Honor Band 6 review: one of the best fitness bracelets in 2022

Specifications

Scope of delivery and design

Honor Band 6 is delivered in the packaging familiar to this brand. The back of the package lists the main features of the model. There is nothing unusual in the box either:

• Fitness bracelet;
• Charging cable;
• User guide. In our case, the instructions are only in Chinese, but the global version will have several languages, including Russian.
• Warranty card.

The fitness bracelet is available in three colors: black, gray and pink. All three options differ only in the color of the strap; the case is in any case black.

Although the Honor Band 6 is supposedly the successor to the Band 5, in appearance it is more similar to the Huawei Watch Fit and HONOR Watch ES, resembling a smartwatch rather than a fitness bracelet.

Honor Band 5 and Honor Band 6

The body of the gadget is made of matte, impact-resistant plastic. Dimensions are 43.11 x 25.4 x 11.45 mm, and weight is about 30 grams. The housing is sealed up to 5 ATM (up to 50 meters of static pressure of the water column).

On the left side of the case there is the Honor logo, on the right side there is a mechanical button with a red line in the center.

In the version with NFC, below the button there is a microphone hole for “communication” with the voice assistant. This hole is the only visual difference between the regular version and the NFC bracelet.

On the back of the tracker there is an optical pulse oximeter for measuring pulse and blood oxygen saturation, as well as pins for magnetic charging.

By the way, this is the first fitness bracelet of this brand with a magnetic connector. To charge all previous versions you need to use a special cradle, which is not very convenient.

The strap is made of silicone that is pleasant to the touch, but not the softest or most flexible. Some Band 6 owners complain that after just a short time of wear, the paint on the edges of the strap wears off. It’s good that it is removable and, if desired, it can be replaced with a similar bracelet from a third-party manufacturer (there are already a ton of them on Aliexpress).

To replace, simply remove the plastic plug at the base of the strap, disconnect it and attach a new one.

This is how Honor Band 6 looks on a man’s hand:

So on the women's:

Review of the Honor Band 6 fitness bracelet

In the middle of this fall, a new model of wearable devices from Honor was presented in the form of Honor Band 6. This fitness bracelet boasts a large 1.47" Amoled display, SpO2 monitoring, HUAWEI TruSeen 4.0, HUAWEI TruSleep, and battery life up to 14 days. There are also 2 versions of the bracelet, with and without NFC; the model under review does not have contactless payment. Factory packaging in a common color scheme class=”aligncenter” width=”2500″ height=”1664″[/img]

On the back are the features of this bracelet:

Equipment:

• fitness bracelet
• magnetic charger
• instructions
• warranty card

Instructions in Russian.

The magnetic charger is new in the Honor Band line. Previous models (Band 5/4) were equipped with an uncomfortable cradle, which was difficult to get into the first time.

Characteristics:

• Model: Band 6
• Screen: touch 1.47″ AMOLED display 368x194 pixels (283 PPI), 2.5D glass
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0
• Compatibility: Android/iOS
• Vibration: yes
• NFC: yes/no
• Protection: water 5ATM
• Working time: 14-15 days
• Battery: 180 mAh
• Dimensions: 43 x 25.4 x 11.45 mm
• Weight: 18 g

The watch case is made of plastic, the strap is made of rough rubber. The appearance is similar to the advanced version of Honor Watch ES, but in a more compact body (a comparison will follow). Bracelet dimensions - 43*25.4*11.45mm, weight - 18 g.

The control is single and placed on the right side. The button has a small stroke and sticks out a little from the body, so no false presses were noticed. They also removed turning on the screen from a double tap, leaving only a gyroscope and a physical button, which is not very convenient to press.

On the opposite side there is an engraving of the manufacturer, which is not noticeable during normal wear.

The strap is removable, length - 21cm, width - 16mm. As mentioned earlier, rubber is not the softest or most flexible. If desired, you can replace it with a similar bracelet of a different color/style.

To replace it, you need to remove the special plug at the base of the strap and make the replacement itself.

On the inside there are pins for magnetic charging, as well as a heart rate sensor and a peripheral sensor for measuring saturation.

Compared to my Amazfit GTS they look like this:

Visual comparison with its “big brother” - Honor Watch ES. It has slightly larger dimensions and a larger screen diagonal - 1.64" Amoled, instead of the 1.47" 2.5D Amoled of the Honor Band 6.

The physical size of the screen in the Watch ES case is slightly larger than that of the younger model. What was surprising was the absence of an AoD display on the Honor Band 6.

The set of sensors is the same and the biggest difference is the presence of GPS in the older version and less autonomy (up to 10 days). If you pay attention to the charging pins, the unification is clearly visible. The autonomy of the Watch ES is (all notifications and constant heart rate monitoring are included) - 9-12% per day, while the Honor Band 6 is 10%.

Let's move on to the capabilities of the watch. To select the home screen, you need to download special themes from the Heawei Health app. There are a total of 57 skins available.

The curtain has become more informative and a number of additional settings have appeared: phone search, night mode, vibration off. To get to the settings menu, you no longer need to scroll the main menu; for convenience, the settings shortcut is placed directly in the curtain.

As in the previous model of the device, Honor Band 6 has not lost the ability to control the music player from the bracelet. The player has no additional features, only duplication of the main controls.

The updated heart rate sensor - TruSeen 4.0, shows fairly accurate readings, although the fitness bracelet is not a medical device. For all the time of my tests, and these are Honor Band 3/4/5, Honor Watch ES, Honor Watch GS Pro, Huawei Watch GT2 Pro and a bunch of Amazfit devices (amazfit GTS2 among them), I found that the updated TruSeen 4.0 shows readings of ±equal readings with a stationary tonometer.

A peripheral SpO2 sensor for measuring saturation was available in the previous version of the fitness bracelet. During this time, no information about the sensor update was discovered, but the recent Covid19 disease made it possible to compare the readings of the Huawei Watch GT2 Pro with an emergency medical device. In general, the readings were very close to each other (96% for the medical device and 95% for the GT2 Pro), so the comparison of the Honor Band 6 readings was carried out with the Huawei Watch GT2 Pro as a “reference”. The obtained values ​​for Honor Band 6 and Huawei Watch GT2 Pro are 95%. But as was said earlier, this is not a medical device and you should not rely only on the bracelet.

Otherwise, everything is standard: sports training, activity during the day, displaying information about sleep, measuring stress levels, breathing exercises, smart alarm clock, timer/stopwatch. The mobile application cannot boast of many settings, but all the basic ones are available.

Watch Face Store:

Display sleep information. For those looking to track daytime sleep, the Honor Band 6 will not be a disappointment.

Bottom line, the Honor Band 6 fitness bracelet has received minimal changes and cannot boast of many additional functions compared to the previous generation Band 5 and the main difference is the larger display and greater battery life (previous Honor Band 5 had to be charged once a week). The issue with the NFC version remains open, since it is not clear whether the bracelet will support basic services and banks. Still, Honor Band 6 is a new product that was recently introduced to the market.

Screen

The first thing that catches your eye after unboxing the device is its large display compared to other fitness bracelets. Even before the announcement, Honor stated that this was the first “frameless” display. No miracle happened and, of course, there are frames, but they tried to make them as thin as possible. With a frame thickness of 2.34 mm, they managed to achieve a 64% screen-to-body ratio. It was also possible to enlarge the screen by eliminating the capacitive button below it. Now its functions are performed by a mechanical button.

Honor Band 6 is equipped with a 1.47-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 368 x 194 pixels. For comparison, the fifth generation Honor Band is equipped with a 0.95-inch diagonal screen, while the closest competitor in this price category, Xiaomi Mi Band 5, has a 1.1-inch diagonal screen.

Honor Band 6 and Xiaomi Mi Band 5

The display is bright and vibrant, with good viewing angles and perfectly readable even in the sunniest weather. Unfortunately, there is no ambient light sensor here and the brightness can only be adjusted manually by selecting one of five levels. You can activate the screen by pressing a button or turning your wrist. They refused to turn on the screen with a double tap.

Review after two weeks of use

I’ll answer the main question right away. Yes, the enlarged HONOR Band 6 remains as comfortable and ergonomic as the previous miniature bracelets. The large display can only be beneficial, improving the comfort of control and use. Perhaps this is a good reason to switch to a new generation. You can also wear the bracelet along with your regular watch just to receive notifications and track your health.

Advantages:

• updated format with a larger display;
• lightweight body made of high-quality plastic;
• monitoring of many health indicators;
• automatic detection of workouts;
• full moisture protection 5 ATM;
• excellent autonomy.

Flaws:

• notifications without emoji and feedback.

Controversial points:

• untranslated dials and American date format.

Interface and control

So far, until the global version of Honor Band 6 goes on sale, there is no Russian translation for the interface. More precisely, it is not available for firmware 10.1.0.92, which is the latest at the time of writing this review. In mid-January, some owners of fitness bracelets received firmware 10.1.2.12 with Russian language, but it was soon recalled by the manufacturer due to bugs. So for now the entire menu is in English.

Huawei Watch Fit and Honor Band 6

If we compare Band 6 with previous versions, it has a completely different interface concept. In addition to the main screen, seven additional ones appeared: heart rate, stress, weather, Ali Pay, activity data, music control, sleep. You can select only 5 of them to display, and they can be switched by swiping left or right.

Swiping down brings up the quick access menu.

Available here:

• Battery charge level;
• Do Not Disturb mode;
• Enable constant screen activity (from 5 to 20 minutes);
• Function “Search for smartphone”;
• Alarm clocks;
• Basic settings icon.

Swiping up opens the notification menu.

The main menu opens by pressing a button. The menu consists of the following items:

• Sports modes
• Sports achivments
• Pulse
• Blood oxygen saturation
• Activity
• Sleeping mode
• Stress level
• Breathing exercises
• Music control
• Deleted photo
• Notifications
• Weather
• Alipay
• Timer and stopwatch
• Alarm
• Flashlight
• Finding a smartphone
• Settings

Experience of use

Fitness bracelets have become incredibly widespread, but it is still not clear to everyone why they are needed. In two weeks with HONOR Band 6, I developed clear use cases.

Notifier on the wrist. While working, when your smartphone is lying around anywhere but in your pocket, it is very easy to miss an important message or an important call. The bracelet vibrates when receiving notifications and during a call. The system is the simplest, duplicating notifications from selected applications without emoji support or feedback. The same goes for calls; HONOR Band 6 only allows you to reject a call. That is why the bracelet is only suitable for information, but nothing more.

Silent alarm clock always on time. Waking up to vibration on your wrist is much more convenient compared to a regular audio alarm on your smartphone. First of all, this way people around you don’t wake up. I will also note a smart alarm clock that tracks the favorable phase of sleep for awakening. A nice feature when paired with smartphones running EMUI is synchronization with the standard Clock application.

Player and volume control. My current headphones don’t have the ability to switch tracks using touch controls, and I don’t want to take out my smartphone every time—HONOR Band 6 comes to the rescue. One of the cards in the side menu picks up information about the music and videos being played.

Basic functions of smart watches. Options like stopwatch and timer, weather and smartphone search cannot be discounted.

Physical activity tracker. That's right, I put health tracking - the primary function of the bracelet - in last place. It's all about full automation; HONOR Band 6 independently counts steps, measures heart rate and blood oxygen saturation levels, and also tracks sleep. Girls will appreciate the built-in cycle calendar, which is synchronized with their smartphone. Full 5 ATM water protection allows you not to remove the bracelet while swimming in the pool. The corresponding training mode is in the menu.

An atypical feature out of class is the automatic detection of workouts. For example, while walking, after 15 minutes a prompt appears to record the workout in a log, after which the GPS starts. Cycling workouts have to be started manually, although their definition is stated. All information is collected in the application and synchronized with your Huawei account or Google Fit. In my ecosystem there are also smart scales of the same brand to collect more health information.

Huawei Health app

The bracelet works with the Huawei Health application. It can be downloaded from both Google Play for Android and the App Store for iOS.

The application consists of several tabs:

• Health;
• Exercise;
• Devices;
• I.

The “Health” section contains all information about activity in the form of widgets. Clicking on a specific widget opens more detailed statistics about the selected activity parameter.

The “Exercise” section stores records of all workouts, divided into types of workouts. You can also start tracking your workout using your GPS smartphone from this section.

The “Device” menu contains a few settings for the fitness bracelet:

• Watch face shop.
• Monitoring (setting up sleep monitoring, reminders, constant monitoring of heart rate and stress levels).
• Setting up notifications.
• Setting up alarms (regular and smart).
• Turn on the weather forecast.
• Device settings (Bluetooth disconnect notification, music playback control, turning on the screen by raising your hand).
• Reset.
• Software Update.

In the “Me” menu, you can view weekly/monthly activity reports, achievements, indicate personal data (gender, height, age, weight), set up automatic synchronization, auto-tracking, etc.

Functional

Honor Band 6 not only preserved and improved the functions of all previous versions of bracelets, but also added several new ones. The tracker supports:

• Call and message notifications
• Monitoring 10 sports modes
• Step, distance and calorie counter
• Real-time and 24/7 heart rate measurement
• Stress monitoring
• Measuring blood oxygen levels
• Breathing exercises
• Sleep tracking
• Smart alarm clock
• Prolonged immobility reminder
• Phone playlist management
• Smartphone camera shutter control
• Weather forecast
• Flashlight
• Women's calendar
• Stopwatch and timer
• Find Phone function

A version of Honor Band 6 with NFC is available in China. However, you cannot pay for purchases using it. NFC only works for access cards and Chinese transport cards . If your access card operates on the same frequency as NFC, after some manipulations you can link it. AliPay QR codes are used to pay for purchases in China.

Now let's go through each function in more detail.

Activity

Like most fitness bracelets, Honor Band 6 can count the number of steps taken. It is worth noting that it copes with this quite well and the accuracy does not cause any particular complaints.

Calories burned and distance traveled are not measured but calculated based on your heart rate and personal information provided in the app, such as age, height, gender and weight. Of course, there is an error, but, if desired, the accuracy can be adjusted by changing the height values ​​in the application.

Sport

Honor Band 6 can track 10 sports modes:

• Run
• Treadmill
• Walking outside
• Walking indoors
• Bike
• Exercise bike
• Swimming
• Elliptical trainer
• Rowing machine
• Free workout

Band 6 was “taught” to automatically detect activity and offer the owner to launch one of the available modes.

Pulse

An updated heart rate sensor paired with the TruSeen 4.0 algorithm allows you to obtain fairly accurate heart rate data.

There are two measurement modes:

• One-time measurement in real time;
• 24/7 monitoring.

In the application, you can set up notifications for high and low heart rates. If you go beyond the specified limits, the bracelet warns you about this with vibration.

Both in the application and in the bracelet menu, you can view the pulse report in the form of a graph with the division of the heart into different pulse zones.

Stress level test and breathing exercises

Honor Band 6 now has a feature that was previously only available in Huawei/Honor smartwatches – stress level measurement. Algorithms analyze heart rate and activity and provide a numerical score on a 100-point system, where:

• 1-29 – relaxed state
• 30-59 – moderate stress level
• 60-79 – average stress level
• 80-99 – high stress level

It is even possible to “calibrate” the measurement by answering a few questions.

Breathing exercises are provided to reduce stress levels. This is implemented as follows: the screen displays an indicator in the form of a ball, the expansion and contraction of which indicate inhalation and exhalation. Breathing peaks are also accompanied by vibration.

Oxygen

Already in the previous version of the fitness bracelet there was an SpO2 sensor. The new device also has it. As for accuracy, if you compare the readings with a medical pulse oximeter, the discrepancy on average is no more than 1%.

Currently, it is only possible to measure blood oxygen saturation levels in real time. There is no 24/7 monitoring function. Perhaps this feature will be added with one of the software updates.

Sleep monitoring

Honor/Huawei fitness bracelets and smartwatches have always been distinguished by the most accurate and detailed sleep analysis. Honor Band 6 was no exception. HUAWEI TruSleep 2.0 technology, together with sensors, determines the time of falling asleep and waking up, divides sleep into phases, determines when you woke up and gives an overall assessment of the quality of your sleep and recommendations for improving it.

You can see the sleep report in the image below. By the way, the bracelet can detect not only nighttime sleep, but also daytime sleep.

Call and message notifications

The fitness bracelet supports notifications from any application installed on your smartphone. When you receive a message, the sender's name, message text, and application icon are displayed on the screen. Fits about 300 characters. Although there is no Russian language yet, the Cyrillic alphabet is supported and messages are read perfectly. Unfortunately, there is no function for replying to messages. So far, only the Samsung Galaxy Fit2 fitness bracelet (review) can boast such an opportunity.

When there is an incoming call, the contact's name or phone number is displayed on the screen. From the bracelet screen you can only reject the call.

Other features

Alarm

It is possible to configure up to 5 regular alarm signals and 1 smart alarm (will wake you up at the most favorable moment of sleep 5 - 30 minutes earlier than the set time). You can configure, add and disable signals both from the application and through the bracelet menu.

Weather

Weather watch faces show the current temperature and a cloud/precipitation icon. There is an additional screen with the same weather data, but with larger numbers. From the menu you can open the hourly forecast and the weather forecast for the next 6 days.

Music and camera control

The large screen allows you to quite comfortably switch tracks on your smartphone player, stop and start playback, and adjust the volume of the player. There are also no problems with camera control. I launched the camera control function, pressed the icon on the bracelet screen - the shutter fired. But, this only works correctly with Huawei/Honor smartphones.

Timer and stopwatch

These are the only features that can run in the background, which many users really like.

Flashlight

When this function is activated, the screen backlight turns on. Of course, such a flashlight will not illuminate the road, but getting the key into the keyhole in the dark can help.

"Find phone" function

When the function is activated, the phone will vibrate and make a sound.

What can he do?

Of course, Band 6 shows the date and time, and also sends notifications from the applications you designate - this is not surprising. In addition, the fitness tracker is able to detect workouts, read heart rate readings, and determine whether you are currently in a stressful situation. There are also breathing exercises and a pulse oximeter.

Photo: Maxim Dyachikhin specially for Wylsacom Media

Blood oxygen level and pulse

I compared the readings of Band 6 with the finger version, which I bought when I was sick with corona. The results on both devices are similar and differ by ±2%.

The difference in blood oxygen level readings between pulse oximeters does not exceed 2%. Photo: Anna Kichaeva specially for Wylsacom Media

My finger pulse oximeter also shows heart rate. The bracelet shows exactly the same number of beats per minute as the pulse oximeter, but with a three-second delay.

With slight delays, but the bracelet measures the pulse accurately. Photo: Anna Kichaeva specially for Wylsacom Media

Huawei Band 6 can constantly monitor blood oxygen levels. And this distinguishes it from its brother Honor Band 6. However, constant monitoring must be separately activated in the bracelet settings. This is done through the Huawei Health application:

Stress

Not the most common thing: before you start measuring stress, you will need to answer questions in a special questionnaire. For example, this one:

After twelve questions and looking at your heart rate, the bracelet will show your stress levels. As Band 6 says, I’m fine with stress:

You can also do a quick stress test. To do this, you need to tighten the bracelet and do not move for a minute:

Breath

Breathing training is also possible on the bracelet. By default it lasts a minute. The task is simple: you calmly bring your breathing to a uniform value, inhaling and exhaling according to the instructions of the bracelet.

This technique allows you to take a short break, decompress, clear your mind, and in the long term solve sleep problems.

The bracelet can also record sleep readings, but due to the ease of waking up the backlight with hand movements, I could not sleep with it.

Workout

Currently the following types of activities are available in the bracelet:

• Running down the street;
• Running on a treadmill;
• Walking outside;
• Walking on a treadmill;
• A ride on the bicycle;
• Exercise bike;
• Swimming in the pool;
• Jump rope;
• Ellipse;
• Rowing machine;
• Other.

Moreover, each of the workouts is divided into zones depending on time and load. For example, the first one is warm-up.

Photo: Maxim Dyachikhin specially for Wylsacom Media

The bracelet does not have its own GPS, so it relies on phone data.

Other features

In addition to the above, with Huawei Band 6 you can take photos on your Android smartphone, control music from it (not available on iOS), turn on the flashlight (in this case, a white rectangle appears on the screen, the brightness of which reaches 470 nits). For girls who use Android, menstrual cycle tracking is possible.

The bracelet allows you to change watch faces. On iOS they are all free, but on Android there are also paid versions:

Customization is also possible, where you choose your own picture as the title illustration:

Autonomy

The gadget is equipped with a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 180 mAh. The battery life declared by the manufacturer is up to 14 days in normal mode or up to 10 days with active use. In general, these data are true. Even with constant monitoring of heart rate and stress, as well as a fairly large number of notifications, the bracelet will work for 10 days without charging.

The battery is charged using a cable with a magnetic connector. A full charge will take approximately 1 hour, and 5 – 10 minutes of charging is enough for several days of battery life. By the way, the magnet holds quite well.