Huawei TalkBand B2, we have tested it

Time waits for no one, and it has been almost half a year since we had the opportunity to test the Huawei TalkBand B1 , the first version of Huawei's hands-free smart wristbands . In this time, Huawei has matured at breakneck speed, and has begun to give much more importance to the design of its wrist accessories, as it showed us with the presentation of the new Huawei TalkBand B2 .

The new Huawei TalkBand B2 has about output prices established in  170 / 200 euros (depending on the version, the most expensive is the one that is finished with golden color and leather strap), and this test Huawei TalkBand B2 we will learn more about its operation. What does the new Huawei smart bracelet offer us ? Can you receive notifications? Do you have hands free? Is it only compatible with Android , or also with iOS ? Let's proceed to find out.

DESIGN

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22 millimeters wide, 11.88 millimeters deep. 235.1 millimeters of strap length in the gold-colored version, 242.85 millimeters of strap length in the conventional version. Weight of 19.7 grams for the strap, 12.5 grams for the headset (gold-colored version) / 18.1 grams for the strap, 12.5 grams for the headset (conventional version). Available in White / Black / Gold colors. Water and dust resistant (IP57) .

The Huawei TalkBand B2 is presented with a design that has little or nothing to do with the appearance of its predecessor, the TalkBand B1 smart bracelet . The TalkBand B2 is an accessory that goes beyond offering the practical functions of a smart bracelet, and its elegant appearance allows you to use the bracelet in almost any type of situation - from playing sports to attending a meeting, as well as interchangeable straps for the most demanding users in terms of style). There is no doubt that, in recent months, manufacturers are giving much greater importance to the design section in wrist accessories.

But, before going into personal evaluations, the first thing we are going to do is better understand the design of the Huawei TalkBand B2 . The version that we have had the opportunity to test is the one with a gold-colored finish (with the leather strap ). In this version, the central part of the bracelet (the part in which the screen shown) has a size of 22 mm wide and 11.88 mm deep, while the strap has a length of 235.1 mm . The weight of the strap is 19.7 grams , and the weight of the centerpiece is set at 12.5 grams .

The bracelet must be placed on the wrist in such a way that the physical button is facing to the right. And mentioning the section on physical buttons, it should be noted that the TalkBand B2 incorporates a single button (in addition to the opening to remove the hands-free) that allows the screen to be turned on and off manually. All the other control of the bracelet is done from the screen, which is tactile (as we will analyze in the next section).

And what feelings has the design of the Huawei TalkBand B2 transmitted to us  after several days of use? The TalkBand B2 feels really comfortable on the wrist , and its light weight does not cause any discomfort to wear even when doing sports. The clasps behave well (we have not suffered from fastening problems) and, in general, the appearance of the bracelet itself (with the gold-colored finish) has seemed quite attractive, elegant and modern . It should be noted that the closure of the TalkBand B2 strap is adjustable , in such a way that practically anyone can use the bracelet comfortably regardless of the size of their wrist.

It is also worth noting that  the Huawei TalkBand B2 is resistant to water and dust , although this resistance has a peculiarity: the black version and the gray version meet the IP57 certificate , while the version with the finish of golden color only reaches the IP55 certificate . Differences? It is recommended that, if we acquire the golden version, we do not spend too much time under the water with it.

SCREEN

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Touchscreen (PMOLED) of 0.73 inches with a resolution of 128 x 88 pixels .

But enough of talking about design. Let's start by thoroughly analyzing the Huawei TalkBand B2 talking about its screen. We are facing a PMOLED type screen , which means that it is a fairly simple panel that only shows simple text and drawings through white. The screen has a size of 0.73 inch , and achieves a resolution of 128 x 88 pixels . But, behind the simple appearance of this panel, we must not forget that the TalkBand B2 incorporates a fully touch screen that can be controlled with the touches of the finger .

The screen of the Huawei TalkBand B2 does its job, and all the information it shows can be viewed in a fairly clear, comfortable and intuitive way. In outdoor use situations where sunlight falls directly on the TalkBand B2 screen, we have been satisfied (especially if we compare it with the conventional screens we have on mobile phones), although the fact that there is no level of Manually configurable brightness makes us wonder if it would be possible to squeeze even more this screen to offer greater brightness in specific situations.

If we analyze more in depth the different screens this bracelet, we will see that in the main screen is displayed (from left to right and from top to bottom) the status of Bluetooth connectivity , the battery level , the time and date . From here, each option in the following list corresponds to a different screen (accessed by sliding your finger up on the panel): number of steps traveled , calories burned and hours of sleep , all of which refer to physical activity of the current day; also, on the last screen we have aStopwatch that allows us to know the number of steps traveled and the calories burned in the time we specify (we can, for example, activate it before going for a run to know the exact parameters of our activity when we have finished).

In addition, if we hold down the power button of the TalkBand B2 , we will be shown other additional options (configuration) among which we will find one that is presented with a camera icon. We could think that it is an option to take a picture with the mobile camera, but ... the truth is that this option is used to give voice commands to our smartphone through Google (see for example voice dialing, to call a contact saying " call [...] ").

The TalkBand B2 screen turns off automatically when we are not using it (after several seconds of inactivity). And, in theory, the screen of the bracelet turns on every time we turn the wrist to see the time (without having to press the button), allowing us even to navigate between the different screens simply with small turns of the wrist. And we say in theory because in our test we found that in the first hours of use is really difficult to find the trick that allows you to navigate the screen TalkBand B2simply by turning the wrist. We do not know if it is a lack of practice or if it is a problem with the programming of the bracelet itself, but in any case we believe that Huawei should improve the sensitivity necessary to turn on the screen of the bracelet when turning the wrist .

FUNCTIONS

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Hands-free functions, physical activity and sleep recording, smart alarm and notifications .

We could summarize the functions offered by the Huawei TalkBand B2 in the following points:

• Hands-free , to answer calls through the removable earpiece of the bracelet.
• Record of physical activity, to monitor our physical exercise sessions.
• Sleep record , to monitor our sleep hours. And at this same point we will also mention the smart alarm function , which allows us to wake up before the alarm set on the mobile in the event that the bracelet detects that we are in the light sleep stage.
• And notifications , to notify us when we receive a notification on our smartphone.

Starting with the notifications section, the Huawei TalkBand B2 informs us by means of a vibration every time we receive a notification on our smartphone (an email, a notification from an application, etc.), and also emits a vibration at the moment when the one that we are running out of battery in the bracelet. Notifications are not displayed on the screen (except for messages, in which case we can see the name of the issuer), and to consult them we must use our mobile.

As regards the registration of physical activity, the Huawei TalkBand B2 is responsible for monitoring our physical activity to let us know the hours of walking, running and cycling we have done throughout the day , also including calories burned . Within the monitoring section, it should be noted that this bracelet also records the hours of sleep (differentiating deep sleep and light sleep), and an aspect that deserves special mention is that the TalkBand B2 automatically activates the sleep mode when we go to sleep ( without having to do it manually). All this information is shown in summary form on the bracelet, and can be consulted more thoroughly from the Huawei Wear application (We will talk about it later).

The functionality of the headset of TalkBand B2 will leave to the next section, but in summary we note that this bracelet features a removable headset that fits over the ear allowing  keeping calls hands - free mode using the smartphone to the this accessory is linked .

One feature that we especially miss on the Huawei TalkBand B2 , especially when it comes to recording physical activity, is the heart rate sensor (a sensor that, curiously, is built into the Huawei Watch ). This sensor is very useful when it comes to monitoring physical activity, and it is a feature that we believe is necessary in an accessory with sports recording functions. The TalkBand B2 also does not incorporate GPS .

FREE HANDS

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Integrated noise-canceling dual-microphone .

It seems that Huawei was satisfied with the acceptance that its hands-free headset had of the first TalkBand B1 , and this new TalkBand B2 also incorporates a removable headset that can be removed from the bracelet to place it on the ear . The earphone is extracted by pressing simultaneously on two small fasteners located on one side of the bracelet, and when we remove it we find that we are facing an accessory that incorporates a small rubber grip inside; This support is the one that is placed inside the ear, leaving the headset subject as if we were facing a conventional handsfree.

We cannot deny that Huawei was quite original in its day by launching a smart bracelet with this type of accessory. The hands-free

of the TalkBand B2 is quite useful especially for people who work with the mobile every day, since it allows us to answer calls in any situation (even driving) without having to touch the mobile at any time . Yes; When using the hands-free, the battery consumption suffers, and not a little.

HUAWEI WEAR APP

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Free Huawei Wear application, compatible with Android (Android 4.0 or higher) and iOS (iOS 7.0 or higher) .

The application that connects our smartphone with the Huawei TalkBand B2 goes by the name of Huawei Wear , and is available for free download on both Android and iOS . This application allows to exponentially increase the information collected by the TalkBand B2 -with regard to physical activity and lifestyle monitoring-, and through this Huawei Wear application we can consulate in detail the data related to our physical state or our hours of sleep .

The Huawei Wear application also incorporates different configurable options for the bracelet. The option that has attracted our attention the most is the Smart alarm , which allows you to configure the bracelet to emit a small vibration before the time set on our mobile in the event that it detects that we are in a light sleep phase. We also have Activity Reminder options (to remind us to move in case we spend a certain time sitting) or Alarms for events . Through this same application it is also possible to update the version of the bracelet's operating system.

By the way, another special mention also deserves the detail that the remaining battery level of the Huawei TalkBand B2 is displayed at all times in the upper right part of the screen of our mobile (regardless of whether it is Android or iOS ).

Battery

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Built-in 95 mAh capacity battery. Autonomy of up to six days in use (up to seven hours in conversation in the case of using the headset to talk on the mobile) and up to 14 days in standby. It charges through a microUSB port (cable included) .

The battery that incorporates the Huawei TalkBand B2 has a capacity of 95 mAh , and is recharged through a microUSB port located on the back of the headset (that is, it is necessary to remove the headset from the bracelet in order to charge the battery). We are not going to elaborate excessively on the battery section, and we will only mention that the real autonomy that we have obtained when making daily use of the TalkBand B2 is quite close to the official figures provided by Huawei (although, doing sporadic use of the headset, the autonomy that we can get is between four and five days).

The box of this bracelet comes with the cable necessary to charge the battery (a simple USB-microUSB cable ), although there is no sign of the power adapter. The full charge time is around 1.5 hours .

PRICE AND CONCLUSIONS

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The Huawei TalkBand B2 will be available in Spain in the coming weeks for a starting price of 170 euros ( 200 euros in the event that we decide to purchase the gold version). Undoubtedly we are facing a product in which Huawei has dedicated many hours of work to offer a design that is at the height of what we could expect from an accessory with these characteristics. The finishes of the bracelet are really well finished , and the design of the TalkBand B2 makes it possible for us to use it both in everyday use (at work, for example) and in sports use.

And what happens to users looking for an accessory mainly aimed at monitoring physical activity? In that case we have to say that the Huawei TalkBand B2 does not seek to stand out especially for its sports-oriented functionalities at a professional level. We are facing a bracelet intended for users who do sports sporadically , and its main task is to keep the user informed of everything that happens on their smartphone, even allowing to answer calls through the hands-free.

Huawei TalkBand B2 datasheet

screen

Design

Multimedia

software

Power 

Memory

Connections

Autonomy

+ info

Price: 170/200 euros