Amazfit Band 7 Review: Terrific Tracker

Value When Reviewed

$49.99

Greatest Costs Right this moment: Amazfit Band 7

$44.99

The price range exercise tracker market has heated up fairly a bit over the previous few years, with entries just like the Xiaomi Band 7 and Huawei Band 7 proving that you need to be superb to get a look-in, and apparently haven’t any unique concepts in terms of naming gadgets.

The brand new Amazfit Band 7 is attempting to push its technique to the entrance of the pack, so I’ve been placing it by way of its paces to see if it’s value your money.

Design and construct

• Comfy and light-weight
• 5 ATM water resistance
• Substitute strap colors obtainable

Amazfit follows the present design aesthetics that we’ve seen on most different bands of this kind not too long ago. There’s the primary rectangular unit that’s held in an all-in-one 16mm silicon strap that may be changed by merely coming out the tracker and squeezing it into a brand new strap. Amazfit sells different colors on its web site for round $10/£10, so if you wish to give the Band 7 a face-lift later, then it gained’t set you again an excessive amount of. 

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The tracker itself has a 1.47-inch AMOLED show taking over virtually the whole lot of the entrance, with the rear house to the BioTracker 3.0 PPG biometric sensor and magnetic charging factors. 

You gained’t discover any buttons, because the Band 7 is managed solely by the touchscreen, and an absence of a speaker means you gained’t be interacting an excessive amount of by voice instructions. However this lack of ingress factors means Amazfit is ready to fee the water resistance at 5 ATM and permits you to use it in a swimming pool to trace your efforts. 

You’ll be able to nonetheless management wi-fi headsets by way of the Bluetooth 5.2 connection, however there’s no on-board GPS so that you’ll have to have your telephone with you in order that the Amazfit Band 7 can piggyback throughout out of doors exercises. There isn’t a NFC for funds both, however that’s to be anticipated at this worth level. 

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It would sound like I’m being choosy, so it ought to be famous that for round $50/£50 you’re getting a formidable quantity of options, offered in a pleasant trying design. It’s a light-weight system too, weighing in at a feather-like 28g (together with the strap), and appears unobtrusive on the wrist because of the 42.3 x 24.36 x 12.2mm dimensions. 

One moan is regarding the strap, as it may be slightly fiddly to lock it into the related gap so that you simply get probably the most satisfying mix of tightness and luxury. This could most likely turn out to be simpler over time although because the strap loosens up. 

Show

• 1.47-inch AMOLED show
• Guide brightness management
• At all times-on function obtainable

At first look, you’d be forgiven for pondering that is the Huawei Band 7, because the 1.47-inch rectangular panel appears to be like just about an identical. That’s no dangerous factor although, because it’s a pleasant measurement for smaller wrists.

It’s a brilliant, vibrant panel that’s usually simple to learn, albeit with a serious caveat. Amazfit hasn’t included an ambient mild sensor within the Band 7, so that you’ll need to manually set the brightness, which generally is a ache. The show is nicely illuminated when inside, however for those who overlook to vary the brightness earlier than going out, then it is going to be troublesome to do it simply when the solar is shining as you may’t see something on the display screen.

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There’s an always-on function obtainable to point out the time and date when the show is off, however that is additionally a bit hit or miss as it may be very brilliant for those who overlook to regulate the degrees, plus it has a dramatic impact on battery life.

Contact responses are respectable, however not superb. It could possibly be that the small contact targets make it onerous to get an preliminary correct hit, which then makes the Band 7 really feel unresponsive. Once more, this could shake out over time as you get used to the place the display screen wants the contact.

It’s advantageous, however for those who’re transferring (say jogging) and need to shortly change the amount of your music or examine the standing of your exercise, it may be onerous to get an correct response. Possibly it’s simply my sausage fingers.

For swiping by way of menus, choosing choices if you’re moderately sedentary or usually interacting with the system, the touchscreen is a strong performer. Amazfit says that the panel is protected by tempered glass moderately than Gorilla Glass, so whereas it ought to cope together with your every day actions, I wouldn’t suggest banging it on any onerous surfaces. Though, that’s simply usually good recommendation with watches of any form.

Software program and options

• Loads of watchfaces
• Amazon Alexa built-in
• Not in a position to reply to messages

As talked about, the Amazfit Band 7 is a touchscreen primarily based interface with no {hardware} buttons on the system. The menus are all swipe-based, with down strokes on the house display screen opening up the settings menu. Swiping up permits you to scroll by way of the apps on the band, left is for notifications and proper takes you thru to knowledge out of your favorite apps.

The shortage of a house button does make this rather less clean than it ought to be, as you need to swipe again by way of menus moderately than shortly returning to the primary display screen. It’s not a deal-breaker, however I’d wish to see Amazfit provide you with an answer for this within the subsequent technology because it’s positively clunky from a design and person standpoint. 

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One repair that’s desperately wanted is the flexibility to make fast responses to messages. In the intervening time, you may solely learn messages on the Band 7, after which have to dig your telephone out to provide any sort of reply. Some preset solutions you would faucet would make an enormous distinction. 

The Band 7 comes with a pleasant vary of mini apps that may hyperlink together with your calendar and warn you of upcoming appointments. There’s a climate app, generic music app that works with Spotify, Audible and different providers, plus numerous timers and alarms, in addition to To Do reminders and the Pomodoro timer that’s nice for getting your head down on a job for set durations of time. 

Amazon Alexa is built-into the Amazfit Band 7, so you may hyperlink to your Amazon account and use it as you’ll on every other Alexa powered system. Once more, as there’s no speaker, you’ll have to learn any responses the digital assistant returns. 

Utilizing the accompanying Zepp app you may as well change how the Amazfit Band 7 works, the sort of knowledge it shows, and likewise change the watch face fully by choosing from an honest vary of alternate options. Many are free, however there are additionally paid variations on the shop if you wish to make investments.

There are apps that may be put in too, however you gained’t discover the third-party apps that you simply’d anticipate. Most are bespoke to Zepp or small, moderately random ones that do very particular duties – cube curler, anybody? 

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Well being and health monitoring

• 120 sports activities monitoring modes
• Coronary heart fee, SpO2 and sleep monitoring
• Some monitoring generally is a little wayward

Amazfit has performed an awesome job of stuffing the Band 7 filled with helpful well being associated options. There are 120 sports activities monitoring modes, starting from requirements like operating and strolling, proper as much as equestrianism and, bizarrely, enjoying chess. 

Most must be began manually, with solely operating, strolling, elliptical, and rowing machine actions being auto-detected for those who allow the function within the settings menu. 

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Monitoring is strong, with steps matching as much as the identical figures I often get on costlier monitoring gadgets just like the Apple Watch.

You’ll be able to allow 24-hour coronary heart fee monitoring, with alerts if it drops too low or will get too excessive, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), and stress ranges. I discovered the guts monitoring constant, however often slightly increased than on different gadgets. That is advantageous although, because the consistency made it simpler to know roughly the place I used to be at.

That’s true for lots of the monitoring on this system. At $50/£50 I believe it’s aimed extra at individuals trying to get lively and regulate their progress over time, moderately than hard-core runners or gymnasium bunnies that need tremendous correct knowledge. For those who deal with the Amazfit Band 7 as the previous, then it’s a wonderful answer. 

Having a tool that displays your every day efforts, compiles the information on the Zepp app the place you may have a look at traits and patterns, plus throws within the individual exercise intelligence (PAI) system that helps encourage you by rewarding you with factors for numerous bodily actions, is a good all-round package deal. There’s even a digital pace-setter that may encourage you to enhance your operating occasions, so there’s basically a coach built-into the system. 

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Sleep monitoring is one other measured metric, though this was a bit hit or miss because the Band 7 would typically suppose I used to be asleep after I wasn’t. To be honest, I’ve discovered this to be the case on far more costly good bands, so I gained’t be docking any factors for my slothenly life-style. Once more, if you’d like a very good, basic thought of your sleep patterns, the Band 7 does the job. 

Battery life and charging

• Lengthy battery life
• Closely diminished by always-on show
• Proprietary charger

On account of its small measurement and tiny app choice, Amazfit claims that you could get 18 days of use of the Band 7 from a single cost. I’d say a few weeks is nearer to my expertise, however that is dramatically diminished for those who activate the fixed well being monitoring and the always-on show.

With the latter engaged, and me forgetting to vary the show brightness frequently, the Band 7 barely lasted 4 days. Now, in comparison with my previous Apple Watch Collection 6, that is nonetheless nice, however to succeed in these vaunted figures equipped by Amazift you’ll want to show off a couple of options.

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When it does come time to energy up the Band 7 you’ll want the proprietary charging cable that comes within the field. It attaches magnetically to the again of the Band and will get the 232mAh battery again as much as 100% in simply shy of two hours.

Value and availability

The Amazfit Band 7 is on the market straight from Amazfit for $49.99/£49.99.

This places it in the identical ballpark because the Huawei Band 7 (£49.99) and Xiaomi Band 7 (£54.99/€59.99) though neither of those can be found straight within the US, however we’ve seen them on Amazon for across the worth of Amazfit Band 7.

For that territory, the Fitbit Encourage 3 is the decide of the bunch, nevertheless it does up the value to $99.95/£84.99, or there’s the Honor Band 6 which at time of writing was obtainable on Amazon (US) for $45.99.

Verdict

For those who’re somebody who needs to enhance their basic health and desires an inexpensive and dependable tracker to assist, then the Amazfit Band 7 is a very strong selection. The vary of modes and options is sensible for one thing that prices lower than $50/£50, plus the PAI system is an interesting technique to discover out extra in regards to the traits and areas of enchancment in your total well being. 

Sure, the software program might do with some polish and a few sort of house button would make life simpler, however these are small complaints in contrast with what you get with the system. A wholesome possibility. 

Specs

• 1.47-inch AMOLED touchscreen show (198×368 decision, 282 ppi)
• BioTracker 3.0 PPG biometric sensor
• Coronary heart fee, SpO2 and sleep monitoring
• 3-axis Acceleration sensor
• Geomagnetic sensor
• 120 sport monitoring modes
• 5 ATM water resistance
• Bluetooth 5.2 BLE
• 232 mAh battery (charger included)
• 16mm TPU strap
• 42.3 x 24.36 x 12.2mm
• 28g (together with strap)