Huawei Honor Band 4 Review: cheap but limited functionality is not worth buying

 For a long time, users are pursuing cheap, fast and beautiful electronic products, but often can not do so, after all, "good goods are not cheap." However, Huawei has tried to satisfy the user's pursuit with the Honor Band 4. It is designed for the budget-conscious technology enthusiasts and belongs to the glory sub-brand.

The Huawei Honor Band 4 is priced at only $80 in the US. It is $20 cheaper than the original Pebble after the discount, and the shape is more beautiful, but after the trial, we found that it does not bring us a good experience.

In fact, the Huawei Honor Band 4 reminds me of cheap smartwatches in many ways, such as the smartwatches of the first generation Pebble and Alcatel OneTouch. Like them, the Honor Band 4 runs a custom operating system and is more limited by more expensive competitors. At the same time, the price of the above three smartwatches is much lower than Apple Watch (starting at $ 249) and most Android Wear devices (selling about $ 250).

2. If you choose to buy cheap products, then don't expect them to bring you a high-end user experience, after all, the price of the third-rate is impossible to buy first-class votes.

As for the Honor Band 4 for male users or female users, I don't think it matters. After all, we are in 2018 and we live in a more enlightened era.

3. Shape design

In terms of shape design, the Honor Band 4 is stylish, with a delicate case and a slender strap. The Honor Band 4 features a 38 mm round case design and a polished stainless steel bezel. The strap is made of inexpensive thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) material, which means it is easily damaged and dyed by blue jeans. At the same time, the Honor Band 4 is equipped with a very narrow strap that fits on the wrist of my friend's 14-year-old daughter and looks more comfortable than wearing it on my arm.

4. It is worth mentioning that the Huawei Honor Band 4 supports IP68 protection level, which means it has a certain waterproof and dustproof capability, which is good.

Huawei's Honor Band 4 uses a circular dial, but it actually has a 1.06-inch square OLED touchscreen with a resolution of 128 x 128. Its display is obviously not comparable to high-end watches. After the trial, the screen content of the Huawei Honor Band 4 is difficult to see under the sun.

5. Although the Honor Band 4 supports the ability to raise the arm to wake up the screen, it is often awakened unexpectedly. Sometimes, when I am sleeping, I will be awakened by the glare of the monitor in front of me. At the same time, the Honor Band 4 has a short screen backlight, so if you miss it, you need to wake up again. In addition, the touch screen has inaccurate sliding positioning, which makes the overall operating experience more severe.

Functional experience

In terms of functionality, the Huawei Honor Band 4 tracks the number of steps the user takes, recording the calories burned and the length of sleep. If you are going out for a run, you can activate a separate activity tracking mode that will tell you the number of steps you have run and the number of calories burned.

6. The Honor Band 4 is not equipped with the Android Wear operating system but is a closed operating system independently developed by Huawei. With the Huawei Wear app, it provides basic fitness features and sleep tracking, and data is automatically synced to the phone app.

On the screen of the phone, you will see a large circle where the edges will gradually fill up as the user moves or sleeps. You can click to view your historical data to see how much calories you have consumed or how much food is offset. For example, if you set a daily calorie that you need to consume, you can always see the target completion. As for the watch interface, each page displays separate information such as calorie expenditure index, sleep duration or message notification.

7. At the same time, the app allows you to adjust some of the features in the Honor Band 4, such as enabling or disabling push notifications and idle reminders. But that's it.

Although the Honor Band 4 is only equipped with a 100 mAh battery, its battery life is good due to the relative power savings of the processor, screen, and system. In the actual test process, Huawei's Honor Band 4's battery life can reach five or six days, higher than most smartwatches.



8. When you see a mobile device, you will definitely think about which type of people it is designed for. Although the Huawei Honor Band 4 is full of young women, it does not seem to be a qualified fashion wearable. The specific reason can be attributed to its slightly lower-end design and not very sophisticated features.


Summary

Compared to the original Pebble smartwatch, the Huawei Honor Band 4 is priced at $20 cheaper and more fashionable, but the original Pebble smartwatch can give people a better experience. If you have a small child who wants to have his first wearable device, then you can consider buying an Honor Band 4 to get him started, otherwise I don't recommend buying it.