Honor Band 5, priced at ₹2,199.00 and available on Amazon, comes with features like waterproof Full Color AMOLED Touchscreen, SpO2 (Blood Oxygen), Music Control, Watch Faces Store and up to 14 Day Battery Life. After using it for two weeks, I strongly feel that the Honor Band 5 is far better product when compared to the market leader, the Mi Band 4. Read on to know why. Here my Honor Band 5 Review.
Common features
Both bands come with a 50mtr water resistance, both have very similar weight. Both have similar activity tracking and they can track your sleep pattern too. Both come with a heart rate monitor to track heart beat and a gyroscope to track steps. The display on both is of same size (0.95″) and resolution too is same (120 x 240px). You can replace watch straps for both Mi Band 4 and Honor Band 5.
Better look and feel
Ever since the first Mi Band came to India, the strap has not changed. It is still the same really basic strap. Even the Mi Smart Band 4 came with the same dull black band. There is no option to buy the Mi Band 4 with different strap color. You can buy orange or pink or blue color straps but you have to pay extra for those (Rs.300/- extra).
Honor Band 5, on the other hand, is available in four colors (Green, navy blue, pink and black). I picked the Honor Band 5 Midnight Navy color variant. Next to the Mi Band 4, the Honor Band 5 looks so much better. Unlike Mi Band 4’s flat display, there is slight curve to Honor Band 5 and that gives is better and fresh look.
Honor Band 5 comes with classic watch style clasp that to me is better than Honor Band 4’s buckle pin type strap. Reason is simple. It is much easier to strap the band like a watch (Honor Band 5) than clicking the strap (Smart Band 4). The strap of Mi Band 4 looks hideous after some time. Thanks to the simple texture of Honor Band 5, the strap ages better.
Better Display
Though both Mi Band 4 and Honor Band 5 come with 0.95″ AMOLED display, for some reason, the Honor Band 5 display looks brighter and vibrant. The watch faces on Honor Band 5 can be installed using Huawei Health application. All the watch faces can be downloaded from single application and it is controlled by Huawei. For Mi Band, you have to download a separate application to change watch faces. Also, the home or display on circular touch sensor is very clearly visible on Honor Band 5.
Better Sensors
Though both Mi Band 4 and Honor Band 5 come with heart beat sensor, one major advantage with Honor Band 5 is its SPO2 sensor that can monitor and report your blood oxygen level. Do note that having this sensor is definitely an advantage for Honor Band 5 but do not take this as a medical grade sensor to monitor your blood oxygen level in case you are in need to track this data for medical reasons. I took a walk and I manually counted to 200 steps. Mi Band 4 gave 199 as its reading and Honor Band 5 showed 196 steps which is pretty acceptable.
Better Charging
About a year ago, I had a Mi Band and one unfortunate day, I looked up to see time and the capsule was missing (only strap was there around my wrist). The problem with Mi Band is that to charge the band, you have to take the capsule out, insert that in provided charger and once it is fully charged, insert the capsule into the strap. If the fit is not perfect, the capsule may come off and if you do this multiple times, the strap may become lose and you will end up with losing the capsule. In my case, I guess the fit was not perfect.
There is no such issue with Honor Band 5 as it comes with this charging dock. I just attach the Band to the dock without removing the capsule. Once the charging is done, remove the dock and strap the band on. It is that easy!
The only advantage of Mi Band 4 is…
Better battery life. The Honor Band 5 has two week battery life and Mi Band 4 can stay on for another 5 days. This is not as significant as above advantages that Honor Band 5 has as no one stays away from charging point for more than a day or two at the max.
Application support
You need not think about Android etc if you are buying Honor Band 5 as both Honor Band 5 and Mi Band 5 come with proprietary OS and cannot connect to Android phone without proprietary application (Huawei Health vs Mi Fit). The only way you can sync band data to phone is by using the respective application. Even notifications are configured through these applications. I will do a more detailed in-depth review of the application and analytics provided in Huawei Health in another review.
Honor Band 5 Review : Conclusion
When it comes to quality and features, there is absolutely no doubt that Mi Band 4 is simply not a match for Honor Band 5. The Honor Band 5 has better looking strap and capsule, has SPO2 (blood oxygen) monitor, has better charging mechanism. The icing on the cake is that the Honor Band 5 costs 100 rupees less and you can get any of the available colors from Amazon. One thing that I have noticed during the Honor Band 5 Review is how Huawei products are under rated these days, mainly due to their legal struggles with USA and European countries.
