Summary

Halfway between a bracelet and a connected watch, the Huawei Band 6 seeks to seduce athletes with a good follow-up of activities and many supported sports.We tested it, here is our opinion.

Source: Anthony Wonner - Frandroid

Officialized in March 2021, the Huawei Band 6 is a connected bracelet which returned at the time in competition with the Xiaomi Smart Band 5, which has since passed the relay to its successor, the Smart Band 6. Here, the Chinese firm targeted especiallyData athletes and aficionados with a heart rate sensor and many integrated activities.

To go further what are the best connected bracelets for sport in 2022?

What is the Huawei Band 6 worth?Answer in this test.

Huawei Band 6 technical sheet

This test was carried out from a product loaned by the brand.

A beautiful design ... which recalls another

The Huawei Band 6 does not revolutionize the design of connected bracelets.On the contrary, it is even inspired by what has already been designed and marketed.As such, he strongly recalls the Huawei Watch Fit - is even a copy -, connected watch released in 2020. Except that we are indeed dealing with a bracelet, and not a smartwatch.

The format of the Huawei Band 6 is however halfway between a bracelet and a watch, by its size in particular.Here, we are not dealing with a round, but rectangular dial where the rounds are legion.Visually, this product made in simplicity and sobriety: a successful cocktail in our opinion.

On the wrist, the Huawei Band 6 is doing very well: both because its design convinces, and because its weight of 18 grams almost makes you forget the presence of this device.During hot weather or physical activity, the device may, on the other hand, tend to make you sweat, without it being the falls of Niagara.

Source: Anthony Wonner - Frandroid

Dark gray, the dial goes very well with the black graphite silicone bracelet.But beware: said bracelet easily suffers from wear.After a month of use, its surface has deteriorated enough to be noticed with the naked eye.A little false note in the middle of a hitherto controlled score.

The bracelet stops at the lower and upper edges of the dial - not like on the Xiaomi Smart Band 6, where the bracelet also invites itself on the sides.To attach the Huawei Band 6 to your wrist, eighteen adjustment levels are available in the form of small rectangular holes.My very fine wrist had no trouble finding one (the fifth hole).

A single physical button was installed by the Chinese manufacturer: on the right edge.Difficult to make more sober and refined.On the inner side, that in contact with your skin, is the heart rate sensor accompanied by the magnetic connector to connect and recharge the device.

Source: Anthony Wonner - Frandroid

Also be aware that the Huawei Band 6 takes advantage of a 5 ATM certification to resist water during a swimming session, your shower or your bath.And to please as many people as possible, the (detachable) bracelet is available in other colors: green, orange or pink.

Without frills, the design of this connected bracelet takes up a winning formula ... still as winning.More than a bracelet, the Huawei Band 6 can be worn as a real little fashion object that has its effect once attached to your wrist.Bet without risk, but successful for Huawei.

The amoled my love

The Huawei Band 6 benefits from a 147 inch touch screen of 194 x 368 pixels: a beautiful diagonal for a connected bracelet, which provides real daily use comfort to consult its messages or access the weather for example.In terms of dimensions, the slab enjoys a good balance.

Regarding display technology, Huawei opted for OLED.This is excellent news, since the contrasts are infinite here and the colors very bright.To display black, the OLED has the advantage of turning off the pixels to bring depth - and save energy.

Source: Anthony Wonner - Frandroid

In terms of brightness, you will not encounter any problems to consult your bracelet regardless of the situation thanks to the five levels of intensity available.I personally used level 3, amply sufficient during my test.

On the other hand, an interesting feature is lacking in the Huawei Band 6: the ambient light sensor, which, as its name suggests, automatically adapts the brightness of the screen according to the environment.In the evening, in your extinct room, for example, the light intensity can create a visual gene.

Rest assured, your bracelet takes advantage of a "not disturbing" mode to prevent the screen from lighting up on its sleep on its own.Some people sensitive to light could then be disturbed.This is not the case here.

Source: Anthony Wonner - Frandroid

You just have to configure a "don't disturb" mode with predefined schedules.However, it is regrettable not to be able to select the days of the week: this mode applies all the time.For example, I would have liked to deprogram it on weekends.

Do not count on an Always-On mode, nonexistent on the Huawei Band 6: it is a shame, because it is always interesting to access this type of option.As a consolation batch, a "lit screen" function for 5, 10, 15 or 20 minutes is available in a finger sliding.

You will finally have a very wide choice of dials: ten are available from the connected bracelet - which you can modify from the application -, a hundred others can be installed via Huawei Health.

A clear and intuitive interface

Handling and navigating in the Huawei Band 6 does not require a bac +12.After a few minutes, it is relatively easy to understand its operation and the interactions offered by Liteos, Huawei's house operating system.Already, your main interface displays different information depending on the frame used.Then, the only physical button gives you access to a list of menus with one click.

Training, training history, heart rate, SP02, activity history, sleep, stress, respiratory exercises, music, notifications, weather, stopwatch, timer, alarm, find my phone and finally parameters: here is the exhaustive list of menus,which already gives you a good idea of the features proposed by the bracelet.

Source: Anthony Wonner - Frandroid

From the main interface, it is possible to slide your finger from the left to the right, or vice versa, to access certain windows more quickly: heart rate, stress level, weather, music control or the number ofnot.A shift from top to bottom shows the quick settings (do not disturb, find my phone, lit screen, alarm and general settings).

A sliding from the bottom to the top makes your latest notifications unroll, which you can then erase.Finally, a shift from the left to the right acts as backwards.This system is both simple, intuitive and easy to handle, combined with an interface pleasant to the eye and to use.

To turn on the screen, two choices are available to you: systematically click on the button, or activate the "activating by raising the hand" functionality - much more practical.So when you turn your wrist to watch your Huawei Band 6, the screen lights up.We might have preferred a bit more responsiveness.

The Huawei Health application supports you daily to consult the data collected by the watch.Named "Health" once downloaded on your phone, this app has beautiful ergonomics that facilitates its use.You can find your exercise history and all the corresponding data (duration, average pace, average rate, not, burnt calorie, average heart rate).

Source: Anthony Wonner - Frandroid

The main interface gives pride of place to medical information via a rectangular tile system (sleep, weight, stress, SP02, exercise history and heart rate).You can obviously change the tiles with others according to your desires and your needs.

Huawei Health also allows you to choose from the hundred dials (in the "device" tab), to define an activity reminder (notification on the bracelet when you are seated too long), to continuously activate the monitoring of the rhythmHeart or even manage all authorizations for application notification (WhatsApp, Messages, Agenda, etc.).Recommended sports programs are even on the menu.

A good follow -up of activities for athletes

For activities and data harvesting, the Huawei Band 6 provides good follow -up overall.In terms of sensors, the bracelet relies on an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a heart rate sensor.It can therefore obviously indicate your heart rate continuously and during your sports sessions, but not only.

To go further heart, VO2max, SPO2, ECG: how connected watches take care of your heart

The Huawei Band 6 also provides you with a measure of the SP02 (the oxygen saturation rate) as well as an estimate of the V02Max, the maximum oxygen consumption, after a sports session.After jogging, you can also find the number of calories burned, the number of steps taken or a complete monitoring of your heart rate in addition to conventional data.

Source: Anthony Wonner - Frandroid

In total, the device supports up to nine types of activities: outdoor race, indoor stroke, outdoor walking, indoor, interior bicycle, indoor swimming, rope jump, elliptical velo,rower.But in all, he is able to recognize 96. To do this, just press "others" in the "Training" section, and launch your session.

For swimmers, beware of the type of pool in which you swim: the Huawei Band 6 did not recognize the 50 -meter basin in which I traveled a total of 1.5 kilometer.Each 100-meter round trip was counted as a distance of 50 meters.In the end, the bracelet indicates a total distance of 900 meters, 600 meters less than reality.

For outdoor running, the distances traveled and calculated by the bracelet seem to be rather well respected.As such, I don't have much to blame him.Also be aware that the device does not embark any GPS, but that it relies on that of the phone.After a jogging or a walk market for example, you can find your activity history accompanied by the GPS route on the application.

Source: Anthony Wonner - Frandroid

Sharing your sporting performance on other applications like Strava is also possible.And to go further, the Huawei Band 6 also follows your stress level and your sleep phases.For the latter, the bracelet only displays basic information on its screen.For more elements, go to the application.

You can then find the deep, light sleep phases there and the alarm clock overnight.The system was reliable: when a thunderstorm torn from my sleep at 4:30 am, the bracelet captured it, understood and displayed on the application in stride.On my hours of awakening and falling asleep, the schedules were overall well respected.

Following update, the Huawei Band 6 now supports menstrual cycles, but under certain conditions.You have to install the latest version of HMS Core (Huawei Mobile Services), disconnect your Huawei ID identifier and then reconnect.Quite restrictive steps that could cool more than one person.

Very suitable autonomy

By activating all the sensors of the Huawei Band 6, including that of the heart rate which tends to be energetic, the connected bracelet is able to hold a good week, about eight days more precisely.This performance is more than honorable, especially since its screen benefits from a larger surface - and therefore more consuming - than competing devices.

Source: Anthony Wonner - Frandroid

On average, you will lose around 11 to 12 % per day.Without the sensor dedicated to heart rate, the Huawei Band 6 is even more enduring and can hold between 9 and 10 days.Clearly, you will not have to worry about its autonomy which benefits from a comfortable mattress.For recharge, the cable realizes the bracelet 100 % in just over an hour.

Price and availability of the Huawei Band 6

The Huawei Band 6 is available at the recommended price of 59.99 euros on the brand's official website, but to date (Thursday June 17, 2021) from a discount of 10 euros to fall to 49, 99 euros.Four colors to choose from: black, pink, green and orange.