The Huawei Band 8 was announced in May 2023 in Europe, with sales starting in early June. It reached the national market with the proposal of providing the best cost-benefit in the smart wristbands category.
Does the product fulfill this idea in practice? What is the Chinese manufacturer’s smartband capable of delivering in terms of features to the user? TechSmart tested a unit in the last few weeks and explains it in detail for you now, in this full review.
The design of the Huawei Band 8 has retained some of the line’s traditional features. We are talking about the compact size and the polymer case in the rectangular format, without taking large dimensions on the sides.
For this generation, the manufacturer has slightly reduced the thickness and weight. Including, she is very comfortable in everyday use. You practically don’t feel like you have the bracelet on and you can use it all day without worrying about any inconvenience.
Huawei even made the box less curved and straighter. The only button on it is on the right side, while the rear has the sensors and magnetic connectors for charging.
As we received the black version, we have a TPU strap here, but there are also silicone and nylon options, depending on the color chosen. This one has a good size and a variety of holes that allow a perfect fit on your wrist.
Both parts are easily removed using the buttons at the end of the case at the back. To fit it back, just press the pins against the entry without great force. All with extreme practicality.
This smartband has a 5 ATM rating, which guarantees an ability to withstand up to 50 meters of water pressure for 10 minutes. We missed an IP certification, which would allow greater resistance against liquids and even dust. In other words, you can use it in a pool, but it’s best to avoid hot bathing and diving with it.
Huawei inserted the same 1.47-inch AMOLED screen as the predecessor model into the Band 8. The resolution remains at 194 x 368 pixels. The experience we had was quite satisfying.
The panel has an exemplary viewing angle, which allows you to see the content without loss of quality regardless of your direction. The brightness pleases and makes it possible to view even under the strong sun. Too bad there isn’t an auto-tuning option. Contrast and sharpness also do not disappoint in this product.
A glass protection was missing here, to give superior resistance against scratches or falls.
The Band 8 is powered by HarmonyOS, Huawei’s proprietary operating system. Even so, it has full compatibility with Android and iOS phones. The interface flows very well and shows excellent agility when activating the screen by turning the arm.
The initial setup requires downloading the Huawei Health app to be able to pair the bracelet via Bluetooth. All management of resources and organization of the interface, in addition to updating the software, can be done either directly on the accessory or through the application.
One of the possibilities is changing the dials. However, we miss a greater variety of free for the user. If you want more than the eight native options, you’ll have to pay for it.
The bracelet receives notifications of incoming calls and messages when swiping up. If you want to slide down, you can access the top menu with some native features, such as the alarm, stopwatch and flashlight.
On the left side is the temperature of your location and a player that lets you control the music playing on your smartphone. On the right, there are cards with health and physical activity information. But that is a subject for later.
Because it is a simpler smartband, it does not have internal storage to save external files or install applications. In any case, these characteristics are justified by the proposal of the product.
Huawei uses its TruSeries technologies to provide health and fitness data. Starting with TruSleep 3.0, the manufacturer has introduced improvements to increase the accuracy of sleep tracking. We noticed a good result here.
Both for detecting the exact minute of awakening and waking up, and for identifying the type of sleep, the bracelet was more accurate than direct competitors and was not even inferior to more expensive and advanced watches.
The TruSeen 5.0 system is responsible for measuring the heartbeat and the level of oxygenation in the blood. Huawei Band 8 monitors constantly and has Artificial Intelligence help to find any irregularities in your health.
For physical activities, TruSport technology is responsible for providing more than 100 training modes. The feature can automatically recognize when a specific exercise is started. Only a few main ones appear right on the bracelet, such as swimming, walking and cycling.
You can customize an activity or put it in one of the other modalities in the “Other” option, which is able to measure the moments of burning calories and how many you managed to lose, in addition to the training time. The accessory even automatically counts the user’s steps, another point where we noticed good accuracy in this model.
And how does the Huawei Band 8 behave on battery? The manufacturer promises a duration of up to 14 days in typical use and up to 9 days in intensive use. Does this materialize in practice? We tested it with connected cell phone notifications, in addition to constant measurement of heart rate and blood oxygenation, in addition to daily sleep monitoring.
In this scenario, we had a total autonomy of 8 days. Despite not reaching the maximum possible, we understand that it was a satisfactory time for the resources used. In addition, it is above what we find in the competitor Xiaomi Band 7.
Huawei has put support for fast charging, to provide up to two days with just five minutes in the socket. With the original cable and a 15W adapter, we had a total charging time of 41 minutes.
The break proved to be quite satisfactory, even more so combined with the length of days it offers. The recharge was even below the 45 minutes published by the company as the official time. That is, a positive point in every way here.
Huawei Band 8 has shown consistent evolution for this generation. It had improvements in design and maintained the quality of the screen, without affecting the fluidity of its operating system.
The resources it offers for health and physical activities have been improved and now provide even more accuracy in the identified data. The highlight is its TruSleep system, which is surprisingly accurate in identifying the type of sleep and sleep time.
Another positive point is its autonomy that allows more than a week with constant monitoring. And even when the battery runs out, fast charging lets you get to 100% in no time.
On the negative side, we highlight the absences here. We are mainly talking about the lack of certification to resist dust and water, in addition to not having internal storage. The little variety of dials also depends on shelling out for more customization options for your smartband.
Compact and lightweight design5 ATM ratingAMOLED screen with good brightnessFluid system and compatible with Android and iOSPrecise sensors for health and fitnessBattery with good autonomyvery fast loadingGood cost-benefit
No IP certificationLack of protection on the screen glassNo internal storagefew dials
Huawei’s smart bracelet was launched in Europe for a suggested price of R$ 400. However, it is possible to find the accessory for direct import and at no extra cost through Amazon Europe in the range of R$ 200. For this amount and with a national guarantee, Band 8 becomes one of the most affordable options on the national market.
Its main rival is the Xiaomi Band 8, which offers more training modes, automatic screen brightness and NFC technology. However, its lack of availability in the country makes the acquisition more expensive here.
Xiaomi even brought the Redmi Smart Band 2 to the country, as a simpler model and in a format similar to the Huawei Band 8, but it charges more in the domestic market. The Xiaomi Band 7 can be found for the same price as its rival in the country, which makes the acquisition of the Huawei bracelet even more interesting, as it is from a more recent generation.
What did you like most about the new Band 8? Do you think it pays off more than its competitors? Talk to us in the space below.
