The Honor Band 4 is the company’s latest fitness tracker for India, and this can be seen as clear competitor to one of the most popular devices on the market, the Xiaomi Mi Band 3. Like Xiaomi’s band, Honor has packed number of features in the tracker at a competitive price of Rs 2,599.
The fitness band has a heart-rate sensor, a coloured-display, steps and exercise tracking as well as ability to show incoming notifications. The band is water-resistant and can hence track swimming. While Mi Band 3 is also water-resistant, unlike the Honor Band 4, it cannot track swimming.
Honor Band 4 review: What’s good?
Honor Band 4 has an impressive AMOLED full colour display, which is rare at this price point. The 2.5D curved display is 0.95 inches in size, and works well in all kinds of lighting.
The band also has a Home button for one-click return, and a user can scroll up and down to navigate on this. The user interface is simple and easy to understand, even if you have not used a fitness tracker before.
The device is compatible with both Android and iOS, though I used it with a Google Pixel 3 XL. There were no issues when it came to pairing the device as such, though when I started the device it was entirely in Chinese, though I was told this was because the review unit had come from China. The retail units will start in English.
The Honor Band 4 is fairly accurate when it comes to step counts, and sleep. I wore it with my Apple Watch 3 during the period of testing and the step count was mostly in line with what the watch showed. The Honor Band 4 was accurate with tracking sleep for most part, though not my favourite to wear while sleeping.
The band can also be used to track individual exercise sessions like treadmill, running, cycle, etc, and it was fairly simple using it for all these. The amount of calories burnt per session though is a number for which you will keep some approximation in mind.
In comparison to my Apple Watch, which showed more calories burnt, this one showed a slightly lower calorie count for the same session. Still the difference in calories was not significantly high, though the average heart-rate tracked by the two was very different.
What I liked about the Honor Band 4 is that it has a number of fitness tracking options, which many users will appreciate. I would have liked to test out the swimming function too, but unfortunately I do not have access to a heated swimming pool in Delhi.
The band needs to be used in conjunction with the Huawei Health app. The app will break down sessions like treadmill with details for average pace and heart rate all emphasised for those who need this kind of information. You can also enter your weight data, view your sleep data, etc on the app.
Honor Band 4: What’s not good?
One issue I had with the band was with the fit. It was too loose for me, despite the pink colour option, which I’m assuming will be marketed towards women as it tends to be the case. Not that everyone wants a pink coloured band, but still a smaller version of this band with a better fit would have been good.
Another issue was while sleeping with the band. I often tend to move my hands a lot and the band’s display would light up. I could not find the right setting to make sure this did not happen, and it really got annoying.
The band’s battery does concern me a bit. Yes, it comes with a proprietary charger and one is never sure if this is fitted this perfectly while charging the device. Plus there’s the annoying bit of making sure you do not lose the charger.
The battery lasts around a week, though this was with a week which had minimal exercise. For heavy duty users, the tracker might require regular charging.
Honor Band 4: Verdict
Honor Band 4 is a feature packed device, and the price will be its biggest selling point. For those who want more options in their fitness tracking and want to track swimming as well, this could be a good alternative to the Mi Band 3. The latter is also a very capable device for its price. Honor Band 4 though has a better display, but the battery life could be better.
