Review about Huawei Band 7. It was originally poised to conquer the Western smartphone market, but due to political issues, it has since changed its focus and is now aiming to become the best-selling smart device brand.
The Huawei Band 7 is the business’ most recent effort to establish itself as a leader, focusing on fashion and fitness at a reasonable price.
Review about Huawei Band 7:
Stealing a march is a difficult undertaking though, especially in a sea of rivals and with a somewhat tainted reputation. Does Band 7, despite its modest cost, have what it takes to separate from the competition and reinvigorate a failing brand?
Design and build:
- Slim attractive design
- Decent strap color options
- Very light
Since the introduction of the first smartwatches a decade ago, several distinct product “types” have emerged. The activity tracker, sometimes known as a smart band, is by far the most common of them. They provide durability and basic features that are mostly focused on fitness and frequently cost less than $50/£50. Almost every manufacturer has tried its hand in this bracket, and many have experimented with various strategies.
With the Band 7, Huawei has created a product that is affordable but not dirt cheap, premium without being expensive, and design is a crucial component of that.
It comes in the colors green, black, pink, and red, and the latter is what my review unit is. Having a few more options is preferable to the cheaper competitors, which frequently only offer basic black bands.
The device is made of beautiful, sturdy-feeling matte plastic, and it has several sensors underneath and one button on the right side. It is thin enough to comfortably go under the sleeves of most shirts at 9.9mm thick and weighs only 16g (without the strap). The strap is made of a relatively breathable plastic/rubber combination.
The Band 7 is certified for 5 ATM of water resistance in terms of durability, while no major claims are made regarding impact resistance or scratch resistance. Theoretically, this should imply that it can endure a swim, even though general use may require a little more care to prevent damage.
Except for this, the case itself feels well-made and substantial, making it generally worthwhile to pay the price of admission. Although smart bands will never be seen as the most high-end of product categories, this one can be worn both as a watch and as a running band.
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Display:
- 1.47in screen
- OLED
- Always-on option
Each fitness tracker’s success depends on its screen. Any display that is utilized must be large enough to show all relevant information and sharp enough to read without squinting in any lighting situation.
These extremely accurate measures show that the display in the Band 7 is of good quality. In other words, it becomes sufficiently bright to block out a very intense summer sun while still becoming sufficiently dim to be utilized at night. It is big enough (1.47in) to display a lot of information without feeling cluttered, and while it won’t win any prizes for sharpness, it is generally very legible. Despite not being an OLED panel, it provides deep blacks and good contrast.
Its always-on display, which does significantly deplete the battery but significantly improves quality of life, is an extra bonus at the pricing point. It enables the Band 7 to function more like a watch replacement than would otherwise be conceivable and goes beyond what products like the Apple Watch SE, which costs around five times as much, can provide.
Software and features:
- Huawei’s own software
- Notification alerts
- Works with Android and iOS
Software-wise, the expectations for the Band 7 are somewhat lower than they might be for something like an Apple Watch because it is a smart band rather than a smartwatch. The former should be able to do nearly all of the functions of a mini-smartphone, whereas a smart band’s main functions are to track health data and display the time.
The Band 7 offers a lot of software features for the price, and it is a pleasant surprise to learn that most of them have been carefully considered and are well-developed.
Huawei developed a unique operating system for Band 7. It includes a range of options that can only be increased via a software update from the company directly, unlike options from Apple and other companies that allow apps to be installed.
Fortunately, this is generally not a problem because the offered software is fairly well-developed. A torch option, the ability to ping your phone if it is lost, alerts, and more are available in addition to the standard selection of fitness and health tracking features. This is a device that is only focused on the necessities, with a few extras thrown in for good measure, whereas devices like the Apple Watch give options for music control and more measurements.
On Band 7, notifications may also be received, and because of the size of the screen, they are simple enough to read even though they cannot be meaningfully dealt with. I tested the watch on both iOS and Android, and neither platform had any problems or bugs.
Only the touchscreen and the side button are used for interactions with the device. The button awakens the device and activates a number of menu selections; all other operations are carried out via swipes on the display. Offering physical controls allows more of the display to remain useful when you are looking at it, but in fact, I rapidly adjusted to this control scheme and found it to be quite convenient despite the obvious downsides.
The Huawei Health app, which is generally well-featured but where I was shocked to discover a profusion of paid watch faces available, is where changing watch faces and other things of that nature are handled. This might be something to consider if you’re giving it to a kid or teen as a present (no pun intended).
Performance and fitness:
- Slightly laggy
- 96 sport tracking options
- Good for runners
Band 7’s software functions efficiently and well in general. Although opening some features, such as the alarm function, generally caused a minor wait, this is to be anticipated considering the price range. I didn’t notice any delays when swiping through the screen. Use was never hindered by it.
Band 7 features 96 different training options, which cover at least all of the fundamentals when it comes to fitness. It can track sleep, measure heart rate and SpO2 levels, and give assisted GPS for runs. This means that it must be connected to your phone in order to calculate your route. An essential qualification to the foregoing is that, despite its ability to perform measurements, these will never be as accurate as a true medical device, and as such, any readings must be taken with a grain of salt.
This is especially true for those data sets where it is a little trickier to create a precise picture. For example, I discovered that sleep tracking was a little skew-whiff, reporting wonderful sleep at times when this was obviously false.
The outside track, thankfully, turned out to be fairly precise, closely following our path on several lengthy treks through spots with spotty rural connectivity. Because of this, this band will especially appeal to serious runners.
Although it can’t provide the same high level of accuracy in tracking and monitoring as some of the more expensive competitors, this device costs a lot less. As a result, it will undoubtedly be adequate for those who are interested in fitness, even top athletes.
Battery life:
- Two-week claim
- Realistically just four days
- Charge cable in the box
The Band 7’s quoted battery life is one of Huawei’s biggest claims, out of all of them. The company claims that it is possible to use it for up to two weeks with no effort.
This is undoubtedly possible if the device is put in a drawer and left idle for that long, but the number was certainly not representative of our experiences. I discovered that I could use the device for a solid 3 days before needing to charge it, even with the always-on display turned on and notifications coming in. I could extend my battery life by deactivating these (and so removing functionality from the device) by an additional 3 to 4 days on average.
Personal preference will determine whether you want to turn off many of these features to save battery, but we believe that most people can find a balance that works for them.
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Price and availability:
Prices for the Huawei Band 7 starts at £49.99 and are now available straight from Huawei in the UK. Wilderness Green, Graphite Black, Nebula Pink, and Flaming Red are the available color options.
It is available via Currys, Argos, Amazon, and Huawei.
Specs
- Huawei OS
- Huawei Health app
- 1.47in OLED display
- Always-on option
- 96 fitness/sports tracked
- Assisted GPS
- Heart rate monitor
- SpO2 tracking
- Sleep tracking
