Huawei TalkBand B5 Active bracelet - advantages and disadvantages

Appearance

Strap

The device was released in three variations: Active, Classic, Elite. In terms of their characteristics, they are absolutely identical, and their differences are only in the straps. The Classic comes with a leather option, while the Elite comes with a metal option. Huawei TalkBand B5 Active has a silicone strap in black and ice gray colors. 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, shaped to follow the curve of the wrist, there are optical sensors and two LEDs for illumination. The dimensions have increased compared to the previous model and are 58.2 * 23.3 * 12.9 mm. Weight of the device including the headset: 54.3 g. The international IP rating is 57 with a maximum rating of 69. These values ​​indicate 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, and make a call, although only to selected 10 numbers included in your contacts.

Huawei TalkBand B5 Active

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, and is also equipped with a display, microphone holes, a magnetic insert for easy installation in the case, and a micro USB input. Its dimensions are 44.1*20*11.9 mm. Weight 14.3 g.

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

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

Battery and operating time

The Huawei Talkband B6 smart bracelet has a 120 mAh battery. As my practice has shown, a half-hour conversation drained the battery by 7%. That is, a full battery charge is enough for about 7 hours of operation.

On average, the user gets about 3 days of battery life with active use and calls. But I assume that you will have to charge the device once every two days.

But the positive point is the presence of fast charging. And my smart bracelet charged from 0 to 100% in 45 minutes via Type-C connection.

Screen and interface

The 13-inch full-color AMOLED touchscreen display delivers clear, bright images with deep blacks, even in direct sunlight. Compared to the previous model, it has increased by 2.4 times, which has significantly improved the work with information. The touch screen with a resolution of 300*160 is protected by 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. It is also very convenient to flip by turning your wrist, freeing up your other hand. Although you can’t please everyone, and for some, constantly changing the image on the screen with every movement of your 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 more than a dozen different watch faces, adjust the brightness and background and other display parameters:

• Choose a workout mode that 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 detection of the type of sports activity, 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 in full;
• set reminders and alarms;
• listen to voice messages;
• control the player and camera on a synchronized smartphone. When taking photos, 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;
• detect your lost phone using the Anti-lost function, the use of which makes the device ring even in silent mode.

The device is equipped with useful technologies:

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

Detailed viewing of indicators and all other settings are made on a smartphone with an operating system no lower than 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.

Functions, headset use, application connection

As for the main functions of Huawei Talkband B6, they are exactly the same as those of most modern smart bracelets, for example, the Mi Band 5. But there is also a main main feature, which I will talk about a little later.

Now a little about the main screen; the smart bracelet has received many different dials. To change the watch face, you need to hold your finger on the main screen for a few seconds. Also, you can additionally install and download even more watch faces through the mobile application.

In addition, I liked that the main dial displays a large number of functions. For example, here you can find features such as time, date, steps, distance, heart rate and even battery level.

If you swipe down, you will get to the quick settings menu. There are icons such as do not disturb mode, vibration level, silent mode, smart alarm and settings.

If you swipe left or right, the following widgets will appear - daily activity, music player, weather and heart rate.

In the settings of a smart bracelet from Huawei you can find such sections as screen settings, where you can select a watch face, set the brightness level and more.

As I already mentioned, the Talkband B6 smart bracelet was released only for the Chinese market, so there is no Russian or any language other than English and Chinese here. Therefore, for many users this can become quite a big problem.

To go to the main menu with all the functions and features, you need to press the button located on the right side of the case. In the main menu, you will find features such as phone call management, sports modes, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, sleep, stress and breathing indicators. In addition, there is also a music player, weather, stopwatch and timer, alarm clock, flashlight, camera control, find smartphone and settings.

Now about the main function - telephone conversations. There is no separate tray for a nano SIM card. Thus, calls are made as with regular wireless headphones. That is, via a Bluetooth 5.2 wireless connection. The sound and microphone quality is exactly the same as through a smartphone. Your interlocutors will hear you clearly even in windy weather, just as you will hear them.

In the Huawei Health app, you can analyze metrics such as steps, distance, heart rate and more. In addition, the application settings have various functions that you can customize for yourself. For example, this is the choice of wrist, setting watch faces, setting up notifications and many other functions.

Huawei Health apps

The application analyzes the user's activity, counting the number of steps, measuring the distance traveled or traveled, and also analyzes the number of calories burned and time spent. With the help of a fitness bracelet, the heartbeat is monitored so as not to exhaust the body and stop sports activities in time.

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

Data collected by Huawei Health can be sent to multiple servers, such as Google Fit. Jawbone UP and MyFitnessPal, for deeper monitoring of physical activity.

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

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

Huawei Talkband B5 as a Bluetooth headset

As you already understand, the main difference between this gadget and other fitness bracelets on the market is the ability to use it not only to track activity, but also as a regular Bluetooth headset with which you can answer phone calls and listen to music.

On the right side of the module there is a single on/off button; all other interactions with the gadget are carried out using the sensor. Swiping up and down switches device functions, pressing selects a specific function, and swiping from left to right takes you back a step.

To set up and synchronize with your smartphone, you need to download and install the Huawei Health application. For those who are already familiar with Huawei products, this application will not be anything new. The interface is very simple, accessible and understandable.

The weight of the Huawei TalkBand B5 Bluetooth headset module is 14.3 g, which is comparable to a regular Bluetooth headset. Despite the lightweight and soft silicone of the earbud, I personally found it not very comfortable to wear it in my ear all the time. For some reason, I always had the impression that it was going to fall out, although this did not happen.

As for the sound quality, everything is fine. The volume and audibility are not bad, the sound, it seemed to me, is even more voluminous than that of ordinary headphones, but there is quite noticeable noise.

Performance and autonomy

Huawei TalkBand B5 has a 3-core cortex m4 processor, which performs fast data processing. The smart watch has 1 MB of built-in memory and 512 KB of RAM.

Autonomy is provided by a 108 mAh lithium-ion battery. The battery, even compared to previous models, cannot be said to hold 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 using a Bluetooth headset is reduced to 6 hours. The device is fully charged in 2-3 hours.

Design, build quality and materials

The Huawei Talkband B6 smart bracelet is available in two versions - in a plastic and in a metal case. Both versions are assembled well, and I did not have any complaints about the build quality.

The main difference between a plastic and metal case is the price. It differs almost twice, and therefore whether it is worth overpaying for a metal case is up to you to decide.

On the front of the bracelet there is a large rounded 1.53-inch AMOLED screen with a pixel density of 326 PPI. That is, the screen resolution is 460 x 188 pixels. The quality of the screen matrix itself is at a high level, and I did not find any major shortcomings while using the smart bracelet.

The screen has good contrast, high brightness and rich color reproduction. During testing, the bracelet was easy to use, and most importantly, everything was legible.

On the right side of the case there is a mechanical power button that turns the smart bracelet on or off.

In addition, you can also see one button on the side ends at the bottom of the case. When these two buttons are pressed simultaneously, the bracelet capsule pops out of the strap body.

At the bottom of the end there is a charging port, and on the inside there is a sound guide with an ear pad. The package includes several pairs of ear pads, so you can easily choose the size you need.

The bracelet itself received water protection under the IP57 standard. This is not complete protection against water and you absolutely cannot swim with the Talkband B6 bracelet in the shower or in the pool.

The capsule weighs only 29 grams and is quite comfortable to wear in the ear. With the right choice of ear pads, special earhooks will prevent the headset body from falling out even during a fast run.

The strap is made of leather material and has a width of 16 mm. Already, Chinese stores offer various options for bracelets, including a metal version.

In general, the Huawei Talkband B6 smart bracelet has very premium materials in its manufacturing. Also, the build quality has not suffered; all elements are assembled at a high level. Now let's talk a little about the functionality, microphone and sound quality.