A few days ago, Honor Philippines just sent us a review unit of one of their newest wearables. Some of it's headlining features include an AMOLED display for it's asking price, heart rate sensor and SpO2 sensor
Meet the Honor Band 5 and this is what the box looks like
From it's first glance at it's display, you can easily tell that it is AMOLED with it's deeper black view on one of our chosen watchfaces (you can also select one from 10+ other watch faces) and glad that we have this wearable with that clear view of our time even on noontime. The band is made from TPU-like material which is a-ok for our sweaty skin. You can also see the heart rate and SpO2 sensors. The other contents are the instruction manual in Chinese (well you can use translator app for now), micro USB cable and charging cradle.
For it's looks, it does not like look cheap at all.
We tested the SpO2 and heart rate sensors by taking in a few seconds to stay still and make sure that the band has a tight grip as much as possible. We cannot tell how accurate is the SpO2 sensor but the heart rate sensor seems pretty accurate based on other devices that we checked
That non-English instruction manual might be a challenge for first time buyers but pairing it up with a smartphone is a breeze for Honor/ Huawei phones but for other phones, you must download Honor Health and Huawei Mobile services app. You can also download it as there is a QR code inside the manual.
Inside the app connected with Bluetooth and WiFi/data connection, you can easily sync in your steps, your sleep data and even set your alarm. We got three system updates up to the latest one which enables you to control your music from your phone which is pretty functional. What they need to improve is the messages and GMail notifications as it is not 100% working but good thing that you can get up to 2 pages of SMS.
What I am amazed is how detailed is the Huawei TruSleep 2.0 as they will give you advise on the length or how you late or early is your sleep. It can also detect if you went into sleep or just a nap. It can also read on your light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep. To motivate you in terms of fitness department, there are sort-of "rewards that you can unlock. For me which is more as a brisk walker, we unlocked the 10,000 and 100,000 steps medals.
In terms of accuracy in number of walks and distance (measured in miles so far, you cannot convert it for now in kilometers), Honor Band 5 was almost there. It is a bit more in terms of walk but the distance checker is almost accurate based when I used to walk in between media event and even to my everyday errands with the help of Google Maps. What I love on this wearable for it's price over the competitors, walk and distance measurement cannot be fooled even if you are in a bumpy trike or jeepney ride (I experienced that one on another wearable). Their promise of 14 days was on point based on number of glances at the clock per day, syncing in for message nottfications and other data and occasional BPM and SpO2 measurements in normal brightness
Honor Band 5 normal pricing is at Php 1,699 is a-ok for now but I hope they will gonna stick in to their sale price of Php 1,399 as another wearable from their sister band is coming soon with a different brand. AMOLED display, pretty functional app support, battery life, good measurement in walk, distance and BPM will be the strongest for me to recommend you the Honor Band 5 which is at 4 out of 5
