OnePlus Band Review: OnePlus’ First Fitness Bracelet

OnePlus Band Review: OnePlus’ First Fitness Bracelet

OnePlus Band Review: The OnePlus Band has a nice minimalist design and a user-friendly interface. However, in terms of functionality, this fitness bracelet is inferior to most other budget trackers.

OnePlus Band Specifications

Screen: 1.1-inch OLED touchscreen, 294 x 126 Pixels

Sensor: Optical, Blood Oxygen, Heart Rate, 3-Axis accelerometer, and Gyroscope

Communication: Bluetooth 5.0 /BLE

Water Tightness: 5 ATM and IP68

Battery: 100mAh, up to 14 Days

Size: 40.45 x 17.6 x 11.95 mm

Weight: 10.3 g, 22.6g with strap

Language: English, Hindi, Chinese

Price: 35$

Design and Management

Externally, the OnePlus Band can be easily confused with any other Chinese fitness bracelet. It is distinguished only by the OnePlus inscription under the display. There are no keys on the front panel, so the control is done with gestures on the 1.1-inch display.

The rectangular screen is crisp and quite bright, even for comfortable outdoor use. However, to manually change the brightness, you will have to constantly go into the settings. On the back of the case, there are sensors for measuring heart rate and SpO2, as well as a charging connector with two contacts.

To charge the bracelet, it must be detached from the strap and secured to the charging cradle. This is not the most convenient process, for most wearable devices in this price segment, battery charging is much easier. Fortunately, you won’t need to charge the Band from OnePlus more often than once every few days.

The complete TPU strap is of high quality, comfortable for long-wearing, and does not irritate the skin, as was the case with previous Mi Bands. The clasp for the wave is reliable, it will not open even during the most intense workouts. A black model with a silver lining on the inner surface came to my test. The gadget looks good with any type of clothing.

Connection and communication

The process of connecting the OnePlus Band to a smartphone is straightforward, although you’ll have to create a new profile first. If you have an OnePlus phone, the app will automatically pull up your account.

The fitness tracker itself and the app are compatible with any other Android smartphone. But, with the iPhone, the device will not work, since there is no version for iOS. According to the company, it is still in development.

Software

There are very few functions in the application – there are only the bare essentials. For example, there is no comparison of success with friends or motivating notifications for workouts, and it is also almost impossible to customize the watch’s face and gestures. In this regard, bracelets from Honor and Xiaomi are much better.

However, the OnePlus app has several conveniently organized sections that summarize your tasks for the day. You can also view more information on body metrics and fitness exercises there.

Workout tracking

The Fitness tab on the OnePlus Band is where the running and walking data recorded by the GPS tracker is stored. Section “Management” – provides settings for watch faces, notifications, profile, alarms, and much more.

There is clearly a lack of integration with third-party services like Strava and Google Fit. This is odd because Google’s service supports the fitness tracker Realme, a sister company of OnePlus. You don’t have to connect your smartphone every time to interact with the bracelet. OnePlus has added many handy features right to the Band – so you can view your workout history on-screen or start one of 13 activity types.

However, you will have to manually start the workout tracking. The tracker does not know how to do this by itself, although it automatically determines the periods of your rest, and pauses everything at the right moments. In addition to regular sports like running and cycling, the device tracks swimming and even cricket.

Sleep tracking

Sleep monitoring on the OnePlus Band is far from the most accurate. The tracker tends to think that I am still in the phase of light sleep when I got up a long time ago and walk around the apartment. Mi Band 5 has no such problems. Sometimes on the contrary – the gadget showed that I was on my feet for part of the night, although in reality, I was asleep as usual.

Besides, the fitness tracker does not track REM sleep – the same Honor Band has supported them for a long time. There is only deep and light sleep, as well as the total waking time. Based on this, “sleep quality” scores are calculated. It is clear that sleep monitoring is a difficult function to implement, but the information from the OnePlus bracelet is too far from accurate.

Monitoring health indicators

The results of counting steps and measuring heart rate are close to other gadgets. During outdoor activities, GPS does not fail, and when tracking workouts, the Band provides basic information about the intensity of the activity. This is done based on data from the heart rate sensor and other sensors.

An important function of the OnePlus Band is the measurement of SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation), which is rarely seen on such budget bracelets. The function starts during sleep and measures SpO2 at regular intervals. But, you should not rely on these indicators, they give only a general picture of the state of health of your body.

Other and smart features

The OnePlus Band is great for getting notifications right on your wrist. They are synchronized with the smartphone, arrive without delay, and are conveniently displayed by application icons. Of course, you won’t be able to fully interact with them on such a tiny screen, although you will have to pick up the phone much less often, which is especially convenient during training. Also, from the level of the bracelet, you can muffle or reject an incoming call.

The Band from OnePlus also has many other small but handy features like controlling a smartphone’s camera or playing music. The gesture of turning the wrist to wake up the screen works quite reliably. Unfortunately, there are no women’s health tracking tools that have recently started appearing on budget trackers as well.

Autonomy

The OnePlus Band is doing pretty well with battery life, although it could have been better. With regular training, frequent notifications, constant monitoring of heart rate and sleep, the device will have enough energy for 5-6 days of work.

Advantages and Disadvantages

• AMOLED display
• Water-resistant 5 ATM
• Simple interface with many functions
• Blood oxygen measurement and heart rate monitoring
• Battery autonomy
• OnePlus Health lacks features

Should you buy an OnePlus Band?

While the OnePlus Band can’t compete on a par with its main competitors, it’s a solid debut for the company in the fitness tracker market. It’s interesting to see what the first OnePlus smartwatch will be like.

While we have many basic capabilities, battery life could be better, sleep tracking is imprecise, and lacks integration with third-party apps or services. In many ways, Mi Band 5 is much more convenient so far.