Hey.
My epic continues with the search for the perfect fitness bracelet, or rather, taking into account the main scenario of use as a means of transmitting notifications, a companion for a smartphone.
Another toy has arrived to me – Honor Band 5, and I hasten to share with you my first impressions.
And my first impressions were unpleasant, but not from the bracelet, but from the work of the postal services, and, as I suspect, primarily the Russian Post.
The bracelet came to me in a pretty crumpled box, which was either crushed by something heavy, or crumpled during processing.
It's good that the bracelet itself takes up little space inside the package, and it's good that the main blow of the elements in the form of the Russian Post took over the part of the box in which the charger is located.
Thanks to this, the bracelet itself was not damaged.
By the way, the charger is exactly the same as in the fourth and third generation.
Together with the bracelet, the kind Chinese seller put a protective film on the glass of the bracelet. There was also an advertising brochure, which, as I suspect, should have been inside the box with the bracelet, but somehow ended up outside. Customs, is it your doing?
Well, okay, now about the bracelet.
Specifications
- Dimensions: 43×17.2×11.5 mm
- Weight: 22.7g
- Supported platforms: devices on OS Android 4.4 and higher, iOS 9.0 and higher
- Display: 0.95-inch, AMOLED, resolution 240×120 pixels
- Duration of work: up to 6 days when all sensors and sensors are turned on; up to 9 days if continuous heart rate monitoring is disabled; up to 14 days when you turn off sleep monitoring and automatically turn on the display; up to 20 days when all sensors are turned off except for the pedometer
- Communications: Bluetooth 4.2
- Battery: 100mAh
- Sensors and sensors: 6-axis accelerometer, PPG (photoplethysmogram) heart rate sensor, IR wear detection sensor
- Other: level of protection against water ingress 5 ATM
Appearance
I don't even know if it makes sense to describe the appearance of the bracelet. It looks like this is a complete copy of the previous, fourth generation. And down to such trifles as the embossing pattern on the strap.
Here you can read more about the appearance:
Review Honor Band 4
In Huawei they decided to bother even less than Xiaomi, they just added functions to the previous generation and threw them on sale.
Well, how is that? Well, at least small design changes could be made?
Although there are differences – the appearance of the sensors on the inner surface. The glass has become more transparent, and the sensors are just a little larger. Well, at least some consolation and novelty (no).
The procedure for pairing the bracelet with the phone has not changed either.
When turned on, we are greeted with inscriptions on hieroglyphs that are understandable to all. We are traditionally offered to download the app 'Huawei Health' and perform pairing.
And so that the 'dear friend' buyer does not make a mistake in choosing an application between Huawei Wear and 'Huawei Health', the second page of the offer contains a QR code with a link to the application page in the Play Market.
We scan. Download, install, open.
And this is nothing new. Before pairing, 'Health' updates the list of available devices, including our bracelet.
We pair. Everything went quickly and did not hurt.
After pairing, we see that a software update of as much as 98 KB is available to us.
Of course, we are updating. And … after transferring data from the phone, the bracelet freezes and displays an animated update arrow for a long 10 minutes. Twists and turns …
After 10 minutes of contemplation of the green arrow and comprehension of Zen, my patience ran out. I had to break the pairing with the bracelet and put it on charge. After that, the arrow disappeared, the bracelet turned on, and it was possible to pair again. And… we were again offered an update, this time with a volume of more than seven megabytes. Can you guess what happened next? That's right, another 10 minutes of comprehending Zen through the contemplation of the green arrow.
And then the bracelet finished updating and turned on, displaying a beautiful colored dial.
And you know what? I liked the dial in Honor Band 4 better. ?
But we know that in the fifth version of the bracelet there are many new (according to Huawei) cool dials. It is possible that among them there is one, the main one with Band 4. But no. There are eight new dials of varying degrees of beauty, but the one loved by the previous generation is not. Very sorry.
By the way, to change the dial, the bracelet itself is enough without the program and the smartphone. Just keep your finger on the display until the bracelet briefly vibrates, and after that we scroll through the skins until needed.
Convenient, but again, not new.
A total of eight dials are available, among which there was not one that I would really like. There is a way to install new dials, but so far for me this is just an instruction from the 'four-way', which I have not yet had time to try. Its essence is that you need to install the Health program via VPN and create an account Huawei of another country (France, Germany, Belarus, etc.), after which it will be possible to download new skins, but only from those that will be available in the program (about 32 new skins), and only in exchange for those already installed in the bracelet.
Very sorry. In this regard Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 4 is a cut above.
Menu
In addition to the new dials, the SpO2 item has appeared in the list of bracelet features. It is a function of measuring the oxygen level in the blood.
To launch it, scroll to this item and simply tap on the icon. Blood oxygen measurement starts and the result appears. I have it 95%, and they say it's normal.
Together with the oxygen level, information about the heart rate appears. In this regard, the question is – why then do we need a separate item 'Pulse'? It looks like they were just too lazy to remove the excess.
I have a Chinese version of the bracelet with support for the Chinese AliPay payment system, for which there is a separate item in the menu.
At the moment, in Russia, this function is absolutely useless, like NFC, which is also there, is not involved in any way and does not work.
From what else caught my eye – the work of notifications. Unlike the previous generation, here messages are automatically deleted from the bracelet after they are read, and, most importantly, the bracelet slows down significantly less if there are a large number of these same notifications.
Yes, there are still slowdowns and plugs, but not as critical as it was in the fourth generation. In addition, small friezes are sometimes found in the menu itself when flipping through items.
According to this parameter, the novelty has become a little better than its predecessor, but still falls short of the fourth generation of the bracelet Xiaomi.
The unfinished menu is also striking, for example, with training modes, where some of the items do not have signatures, since most likely they were left without translation.
Conclusion
I wanted to write about more differences, but there is simply nothing to write about, since the 'five' from Huawei turned out to be not a new generation, but a small upgrade of the previous one. I would call a 4+ bracelet.
Their disappointment is the lack of music controls, as well as the lack of an easy way to download skins for the watch faces. From subjective flaws – this is again a strap with a classic watch buckle. For me, he turned out to be uncomfortable due to the fact that he constantly crawls out of the coat and clings to everything.
Of the advantages – the continuity of the design and appearance, which is why the charging cradle is suitable for the fifth generation from the two previous generations. And the design of the bracelet itself – all the same pleasant and laconic minimalism, will appeal to lovers of strict forms.
With regard to energy consumption, we can assume the same level of autonomy as in the fourth generation, which is neither bad nor good.
Actually, there is nothing more to say at the moment, except that the price tag for the bracelet is comparable to that for the device of the main competitor, Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 4, and is kept at the level of 3,000 rubles. when buying in Russia, and 1 700 – 1 900 rubles. when ordering from China.
May I recommend this bracelet for purchase? I do not even know. For myself, I decided to stay with Xiaomi.