I've only ever used the MiBand and I found it neat but fairly useless overall. Like you said, the data was interesting... but it lacked anything to make the data useful.
The pro's of the MiBand however, are gigantic, compared to any other wearable I've seen. First and foremost, it's $15! Cheaper than a meal out.
It has a ~30 day battery life. It is water proof. It has a very cheaply replaceable wrist strap ($1) that is actually very comfortable as well and doesn't get stinky. It is accurate (to itself anyhow) for steps and sleep and because you never really have to take it off (30 day battery life) it rarely misses anything.
It has no screen, just 3 dots that can indicate stuff... but I personally don't wear watches anyhow so I don't care if it has a screen.
The best features it had were in regards to Android. It can act as an authorized device and can auto-unlock your phone when the phone is in close proximity to it. That's cool. It can also act as a notification system, buzzing for notifications you set for it to alert you to on the phone and not to others you don't want.
It's also a great alarm clock since it's always on you and the buzz is quite strong, so it never failed to wake me. It has that same 30 minute feature.... but I found it just always woke me up 30 minutes early, even if I was in heavy sleep... so no luck there. I wish I could have tweaked that feature more to make it work for me. But oh well.
if you're trying to lose weight you have to know how many calories you actually use. So the data isn't useless if it's processed by a useful app, so that you can get your calorie consumption out of it.
I just left it next to my 4 plug usb charger and each month (the battery actually lasted me closer to 35+ days) I'd charge it for 1 hour after I got home from the gym and planned to veg on the couch for TV show. When the show was over, I'd go and unplug it and put it back on and leave it there until the next month when I needed it.
I can't say enough for that 30+ day charge... it's a game changer. I wish none of these fitness devices had screens and instead had dramatically longer battery life. You need a phone sized screen to really analyze the data anyhow.
wristband data is useless per-se, but it's useful to know how many calories you consume if you want to put your caloric intake under control. Having something that measures steps and heartrate paired with a good app can help have more accurate estimates.
For healthy people all of this is useless of course.
Losing weight is really simple. You just cut out the stuff you know (as an intelligent person) that makes you put on weight. You just have to have will power to make sure you keep away from them. I don't know why people go to such lengths of misery and expense like Gyms etc. The people I know that go to Gyms regularly are physical wrecks and always ill. You may as well lick Hospital beds for fun.
Simply not being overweight doesn't mean your healthy. Exercise is not an optional thing, if you don't do it your heart isn't healthy, your muscles aren't healthy, you're just not "overweight". Skinny fat can be just as unhealthy as overweight fat.
Not necessary, true. I used to go to gym bc winter time is too cold to do anything outside. Then again I do triathlon so I'm a little nuts on that end.
some people do training just for fitness and not body building and they don't destroy their joints.
Just cutting stuff out like sweets is limited advice because maybe the issue is that they're eating huge portions of pasta or mashed potatoes as well. Also people with bad motivation aren't able to simply exclude their favourite food from their diet, you're making it more difficult with that advice. Some people also do not realize how many calories each kind of food gives you.
It's much better to dose it all correctly by counting calories and adjusting portion sizes. Of course, some foods like sodas just have to be cut out as there's no way to do it with hypercaloric stuff.
"but it comes in a lot cheaper than the Android, watchOS or Tizen-based devices if you absolutely need a screen."
Considering you never listed the price of the device nor the competing devices, what an informative statement. How can you review a product and never once mention price other than "It's cheaper"? Come on Ian, you are one of the brightest minds I have the pleasure of reading, but without knowing the price there can be no context.
"[...]and messes up the calorie calculations. A better way perhaps to do this is via the user indicating a cycle time, similar to enabling the start of a run. " Depends on exactly what you want to know. Apple's general solution to this, as far as I can tell, is to be most concerned with tracking heart rate, on the theory that heart rate => rate of oxygen => rate of burning body fuel => calories, and this is true regardless of the details of whatever exercise you're doing. Biologically this all sounds plausible to me, and works out IF your primary concern is calories burned (and related matters like giving your pulmonary-vascular working). If for some reason you REALLY want to know these details like number of steps, of course, it's less than ideal because that's not what the system cares about the most.
The cost, for the Apple solution, is power --- that heart rate monitor burns power like nothing else on an Apple Watch. I'd say my hour or so of daily exercise uses up about 50% of my Apple Watch battery, while the rest of the day uses up about 25%. That is the primary reason Apple Watch requires you to enter "workout mode" rather than just tracking you all the time. So I guess it's not a feasible option for any device where a selling point is battery life...
Ian, you appear to have missed a very important piece of the device. There should have been a silicone earpiece to fit over the small speaker in the back. It is a little odd at first because the silicone part fits in your ear, not over it, but I've found it holds very tight and people i call say the call quality is great. The removable module is a Bluetooth earpiece! You shouldn't be talking into the watch on your wrist. You'll find it much better that way. When you get a call, just unstuck the module and it will answer the call without having to touch your phone.
I remember seeing that - I also remember it being lost within 10 minutes of looking at the back, because I thought it was some sort of in-travel protection device for the insides that wasn't needed after it was opened. Then when I took the silicone earpiece off the device, it wouldn't fit back on so I discarded it. Looks like one to learn for the future.
I'm surprised you didn't just stick the talkband in your ear to use it as a "normal" bluetooth handsfree device. there should be some kind of rubber ear-piece that you can connect to that speaker on the rear (where the charging port is) and transform it into that bluetooth device for those important calls. that is one of the purpose why you can take the watch off its straps.
Huawei seems confident to send you their products for review. Smartwatches should come with wireless charging as default. A huge interface/connector is not needed here. The only caveat is losing its use as sleep monitoring device.
" a lot cheaper than the Android, watchOS or Tizen-based devices" Ummm... Asus' ZenWatch 2 is 150. Sony's SmartWatch 3 strikes similar notes. Android Wear is literally cheaper than the TalkBand.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
29 Comments
Back to Article
shadarlo - Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - link
I've only ever used the MiBand and I found it neat but fairly useless overall. Like you said, the data was interesting... but it lacked anything to make the data useful.The pro's of the MiBand however, are gigantic, compared to any other wearable I've seen. First and foremost, it's $15! Cheaper than a meal out.
It has a ~30 day battery life. It is water proof. It has a very cheaply replaceable wrist strap ($1) that is actually very comfortable as well and doesn't get stinky. It is accurate (to itself anyhow) for steps and sleep and because you never really have to take it off (30 day battery life) it rarely misses anything.
It has no screen, just 3 dots that can indicate stuff... but I personally don't wear watches anyhow so I don't care if it has a screen.
The best features it had were in regards to Android. It can act as an authorized device and can auto-unlock your phone when the phone is in close proximity to it. That's cool. It can also act as a notification system, buzzing for notifications you set for it to alert you to on the phone and not to others you don't want.
It's also a great alarm clock since it's always on you and the buzz is quite strong, so it never failed to wake me. It has that same 30 minute feature.... but I found it just always woke me up 30 minutes early, even if I was in heavy sleep... so no luck there. I wish I could have tweaked that feature more to make it work for me. But oh well.
Murloc - Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - link
if you're trying to lose weight you have to know how many calories you actually use. So the data isn't useless if it's processed by a useful app, so that you can get your calorie consumption out of it.Ian Cutress - Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - link
I've got the MiBand, not used it though. The proprietary charging cable/connection seems like something I would lose instantly.shadarlo - Thursday, May 12, 2016 - link
I just left it next to my 4 plug usb charger and each month (the battery actually lasted me closer to 35+ days) I'd charge it for 1 hour after I got home from the gym and planned to veg on the couch for TV show. When the show was over, I'd go and unplug it and put it back on and leave it there until the next month when I needed it.I can't say enough for that 30+ day charge... it's a game changer. I wish none of these fitness devices had screens and instead had dramatically longer battery life. You need a phone sized screen to really analyze the data anyhow.
HarberCandelario - Friday, November 6, 2020 - link
I can use whatsapp features on this device. This is the GB Whatsapp version I am using: https://otherwhatsapp.com/Novage - Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - link
There is the B3 nowHomeworldFound - Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - link
I wonder what kind of backdoors were inserted into this thing before it was shipped.MrSpadge - Thursday, May 12, 2016 - link
Ask the NSA, they should know.BrokenCrayons - Thursday, May 12, 2016 - link
Or ask Google. They probably have it all on file so they can figure out what sorts of adverts to toss at you.Murloc - Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - link
wristband data is useless per-se, but it's useful to know how many calories you consume if you want to put your caloric intake under control.Having something that measures steps and heartrate paired with a good app can help have more accurate estimates.
For healthy people all of this is useless of course.
Michael Bay - Thursday, May 12, 2016 - link
But it has no way to know when you are consuming calories or the amount.I think you wanted to say reduce.
Murloc - Thursday, May 12, 2016 - link
by consume I mean use up. Cars consume fuel when they are driven not when they're filled up.You have to count the calories you eat ofc.
jabber - Thursday, May 12, 2016 - link
Losing weight is really simple. You just cut out the stuff you know (as an intelligent person) that makes you put on weight. You just have to have will power to make sure you keep away from them. I don't know why people go to such lengths of misery and expense like Gyms etc. The people I know that go to Gyms regularly are physical wrecks and always ill. You may as well lick Hospital beds for fun.shadarlo - Thursday, May 12, 2016 - link
You must know very strange people.Simply not being overweight doesn't mean your healthy. Exercise is not an optional thing, if you don't do it your heart isn't healthy, your muscles aren't healthy, you're just not "overweight". Skinny fat can be just as unhealthy as overweight fat.
Cliff34 - Thursday, May 12, 2016 - link
Not necessary, true. I used to go to gym bc winter time is too cold to do anything outside. Then again I do triathlon so I'm a little nuts on that end.Murloc - Thursday, May 12, 2016 - link
some people do training just for fitness and not body building and they don't destroy their joints.Just cutting stuff out like sweets is limited advice because maybe the issue is that they're eating huge portions of pasta or mashed potatoes as well.
Also people with bad motivation aren't able to simply exclude their favourite food from their diet, you're making it more difficult with that advice.
Some people also do not realize how many calories each kind of food gives you.
It's much better to dose it all correctly by counting calories and adjusting portion sizes.
Of course, some foods like sodas just have to be cut out as there's no way to do it with hypercaloric stuff.
jabber - Friday, May 13, 2016 - link
Counting calories is strictly for girls, like clear alcohols.fanofanand - Thursday, May 12, 2016 - link
"but it comes in a lot cheaper than the Android, watchOS or Tizen-based devices if you absolutely need a screen."Considering you never listed the price of the device nor the competing devices, what an informative statement. How can you review a product and never once mention price other than "It's cheaper"? Come on Ian, you are one of the brightest minds I have the pleasure of reading, but without knowing the price there can be no context.
name99 - Thursday, May 12, 2016 - link
"[...]and messes up the calorie calculations. A better way perhaps to do this is via the user indicating a cycle time, similar to enabling the start of a run."
Depends on exactly what you want to know. Apple's general solution to this, as far as I can tell, is to be most concerned with tracking heart rate, on the theory that heart rate => rate of oxygen => rate of burning body fuel => calories, and this is true regardless of the details of whatever exercise you're doing.
Biologically this all sounds plausible to me, and works out IF your primary concern is calories burned (and related matters like giving your pulmonary-vascular working). If for some reason you REALLY want to know these details like number of steps, of course, it's less than ideal because that's not what the system cares about the most.
The cost, for the Apple solution, is power --- that heart rate monitor burns power like nothing else on an Apple Watch. I'd say my hour or so of daily exercise uses up about 50% of my Apple Watch battery, while the rest of the day uses up about 25%.
That is the primary reason Apple Watch requires you to enter "workout mode" rather than just tracking you all the time. So I guess it's not a feasible option for any device where a selling point is battery life...
mpinter262 - Thursday, May 12, 2016 - link
Ian, you appear to have missed a very important piece of the device. There should have been a silicone earpiece to fit over the small speaker in the back. It is a little odd at first because the silicone part fits in your ear, not over it, but I've found it holds very tight and people i call say the call quality is great. The removable module is a Bluetooth earpiece! You shouldn't be talking into the watch on your wrist. You'll find it much better that way. When you get a call, just unstuck the module and it will answer the call without having to touch your phone.http://www.wareable.com/media/images/2015/05/img-6...
Ian Cutress - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - link
I remember seeing that - I also remember it being lost within 10 minutes of looking at the back, because I thought it was some sort of in-travel protection device for the insides that wasn't needed after it was opened. Then when I took the silicone earpiece off the device, it wouldn't fit back on so I discarded it. Looks like one to learn for the future.dph_world - Thursday, May 12, 2016 - link
I'm surprised you didn't just stick the talkband in your ear to use it as a "normal" bluetooth handsfree device. there should be some kind of rubber ear-piece that you can connect to that speaker on the rear (where the charging port is) and transform it into that bluetooth device for those important calls. that is one of the purpose why you can take the watch off its straps.JeffFlanagan - Friday, May 13, 2016 - link
Do we really need to know that the author got confused when they linked their phone to the band, then tried to use the handset?Ian Cutress - Wednesday, June 8, 2016 - link
If I'm linked to the band, but I answer on my phone because it happens to be in my hand, the audio and voice should go through my phone. It's simple.zodiacfml - Friday, May 13, 2016 - link
Huawei seems confident to send you their products for review.Smartwatches should come with wireless charging as default. A huge interface/connector is not needed here. The only caveat is losing its use as sleep monitoring device.
zodiacfml - Friday, May 13, 2016 - link
Edit that. If it charges in 3 to 4 hours before sleep then it is fine.Lord of the Bored - Saturday, May 14, 2016 - link
" a lot cheaper than the Android, watchOS or Tizen-based devices"Ummm... Asus' ZenWatch 2 is 150. Sony's SmartWatch 3 strikes similar notes. Android Wear is literally cheaper than the TalkBand.
ammarhassan48 - Thursday, January 25, 2018 - link
touch of my watch is not working. is there any solution ?timberland - Sunday, March 21, 2021 - link
I can use whatsapp features on this device. This is the GB Whatsapp version I am using: https://blogtimberland.com.br