Honor doesn’t just make mobile phones they are also known for their wearables in this review, we have been testing the Honor Band 7 which is the latest offering but is it the upgrade Honor users have been waiting for?  

 

First Impressions

 

The Honor Band 7 currently costs £49.99 and if you have an Honor Band 6 you won’t notice much of a difference but there are a few changes such as the use of an AMOLED display and improved tracking means which really does justify its price tag.

The key features of the Honor Band 7 include: 

 

  • 96 workout modes
  • 14-day battery life
  • All-day Blood Oxygen Tracker
  • 1.47-inch AMOLED Display

 

The Honor Band 7 is available in the following colours: Emerald Green, Coral Pink and Meteorite Black. Let’s take a closer look at how we found using the Honor Band 7.  

 

Design

The Honor Band 7 continues to use the same 1.47-inch AMOLED display that was used in the Band 6 previously. Honor uses the slogan “fashion meets premium craftsmanship”. They are not wrong the metal spraying texture colouring process makes this a very attractive wearable.

The Honor Band 7 measures 11mm in thickness and weighs 18g meaning it’s very lightweight for long-term use while making it very lightweight and unobtrusive.

 

There are lots of similarities to the Huawei Band 7 and that is hardly surprising they might not be part of the same company but old habits die hard. The side pusher is still on the right side which is basically the return button. 

 

Also when you consider the design Honor has also removed any branding from the side of the device as they had in the previous band 6. The Honor Band 7 also allows you to change the watch face at ease with a number of faces pre-loaded and the rest available via the Honor Health app.  

Last but not least the Honor Band 7 allows the user to take it into the shower or even hit the swimming pool and is tagged with a 5ATM rating. This means it can the band can handle pressure equivalent to 50m depth.

Overall, the design has not really changed from the previous band 6 model and this was somewhat disappointing considering this is supposed to be an upgraded model. 

Daily Tracking/Monitoring 

The Honor Band 7 offers the user step tracking and sleep monitoring that can be viewed on the Honor Health app. This is all supported by the optical heart rate sensor on the rear of the band. 

Step tracking

Your step tracking is provided by an internal accelerometer and gyroscope motion sensors and in testing, there was a slight overreport on steps compared to my Apple watch it’s not drastic but worth keeping in mind.     

The Honor Health app does a good job of a breakdown of my steps taken over multiple periods and it also shows you comparisons to the week previous. 

Calorie burn estimates

The Honor Band 7 also provides a total calorie estimate that manages your total calorie intake by using basal metabolic rate (BMR) from information such as age, weight and height and then adds active calories on top via accurate heart rate monitoring. In testing we were very impressed it delivered a solid estimate that compared to rival brands it worked very well. 

Heart rate monitoring

The Honor Band 7 offers continuous heart rate monitoring and also provides exercise heart rate tracking monitoring paired with continuous SPO2 monitoring. The monitoring happens in the background and you get a decent level of monitoring it’s pretty solid and again the results are presented on the Honor Health app. The app showcases your heart rate ranges and a breakdown of your minutes in each heart rate zone all displayed via the app. The app also shows you your average resting heart rate.

In testing the resting heart rate seems a little high at first but Honor does this a little differently instead of taking the lowest heart rate while you are asleep Honor takes your average heart rate during inactive hours while you are awake. This method is a little strange but after a period of 24 hours you will be able to see what your lowest heart rate is. 

 

The Honor Band 7 also monitors your heart rate while exercising but this is an area where the band underperforms. What you get this is the band is it will take anywhere from 5-15 minutes to warm up and then suddenly spike. This is quite normal if you are doing some strength training. However, it also occurred when I hit the treadmill. Band 7 would aptly record around 30 minutes of steady monitoring before kicking into life when we did some short sprints. 

 

If this watch provided you with better performance when it comes to monitoring it would be a hit. However, the underperformance does have an effect on things such as calorie burn estimates, therefore, providing incorrect estimates. 

SPO2 monitoring

This feature is available on both Band 7 & Band 6 but it’s more of an upgrade on the 6 from being an on-the-spot recording to a continuous recording. The recordings generally happen at night but you do also get recordings during the daytime but these are more spread out. I would have just preferred night recording only as during the day you are more active and this can impact your daily averages.

Sleep tracking

The Honor Band 7 records your sleep stages ( light or deep sleep) it also records sleep scores and can also provide a fairly reliable indication of the time you fell asleep and the time you woke up. The data can be shown via the app. However, that data will still need a few days to zero in on specific days. 

Features

Unfortunately, band 7 is no different really to band 6 but what it did come with is the always-on display which is rare to find at this price point. The band also provides a good level of notification support, live weather information and the opportunity to set timers and alarms. In terms of features, there is nothing overly new if you have a band 6 you will have seen all the features provided here.

The main feature you have here is the fitness tracking and Honor packs a punch in the department with 96 workout modes available from running to cycling and even boxing you really are covered for most sports.

The Honor Health app does provide detailed analytics during and after the workout which shows you how hard you working out based on your heart rate. When testing this alongside my Apple watch I found the Band 7 to be just a little more consistent in providing a more accurate reading. 

 

Battery Life

The Honor Band 7 comes with a 180mAh battery that the manufacturer states 14 days even with the always-on display which is a good level of battery life compared to others in the marketplace. Now if you were to switch off the always-on display but switch on the SpO2 monitoring and then record around an hour of tracked activity per day the battery life will drop down to 10 days but it’s still very impressive.

If you were to keep the Always-on display feature on and had the watch to max brightness and use the SPO2 monitoring and recording about an hour of tracked activity per day you will find the battery will decrease by 25% each day. 

When it’s time to recharge you provided the charging cable and cradle and get the bonus that this watch will give you 0% to 20% in 5 minutes. 

 

Verdict

I had high hopes for the Honor Band 7 but unfortunately, it’s basically no different than Band 6. The watch does provide fantastic value for money and can stand up against the competition. 

The Band 7 will offer you basic tracking with a long battery life even when worked to the max. This includes blood oxygen readings, something normally only seen in more expensive models. Band 7 also provides the usual tracking for the likes of the number of steps, calories burned, hours of sleep and heart rate. The heart rate monitoring does need some improvement and the Honor health app also needs  

It’s not perfect as the heart rate monitoring needs improving and the Honor health app can be a little tricky to use. It’s also not the complete experience, yes you can update the watch faces but you are unable to link up to 3rd party integrations. 

However, if you only have simple needs for a basic fitness tracker at an affordable price then the Honor Band  7 will do the job for you. It offers robust health and fitness tracking which if buying a device is the most important aspect. The battery life is very good for this type of device we just hope the band 8 when released will actually be an upgrade and not the band 6 in disguise. 

 

Product Rating   

 

Design: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars 

Health & Fitness Tracking: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0 

Features: 3.0 out of 5.0 stars 

Battery Life: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Value for Money: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars 

 

Overall ranking: 4.2 out of 5.0 stars – 4.2-star rating

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