Huawei TalkBand B2 review

More after Huawei TalkBand B1 became clear that the unusual combination of fitness and bracelet of Bluetooth-headset justified. And six months later, the company released a significantly modified in terms of image and design of Huawei TalkBand B2. Externally, the new generation of smartwatches different from its predecessor. The concept remains the same – the device is a headset, a built-in strap worn on the wrist. In addition, it serves as a tracker activity by counting the steps passed.

Specifications of Huawei TalkBand B2

Screen: 0.73″, resolution 128×88 px
Protected against water and dust: IP57 Standard
Compatibility: Android 4.0 or higher, iOS 7.0 and higher
Wireless Interfaces: Bluetooth 3.0
Sensors: pedometer, accelerometer
Indication: Vibrate
Battery: 95 mAh
Battery: 6 days (depending on the duration of use in headset mode)
Dimensions: 46x20x235,1 / 242.85 mm (including leather / plastic strap)
Weight: 30.6 grams (with a plastic strap), 32.2 grams (with leather strap)

Packaging

Huawei TalkBand B2 starts to surprise from the first date of its announcement – is noticeable that over the design and quality of packaging materials seriously worked.

The top cover is a small, almost cubic, boxes made of transparent plastic is very thick, the bottom – of the “soft” black. The bracelet is worn on the circular stand. It is hollow, contains a cable USB <=> micro-USB and two spare silicone nozzles on the headset. Under the stand is a cardboard envelope with the documentation and quick start guide.

Appearance

The new generation of metal TalkBand received – and more subtle – the body in gold, silver and black colors, which looks much better than its predecessor. If B1 looked sporty, the B2 is seen as a fashion accessory, and makes you want to carry it with you everyday, including strict clothing. So it should be: a device designed for continuous wear in very different surroundings.

Removable capsule headset – also metal, and became a little wider. The display is bright, shiny surface of the headset – it all looks very elegant.

In general, it was hard to imagine looking at the first-born ruler out of it over time, you can do so beautiful device as TalkBand B2.

Display of TalkBand B2 was the touch. Now you can scroll through the screens – on the main displays there are the time, date, the charge level icon and Bluetooth-connection. If you scroll down the data appears pedometer, calories burnt, information about sleep over last night, and the stopwatch is designed to monitor the training (eg. jogging). Activated screen button on the right edge of the body, flipping it possible to both sides, the sensor is very responsive. The device is able to gently vibrate when uses for notifications and alarms.

Ergonomics

Turn bracelet headset easier: the fingers of his free hand stifle the two buttons on the sides of the capsule, remove it and insert into the ear silicone ear cushions in the manner of normal headphones. You will start receiving calls automatically.

The capsule embouchure of TalkBand B2 keeps ear safer than B1. It is fixed in the ear in one motion. After that, as the head shake, the headset will not be able to fall off – it sits as adherent, and it can be easily forgotten in the ear. The secret to a strong fixation, apparently is in the shape and size of the silicone embouchure.

But ergonomics of the strap has some problems: in some situations buckle reliability is different: it often unzips, clinging clothes during taking off / putting on. If you tighten the strap tightly to the gadget it does not talk, it sits firmly, but strongly adheres to the skin and causes discomfort. At times, it would be desirable to remove the bracelet and the rest of it.

Synchronize your smartphone

For the new generation of TalkBand, new application was also developed from scratch. It is called Huawei Wear, it has the same functionality as the previous client, but pleasant design. It allows you to be synchronized with your smartphone, both models line, set an alarm clock and watch activity statistics. Versions are available for iOS and Android.

Reminds Huawei Wear about yourself every day, offering to synchronize data with a bracelet.

Bluetooth-Headset

The quality of the sound output to the speaker is excellent, the volume is sufficient, and, as noted, the level of comfort in use is high. Some argue that the transmitted sound is not very loud, but this property is almost all set-class hands free.

If you miss a call, the caller’s name (or number if it is not written in the address book) will be displayed on the home screen when you unlock. At the touch will be two buttons: note notice how viewed, or call back.

Bracelet understand whether the headset is on the strap or in the ear, and the redirects audio (including music) from your smartphone automatically.

When you break the Bluetooth-connection bracelet vibrates. Developers presented this feature as an advantage of the gadget. In practice, this means you can not be with her smartphone in different rooms without the constant vibration of the unit. Probably, it is necessary that the user knows at what moment it ceases to be notified of calls to the bracelet.

Fitness function

Huawei TalkBand B2 is that all the data on activity can be to learn directly from the screen without necessarily synchronize it with your smartphone. It is necessary for the more developed statistics, notification settings, and activity analysis more than a day. On the screen, there are pedometer indicators for the current day, we see the number of hours of sleep and the number of active movements and calories burned.

In the evening we synchronize bracelet with smartphone and learn what we did during the day. The application breaks your daily activity periods – simply put, says when and how much you walk, and not only according to the final number of steps.

If you sit in one place for too long, the bracelet will vibrate and display an icon with the little man, waving his arms. This means that it is time to stretch your legs.

Statistics are collected automatically: bracelet analyzes movements of the owner, without requiring manual switching into sleep mode.

Data on activity and sleep can be viewed on daily and monthly. When there are enough statistics, it turns out interesting picture of your lifestyle.

More application calculates how many kilometers you have overcome for all time use of the bracelet.

Stopwatch mode works very simple. After the run, you will see the number of burnt calories during it, the distance you have overcome, and the total duration of your track. Total distance and calories by available only after a full stop.

Autonomy

It’s all good: TalkBand B2 confidently holds three full days without charge in the constant wear and with many long conversations. In general, you do not need to charge the bracelet every day, you can wear it and forget it. And it comes charging through the micro-USB port for a very short period of time, according to the manufacturer – 1.5 hours, and in fact even faster.

Results

However, TalkBand B2 naturally added new value, and the price tag for the Sport version starts from $ 180 (for Premium Gold version with a leather strap you will have to pay $ 230) against 99 euros for the first generation of the device. As far as price is consistent with the proposed functional we think this point goes to Huawei.