Apart from the Honor 9X and Honor 9X Pro smartphones, the Huawei’s sub-brand Honor also announced the Honor Band 5 at the same launch event in China. The latest fitness band from Honor comes with a coloured display panel, is 5ATM water-resistant, and has a blood oxygen level sensor. With these features, the Honor Band 5 will compete against Xiaomi Mi Band 4 in the affordable wearable market. Before we jump into the specs and features of Honor Band 5, let’s have a quick overview of the pricing and availability first.
Honor Band 5 – Price and Availability
The Honor Band 5 comes in Meteorite Black, Midnight Blue and Pink colors, is priced at 189 yuan (US$ 27 / Rs. 1,890 approx.) for the standard version and the NFC version costs 219 yuan (US$ 31 / Rs. 2,195 approx.). It is available for order today and goes on sale in China from July 29th.
Honor Band 5 Specifications, Features
The Honor Band 5 sports a 0.95-inch AMOLED color display with 282ppi pixel density and 2.5D curved glass protection. It has a 120 x 240 pixels screen resolution and can display text messages from SMS, WeChat, and QQ.
As mentioned, it comes with a blood oxygen level sensor that measures your blood SpO2 levels. This feature will be much handy for users who make adventurous types (if you climb to high altitudes) or those suffering from certain conditions (e.g. hypoxia). Like its predecessor Honor Band 4, it also comes with PPG heart rate sensor for continuous Heart rate tracking.
Honor Band 5 also comes with numerous face dials, sleep monitor, and 10 different sports modes including running, cycling, and swimming. It is 5ATM certified for water-resistant and can be taken in the swimming pool up to 50 meters. It measures 43 x 17.2 x 11.5mm; weighs 22.7g and is powered by a 100mAh battery which provides 14 days of usage time and 20 days while standby. It has Bluetooth 4.2 LE connectivity compatible with smartphones with Android 4.4 (or above) or iOS 9.0 (or above).
There is also a premium variant of the Honor Band 5 with a special feature called NFC. This feature can be used to make cash-less and card-less payments. However, this version of Honor Band may be exclusive to the Chinese market. There are no reports when the Honor Band 5 will makes its way to India and other global markets.
I am interested in the blood oxygen level monitor but am finding conflicting information online as to which band 5 models have it. I hear the “Original” or “Standard” one’s do. Some say the “International” or “Global” one’s don’t, but I’ve seen other reports say they do, so I’m not sure if some info is obsolete and/or firmware updates added this feature to these models. I’m in Canada and the reason I am looking at this model is specifically for this feature. As a note, I also heard the “China” version will not be compatible with many Google services here. I don’t know if there’s actually a China version or if they mean the one’s that ship from China. I am not sure if they are made elsewhere too. Any help would be appreciated.