At the beginning of 2018, Huawei was in a strong position in the smart phone field. P20 and P20 Pro showed great power in the photography field, and both refreshed the DxOMARK list. In contrast, Huawei has kept a much lower profile in the field of intelligent wear. At the beginning of the year, it only updated the Watch2 sports version, and has not brought other new products. At the nova3 conference in the middle of the year, a new intelligent wearable product, Huawei bracelet B5, was finally introduced.

Appearance and design

Huawei bracelet B5 continues the "two in one" design of Huawei bracelet, namely, Bluetooth headset+smart bracelet. This time, Huawei launched three versions at one go: sports, business and fashion. The three models adopt different materials and color designs. The sports model is made of silicone, the business model is made of leather, and the fashion model is made of metal. The pricing of the three models is slightly different, but the functionality is completely the same.

Our model is a business model, consisting of a metal body+leather watchband. The color match is a traditional classic business brown, which seems a bit old-fashioned for young people, but it is indeed the most classic color of leather, which is more suitable for parents and elders. It is suggested that users should choose according to their own needs when shopping. If you like sports, the business model is not suitable. The leather strap is difficult to take care of after absorbing water. In contrast, the silicone strap of the sports model is corrosion resistant and convenient to take care of.

The wrist strap provides as many as 14 keyholes, which can be worn easily, and can basically control the thick and thin arms. The strap is made of cow leather imported from Italy, which is generally soft, but the real wearing feeling is relatively comfortable.

The body length of the bracelet is slightly longer, but the radian also fits the arm, and the comfort is OK, but it may not be beautiful for girls with thin arms.

The slogan of B5 this time is "color screen health bracelet". Compared with the previous generation, the biggest change is the upgrade of screen size. The 0.91-inch screen is upgraded to a 1.13-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 160 * 300. The display area is significantly improved when viewing WeChat and other situations. In terms of size and screen size, the Huawei bracelet B5 is basically on the same level as the smart watch.

The 1.13-inch screen can not only display time, steps, calorie consumption and other data, but also display notifications. The most intuitive feeling of screen size improvement is that more content can be displayed, for example, WeChat messages can be increased to two.

In terms of functional design, the B5 is somewhat different from the traditional bracelet. It continues the consistent design idea of Huawei's bracelet. The mobile phone is integrated with a Bluetooth headset. To be exact, the body is a Bluetooth headset, integrated with a motion recording module, and then transformed into a bracelet by matching it with a wrist strap.

The body is combined with a buckle and a watch strap, and the top has a magnetic suction design, which can help to quickly align the watch case. After inserting the case, there is a snap on the bottom of the body for fixing.

The side of the body continues the usual style of Huawei bracelet, with only one button on the right side and a noise reducing microphone beside it.

Inside the body are silicone earmuffs that are easy for one ear to wear. There is no hard support structure inside the earmuffs, so they are soft as a whole and can be easily inserted into the bracelet. The silicone ring on the top fits the auricle to help fixation, similar to the shark fin function of sports headphones. Two sets of replacement earmuffs of different sizes are included with the package, which can be adjusted according to the size of your auricle.

The lower part of the body is a MicroUSB interface for charging, and a charging cable is attached, which is also one of the most common interfaces at present. However, after Huawei mobile phones fully use the USB Type-C interface, it is a little pity that the bracelet did not follow up in time. On both sides of the MicroUSB interface are call microphones, and on the bottom are fixed clips.

Compared with the past, the biggest difference is that a transverse heart rate sensor is added to the inside of the fuselage, with two LED lights on both sides and a sensor in the middle. The Huawei bracelet has replaced the multi belt bracelet, but this is the first time that it is equipped with a heart rate sensor.

Compared with the previous generation products, the overall body is still significantly larger and wider, and the shape is not much different from the normal bracelet. As a single ear Bluetooth headset, its size is slightly larger, but its weight is controlled in an acceptable range. With the help of the ring earmuffs, it will not fall off easily.

APP and experience

Although Bluetooth headsets often represent the image of busy business people in movies, it may be because of different cultures that in real life, equipped with a single ear Bluetooth headset often becomes a "customer service" feeling. The Huawei bracelet is presented in the form of a wrist strap when it is stored, and the headset module is put into the ear when a call is made, that is, it is designed to transform into a Bluetooth headset, which not only alleviates the "customer service style", but also solves the problem of Bluetooth headset storage, which is more practical.

In terms of operation, there is only one button on the right side of the whole body, which is the lock screen+Home button. In the non main screen, it returns to the default time desktop for Home. Click again to lock the screen. Most operations are operated by sliding and clicking on the screen, and the left line is "back". In terms of UI, there is not much upgrade, and the style is basically similar to that before. As a relatively commercial style, the Huawei bracelet B5, which takes into account the Bluetooth headset, spends more time on communication, such as sliding answering, synchronous collection of contacts, etc.

In terms of mobile APP adaptation, Huawei can be said to be quite wayward. The design of Huawei Wearing+Huawei Health dual APP has lasted for many years. Of course, the EMUI with these two built-in APPs does not have this trouble, but the user experience of other brands is not so friendly. In 2018, Huawei finally combined the two APPs into one. However, after installing Huawei Health, the functional application of Huawei Mobile Services needs to be installed in order to be used normally. In terms of supporting software, Huawei still has room for improvement.

In terms of application design, the overall style is quite simple. All data can be clearly displayed in front of you, which is easy to use and gives you a good first impression. The app of Huawei Health is slightly different from the mobile app of other wearable brands. It is not only an app for adapting wearable hardware, but also includes the movement data measured by mobile phones. After calculation, the two together constitute the daily amount of exercise, which is more accurate than the data of a single device.

At present, the most important data is the heart rate and sleep records. The heart rate is TruSeen 2.0 heart rate monitoring, which is said to have a 24-hour heart rate automatic tracking function. However, from the observation of the working condition of the heart rate sensor, it is not a 24-hour real-time monitoring. Its rule seems to be slightly different from that of the general bracelet, which is measured every 10 minutes. It should be based on the intermittent monitoring of the algorithm, and finally draw a heart rate curve according to the algorithm. Compared with the 24-hour real-time monitoring product, its accuracy must be slightly inferior, but the heart rate curve still has some reference significance.

The APP also provides a heart rate early warning function, which calculates the corresponding heart rate range according to your age. After setting, when the user exceeds the limit heart rate during exercise, the APP will remind the user to prevent heart problems caused by excessive heart rate for a long time. Users can also adjust according to the corresponding heart rate range during exercise to better achieve the training effect.

In terms of sleep monitoring, Huawei bracelet B5 still gives us some surprises. Sleep monitoring provides deep sleep, light sleep, rapid eye movement sleep and wakefulness, which is one of the more detailed types of sleep monitoring in domestic bracelets.

The recorded sleep time and duration are relatively accurate. It is still of practical significance to cooperate with TruSleep's scientific sleep guidance recommendations. After all, modern people, especially those working in big cities, often have high pressure in work and life, and often squeeze time from the compressed sleep market, which will have adverse effects on health in the long run.

In addition to heart rate and sleep records, the health app can also enter sports data, such as running, cycling, swimming, etc. In addition, it also provides some exercise courses and exercise plans. Users who do not like to go to the gym can do some appropriate exercises according to the courses.

Although it can also be used on iOS and other Android phones, there are also some functions that need to be matched with EMUI, such as remote photo taking, situational intelligence push, online stranger number recognition, etc. Huawei mobile phones also make adaptations for smart wearable devices, such as automatically lighting the screen after unplugging the Bluetooth headset. However, in my opinion, these are just harmless functions.

In terms of endurance, the battery capacity of Huawei bracelet B5 is 108mAh, which has slightly improved. The theoretical talk time is about 6 hours, and the typical working scenario is 3.5 days. However, after the author turned on heart rate monitoring and scientific sleep, the power consumption increased significantly, and the actual use time also decreased, which basically required a charge of 2.5-3 days.

summary

As a new generation product of Huawei, the B5 has been upgraded to a certain extent on the basis of the original one. It has a larger screen, richer functions and better experience, but it is still a familiar taste on the whole. The biggest functional change is the addition of the heart rate function, which is also a function that Huawei's bracelet has been missing before. Although the volume has increased after adding the heart rate, it is still worthwhile compared with the improvement of the function.

As a representative of cross-border bracelets, Huawei's bracelet has always followed a differentiated path. The product form of both Bluetooth headset and sports bracelet has solved the storage problem of Bluetooth headset while taking into account the functions of the bracelet. Huawei's bracelet is still unique in the industry. In terms of the movement record and endurance of the bracelet, Huawei's bracelet B5 is inferior to Fitbit, a professional sports wear brand, but it is worth choosing for users who do not require high functionality, simply take a step, record their sleep status, and want to own a Bluetooth headset at the same time. In other words, if it is regarded as a Bluetooth headset with motion recording and storage functions, the product positioning will be more accurate.

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