Huawei Band 7 Review: Fit For Purpose

Huawei has regrouped. It was as soon as on its method to change into smartphone ruler of the west however following political issues it has now set its sights elsewhere, and goals to change into a best-selling good system model.

The Huawei Band 7 is the corporate’s newest try to assert a seat on the prime, focussing on style and health at a delightful value level. However in a sea of competitors, and with a barely tarnished title, stealing a march isn’t any simple job. Does the Band 7 have what it takes, regardless of how low the value, to face above the remaining and assist revive a flagging model?

Design and construct

• Slim enticing design
• First rate strap color choices
• Very gentle

Within the decade for the reason that launch of the primary ever smartwatches, we now have seen a number of distinct product ‘varieties’ come up. Of those, by far essentially the most ubiquitous is the good band’, aka the exercise tracker. Usually costing below $50/£50, they provide sturdiness and rudimentary options primarily geared towards health and little else. Producers of virtually all stripes have tried their hand on this bracket, with many making an attempt completely different methods within the course of.

With the Band 7, Huawei has produced one thing that’s low cost however not bargain-bucket, premium with out being dear – and design is a key a part of that.

It’s accessible in pink, purple, black and inexperienced, with my assessment unit within the latter shade. It’s good to have a bit extra selection in comparison with a lot of the cheaper competitors, which typically solely provide generic black bands.

The system itself is constructed from a pleasant sturdy feeling matt plastic, with a single button on the precise facet and numerous sensors beneath. At 16g (with out the strap) it’s gentle on the wrist, and at 9.9mm thick it ought to match simply below most shirt sleeves, whereas the strap is a comparatively breathable plastic/rubber composite.

As regards to sturdiness, although no nice claims are made for affect resistance or scratch resistance, the Band 7 is rated for five ATM of water resistance. This could theoretically imply it should stand up to a swim, even when it would have to be babied a bit normally use to keep away from injury.

This apart, the case itself feels strong and effectively constructed, and well worth the value of entry for essentially the most half. Good bands are by no means going to be thought of essentially the most premium of product classes, however that is one that may cross as a watch normally utilization in addition to on a run.

Sean Cameron

Show

• 1.47in display screen
• OLED
• All the time-on possibility

Display screen high quality is the important thing to success of any health tracker. Any show used wants to stay legible in any lighting situation, be large enough to point out crucial info and sharp sufficient to learn with out squinting.

By these extremely scientific metrics, the show used within the Band 7 is of excellent high quality. That’s to say that it will get dim sufficient for use at night time, however fairly vivid sufficient to fight a very sturdy summer season solar. It’s sufficiently huge (1.47in) as to have the ability to present a bunch of data with out feeling crowded, and although it gained’t win awards for sharpness it’s extremely legible for essentially the most half. As an OLED display screen it provides inky blacks and good distinction, although it doesn’t fairly problem the most effective on this level.

An added plus on the value level is the presence of an all the time on show, which does drain the battery significantly however is a substantial high quality of life enchancment. It permits the Band 7 to behave extra as a watch substitute than would possibly in any other case be attainable, and is greater than the likes of the Apple Watch SE can provide at roughly 5 occasions the value.

Software program and options

• Huawei’s personal software program
• Notification alerts
• Works with Android and iOS

As a sensible band moderately than a smartwatch, the expectations from a software program perspective are moderately decrease for the Band 7 than they could be for the likes of an Apple Watch. Whereas the latter ought to be capable of operate virtually as a mini-smartphone, a smartband’s major goal is to trace well being info and present the time.

It’s a nice shock to see then that not solely does the Band 7 provide fairly a number of software program options for the value, however that they’re principally effectively thought via and fleshed out.

The Band 7 runs a customized working system from Huawei. It isn’t like choices from Apple and different firms that enable apps to be put in, however as a substitute has a set of choices that may solely be expanded by way of a software program replace direct from the corporate itself.

Fortunately, for essentially the most half this isn’t a difficulty, because the supplied software program is comparatively totally fleshed out. Along with the anticipated suite of health and well being monitoring choices there’s a torch possibility, the flexibility to ping your telephone whether it is misplaced, alarms and extra. Although the likes of the Apple Watch provide choices for music management and extra, this can be a system focussed solely on the necessities, with a number of extras thrown in for good measure. 

Sean Cameron

Notifications will also be acquired on the Band 7, and given the scale of the display screen they’re simple sufficient to learn though they can’t be interacted with in any significant means. I examined the watch with iOS and with Android, and located no points or bugs when interacting with both. 

Interactions with the system are solely made via the medium of the touchscreen and the facet button. The button wakes the system and opens numerous menu choices, whereas all the things else is dealt with by swipes on the show. There are apparent drawbacks to this method, providing bodily controls permits extra of the show to stay usable while you’re it, nonetheless in apply I rapidly received used to this management scheme discovering it to not be a difficulty.

Altering watch faces and the like is dealt with via the Huawei Well being app, which is generally well-featured although I used to be dismayed to see a proliferation of paid watch faces accessible. If you’re giving this to a toddler or teenager as a present, this could be one thing to observe (no pun supposed).

Efficiency and health

• Barely laggy
• 96 sport monitoring choices
• Good for runners

Generally operation, the software program on the Band 7 works effectively and easily. I didn’t expertise many delays in swiping via the interface, although opening sure options (i.e. the alarm operate) normally triggered a slight delay – although that is to be anticipated given the value level. It was by no means an obstacle to utilization.

With respect to health, the Band 7 can monitor coronary heart fee, SpO2 ranges, can monitor sleep, provides assisted-GPS for runs (which means it has to hyperlink to your telephone to plot your route) and has 96 separate exercise choices, protecting at the least the entire fundamentals. An necessary caveat to the above is that whereas it may carry out measurements, these won’t ever be as correct as a real medical system and as such any readings should be taken with a grain of salt.

That is significantly true of these information areas which might be a bit harder to construct an correct image of. I discovered that sleep monitoring for example was a bit skew-whiff, reporting wonderful sleep at occasions the place this was patently unfaithful.

Fortunately, out of doors monitoring proved to be fairly correct, intently following our route on numerous lengthy walks via areas of patchy countryside connectivity. As a consequence, this can be a band that can swimsuit avid runners effectively specifically.

Although this isn’t a tool that may provide the identical excessive degree of precision in monitoring and monitoring as a number of the greater finish competitors, it additionally is available in at a fraction of the value. As such, it should actually be adequate for folks concerned with health, if not elite athletes.

Sean Cameron

Battery life

• Two week declare
• Realistically simply 4 days
• Cost cable in field

Of all of the claims that Huawei makes relating to the Band 7, its quoted battery life is among the many grandest. In keeping with the agency, it’s attainable to stand up to 2 weeks of utilization with out an excessive amount of effort.

This will actually be attainable if the system is left in a drawer with nothing to do for that size of time, however the determine was positively not reflective of our experiences. With the always-on-display energetic and notifications incoming, I discovered that I might get via a strong 3 days of utilization earlier than it was time to plug in. By deactivating these (and due to this fact eradicating performance from the system) I might stretch one other 3 to 4 days on common.

Whether or not it would be best to deactivate a whole lot of these options for battery acquire might be a matter of non-public selection, nonetheless we suspect that the majority will be capable of discover a stability that fits their wants. 

Worth and availability

The Huawei Band 7 is on the market now instantly from Huawei within the UK for costs starting at £49.99. 4 color choices can be found: Wilderness Inexperienced, Graphite Black, Nebula Pink and Flame Crimson.

You should buy it from Huawei, Argos, Amazon, and Currys.

Verdict

There are a whole lot of completely different good band choices available on the market right this moment, from small scale Chinese language producers via to huge names like Garmin and Fitbit, everybody needs a slice of the pie. In opposition to this powerful competitors, the Huawei Band 7 provides greater than sufficient to face out. 

With beauty, sturdy development, an enormous show, first rate battery life, strong train monitoring (for essentially the most half) and easy software program it makes an ideal first impression. Missing any type of scratch or drop resistance, barely squiffy sleep monitoring and some different niggles preserve it from true greatness, however for the value it’s greater than ok. If you’re searching for a superb worth good band right this moment, the Huawei Band 7 must be close to the highest of your checklist.

Specs

• Huawei OS
• Huawei Well being app
• 1.47in OLED show
• 96 health/sports activities tracked
• Assisted GPS
• Coronary heart fee monitor
• SpO2 monitoring
• Sleep monitoring