The OnePlus Band health tracker
The timing of OnePlus Band’s launch was well-judged — simply 10 days into January. It’s that point of the yr when resolutions, particularly fitness-related ones, blossom. It had been over three months since Xiaomi launched Mi Good Band 5, which, like OnePlus Band, falls below the ₹2500-₹3000 value vary. There have been no main releases in between. And, OnePlus, particularly in India, are extremely regarded for his or her smartphones.
The band was OnePlus’ first wearable machine. And, going by their lofty requirements, it was a barely disappointing début.
OnePlus speak quite a bit about their merchandise’ aesthetics. Most of them, are, certainly elegant. The ribbed black and gray strap (additionally accessible in orange-grey and Navy blue colors) and the rounded rectangular show had been pleasing at first sight.
As with most health bands, there aren’t any bodily buttons for navigation. You may faucet and swipe on the 1.1-inch AMOLED show. The show additionally comes alive if you twist the wrist in direction of your face. You may activate/off the display by protecting and uncovering the display along with your palm — this, nonetheless, didn’t work on a regular basis. I additionally wished for extra person interfaces with numbers of energy burnt, steps coated, etcetera.
One of many LED biosignal sensors on the OnePlus Band
In any other case, there may be not a lot to complain concerning the machine per se. It provides to trace 13 completely different actions, together with cricket and badminton (clearly aimed on the Indian market). Aside from steps and distance, it additionally measures your coronary heart price, sleep and SpO2 (oxygen saturation stage). There’s additionally a function for deep-breathing prompts. Not like most different health trackers in its value vary, the machine makes use of crimson and inexperienced flashing LED lights for measurements.
My drawback was with the accuracy of the measurements and the OnePlus Well being app, which wants refinement.
I examined the band on two of the 13 exercises it provides to trace: outside run and free coaching. With out the GPS sign from the cellphone, a 10-kilometre run comprised 10,000-plus steps and was accomplished in simply over an hour. In line with the app, I burnt about 560 kilocalories throughout the train. With the GPS, the identical distance had over 12,000 steps, took 10 extra minutes and helped me burn 670 kilocalories. Within the free coaching mode, the machine stopped monitoring at random intervals.
The OnePlus Band health tracker
The sleep tracker is tougher to evaluate, however the quantity of sleep is sort of right. You get a breakdown of your sleeping sample as nicely — the length of deep sleep, gentle sleep and being awake. It’s robust to check this. I seen, nonetheless, the tracker lacking at the least a few instances I awakened in the course of the evening to get a glass of water. Sleep interruptions confirmed zero.
Nonetheless forward
The band requires the OnePlus Well being app, suitable with solely Android telephones with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and up, to perform. Minimalism has been a trademark of OnePlus design. However the interface appears to be like unfinished — like a constructing that has not been painted. My predominant grouse with the app, shared by customers on Google Play and OnePlus discussion board, is you can not sync it with Google Match and different well being apps, like HealthifyMe.
The battery, in the event you swap on all of the options, lasts for about 9 to 10 days. Not like the Mi Band 5, which comes with a magnetic charger, you want to take away the tracker from its strap and repair it to the charger. As OnePlus Band got here after the Mi Band 5, one anticipated it to have extra options. The Mi band, as an illustration, had unique options for ladies like a interval tracker, which had been lacking in OnePlus Band. One hopes the second iteration of the Band is a much-improved one.