Exercise
IN PHOTO: People participate in an aerobics class at the gymnasium Reuters/ Juan Carlos Ulate

The world of wearables is packed with a wide array of devices which boast of different unique features, Huawei’s own wearable device is no different. The TalkBand B1 is the company’s first attempt on the said arena.

Design

The TalkBand B1 sports a look that resembles that of FitBit’s trackers and even looks like the Sony SmartBand. It’s wristband is made up of plastic and houses a core unit which is responsible for the walk and sleep tracking.

The core unit can be removed from the wristband converting the device into a Bluetooth earpiece. The earpiece has a slightly curved 1.4-inch non-touch OLED screen. The device has two buttons, one for power and interface switch for the wearable and one on the band which ejects the core unit to use it as an earpiece.

Features

The B1 is made of hypo-allergenic materials and is sweat and UV resistant which prevents discolouration. The wearable is IP57 certified which makes it dust proof and water resistant.

The TalkBand as an earpiece provides good call quality and voice pickup. It also features the Bluetooth 4.1 technology which allows it to connect to smartphones.The device is packed with 90mAh battery, which according to Huawei can withstand 6 days of regular use, 7 hours of talk time and can last for 14 days of standby time.

The TalkBand App

The default interface can track the user’s steps and sleep for the day. The user can simply tap on either of the two (step or sleep) in order to get an hourly breakdown over the whole day. The user will also be able to compare sleep and steps across a week or month. In order to calculate the amount of calorie burned, the user would have to set-up the device by entering personal information such as: gender, age, height, and weight.

According to Techno Buffalo’s review, the TalkBand can tell the user’s quality of sleep. The device can differentiate deep sleep versus light sleep by tracking the user’s movements while sleeping. Additionally, the user can go to the Settings to program the TalkBand to buzz every time the user gets inactive. The device will also vibrate to wake the user when the sleep cycle is at its shallowest.

Consumers can get the fitness tracker and Bluetooth headset in a single device for US$170. It is compatible with various smartphone brands like Samsung, Xiaomi, Sony and LG, to name a few.

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