Realme enters the wearables arena Realme keeps on expanding its portfolio by offering more and more products beyond smartphones. ...
Realme enters the wearables arena
Realme keeps on expanding its portfolio by offering more and more products
beyond smartphones. So far, fans in the Philippines have been enjoying more
offerings from Realme such as powerbanks, wired earphones, and true wireless
earbuds, that in addition to smartphones that cover almost every price point
in the budget segment. In the next few days, these products will be joined by
the company's very first fitness tracker, simply called the Realme
Band.
This Realme Band will be launched locally alongside the much anticipated
Realme 6i smartphone (read unboxing and initial hands on here) later today. As of writing, we don't know how much this accessory will be
offered for, but knowing Realme, I am positive this will have a very tempting
price tag. If you would like to be one of the first to know, you can tune in
to Realme Philippines' Facebook page later this evening at 7PM for their
livestream launch of these products.
Realme Band unboxed
Like the smartphone boxes of Realme, the Band also comes in a matte yellow
boxing with the photo of the wearable itself on the front together with its
official name and branding. On the back you will find key specs and features
of the Band. On the inside, nothing much. Just the Realme Band unit itself and
a quick start guide documentation. There is even no charging cable and dock in
the packaging, please keep on reading to know why.
Specs and features
The Realme Band is a very lightweight of a smart fitness tracker only weighing
20 grams right out of the box. Its strap comes in three color options - green,
black, and the realme's signature yellow color. The one I got here is in
black, which is nice as I tend to like accessories and smartphones in black
color variant, but I have to admit that when it comes to this Realme Band, I
like the yellow the most among the trio. I think it easily stands out no
matter what your outfit of the day is. Well the wrist straps are removable, so
if Realme is going to sell extra straps separately, I think its going to be
cool so we can switch strap colors depending on our mood for the day.
The front panel of the Band sports a 0.96-inch TFT LCD color display with 160
x 80 resolution. Right below the display is a capacitive button that's used to
wake-up and navigate through the display by a single or long tap. The band
also has a special sensor which automatically wakes up the display when you
lift your hand. Currently, there are five watch faces to choose from through
the app. It's too few, I know, but Realme promises that more faces will be
released in the future via software updates.
When it comes to certification, the Realme Band has IP68 rating that is good
for water and dust proofing which makes perfect sense for a fitness tracker.
So if you get too sweaty working out or get caught in the rain while running
or biking, you won't have to worry damaging the Band. And speaking of
activities, the Band can track nine sport modes (Yoga, Run, Walk, Cricket,
Bike, Hiking, Fitness, Climing, and Spinning).
In addition to the sport mode trackers above, the Realme Band's key highlights
also includes real-time heart rate monitoring, sleep quality tracking, steps
tracking as well as idle and drink water reminders. Users can also activate
call and SMS notification features through the companion Realme Link App. In
fact you can manage and use most of the Band's features and functions in the
Link app. The app can be downloaded from the Google Play, sadly it is not
available for iOS devices, at least at the moment.
The device connects to an Android phone via Bluetooth 4.2 and is compatible
with at least Android 5 mobile platform. And then as I mentioned above, only
the Realme Band is in the box and does not come with charging cable and dock,
why? See the image below.
It's got the USB Direct Charge built right in. As you can see in the image
above, the USB-A port is integrated in the Band. And that is very nice since
users won't need to worry about loosing another charging cable. Just remove
the strap where the USB is located, plug the band in a USB port ( smartphone
charger, powerbank, or laptop) and it will start charging. It's important to
note that the Band does not have a power button, just charge it and it will
automatically turn on. The first time you take the Band out of the box, though
it does have power, it is turned off. Again, all you have to do to turn it on
for the very first time is to insert it to a live USB port.
Speaking of power, the Realme Band is equipped with 90mAh battery pack.
Depending on how active you are or how often you are going to use its
features, Realme said it can last up to 9 days on a single charge. Based on
personal use for far, I think that is accurate. It has already been days since
the first time I had to charge the band upon reaching less than 10% battery
life. It takes about two hours to full charge.
The experience
Now let's talk about my experience with the Realme Band. I have been using
this fitness tracker for a few days now and I can say that the experience has
been very nice for the most part. Setting and linking it up to my Realme 6i
smartphone is extremely easy and fast. It can also be paired with any Android
smartphone as long its software version is at least Android 5 Lollipop, just
download the Realme Link App from Google Play and you are good to go.
The overall design and looks of the Realme Band is pretty familiar, you can
never mistake it for anything else than a fitness tracking device or a smart
band. I like that fact that it feels lightweight on the wrist and that the
materials of the straps do not feel too plasticky nor rubbery, just the right
texture for the skin. Also, there is plenty of adjustable holes on the strap
which means it supports a wide variety of wrist sizes. The strap is removable
which leaves room for customization options should Realme or third party
vendors decide to offer more designs for it.
The large color display on the Realme Band is one of the nicest things about
it, most especially if Realme prices this device so cheap. The screen display
itself is not touch enabled but the capacitive touch button underneath it is
very responsive and works well. A single tap brings you to the next display
mode, a long press on a display mode gives you more details about it. For
example, on Step counter, if you long press the button, you will be given
another screen with more information about your steps such as calories burned,
time and distance walked.
In the Link app, you can adjust the brightness of the display. In door, the
display is well visible, no problem at all. The challenge with viewing the
content in the display starts when you go outside in broad daylight. It is
extremely hard to see the display in direct sunlight. I hope this can still be
fixed via software update.
Heart Rate Tracker automatically monitors your heart rate every 5 minutes.
You can also set it to manual monitoring. Quality Sleep Monitor, on the
other hands gives you data about, well the quality of your sleep. haha. It
tells how much of your sleep was in deep or in light sleep in terms of hours
and minutes. See graphs below to give you idea how the data is presented in
the link app.
I also like the notification feature of the Realme Band which again you can
activate and setup through the Link App. In there you can activate
notifications for calls and other messaging alerts from almost every app in
your smartphone whether its for SMS, Facebook, Messenger, Viber, and Instagram
among many others. It works okay, I get the expected notifications, though not
all the time. Either they arrive late or I don't get them at all in some few
instances. But for the most occasions, I do receive them in the Realme Band.
This feature is really helpful as it allows me to see if I am receiving a very
important call and it gives me a quick look at message notifications including
its content without the need to take my phone out of the pocket.
As for the tracking performance of the Realme Band, I am happy to report that
it works perfectly well and I think the device is accurately tracking them
all. So far I am happy with the reports the Band and the Link App are
generating for my heart rate, steps, and sleep quality and others. My only
issue is syncing the Band to the Link app, the two are not connected all the
time and sometimes there is a delay in displaying the reports in the app and
it takes a little time syncing the data everytime I re-open the app after a
little while.
More useful features in the Realme Link App for the Band
Other useful features you can find in the Realme Link app are the Idle Alert
where you get an alert from the the Band whenever you are idle or not
physically active for longer periods of time, the Drink Reminder is also nice
having activated as it reminds me to keep myself hydrated, pretty helpful most
especially these days of hot weather. You can also setup Alarm Clock in the
app, the Band's vibration is pretty strong too. DND or Do Not Disturb Mode is
also present there if you need it. Now if you are the one who sometimes
misplaces your phone or forgets where you left if, activating Find Phone
feature in the app is going to be a lot of help too. When this feature is
enabled, you will see a display mode on the Realme Band, look for it by
tapping the capacitive button, once you are there, long press it and the phone
will start to ring and vibrate. Pretty cool feature if you ask me.
Realme Band specs:
- 0.96-inch LCD color display
- 80 x 160 resolution
- IP68 water and dust resistance
- Five dial faces
-
9 sports mode trackers
Yoga
Run
Spinning
Cricket
Walk
Fitness
Hiking
Climbing
Bike - Real-time heart rate monitor
- Sleep quality monitor
- Smart notification
- USB Direct Charge
- Bluetooth 4.2
- Realme Link app
- Black, Green, Yellow
- 20 grams
- Removable wrist strap
- 90mAh battery
UPDATE: The Realme Band is officially priced at Php1,340.
