Review: Huawei Band 6

Huawei has equipped its latest Smartband, the Band 6, to help its users stay active and ultimately live a healthy lifestyle. If you put together numerous features — both practical and innovative — and a design that’s both stylish and contemporary, you get Huawei’s Band 6.

A Design for Any Occasion

As someone who enjoys dressing up (and dressing up well), I’m a big fan of the Band 6’s versatility in terms of style and design. For starters, the combination of its screen with the fiberglass-reinforced polymer strap can easily match with a number of outfits and attires, from activewear, casualwear, athleisure and many more. As an individual who can be on the fairway during the morning and attend a virtual meeting in the afternoon, a Smartband that’s as versatile and stylish as this will almost always be seen around my wrist.

There are a total of 4 straps to choose from with the Band 6, namely Graphite Black, Amber Sunrise, Sakura Pink and Forest Green. To add to the personalization of the Smartband, there are more than 100 stylish watch faces available to suit whatever mood, attire and/or occasion to compliment your choice of strap.

Refined Display

One of the aspects that Huawei put emphasis on in regard to the Band 6 specifically is its display; with a 1.47-inch FullView AMOLED Display, its screen boasts a 64% screen-to body ratio and is 148% larger than its predecessor.

A larger screen is more conducive to an immersive experience, which is what’s clearly evident with the Band 6. Personally, this was most appreciated when watching (and attempting to emulate) the workout animations while exercising, which is just one of the many features I will tackle later on.

Additionally, Huawei has allowed the Smartband to be water-resistant, making it that much more convenient and less of a worry in a number of situations.

Capable Battery

Another aspect that Huawei has put a bit more “oomph” in is the Band 6’s battery capacity. With an average battery life of 14 days, it’s safe to say that it can impressively last weeks on a full charge.

What was most noteworthy for me, however, was actually the speed in which it was capable of recharging, especially given its total capacity. At a shade under 10 minutes, the Band 6 was able to charge up to 20%! 

Loaded with Features

If I were to be asked my favorite thing about the Band 6, it would definitely be the multitude of workout features that’s jam packed into the Smartband, which just goes to show the extent that Huawei has gone in allowing this product to be your ideal workout partner. With 96 different workout modes that include various different sports and activities, it’s almost impossible not to find an exercise best for you.

The Band 6 also has many features that passively work behind the scenes that are just as important as the ones previously mentioned, in my opinion. From its 24/7 SPO2 (blood oxygen saturation) monitoring, TruSleep for sleep tracking, TruRelax for stress management and TruSeen 4.0 for accurate heart monitoring, Huawei has littered the Band 6 with seemingly endless features. In fact, there’s even menstrual cycle management for food intake, pregnancy planning, exercise and stress. Unfortunately, this is the one feature I can’t enjoy.

Huawei’s extensive exercise assistance doesn’t stop there. The Band 6 constantly collects real-time data based on multi-dimensional parameters which it ultimately analyzes. This is then relayed to the user in easy-to-understand graphs, charts, assessments, etc., in order to increase overall performance, from maximum oxygen intake, recovery time, training effects, and working out more efficiently. So, not only does the Band 6 help in merely exercising, but it helps in attaining results as well.

An Ideal Workout Partner

Golf, basketball and lifting weights are the physical activities I partake in, all involving a great deal of movement with the arms, most especially the wrist. The Band 6 is actually not of a bother nor nuisance at all during these activities, being lightweight (only 18g) and with a silicone strap that securely wraps around your wrist.

These 3 primary activities are quite different from one another and yet the Smartband can be effective in its own ways, which attests to its versatility. During golf, the features I find myself using most are the total number of steps taken, the current weather and, quite frankly, the stress level management when my ball frustratingly flies into the water for the 6th time. When shooting hoops, I mainly keep track of both my heartrate and the total calories burned as the main source of my cardio. Lastly, the plethora of workout features and animations make exercising alone in a home-gym that much more fun and effective.

Though, one instance for myself that would need a bit of getting used to would be wearing the Smartband to bed while its TruSleep works its magic overnight. This, however, might be more of a testament to my habitual sleeping positions (arms slid beneath the pillow, hence putting pressure on the wrist) than the Band 6’s overall comfortability.

Another characteristic I appreciate with the Band 6 is that not only will it be of assistance, but can even be a source of motivation and encouragement. The Smartband can detect when you’ve been idle or physically inactive for a significant amount of time, and consequently alerts you to do a quick exercise, go for a stretch, or reach your goal for total number of steps, among others. I actually experience this the most when at the wheel during long drives, as the Band 6 lets me know to go for a stretch and get moving a bit. Always nice to have someone looking out for you, am I right?

Verdict

I feel like I’ve talked extensively about a number of features already, and yet there are still quite a number worth mentioning still. Huawei certainly put the “Smart” in “Smartband”, and at only P2,599, its price tag might actually be too good to be true.