The war of smart bands for fitness, which do not even disdain smartphone notifications, has been ongoing for several years now.
There are two main protagonists who share the scene when it comes to low cost bracelets; Mi Band on the one hand, and Honor Band on the other. Today in test Honor Band 5 presented to the general European public at IFA 2019: we explain why it is really a valid opponent of Mi Band 4.
Aesthetics
Let's start, first of all, with aesthetics, because rightly the eye also wants its part. The look does not differ much from the previous model, and offers the classic elongated shape, which covers the entire wrist, with 0.95 inch AMOLED screen with 120 × 240 resolution.
The shape is more squared than any Mi Band, even compared to a Mi Band 4, and if we must be honest, from this point of view we continue to prefer the Xiaomi smartband.
The angular shape of the Honor Band 5 seems slightly more dated and less modern than the Mi Bands, and even the main “big button”, with a round shape, is less minimal than the competitor. In any case, these are strictly personal tastes, which absolutely do not affect the qualities of the band which we will talk about shortly.
Characteristics
Among these, certainly the large display, which offers good readability, even in direct sunlight, not excellent, but on a par with the Xiaomi competitor.
Compared to the latter, we liked the watch faces that can be installed directly from the official Health application. Many of those available are really valid, and offer all useful information on the screen, such as time, steps, calories burned and more.
Another aspect that we appreciated more than the Mi Band 4 is the charging system: not because the dock is more beautiful, but because the system is more functional, not being necessary to remove the strap for charging. The only flaw, as in the Mi Band, the charging cable is particularly short. Inexplicably short.
Another positive element are the dimensions, equal to 43 mm x 17 x 11.5 mm, and with 22 grams of weight it is very comfortable. The strap is soft, the band is well assembled, even if the materials are certainly cheap.
The band menu, which can be controlled with is simply controlled by swiping up and down, proposes the steps as the first item. By clicking on it you will access all the info on steps, calories consumed, kilometers traveled.
The next item is the one relating to heart rate, which can be activated 24 hours a day. The European version lacks the blood oxygenation control function, which could be a quid pluris compared to the Mi Band.
Following, in the menu, the item relating to the hours of sleep, which of course are calculated only if you keep the Honor Band 5 on your wrist during the night. Another item in the menus is that relating to workouts, which allow you to track activities such as running, treadmill, horseback riding, cycling, free training, walking, swimming, training with an elliptical, rowing machine. Of course there is no GPS, which is why the different activities will not be geolocated, unless you combine bands and smartphones.
Daily use
In everyday use the band works well, and is absolutely comparable to Mi Band 4. The count of the steps is quite accurate, even if it tends to slightly overestimate the data, at least compared to the Amazfit watches with which we carried out the check. The part relating to sleep was very good, which seemed to us more precise and more complete than the competitor.
In fact, the band, in addition to perfectly calculating the hours of sleep, and dividing them into REM phase, heavy and light sleep, also provides indications to improve the quality of sleep, should it detect something not appropriate.
The battery life certainly also deserves praise, which allows you to reach up to 14 days in normal use conditions, while it is reduced to 9 days with the functions just described by TruSleep. The advice is to activate all the functions of the band, also because 9 days of autonomy are still a lot.
The display, as already mentioned, is excellent, even in direct sunlight, even if the characters and writings are rather small. To tell the truth, even the icons (on a graphic level) are less sought after than those of the Mi Band.
Fortunately, after a very first update the situation has changed, but we continue to prefer the UI of the Xiaomi band. It is, once again, subjective tastes.
Notifications
The Honor Band 5's notification department is pretty standard. The device does not have a speaker or microphone, which is why it will only be possible to view incoming notifications, not being able to interact with them. from the app you can activate the notifications you want to receive on your wrist: you can enable all the apps available on your smartphone.
The Band Messages Hub offers a list of incoming messages, but the notification icon is always the same, not distinguishing WhatsApp from emails, Messages from Instagram notifications, and so on. The text of very long messages is cut, as happens with all bands of the same genre.
Application
The app with which the Honor Band 5 is managed is Health by Huawei. We undoubtedly appreciated the possibility of being able to change the watch faces (but only on Android). Another difference between iOs and Android apps is on notifications: on iOS you can only flag some specific apps, as well as a generic “other” that allows you to manage all other notifications, while on Android you can choose the apps one by one. to receive notifications.
The Health UI is very simple and easy to manage, through the tabs on the lower part. We still want to underline the Sleep tab, which seemed to us to be really nice, with absolutely plausible data and equally useful advice.
Conclusions
Honor Band 5 is really the perfect competitor of Mi Band 4, able to divert attention from the latter. It has all the right cards to be an excellent companion during the day, both for fitness and for notifications. The watch faces are very beautiful, as is the very bright display. The software and the UI are a bit immature.
PRO
VERSUS
Price and availability
The list price is 29.90 Euros including VAT. You can buy it on Cafago at the price of 24.99 euros, a price lower than the Mi Band 4.
