Huawei Band 6 in Nepal

Huawei Band 6 Review:

Design

• Frame made of polymer fibers with a metal finish
• 5 ATM certified, silicone band that can be taken off

The Huawei Band 6 follows the same path as its predecessor, the Huawei Band 5, in that it has a bigger design than its predecessor. The slim design has been completely redone, and I love the way it looks now. Call me old-fashioned, but I still like the classic loop-and-buckle watch strap, and the Band 6 hasn’t changed my mind about that.

It’s soft, doesn’t weigh much, and fits almost any wrist size. I haven’t had any skin irritations or allergic reactions from putting it on, either. The Honor Band 6 weighs 18 grams, and this one does too, but without the straps, so the weight isn’t an issue either.

Somewhat premium design

Huawei has tried to make its fitness tracker stand out in a few ways, even though it has the same design language as other trackers. First, the side button doesn’t have a red accent like it does on the Honor Band 6. In the same way, the frame on the other side doesn’t have a “Huawei” logo, even though Honor’s logo does.

But what’s more important is that the polymer fiber watch frame on the Huawei Band 6 has a metallic look and feel, which makes it look and feel more expensive than the plastic body on the Honor Band 6. Also, the Amber Sunrise version I have with me looks pretty good, and there are also Forest Green, Graphite Black, and Sakura Pink versions.

Display

• 1.47-inch AMOLED screen, 283 PPI 
• 100+ watch faces, 192 x 368 pixels

It has the same 1.47-inch AMOLED screen with 194 by 368 pixels on the front. This screen is, for the most part, the same as the one on Honor Band 6. But when I looked more closely, I noticed that the colors on the Huawei Band 6 looked a little more natural. It also had better contrast and black levels.

But let me say again that the difference is very small, and in everyday use, they are almost the same. For example, the most obvious difference in their supposed color calibration can be seen on the control panel.

But since that’s not the case anywhere else, we can just say that two companies made (slightly) different design decisions. I also put the same watch face on each one to see how they were different.

And in this one called “Thai Temple,” the brownish background stands out better on the Huawei Band 6 than it does on other devices. When it comes to watch faces, you can store up to 32 of them on the watch itself, and the Huawei Health app gives you even more options. Some also let you change what information they show.

ADDITIONAL Spo2 widget

Also, just like with the Honor Band 6, you can add up to 5 widgets to the homescreen. But Huawei’s product has a SpO2 widget as well, which is different from the competition. No matter what, the font size throughout the UI is easy to read and understand. This sharp screen with a pixel density of 283 PPI makes sure that you also don’t see any pixels.

Also, using swipe and touch gestures is easy because all four edges of the screen have very slight curves. The show is run by Huawei’s own OS, which is very well-optimized, and the animations look pretty smooth, too.

All the notifications that come in are stored at the bottom of the UI, and you can’t do anything with them. Even though the Huawei Band 6 can display Unicode fonts, it can’t show emojis. Also, the notifications would have been a little more useful if they had a time stamp.

Also, this fitness tracker is easy to see outside because it has 5 levels of brightness to choose from. But it doesn’t have auto-brightness like the Honor Band 6. So the screen doesn’t get nearly as dark as you’d want it to at night.

companion app

• Huawei Health (Android/iOS)

Here, the Huawei Band 6 works with the Huawei Health app made by the company. You know how the US put Huawei on the Entity List, which means it can’t work with any companies owned by the US, like Google?

Yeah, this is why Huawei hasn’t updated any of its Play Store apps in a long time, including Huawei Health. Strangely, the company doesn’t seem to have any trouble keeping the apps on Apple’s App Store up to date. So, I was using the Play Store version of Huawei Health before I knew it.

Not only did it not have features like continuous blood oxygen monitoring, but the data from the watch didn’t always match up well with the old app. But now that the latest version from Huawei’s AppGallery has been installed, everything is as good as new. The synchronization of data is quick, and the app doesn’t crash every now and then.

Besides this, things like syncing watch faces and updating the firmware can now be done quickly. Still, this doesn’t look much different, but I don’t mind. Still, you can’t do things like track your menstrual cycle unless you have HMS Core 4.0 or a newer version installed. In any case, all of your health information is set up in a way that makes it easy to understand, which is great.

Health,fitness tracking

• 96 workout modes (10 professional + 86 misc.)
• All-day blood oxygen, heart rate, stress monitoring

When it comes to fitness tracking, Huawei says the Band 6 will do a lot. It sounds like a lot—and it is—to have 96 ways to work out. But things couldn’t be worse in real life. The problem is that, aside from the 10 professional workout modes, the rest are pretty much the same.

You can get to it by going to the Workout menu and choosing Widgets. The only small bright spot in this big disappointment is that the different workout modes are well-organized into different groups. Here, you can find yoga, pilates, karate, dance, football, and even bungee jumping.

But all it keeps track of while you work out is your heart rate, how many calories you burn, and whether you are in an aerobic or anaerobic state. For this review, I worked out a couple of times to see how well Huawei and Honor’s Band 6 could track my health. Both of these fitness trackers showed the same BPM, which is great.

Large screen for all of your health information

Moving on, you can also view your workout details in the watch itself—at length, might I add. This includes heart rate zones, pace, cadence, and practically everything else that’s available on the Huawei Health app.

Even though I had set the high heart rate alert on both of them, neither of them went off when I carried a 25 kg sack up three flights of stairs as a very hard workout. I could almost hear my heart beating, but neither of them could figure out why. But when working out less hard or just hanging out, the Huawei Band 6 does send high heart rate alerts on time.

In addition to the 86 different exercise modes, you can also choose from 10 professional ones, just like on the Honor Band 6. This includes running, walking, jumping rope, using an elliptical, and other activities. The watch is waterproof up to 5 ATM, and Huawei has added the ability to track your pool swimming sessions to that.

Auto workout detection

Furthermore, the business has included auto workout detection, which performed noticeably better than the Honor Band 6. You can also set goals for time, calories, and distance on each professional workout mode, as well as receive notifications when you hit particular milestones like heart zones and training stress.

It can also keep track of your stress levels, calories burned, and sleep patterns. While the Huawei Band 6 has the newer, enhanced TruSleep 2.0 algorithm, I found the sleep monitoring of both wearables to be nearly identical. In a few of cases, the Honor Band 6 recorded a time that was 5-10 minutes off, but I can’t complain.

The Huawei Band 6, on the other hand, is unusual in that it delivers you a notification every morning regarding your nightly sleep score. However, this is seldom and can occur hours after you have awoken.

Continuous SpO2 monitoring

Apart from that, the continuous blood oxygen level monitoring is the fitness tracker’s major selling point. While most budget wearables at this price point stick to on-demand SpO2 monitoring, Huawei has gone a step further. However, Huawei’s approach to continuous blood oxygen monitoring is somewhat relaxed.

It can only record your SpO2 level every 30 minutes, and if you take the watch off for even a second between any 30-minute interval, it will not record your blood oxygen level for that time period. Overall, it’s a fantastic feature to have on a low-cost fitness band.

The watch itself or the associated app can be used to track your daily progress. Anyway, because it lacks a built-in GPS, you’ll have to carry your smartphone with you to your workouts if you want to track

Weather reports, breathing exercises, music playback control, alarm, stopwatch, find phone, and other features are included on the Huawei Band 6. The “Activity Records” section is also included to provide you a quick snapshot of your day’s health records. This covers metrics such as steps taken, activity time, and active hours.

Battery life

• 180mAh, Up to 14 days of battery life
• Magnetic charger, Fast charging support

Finally, let’s talk about the Huawei Band 6’s battery life. This phone, like Honor’s alternative, offers a two-week battery life. I expected this thing to last no more than 5-6 days with 24-hour blood oxygen monitoring set on. Surprisingly, I went 7-8 days without needing to charge it.

My daily use case included at least a couple of dozens of messages in addition to continuous SpO2 monitoring. And, because it doesn’t support auto brightness adjustment, I’d set the brightness level to 4 during the day and 1 at night. It’s also simple and quick to charge. It has a 2-pin POGO connector that allows it to go from zero to one hundred percent in about an hour.

Conclusion

Okay, let’s end up our Huawei Band 6 review. After all is said and done, the question remains: is it worthwhile to spend a few extra dollars on this? It doesn’t appear so, given its similarity to the less expensive Honor Band 6. And I’m leaning in the same direction. The only true benefit of purchasing the more expensive of the two is the ability to monitor blood oxygen levels continuously. So, if you can rationalize spending the extra cash for this feature, the Huawei Band 6 is well worth it.

Huawei Band 6 Review: Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Colorful, lightweight design
• Relatively premium build quality
• Large, vibrant AMOLED screen
• Well-optimized custom UI/UX
• All-day blood oxygen monitoring
• Impressive battery endurance
• Auto workout detection works well

Cons:

• Pricier than other fitness bands
• Watch faces aren’t that attractive
• Straps are difficult to remove