The Huawei Band 6 is no longer Huawei’s newest fitness band as it recently launched the new Huawei Band 7, but with its health and fitness-centric features and two weeks battery life, can it still be a great alternative to the new kid in town? Let’s find out in this review.
Huawei Band 6 specs:
- 1.47-inch FullView AMOLED display, 194 x 368px
With slide and touch gestures - Bluetooth 5.0, BLE
- 96 workout modes
- All-day SpO2 monitoring
- TruSeen 4.0 Heart rate monitoring
- TruSleep 2.0 Sleep tracking
- TruRelax Stress monitoring
- Menstrual cycle tracking
- 5 ATM water-resistant
- Power and function button
- Optical heart rate sensor
- Up to 14 days of battery life
Magnetic charging - Available colors: Graphite Black, Forest Green, Sakura Pink, Amber Sunrise
Design: A looker
At first glance, the Band 6 is just like any other fitness band on the market – small and compact, but not too small or too big for my taste. The external frame is made of plastic as well as the underside of the watch which contributed to its very light 18 grams of weight.
Speaking of the underside, found here are the heart rate sensor and the magnetic charging contact points.
Meanwhile, the watch strap is made of UV-treated silicone so they’re skin-friendly, dirt-resistant, and comfortable to wear which is a plus. And yes, you can take this for a swim.
Thanks to the large display, the size is just right for a fitness band. It did not come with any special scratch or shatter-resistant protection, but it is sure durable to the touch. There are no complicated or multiple buttons here, just a lone power/wake/function button on the right side.
Display: Vast and vibrant
The Band 6 has a large 1.47-inch FullView AMOLED display that displays vibrant colors, great contrast, and sharp text for its size. Notifications and other information are very readable here. Indoors or out, the brightness can also keep up as well as the viewing angles. Although one downside here is it is not an always-on display and there’s no tap to wake. Maybe the raise-to-wake feature can compensate for that.
The outer glass does not have any scratch or shatter protection, I even removed the pre-applied screen protector and put it on heavy use; fortunately, there are no scratches. Looking at it at an angle also reveals a little curve on all four sides of the glass making swipe gestures smooth.
Connectivity and Performance: Surprisingly good
Thanks to Bluetooth 5.0 and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), Band 6 can connect easily to any compatible Huawei, Android, and iOS device. You can even leave your phone 15 to 20 feet away with walls in between without getting disconnected. But if it does, a short vibrate and a display notification will appear.
Navigating through the Band 6 feels buttery smooth with zero lags and very responsive – no need for a huge RAM and a powerful processor. But if you already own a Huawei wearable, you will feel at home navigating here with the different swipe functions:
- Swipe up to see notifications
- Swipe down to see your quick toggles
- Swipe left and right to have quick access to certain apps
- A push at the right-side button opens other band modes and features, and also doubles as the back/home button
- To turn back from a menu, swipe right
To make the most out of Band 6, you will need to install the Huawei Health app on your phone. This will sync all the recorded data made by the smartwatch, change and load watch faces, update your firmware, as well as manage and provide more information on the recorded data. Important features such as Heart rate monitoring are accurate as well as the SpO2 monitoring and stress monitoring which is very useful for me when I work for long hours. The automatic workout mode also works great especially when I unconsciously do some brisk walking, it immediately logs and syncs it on the app – just make sure you are connected to the internet.
However, some features only work if you use a Huawei or Android smartphone: Music control and Remote Camera shutter. But some other features work well even on other smartphone brands and operating systems such as iOS. On the other hand, incoming notifications from different apps are supported especially incoming calls with an option to reject. The Huawei Band 6 covers all the basics a fitness band should have with some added features: flashlight, phone finder, weather, breathing exercises, timer, and alarm.
Battery Life: Hard to kill
On a daily use with step monitoring, notifications coming in, raise to wake is always on as well as SpO2 and heart rate monitoring, the Band 6 lasted a good 14 days of use. But if you use this for workouts a lot, especially with its auto workout detection, the Band 6 could last you shorter, but not short enough to charge this every single day. And thanks to its magnetic charging, the Band 6 can fast charge from 0% to 100% in just two hours.
