The functionality of most smartwatches for Android smartphones leaves much to be desired, so many users prefer not to overpay and limit themselves to fitness bracelets – some do almost the same thing, but literally for a penny. One problem is that these bracelets have a too-small screen. And this is exactly the problem that the Honor Band 6 solves.
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Appearance
The days when fitness bracelets were … just bracelets, but with a couple of sensors, are long gone. Today, in fact, this is a smartwatch, but with a limited set of functions, among which, however, there are the most necessary ones – both, in fact, for monitoring physical activity and for interacting with a smartphone: receiving notifications, controlling music, searching a smartphone.
But, of course, reading notifications on a tiny screen is still a pleasure, especially if your vision is not perfect. In this regard, Honor Band 6 is an excellent solution. with its dimensions, which are only slightly larger than the average fitness bracelet, it offers such an impressive screen.
I will clarify. Yes, the Honor Band 6 feels like any other fitness tracker on the wrist. If you’ve ever owned a smartwatch, you probably know this feeling when you bend your wrist outward and the watch rests on it. This is not the case with the Honor Band 6.
In addition, this bracelet is practically weightless – yes, as befits a fitness bracelet.
The bracelet is controlled using the touch screen and the button on the right. The button activates the screen and brings up the main menu, and holding the button opens the shutdown/restart menu.
To charge, the bracelet must be placed on a pad with two contacts. Unfortunately, wireless charging is not available.
As for protection, the case is waterproof according to IP68 and WR50 standards (i.e. it can withstand water pressure of 5 atmospheres). In short, you can wash your hands without removing the bracelet (but for hygiene purposes, I would recommend taking it off sometimes and washing your hands completely).
Screen
The previous fitness bracelet model, the Honor Band 5, had a 0.95-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 120×240 pixels. In the new Honor Band 6, the screen has a diagonal of 1.47 ” and a resolution of 194×368 pixels. Interestingly, with such an increase, the pixel density remained at 283 PPI (more precisely, the Honor Band 5 had 282 PPI, but such a difference is mere “pennies”).
Thus, the clarity of the picture has not changed, but the screen area has become larger, which has a positive effect on the amount of displayed information, and the readability of the text.
Unfortunately, the screen does not have an auto-brightness sensor and does not support the Always On Display mode – after a certain time it still goes out. You can set the shutdown delay for 5, 10, 15, or 20 seconds, but not more. The stock of brightness, by the way, is also a little lacking on a sunny afternoon – the white color is visible, but the dark shades are lost, you have to look closely.
Functions
In general, given the size (and some competitors – say, individual versions of the Xiaomi Mi Band), the Honor Band 6 lacks features. It’s a pity that there is no NFC, contactless payments – right away.
To pair with a smartphone, you need to install the Huawei Health app. Attention! It is advisable to install it not from Google Play because in Google Play there is an old version of the application with which the new Huawei / Honor bracelets do not work. And this happens because Google, after the US sanctions, prohibited Huawei from posting new versions of the application. In short, download the installation file from somewhere on the Internet.
In the application, you can manage the bracelet settings and download new watch faces. There are many of the latter – for every taste, from minimalistic and black and white (save power, by the way) to colorful and informative. Some of them can even be customized – what kind of information to display in a particular block.
Also, only in the application, you can view sleep monitoring data, the bracelet itself only sends a notification that the report is ready.
In addition, the bracelet can determine the pulse, measure the oxygen saturation of the blood (strictly not for medical purposes), determine steps, recognize physical activity – including, separate 6 types of workouts, if you have just turned on such a function. You only need to manually confirm the start and end of the workout.
Also, with the help of the bracelet, you can track the menstrual cycle (here the bracelet simply acts as a calendar with notifications), but I can’t show you this, because, for obvious reasons, I have not tested it. It’s just that if you suddenly get worried – what day of the cycle is today, you can watch it on the bracelet, and not reach for the smartphone.
From the bracelet itself, you can set an alarm, watch the weather, read text notifications (including from instant messengers but without photos), start a stopwatch, search for a phone, and control music. In the latter case, you can even change the playback volume – this is very convenient. Due to the size of the screen, it is easy to hit the necessary icons in the interface with your finger, except that the scroll animation lacks smoothness a little, but Xiaomi had much worse with this until recently.
Autonomy Like many modern fitness bracelets, Honor Band 6 is designed for 14 days of operation, but this is provided that constant automatic monitoring of heart rate, sleep, workouts, etc. is disabled.
Read also: Honor True Wireless Earbuds Review