"HUAWEI Band 6" review. Exquisite arrangement of price, function, and fit

　I purchased the smart band "HUAWEI Band 6" released by Huawei. After using it for a while, I will review it.

Index

• 1 unboxing
• 2 Appearance check
  • 2.1 Body with a large, easy-to-read display
  • 2.2 A belt that feels comfortable to wear and has a sense of commitment
• 3 usability
  • 3.1 Enhanced functions
  • 3.2 Necessary and sufficient notification function
  • 3.3 Excellent battery environment
  • 3.4 Blood oxygen level measurement that can also be automatically measured
• 4 Some parts are better than this machine! Difference from the top model "HUAWEI WATCH FIT"
• 5 areas of concern
  • 5.1 Customizing the watch face and constant lighting
  • 5.2 Pretty bright display, but on the other hand...
  • 5.3 Slightly higher pricing
• 6 general comments

Opened

　The package looks like this. The inner box has a tab to pull it out, and it is simple but considerate. Included items are a USB cable with charging cradle, a quick start guide, and a warranty card. Charger not included.

Appearance check

Main unit with large, easy-to-read display

　The display, which is the biggest feature of this unit, is a large 1.47-inch organic EL for a smart band .

　When you think of a smart band display, you generally think of an elongated one like the HUAWEI Band 4 Pro on the left of the image below, but this unit expands it horizontally to enhance visibility and operability. The screen display area is about 1.5 times larger than the Band 4 Pro, and the screen occupancy rate is also increased to 64%.

　The width of the main body is about 25.4mm . Compared to the 40mm width of a typical wristwatch, it is sufficiently suppressed, and it does not get in the way when typing on the keyboard and is comfortable. While the display is easier to see, I felt that it was an exquisite design that does not impair the comfort of wearing a smart band . The contrast, brightness, and resolution of the display are also good.

　Power / home button on the right side of the main unit. The click feeling is good.

　According to the official website, the side material is "durable polymer". If you poke it lightly, you will feel that it is "fully packed", and although it is made of resin, it does not feel cheap . At first glance, the finish looks like a satin metal material, and the 2.5D display is very beautiful.

　The back of the main unit is equipped with a charging terminal and various sensors. Although magnets are used for charging, it is important to note that the charging cable can only be attached from the right side of the screen.

　The main body weight excluding the belt is 18g , which is extremely lightweight. It has a water resistance of 5 ATM that can withstand swimming.

A belt that feels good to wear and feels commitment

　The belt is the one I've been using and felt was particularly wonderful. It does not use high-performance materials such as the fluoroelastomer used in Apple Watch, and is made of general silicone, and the belt fastening method is not special, but it has been devised to enhance the comfort of wearing in the details . The first innovation is in the belt loop that fastens the excess part of the belt.

　As you can see, there is a protrusion on the inside that fits into the belt hole, preventing the belt loop from slipping and the excess belt from floating. In addition, the tip of the belt is rounded with a slight angle , which also contributes to preventing the excess part from floating.

　In addition, the belt holes can be finely adjusted at intervals of about 3 mm, which is a great feature for those with thin wrists who tend to have excess belts . The image when installed is like this. You can see that the belts are shaped so that they fit perfectly.

　Combined with the lightweight body, the actual feeling of wearing it makes you forget you're wearing it . It's so comfortable that it's normal to wear it all the time. The belt can also be replaced, and although it is a non-genuine product, replacement belts are sold on EC sites.　Continuous wear is important for health tracking, and a comfortable fit is essential for that. While keeping costs down in terms of materials and structure, I was impressed by the careful consideration given to the comfort of wearing.

usability

Enhanced functions

　Below, we will introduce the feeling of use when combined with an Android smartphone. Pairing is from the "HUAWEI Health" app. I could not register this unit as a "trusted device" for Smart Lock, probably because it uses its own pairing method instead of the Android system's pairing. This is a personal point of disappointment. The main functions installed are as follows.

• workout record
• Heart rate measurement
• Blood oxygen level measurement
• Activity record
• Sleep measurement
• Stress level measurement
• Menstrual cycle tracking (Android only)
• breathing exercises
• Music control (Android only)
• Notification confirmation
• check the weather
• Stopwatch
• timer
• alarm

　Supports 24-hour monitoring of heart rate, blood oxygen level, sleep, stress level, etc. In addition to being able to check detailed records from HUAWEI Health, you can also take advantage of the wide display on this unit for easy viewing.

　The response was unexpectedly good. This smart band machine enhances battery life and wearing comfort instead of sacrificing expandability and performance. The price is also the price, and to be honest, I didn't expect it at all, but it was good enough that I didn't feel stressed even if it wasn't smooth . The only thing I'm worried about is that the scrolling of the notification screen may be heavy. From here, we will introduce excerpts of the usability of functions such as notification function, battery life, and blood oxygen level measurement.

Necessary and sufficient notification function

　With the notification function, it is possible to set individual applications to receive notifications. Note that if you enable notifications for apps that operate using the notification area like a music player, you may receive notifications for each operation. The actual notification display looks like this. Although it is not a Chinese font and has a smooth display with anti-aliasing, it seems that pictograms cannot be displayed.

　It is not possible to reply to notifications, only confirmation is possible . As far as I used it, most of the apps worked without problems, but I couldn't display the text only in Gmail . Also, some apps do not reflect icons.

　Up to 10 notifications can be accumulated. In addition, the "back" operation is assigned to the swipe from the left to the right of the screen on this unit, but if you do that operation when an individual notification is displayed, the notification will be deleted, so if you want to keep it, press the home button You have to go home at once.

　Also, although the cause is unknown, we have confirmed a bug that the same notification is displayed twice on Twitter, and some characters in the title of the notification are missing.

　Other than these bugs, there is no problem in using it, and it is sufficient as a supplement to smartphones. If I had to ask, I would have been happy if there was a setting to reduce the text size of notifications to make the most of the wide display. As an aside, the vibration is not a tactile thing like the Apple Watch, but a general shaking.

Excellent battery environment

　Battery life is pretty good. Wear it all the time except when bathing, enable all 24-hour measurement of various health tracking functions, enable automatic workout detection, enable lift to wake up, set the minimum brightness, and average 50 notifications per day . Battery level is 50% after 6 days of use . It is a result that seems to be able to get through without charging for a good 12 days.

　Charging is fast, from 50% to 100% in about 30 minutes, and you can use it without worrying about battery life just by charging it for a while. There is also a function to limit notification ringing and screen lighting, so if you use it, it will last even longer.

Blood oxygen level measurement that can be automatically measured

　This machine can measure the blood oxygen level (SpO2), which is in the spotlight due to the corona sickness . In addition to 24-hour automatic measurement and alerts when the set value is exceeded, manual measurement is also supported, in which case measurement is completed in about 15 seconds. Since it is not designed as a medical device, it is not recommended to use it for the purpose of diagnosing, treating, or preventing illness.

　In addition, HUAWEI Health on the Play Store has stopped updating and automatic measurement cannot be set, so if you want to use it, you need to install the latest version from HUAWEI AppGallery or apk distribution site.

Some parts are better than this machine! Difference from the top model "HUAWEI WATCH FIT"

　There is "HUAWEI WATCH FIT" as a more expensive Huawei wearable product that has a similar form factor to this unit. Since the price difference between this machine and WATCH FIT on Amazon is small at about $21, some people may buy WATCH FIT at this price difference.

　However, depending on the application, this unit has some advantages over the WATCH FIT. Here, we will analyze the differences between this unit and WATCH FIT from the specification table, and consider what applications this unit is suitable for.

	HUAWEI Band 6	HUAWEI WATCH FIT
screen	1.47 inch (368×194) AMOLED, 282PPI	1.64 inch (456×280) AMOLED, 326PPI
size	43×25.4×10.99mm, 18g (excluding belt)	46×30×10.7mm, 21g (excluding belt)
Battery life	14 days with normal use, 10 days with heavy use	10 days for normal use, 7 days for heavy use
sensor	Accelerometer, gyro sensor, optical heart rate sensor	Accelerometer, gyro sensor, optical heart rate sensor, ambient light sensor, wearing detection sensor
GPS	none	Yes
workout demo animation	none	Yes
Expected market price	$61	$108
Actual price on Amazon	$56	$78

　The bottom line is that the device is better suited for health tracking than for tracking workouts. Although this device is about 5mm narrower and 3g lighter than the WATCH FIT, the battery life is longer by 3 to 4 days, probably because both the screen size and pixel density are smaller. As mentioned in the belt section, continuous wear and comfortable fit are important for health tracking. In that respect, it can be said that this machine is superior to WATCH FIT.

　Of course, it doesn't mean that you can't record workouts, just like WATCH FIT, it supports 96 workout modes. However, it does not have a built-in GPS, so you need a smartphone to record routes such as running, and there is no built-in demo animation that can be used as a reference for workouts. turns out to be not suitable.

　The fact that the price is suppressed means that there is a part that has been cut somewhere. It's just a word that sublimates such an inevitable trade-off into a form of specialization in health tracking .　In addition, although there is no description of the wearing detection sensor in the specification table of this machine, it seems that various measurements will stop when it is not worn regardless of that.

anxious part

About watch face customization and constant lighting

　At the time of writing the article, there are 105 free watch faces and 212 paid ones. It is possible to switch from HUAWEI Health and from the main unit, and it is possible to save as long as there is room in the internal storage on the main unit. When I tried it, I was able to save 27 types. Some watch faces also support customization of display data. However, what bothered me was that there weren't many of them, and I didn't know if they were compatible until I installed them on the main unit . As far as the author confirmed, four of the free ones, "Bright", "GoldCycle", "LightYellow" and "Track", were customizable.

　Also, I was worried that there is no watch face that supports constant lighting . Since it is installed in the WATCH FIT mentioned earlier, it should not be technically impossible. Thanks to the excellent battery life, it is considered that the constant lighting is sufficiently practical, so I would like to expect it to be added in the update.

Pretty bright display, on the other hand...

　The display of this unit is sufficiently bright even at the lowest brightness. However, it became an enemy and I felt dazzling when I went to bed and woke up . The screen brightness can be adjusted in 5 steps, but I would like you to expand the range further.

　Also, since this unit does not have an ambient light sensor, you have to manually adjust the brightness, but the setting is in a slightly deeper hierarchy: application list → setting → display → brightness . I think it's a setting that some people adjust frequently, so I thought it might be a good idea to place it somewhere easier to reach, such as the quick settings.

slightly higher pricing

　Although it is superfluous, I felt that it was a little regrettable price setting. The price of this machine in China is 269 yuan (about $33 in US Dollar), but the estimated market price in Japan is 8580 yen, which is about 1.8 times higher.

　Of course, considering the various costs of selling in Japan, I think it's unavoidable that there will be a price difference. However, for example, the competing Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 5 is priced at 189 yuan (about $23 in US Dollar) in China, while the price in Japan is 4490 yen, which is about 1.4 times higher.

　This machine is packed with charm and ingenuity that makes it feel cheap enough even at the current price, but as mentioned above, the actual price difference with the higher model HUAWEI WATCH FIT is small at about $21 ( A simple comparison is not possible due to the different release dates.) Even though it is differentiated, I think that if the price was kept down a little more...

Overall review

　In a good way, I don't think it's a product with a street price of $56. On the hardware side, it's a great design that achieves both a comfortable fit and a large, easy-to-read screen while keeping costs down. In particular, the wide screen size is so exquisite that other companies are likely to follow suit.

　Personally, I was impressed by the fact that the concept of specializing in health tracking was realized by taking advantage of the trade-off to keep the price down, instead of being a simple degraded version of the high-end model. Recently, there are various things that make it difficult to use Huawei products, but I was reminded of Huawei's high planning ability. We felt it was a great smartband that could be the best buy for many people who value health tracking. Why don't you try it?