Bracelet Huawei TalkBand B5 Active - advantages and disadvantages

In early July 2018, the Huawei TalkBand B5 fitness bracelet went on sale. The popularity of previous models from the Chinese company Huawei aroused great interest in this new device. But everyone was surprised by the average price of the novelty, which is more than 15,000 rubles. Like all popular companies, Huawei produces high-quality models of electronic devices, but does the functionality of this “smart” bracelet justify such a high cost?

Equipment

When buying a fitness tracker in a visually beautiful and durable blister pack, you will find:

• a premium bracelet that combines a fitness tracker and a bluetooth headset, with a stand;
• charging cable (micro USB);
• ear pads (2 sets with different sizes);
• instruction;
• guarantee.

Appearance

Strap

The device came out in three variations: Active, Classic, Elite. According to their characteristics, they are absolutely identical, and their differences are only in the straps. The Classic comes with a leather version and the Elite comes with a metal one. Huawei TalkBand B5 Active got a silicone strap in black and ice gray. Depending on the wrist, its length is adjustable from 14 to 21 cm. The 18 mm wide strap is soft, comfortable, and non-allergenic. It does not cause any discomfort, not only during the day, but also during sleep.

Frame

The top of the case is made of 316L stainless steel, which is characterized by increased strength and ductility. On the inner plastic side, which follows the shape of the wrist, there are optical sensors, two LEDs for backlighting. Dimensions compared to the previous model have increased and are 58.2 * 23.3 * 12.9 mm. Device weight with headset: 54.3 g. The international rating of quality properties of IP is 57 with a maximum of 69. These values ​​show excellent protection against dust and moisture and the ability to submerge the device to a depth of 1.5 meters.

The case is equipped with only three buttons: one for control and two for removing the capsule. The control button allows you to reset the training mode, accept and reject incoming calls, make a call, though only to the selected 10 numbers listed in the contacts.

Bluetooth headset

A capsule is inserted into the case, which, when removed, turns into a bluetooth headset. It has a built-in ear pad and speaker, it is also equipped with a display, holes for a microphone, a magnetic insert for easy attachment to the case and a micro USB input. Its dimensions are 44.1 * 20 * 11.9 mm. Weight 14.3 gr.

The headset helps to free your hands when receiving calls, plus there is no need to constantly wear it in your ear. It is very easy to take it out of the bracelet and put it back in.

Externally, all parts of the fitness tracker are qualitatively assembled from excellent materials. The elegant design looks attractive and stylish.

Screen and interface

The 13-inch AMOLED full-color touchscreen display delivers crisp, bright images with reasonably deep blacks, even in sunlight. Compared to the previous model, it has increased by 2.4 times, which significantly improved the work with information. The 300*160 resolution touch screen protects the rounded and shockproof Full arc 2.5D glass.

The interface is quite simple, one might even say primitive. All control is carried out using swipes on the touchscreen and a button located on the side. Also very convenient flipping, turning the wrist, freeing the second hand. Although you won’t please everyone, and for someone the constant change of the image on the screen with every movement of the hand is tiring.

On the display, in addition to the time, you can find out the weather forecast, general statistics of activity and rest, which includes steps taken, sleep phases, heart rate, evaluate your workouts and view calls.

The main menu offers you to choose from over a dozen different watch faces, adjust the brightness and background, and other display settings:

• choose training mode, which offers 4 exercise modes: outdoor running, treadmill, walking and riding. Unfortunately, the device contains a small selection of modes, unlike, for example, Apple, in which their number reaches 25 categories, including yoga, stretching, breathing, and even rowing.There is no automatic determination of the type of sports activities, so each time you need to set the desired mode;
• view notifications, no more than 100 characters. If it contains more characters, it will not be displayed completely;
• set reminders and alarms;
• listen to voice messages;
• control the player and camera on a synchronized smartphone. When taking a photo, touching the smart bracelet triggers the camera shutter, which is very convenient for selfies. True, these actions are only compatible with HUAWEI phones running no older than EMUI 4.1;
• find your lost phone using the Anti-lost function, the use of which makes the device ring even in silent mode.

The device is endowed with useful technologies:

1. HUAWEI TruRelax allows you to assess your stress levels by tracking your heart rate and offering breathing exercises.
2. HUAWEI TruSleep 2.0 monitors all sleep cycles and compiles a hypnogram that includes four stages: light and deep sleep, REM stage and wakefulness. These indicators are very important, as good sleep is the key to health. The quality of sleep is analyzed by measuring the pulse. Based on the received data, you can adjust your further actions.
3. TruSeen 2.0 measures your heart rate 24 hours a day and gives you workout statistics provided by your smartwatch.
4. HUAWEI TalkBand B5 tracks stress and sleep quality based on Firstbeat calculation and provides a detailed performance assessment with recommendations for recovery.
5. The built-in GPS-module, communicating with satellites, allows you to view the routes traveled in real time, indicating the speed, distance and trajectory.

A detailed view of the indicators and all other settings are made on a smartphone with an operating system of at least Android 4.4 or IOS 9.0 using the Huawei Health application. The fitness bracelet connects to the smartphone via the updated Bluetooth 4.2, operating at a frequency of 2.4 GHz.

Huawei Health Apps

The application analyzes the user's activity, counting the number of steps, measuring the distance traveled or traveled, along with this, the number of calories burned and the time spent are analyzed. With the help of a fitness bracelet, the heartbeat is controlled so as not to exhaust the body and stop sports loads in time.

Huawei Health displays information in the form of tables and charts in great detail, which do not look as attractive as Apple's fitness bracelets, but the result is visible and quite accurate.

The data collected by Huawei Health can be sent to multiple servers such as Google Fit. Jawbone UP and MyFitnessPal for deeper exercise monitoring.

The program insists on notifications, adds alerts and updates the firmware for the device.

Like most Huawei Health applications, you can select and download on the Play Market.

Performance and autonomy

Huawei TalkBand B5 is equipped with a 3-core cortex m4 processor, which performs fast data processing. "Smart" watches are endowed with built-in memory of 1 MB, and RAM is 512 KB.

Autonomy provides a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 108 mAh. The battery, even compared to previous models, does not say that it holds a charge for a long time. The time of using the bracelet as a fitness tracker with the HUAWEI TruSleep application turned off without recharging can reach 3.5 days, and with it turned on, about 3 days. Talk time with a Bluetooth headset is reduced to 6 hours. The device is fully charged in 2-3 hours.

Sound

Very impressive sound quality. Built-in powerful triple-core HD audio sound chip, endowed with dual-channel noise reduction function, dual microphone and optimized antenna, it can produce sufficiently clear and loud sound. When talking on the headset, both parties to the conversation perfectly hear each other even in a noisy environment.

Outcome

In conclusion, we can highlight the main pros and cons of the Huawei TalkBand B5 bracelet.

• combining the functionality of a fitness tracker and a Bluetooth headset;
• quality materials and assembly;
• protection against moisture and dust;
• clear interface;
• large battery capacity;
• bright display with good resolution;
• aesthetically pleasing design;
• enlarged color display;
• improved measurement accuracy;
• quick calls to your favorite numbers from the bracelet;
• the presence of a GPS module;
• viewing SMS notifications;
• quality sound.

• the case is half plastic, even in Huawei TalkBand B2 it was completely metal;
• a micro USB charging connector, not USB Type C, which is used in many places and extra wires do not please anyone;
• a small number of training modes;
• there is no automatic connection with a smartphone after connecting to other devices;
• incomplete display of SMS messages;
• High price.

As you can see, the bracelet has decent technical characteristics, the measurement results are at a high level, plus a beautiful and convenient design, so whether this device is worth the price is up to you.