Honor Band 5 review: the best updated sports bracelet

Sports bracelets have proven themselves well in the market of “wearable” devices. They are inexpensive and, when combined with a smartphone, offer many useful features. I recently tested Honor Band 5, an updated and budget fitness tracker.

Let's talk about what the new Band 5 has to offer and whether it is a worthy competitor to the Xiaomi Band fitness bracelet.

You can buy Honor Band 5 on AliExpress

Look

Characteristics of Honor Band 5

Design and appearance

Sports bracelets have a very similar design - a small touch screen with one button at the bottom. The advantage of this design is its light weight and comfort - you are unlikely to constantly feel the device on your wrist. From this point of view, fitness trackers are more suitable for monitoring sleep and sports activities. Honor Band 5 weighs only 22 grams and has a small size - 43 x 17.2 x 11.5 mm. Waterproof up to 5 ATM or up to 50 meters.

In the case of Band 5, we are dealing with a standard winding clasp on a silicone strap. The advantage of this solution is reliability. The charger is connected to the bottom of the fitness bracelet via micro USB. Here you will not be able to connect the charger except correctly. The bracelet straps can be changed to your liking.

Fitness tracker display

The Honor Band 5 has a 0.95-inch diagonal screen with a resolution of 240×120 pixels. It is made using AMOLED technology. In the settings you can adjust the brightness in the range from 1 to 5, and also enable or disable the option to dim the brightness at night. However, this mode is based on the time of day, and not on ambient light measurements.

Additionally, the Band 5 has the option to leave the screen on for 5 minutes. The display itself is contrasty, rich and legible, although in bright sunlight it becomes a little less readable. It is worth noting that the inscriptions in the interface are quite large in size and, therefore, better readable.

Health monitoring and training

A detailed analysis of physical activity is offered in another application - Huawei Wear.

The tracker supports 10 types of workouts. In particular, it analyzes physical activity in the pool: it displays heart rate, steps, running and calories.

Honor Band 5 does not have built-in GPS, so it will not be possible to function autonomously without a smartphone. You can determine the exact distance and save data on time and speed of movement only with a mobile device nearby.

One of its biggest strengths is sleep monitoring with TrueSleep 2.0 technology. Algorithms divide your sleep into several periods. After waking up, they analyze your activity and show the time and quality of sleep.

An important feature of “Smart Alarm Clock”. In the settings, you specify the interval in which you want to wake up, and the bracelet selects the most optimal time, and you will wake up as easily as possible.

In addition to the smart alarm clock, there is also a regular one. You set a specific time when it should work. The bracelet wakes you up using vibration. The motor is powerful. The vibration can be felt well even if the strap is not tightened too much.

In terms of physical activity monitoring, the functionality is acceptable and nothing more. The implementation of sleep analysis is encouraging, but there could be more types of them in training.

Features and Personalization

In this type of sports gadgets, you can neither install apps nor download any files, including MP3s. New features only come through software updates, and the only form of personalization is changing the default screen saver appearance.

From the user's point of view, it is important that the tracker works smoothly and has a stable connection with the smartphone. In the case of Honor Band 5, I can confirm that the bracelet works smoothly and without problems. Pairing was flawless with two different Huawei smartphones, but in the case of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 it often failed and I had to wait a long time.

It's hard for me to say whether this is a wider problem or just a specific smartphone model. Maybe some power saving settings or app control settings can solve the problem, but I haven't been able to figure it out yet.

Bracelet functions

The main screen of Honor Band 5 shows information about what time it is, the number of steps taken and the weather. When you touch it, information about the Bluetooth status, battery level and the same weather symbol appear. The set of information may change if you change the default theme. For example, one of the default watch faces provides information about the date, calories burned, and distance traveled. Additional templates can be downloaded using the Huawei Health application, which is responsible for working with the accessory.

It's worth mentioning that the new features only appeared on the Band 5 after a software update at the end of the tests. These include remote control of music being played, remote photography and a SpO2 pulse oximeter. These were unavailable prior to the update, with the exception of Sp02, which was available in some regions from the start.

Smartphone music control is compatible with the following apps: Shazam, VLC for Android, Google Play Music, YouTube, Tube Go, Spotify, Audify, KKBOX, Blackplayer, Pulsar and Huawei Music. The remote camera shutter appears on the screen automatically when we launch the camera app on the paired smartphone.

SpO2 is a new feature among sports bracelets. Interestingly, Honor's Band 5 does not receive an additional sensor and is likely to use oxygen saturation measurement via a heart rate sensor. To check the accuracy of the measurements, I compared the results with a full-fledged pulse oximeter for medical purposes. With several measurements, the results were similar, the blood saturation most often differed by 1%, and sporadically by 2%.

Review of the Huawei Honor Band 5 fitness bracelet (Amoled, heart rate monitor). One week from the past summer.

Today’s review is dedicated to a not so new product - the Huawei Honor Band 5 fitness bracelet. The history of my bracelet is long, but not in words: it was sent in March 2022, arrived (no one was expecting it) in August. Then I tested it. Today is the beginning of November. And only now I have freed up enough time and, most importantly, the desire to write a short but informative review of the bracelet. I personally am already familiar with Huawei bracelets - one or two models from the same series have passed through my hands. I remember that I liked them more than Xiaomi, because the application was more informative and convenient. How things are today, how successful the model was and whether it’s worth looking at this bracelet at all - everything will be in the review. As well as several dozen photos. There won’t be much text, because almost everyone, one way or another, has read reviews of such devices and we all know what it is and how it works. The differences appear only in some, often small, aspects. So we'll look at them. I invite anyone who is interested. The structure of the review according to the standard is the packaging box, kit, appearance, display, application and operating experience, and we end with conclusions.

But before all this, you need to show the characteristics

.
— Matrix type: AMOLED — Display material: Tempered glass — Display size: 0.95” — Display resolution: 240×120 — Touch screen: Yes — Pixel density: 282ppi — Compatibility: iOS, Android — Operating system: Proprietary — Wi-Fi: No - Bluetooth: 4.2 - GPS: No - Battery capacity: 195 mAh - Operating time (normal mode): 14 days - Protection standard: 5 ATM - Weight: 22.7g.
— Dimensions: 43 x 17.2 x 11.5 mm. Picture from, etc. with Band 4. Although now it would be relevant to show a comparison with Band 6, which will be released very soon.

I'm reviewing the Global Version.

Important clarification:

The review will not touch upon the health-related aspects of the bracelet. I'm not special. in this, and I cannot and will not recommend a bracelet for tracking vital signs. For this there are other reviews and, in the end, other devices.

***

Box and complete set.

The design of the boxes, if my memory serves me correctly, has not changed for the last few years. I mean these bracelets. But it doesn’t change the essence: the packaging is not bad, nice and would be a good gift. It shows the bracelet itself and there are several lines about the model, incl. characteristics.

Inside is everything you need: the bracelet itself (of course), a charging dock, for some reason that is not clear to me, a white USB cable and documentation.

On special occasions, one might wish for something more, but this is still not a fancy $100 bracelet from some pretentious brand. In other words, the set is ordinary, as is the case with other bracelets in this price range. And only the cable looks like an attempt to save money. The docking station is quite convenient, with normal latches:

Connects via MicroUSB.

There is nothing very interesting in the instructions. A few words about the functionality, and a link to the application. It uses the proprietary Huawei Health assistant program, which we’ll talk about later.
***

Appearance and photo on hand.

As with the packaging, so in this one - everything is very similar to previous generations. And if the box is different from different manufacturers, the bracelets are very similar. They're often as featureless as most bezel-less smartphones today. So there is nothing surprising here:

This is what the bracelet looks like on your hand:

Let's look a little closer, this still cannot be omitted, otherwise it will become completely sad. The strap has holes along the entire length, and this length is definitely enough for any wrist.

There is a plastic buckle with the Honor logo and additional. a fastener that can be hooked into any necessary hole along the entire length of the strap.

A normal universal solution that is unlikely to allow the strap to dangle too much or sit awkwardly.

The strap here is removable, but the process, as for me, is not the most convenient and is not implemented so conveniently as to carry out any replacement operations on an ongoing basis. On the back of the main capsule there is a heart rate monitor and charging contacts with the necessary holes for attaching the docking station.

It looks like this:

On the front side of the bracelet there is a glossy almost inch color touch display and a round control button.

***

The display and what it displays.

Let's take a closer look at the display. To be precise, its diagonal is 0.95″ with a resolution of 240x120 (yes, the aspect ratio here is 2 to 1 or, as is customary, 20x10, which is no different from our modern smartphones). The display is color, quite bright and, in principle, with good colors. Personally, I am pleased that this is Amoled, which means the bracelet should last longer than usual, and it should look (which is already visible) better.

But its size clearly could have been larger, and this is something that should be improved in the sixth version of the bracelet. Just look at these frames:

Otherwise, there is no point in looking at its pixels.
And they’re not particularly visible, here the density is 282ppi, which is sometimes higher than on budget smartphones with HD+ with 6+ diagonals. Keep in mind. Therefore, the display of Huawei Band 5 is of very good quality, if only not for these large and useless frames. But nothing, progress is being made... And let's look at all these three available work screens: Why only three? Why can’t you install custom ones? I understand that this is not the main thing for a fitness bracelet, but it is a wrist accessory that can have an interesting appearance and making several dozen “watchfaces” for the joy and soul of the user would be cool. But here the matter was limited to three and not the most interesting ones. As far as I know, in some places I came across the opportunity to choose from 8 options, but this is still very, very small. What can I say? Well, it’s probably that there’s no point in paying attention to this anymore, because Band 5 doesn’t offer anything interesting in this regard. It wouldn’t be like the same prehistoric Pebble - people could make these “watchfaces” themselves, and not choose from lazily invented ones. Well, okay, let's continue.

Let's look at the available setup menus. Everything, by the way, is controlled by a touch screen - the button is here only to immediately go to the main screen. Available items (scroll by swiping up and down):

Well, there is practically nothing here that is not on a smartphone. So I won’t focus on every point, especially since they are all in Russian, simple and understandable.

Therefore, there won’t be a ton of photos here, we’ll make do with leisurely GIFs with some displays, including sub-items in the “System” tab.

In general, here you can change the brightness, change the dial, set an alarm or timer, as well as turn off or reboot the bracelet.

For items such as step counting, you can turn on the jogging mode with a variety of preset profiles, although it is most convenient to do this through a smartphone. Like many other actions besides checking your heart rate and controlling your music. But here there is such an opportunity and it’s cool, you can count it as a plus.

We install the software.

You can do it without a QR code, because all Huawei bracelets work with Huawei Health, and finding this application will not be difficult.
Afterwards we carry out installation and registration. We are traditionally asked for our basic data and given access to the main screen of the program.

Next, we go to the appropriate point in order to connect our bracelet. Screenshots:

Photo:

This matter needs to be confirmed on the bracelet:

And the trick is in the bag:

What kind of beast is this Huawei Health? Let me start with the fact that the application is in good Russian and has extensive and interesting descriptions for almost every indicator. This is precisely what makes it stand out from others, incl. and Xiaomi. Although, there are some descriptions in one form or another in every application.

Main screens (the order of which can be changed, including removing something): In the program settings:

Basic setting:

Here is the main functionality:

Setting up the heart rate monitor:

There is a setting for notifications and all sorts of modes of use:

And, in general, that’s all. Maybe now we haven’t looked at everything, but we haven’t brought anything radically new either. The program works quickly, through it you can see the charge of the bracelet (as well as through the bracelet itself), and synchronization takes place without a single problem and within just a couple of seconds.

***

Operating experience.

I have been wearing a Seiko 5 mechanical watch for a long time, for which I not only have two reviews, but for which I even had the very first review on this site.
After some time, I wanted a smarter device and I bought a Pebble 2, which I enjoyed just as much. I liked them in everything, but then they just got tired, boring. Then I didn't wear anything. I had the opportunity to try fitness bracelets and some passed through my hands, some lingered, some not so much. It all depended on whether I liked it, needed it or not. This leads me to the fact that I wore the Huawei Honor Band 5 for one week in August, while on vacation. And I liked the process: I didn’t want to forget the bracelet, it was comfortable, fit well on my hand and sent notifications very regularly. By “very” I mean that Band 5 can easily send notifications from everything on the smartphone, and not just from programs chosen by the Chinese, as is often the case with third-tier devices.

This is how I accumulated statistics for a week of active use. The screenshots below show data for the day/week/month:

During this time, the bracelet was discharged. It took him exactly a week to hit zero with constant heart rate monitoring. I think the result is normal and maybe even good. My Pebble with an e-ink display with the same usage lasted between 5 and 10 days, depending on how often I listened to music. Here the situation is about the same, due to the small display, normal battery and Amoled.

You know, there’s nothing special to add to this, especially in terms of screenshots. I mean, yes, there are more detailed step statistics here. There are sleep statistics (but I don’t sleep with bracelets and watches, I don’t like it). There is data on the pulse, you can compare the readings and, in principle, rely on them. But, in the end, what can’t any other bracelet do? That's the same thing.

So all that remains is to write about whether it was convenient and whether you liked it or not. And this smoothly flows into conclusions.

***

Conclusions.

As promised, there is not a lot of text, but there was no particular need for it.

Huawei Honor Band 5
is another successful fitness bracelet that can cope with everything that is stated on its box. There are no pitfalls, there is good support and functions that work. Data accuracy has long lost its relevance, simply because all these wearable devices show approximately the same, correct statistics. The only thing to note is the lack of GPS. I think for some this minus will put an end to the bracelet.

The rest is extra.
The functionality depends on the version of the bracelet. I’m talking about the feature for measuring blood pressure, which, as I mentioned, I have no right to talk about. I evaluate the device from the point of view of the average user, the average person who will use other devices and other methods for similar health topics. I think this has been sorted out and, I hope, there will be no unnecessary comments. What haven't we figured out yet? Probably, with the advisability of buying Huawei. But here, to be honest, it’s difficult to say anything specific. I am satisfied with the bracelet; it costs, especially in retail (surprisingly) not very much and is, in principle, comparable to its competitors. If you liked it or were interested in it, why not? If there are doubts, then there are plenty of analogues. Xiaomi is hardly worse, it’s just from a slightly different ecosystem. Nowadays, it is more likely to play a larger role than anything else: there are people for whom it is most convenient to have devices from one brand, because each brand offers its own benefit in such a solution. But it’s not worth discussing this in this review.

Discount coupon BGVSHWB5
.
With it the cost is $27.99
. Valid until the end of the month.

UPD:
about the choice of dial.

Thank you for your attention and I hope it was interesting.

The product was provided for writing a review by the store. The review was published in accordance with clause 18 of the Site Rules.

App and sleep monitoring

The Honor fitness tracker also measures sleep time, while in a Xiaomi device this can only be checked in the smartphone application. Band 5 also offers more types of controlled loads - 10 instead of 6. Pulse oximeter and remote shooting are also advantages of the gadget from Honor. But, Mi Band 4 shows more weather information, including a 4-day forecast, when Honor only has the current temperature and an icon symbolizing weather conditions.

The application installed on the phone is also important for the tracker to work. The range of features in Huawei Health is similar to Mi Fit. However, there are quite a few differences when you look at the individual features. Firstly, the Huawei Health app is perceived as more intuitive to use, and after a recent update, it is pleasant and readable. Secondly, the Huawei product analyzes individual aspects of our work in more detail. A great example is sleep analysis, which in the case of the Honor Band 5 uses the same algorithms that are developed for more expensive devices like the Watch GT.

In Band 5 we have seven parameters for determining individual sleep patterns. In addition, each parameter has a detailed description and tips on how to influence it. I also compared sleep measurements and heart rate with the Huawei Watch GT. The differences were negligible, which is strong evidence in favor of a cheap fitness tracker compared to professional, heavy and expensive solutions.

The biggest limitation of inexpensive fitness bands is the lack of built-in GPS. This means that our exercises recorded using a smartphone can contain enhanced data, and include heart rate measurements, notifications or sleep measurements just next to the smartphone. However, the solution is acceptable since it is not intended for experienced athletes.

HUAWEI Health app and interface

Immediately after turning on the fitness bracelet, a lot of hieroglyphs appear on its screen and, apparently, an invitation to scan a QR code to download the application. It is much easier to download a mobile application by name from the application stores. It's called HUAWEI Health and is available on Google Play for ANDROID and App Store for iOS.

After downloading and installing the application, you need to register an account, select a fitness bracelet from the list and pair with the application, following the prompts.

Immediately after pairing, the bracelet interface will automatically be translated into the phone language. The time and date will also be automatically set. If the smartphone language is Ukrainian, the tracker menu will be in English.

Honestly, right after the first connection, the thought crept in that the seller from Aliexpress deceived me and sent me Honor Band 4 in the packaging of a fifth-generation tracker. Apart from the main screen, all other interfaces and icons were the same as the previous generation model. But, all new functions and updated menu appeared after updating to firmware version 1.1.0.74. The update process takes approximately 20 minutes.

The Honor Band 5 menu consists of the following items:

• Main screen . In total, the tracker has 8 dial options (the previous model only had 4). There are about 30 more options in the application. This is less than the more than 50 dial options for the Xiaomi Mi Band 4, plus it is not yet possible to create your own version, but I think that in the near future there will be much more customization options.
• Pedometer . The number of steps taken during the current day, distance, calories burned.
• Pulse.
• SpO2 . This is the very new function of determining the level of blood oxygen saturation, which the main competitors of Band 5 cannot yet boast of.
• Sleep (duration of sleep over the current day).
• Training menu . There are more workout modes available and Honor Band 5 allows you to track outdoor running, treadmill running, walking, outdoor walking, cycling, stationary bike, elliptical, rowing machine, swimming and free workout.
• Messages.
• Settings menu (timer, stopwatch, brightness, smartphone search, watch faces, battery status, as well as reset, reboot, shutdown and bracelet information.
• Payment by AliPay . Many people, when they see the AliPay icon, may think that they are holding an NFC version of the bracelet. This is wrong. The payment system interface allows you to pay for purchases using the QR code of the AliPay payment system, but outside of China this function is useless. The NFC version of Honor Band 5 is also useless outside of China.

In the application, you can rearrange the order of functions and remove unused functions. We will provide detailed instructions on the HUAWEI Health application, as well as connecting and setting up the Honor Band 5, but now we’ll just go through the main interfaces and functions.

The HUAWEI Health app menu consists of three tabs:

1. Home. All information about activity is collected here.
2. Training modes.
3. Bracelet settings. Here you'll set goals, choose which apps to receive notifications from, set alarms, change watch faces, customize heart rate measurement mode, etc.

Autonomy Honor Band 5

Band 5 has a 100 mAh battery. The manufacturer promises us up to 14 days of continuous operation. The term "before" is very important here. With the functions always turned on: continuous monitoring of heart rate, sleep, notifications, battery life will be significantly reduced, compared to using the tracker only as a watch and to receive notifications.

With all functions enabled, Honor Band 5 will work for about 4-5 days. This is a good result, above average, although the main competitor will last longer.

Functional

Honor Band 5, as befits a modern professional gadget, has wide functionality. It is able to read not only your pulse, but also the level of oxygen in your blood and even the duration and quality of your sleep.

Activity

The bracelet reads many types of activity. You can analyze them and set goals in the Huawei Health mobile application. It is worth noting that the fitness tracker itself does not have a GPS module; movement data is read using a module in the smartphone. Band 5 records your route, the speed at which you moved, and also counts calories and shows general data from the trip: duration, duration. However, there are also disadvantages.

The application does not read stops or rest periods. That is, when you stop, it thinks that you are walking, but at a slower speed. This leads to the fact that the data in the final statistics is incorrect: you were running at a speed of 13 km per hour, you decided to stop and your average 13 turned into 10, and with every minute of idle time the average speed gets lower.

The problem can be solved by pressing pauses in the application itself, but this is often not convenient. For example, the Xiaomi application “understands” pauses and automatically stops the counter.

Notifications

On the bracelet you will not find either a speaker or a microphone. All notifications are signaled by vibration. Honor's vibration motor is good: calls and messages can be heard from any part of a small apartment, especially if the watch is placed on a wooden surface.

Honor Band 5 notifications

When the smartphone and smartwatch are synchronized, notifications come from all social networks. networks. In addition, if you sit without moving for more than an hour, you will receive a message saying “stop sitting, let’s warm up!” You can turn on the alarm in the application settings. And although there is no sound, the vibration should be enough.

There is also a “weather” tab in the menu. When connected to the Internet, the forecast is constantly updated. Moreover, not only the current temperature is shown, but also the weather for the next two days. If you want to turn off notifications, you can do so in the app's settings.

Pulse measurement

Heart rate measurement is one of the first functions that smart watches received. Compared to the previous model, the pulse is measured a little faster and more accurately, as the manufacturer says. In fact, the difference is barely noticeable, but it is worth noting that both models measure heart rate quite accurately.

You can enable real-time measurement mode in the application. That is, you do not need to measure your pulse yourself, everything will be done automatically several times a day. The results of all measurements will be in the application.

Measuring blood oxygen levels

The pulse oximeter was not previously used in versions 4 and 3, so the Band 5 was supposed to be the first to bring this technology. Oddly enough, in the first month and a half after the start of sales in Russia, users did not find functions in the device menu, why? Permission was required. To use a pulse oximeter in Russia, Honor had to obtain special permission from the authorities. They received it and now everything works!

This function measures the oxygen level in the blood. Everything is the same as with the pulse: you need to turn on oxygen measurement in the menu and be motionless until the signal arrives. In comparison with a medical device, there are errors, but they are not strong, and Honor themselves said that Band 5 is not a medical gadget. The result will be shown as a percentage from 0 to 100, and you are unlikely to get below 80 - a healthy indicator is from 90 to 100.

Unfortunately, the app doesn't have a real-time oxygen tracking mode, but it does provide statistics on your measurements, which is also nice.

Sports modes

They tried to saturate Honor Bnad 5 not only with a large selection of workouts, but also with a large number of different statistics. Let's start with the training itself, there are 10 modes in total:

• running outside;
• running on a treadmill;
• walking outside;
• bike;
• exercise bike;
• swimming in the pool;
• free training;
• walking indoors;
• rowing machine;
• ellipse.

To track them, the bracelet has a gyroscope, the smartphone has GPS, and the application can also measure heart rate during training. Moreover, you can set threshold values, and every exit beyond them will be signaled.

The bracelet reads the number of calories, duration, distance, movement map (if connected to a smartphone), as well as many other statistics for different sports. For a bicycle, for example, the maximum speed, average speed, and even the minimum speed are read. Pauses and tempo are read, pulse is measured. The watch also divides your cycling activity into types: warm-up, fat burning, aerobic, anaerobic and extreme. Graphs are used to demonstrate statistics.

Sleep monitoring

Sleep tracking occurs using the Huawei TruSleep function. The updated gadget monitors not only the quality of sleep and its phases (deep, fast, light, awakening), but also the quality of breathing.

It is said that the function only works when sleeping for 3 hours or more, but it also reads short daytime sleep. There is also a smart alarm function. That is, when there is an optimal moment for awakening, the bracelet will gradually begin to wake you up with light vibration.

All sleep indicators can be viewed in the application: time of deep sleep, light sleep, awakening, percentage of time. The program will also evaluate your sleep and breathing using a 100-point system.

It’s nice that the application has an explanation of each concept. That is, there you can see recommendations for sleep, what kind of sleep you should have more, what kind of less, as well as what recommended score for sleep you should have.

NFC

The version of Band 5 in Russia did not receive an NFC module, although the Chinese version does. However, it is still useless here, because it will not be possible to pay with it.

Additional features

Initially, the bracelet could not control music, and many criticized it for this. However, in one of the latest updates, the developers heard criticism and added this feature. In the control menu you can turn on music, scroll through tracks, and also add volume.

Regarding the voice assistant, the developers decided not to provide it with the Russian version. But there is a camera control mode. It works quickly and without brakes, but only on Android. From the usual extras. functions include a stopwatch, phone search mode and timer.