over different coronary heart rate-fuelled options just like the stress monitoring and it doesn’t really feel like a lot progress has been made on this entrance.

Honor as soon as once more gives your choose of 96 exercises, with 11 of these modes providing extra activity-specific metrics. There’s no built-in GPS, just like the Band 7, however you possibly can lean in your cellphone’s GPS sensor to spice up monitoring accuracy for outside exercises.

Amongst these 96 exercises you’ll discover assist for indoor workout routines like rowing, utilizing the Elliptical, outside and indoor biking and working. Honor additionally consists of Working programs to introduce newer runners to extra structured working exercises so as to add to their routine.

Mike Sawh

Mike Sawh

Mike Sawh

There doesn’t appear to be an enormous distinction within the efficiency of the sports activities monitoring, nevertheless. With out built-in GPS, the monitoring accuracy unsurprisingly isn’t unbelievable. Put the linked GPS (through your cellphone) to work and issues do get higher, although it’s nonetheless greatest for informal working and rides and I discovered the GPS or distance monitoring wasn’t impeccable.

Honor has added some further coaching insights to make it a extra helpful coaching companion, telling you your health age, which appears at your cardiovascular endurance to inform you in case your health age is decrease than your precise age. It’s not a brand new perception to trackers or sports activities watches and given the unreliability of the guts price sensor, which is tied to assessing that cardiovascular endurance, it’s arduous to belief it.

Battery Life & Charging

• As much as 14 days battery
• As much as 10 days with common use
• No fast cost mode

The battery life promised on the Band 9 hasn’t modified from the Band 7 and, the truth is, Honor hasn’t budged from the numbers it promised on the Band 6. You may count on to get a most of 14 days battery life, however that may drop to 10 days whenever you’re making common use of key options like constantly monitoring coronary heart price and monitoring exercises.

The day by day drop-off in battery has been the identical 10% common because the Band 7, regardless of there now being a much bigger and better decision show to energy. I used the Band 9 with notifications enabled, steady coronary heart price monitoring, monitoring sleep and utilizing options like music controls and checking the climate.

Mike Sawh

Mike Sawh

Mike Sawh

Whenever you do hit 0%, you’ll have to seize its proprietary charging cable to energy it up and it takes roughly an hour to go from flat to 100%. So it doesn’t not less than preserve you hanging round to hold it again in your wrist.

So the battery numbers haven’t modified, however you’re going to recover from every week on common from the Band 9, which ought to fulfill most.

Worth & Availability

The Honor Band 9 was formally introduced in March 2024 and is at present out there from the Honor web site for £44.99. It isn’t at present that can be purchased within the US.

The Band 7 stays on sale and prices £39.99, and most notably misses out on that larger show and a few new band colors.

That sub-£50 value places it up towards the Huawei Band 9, Xiaomi Sensible Band 8 Professional and the Amazfit Band 7. All trackers that undertake this new wider show development to make them appear like a cross between a health tracker and a smartwatch. The closest Fitbit in value is the Ace 3 which is aimed toward youngsters.

Try extra choices in our greatest health tracker chart.

Do you have to purchase the Honor Band 9?

The Honor Band 9 primarily takes the Band 7 and places a much bigger display screen on it. There doesn’t appear to be any actual discernible variations when it comes to what you’re getting on the software program entrance and because of this, the efficiency feels practically equivalent.

Having that larger show does make some options, significantly on the smartwatch entrance, really feel nicer to make use of than beforehand. So far as pushing issues ahead when it comes to what a funds health tracker can ship, that’s merely not the case right here.

It’s one other very stable however not very groundbreaking gadget so you possibly can return to your exercise if you happen to’re already utilizing a Band 7.

Whenever you’ve acquired related trackers just like the Xiaomi Sensible Band 8 Professional, which gives a fair larger display screen, options like built-in GPS and usually extra strong health and well being monitoring, it’s robust to say go for the Band 9 as an alternative when it doesn’t actually carry something new to the desk.

Specs

• 1.57-inch, AMOLED show
• 5ATM water resistance score 
• Linked GPS
• As much as 14 days battery life
• Coronary heart price sensor
• Blood oxygen sensor
• Sleep monitoring
• Stress monitoring
• 16.3g with out strap