Evaluate: OnePlus Band is simply not price your time (or cash)

OnePlus makes a number of the best Android phones you should buy in the present day. However the Chinese language firm desires to be greater than only a cellphone producer; again in 2019, CEO Pete Lau outlined his imaginative and prescient to show OnePlus into an ecosystem label.

We noticed the primary outcomes of that with the OnePlus TV Q1 series, which debuted in India on the finish of 2019. OnePlus adopted the Q1 with the U1 and budget-focused Y1 sequence, and it has carved out a distinct segment for itself in India on this class.

In 2021, OnePlus is making its foray into the wearable phase. The corporate is working with Google on a Put on OS smartwatch, however its first wearable is the OnePlus Band, a finances health band that’s going up in opposition to the Xiaomi Mi Band 5. In brief, OnePlus has to get every part proper to have the ability to stand an opportunity in opposition to Xiaomi. Its Chinese language rival dominates the finances wearable market, and OnePlus is now trying to steal a few of that market share with the OnePlus Band.

The OnePlus Band has all of the options you are searching for in a finances health band: it has an AMOLED panel, regularly measures your coronary heart fee, and even has an optical module for monitoring blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) ranges. There’s additionally 5ATM water resistance, exercise monitoring, and it’s out there in three shade choices.

Just like the OnePlus TVs, the OnePlus Band will likely be unique to the Indian market, the place it is going to be out there for ₹2,499 ($34). So let’s discover out what the OnePlus Band has to supply, and whether or not it is smart so that you can choose one up when you’re searching for a health band.

When it comes to design, the OnePlus Band is similar to the Mi Band 5. The health band has a 1.1-inch AMOELD display with a OnePlus label under the panel, and the display itself will get vibrant sufficient for out of doors use.

The OnePlus Band has a plain design, however you get thrilling watch faces.

The spotlight for me is the bundled silicone band; it feels higher than the one Xiaomi makes use of on the Mi Band 5, and is nice to put on all through the course of the day. There’s nothing actually noteworthy in regards to the design of the band itself; the detachable tracker has an rectangular physique and apart from the OnePlus emblem, you will not discover any differentiating options.

The OnePlus Band is on the market in three choices — Navy, Tangerine Grey, and Black — and also you get a good number of watch faces to select from. The band weighs simply 22.6g together with the strap, and you must be capable to discover third-party choices out there shortly.

There’s probably not a lot that OnePlus may have performed by way of the design apart from roll out extra shade choices. The OnePlus Band seems to be like most different finances health bands you may discover out there in the present day, however the level to notice right here is that it’s snug to put on all through the day, and there are fascinating watch faces on provide.

OnePlus Band Options

The OnePlus Band has loads of options for a finances health band: there’s 5ATM water resistance together with IP68 ranking, continuous coronary heart fee monitoring, a sensor that measures blood oxygen saturation ranges (SpO2), exercise monitoring with 13 exercise modes (two greater than Xiaomi), and sleep monitoring.

I am not completely satisfied of the accuracy of the SpO2 sensor; the few instances it took a studying I acquired a rating of 100%. So whereas OnePlus is positioning the characteristic as a differentiator right here, the efficacy of the module itself is questionable.

I wasn’t capable of consider the exercise monitoring options, however the band is ready to distinguish between 13 modes: indoor and out of doors working, fats burn run (how is that this completely different to common working?), indoor and out of doors biking, out of doors strolling, elliptical coach, rowing machine, badminton, pool swimming, free coaching, yoga, and sure, cricket.

The band was pretty correct at measuring variety of steps taken, however its caloric burn measurement does not make any sense to me. Due to the 5ATM water resistance, you possibly can take the OnePlus Band to the pool, and the silicone band holds up simply superb.

OnePlus Band Battery life

The primary flaw with the OnePlus Band is the battery life. The band has a 100mAh battery, and OnePlus touts 14-day battery life from a full cost. This might not be farther from the reality; my unit barely lasted two days, and the woeful battery life makes the band a non-starter.

Most health bands on this phase provide at the very least every week’s price of utilization out of the battery, and OnePlus wants to handle this subject. The largest promoting level of a health band is that you just needn’t cost it each different day, however that is not the case right here.

As for charging itself, the tracker plugs securely into the charging cradle, however you will not discover the identical hassle-free magnetic connector that is out there on the Mi Band 5.

OnePlus Band Software program

The OnePlus Band connects over Bluetooth 5.0 together with your cellphone, and makes use of the Bluetooth LE protocol to reflect notifications and calls to your wrist. It does a good job on this regard, however it’s inconsistent at instances; I routinely acquired notification alerts after I put the cellphone on DND, and it missed delivering notifications for incoming WhatsApp notifications.

OnePlus Well being app is simply OPPO’s HeyTap in a brand new guise.

You will have to make use of the brand new OnePlus Well being app to customise the watch face and alter the settings. The app itself is similar to OPPO’s HeyTap Health; in truth, an inside supply has confirmed that OnePlus is utilizing OPPO’s servers for storing information.

You can view every day exercise metrics, coronary heart fee information, blood oxygen ranges, exercise logs, and sleep monitoring data in OnePlus Well being. There’s additionally a devoted health tab that plots a course in actual time everytime you’re working or strolling outside. The Handle part permits you to swap out the watch faces and alter the settings, and it’s also possible to arrange coronary heart fee alerts, hourly transfer reminders (which do not set off each hour), and extra.

Most manufacturers that enterprise into the wearable phase nowadays appear to solely concentrate on the {hardware} and pay far too little consideration to the software program options. That has been the case with Realme, and OnePlus has made the identical mistake.

Xiaomi manages to promote hundreds of thousands of Mi Bands a 12 months as a result of it has nailed the software program integration. You get a ton of helpful insights with Mi Match, and it does an awesome job tying into the broader Xiaomi ecosystem of health merchandise. That integration is missing right here, and consequently the OnePlus Band comes up considerably quick.

On the naked minimal, OnePlus ought to have launched its personal companion app as an alternative of stealing OPPO’s utility.

OnePlus Band The competitors

In case you are searching for a finances health band, your search is prone to start and finish with the Mi Band 5. Xiaomi has managed to completely dominate this class during the last 5 years as a result of it has nailed not solely the {hardware} design, however the software program integration as effectively.

The Mi Band 5 has a 1.1-inch AMOLED panel, and a battery that simply lasts 10 days. It has steady coronary heart fee monitoring, computerized exercise monitoring, and is an nice worth contemplating it costs just ₹2,499 ($34).

OnePlus Band Must you purchase?

You can purchase this if …

• You do not just like the Mi Band 5 for no matter motive
• You need a finances health band with blood oxygen monitoring
• You are searching for a trendy design and customizable watch faces
• You want 5ATM water resistance and exercise monitoring

You shouldn’t purchase this if …

• You need a health band with good battery life
• You are searching for a wearable with nice software program integration

Whereas OnePlus has a good {hardware} product within the OnePlus Band, the software program integration is way from polished. Positive, you might be getting loads of the identical options because the Mi Band 5; there is a vibrant AMOLED display, coronary heart fee and blood oxygen monitoring, exercise monitoring, and 5ATM water resistance.

However the place all of it falls aside is the battery life. Neglect delivering wherever near the weeks-long battery life as marketed; the OnePlus Band barely lasts two days on a full cost. And that in the end makes it arduous to suggest, notably when Xiaomi delivers a way more refined product that prices the identical.

3
out of 5

Most of all, I simply do not perceive why OnePlus determined to launch a finances health band. The corporate has no cachet within the finances phase — not like Xiaomi — and this technique does not match into the ecosystem play. The OnePlus Band itself doesn’t really feel like a OnePlus product; it is virtually as if OnePlus outsourced the design and simply tacked on its identify on the entrance. So in a method, that is much like what OnePlus did with the Nord N10 5G and N100, however within the wearable class.

To be truthful, it took Xiaomi loads of time to fine-tune the options on its health bands, and even now Mi Match has annoying translation quirks. So if OnePlus actually is severe about making a dent on this class, it must study from its errors and be sure that the second-gen model does not have such basic shortcomings. Within the meantime, if you would like a finances health band, the Mi Band 5 continues to be the default alternative.