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Huawei Band 8 Review: A High-Value Health and Fitness Tracker
Since the Huawei Band 9 hasn’t been released yet, I started paying attention to this series and eventually decided to purchase the Huawei Band 8 during a special promotion. Compared to the generic smartwatches I’ve used before, the Huawei Band 8 offers significant improvements, especially in terms of features and value for money. While there are some design aspects I don’t particularly like, overall, it offers excellent cost performance.
Installation and Connection Process
Since the Huawei Health app is no longer available on the Google Play Store, installation requires downloading it from Huawei’s official website via this link: Huawei Health (huawei.com).
After scanning the QR code with my phone, I accessed Huawei’s website, clicked install, selected “standard download,” and downloaded the app to my phone. By choosing Motorola, I was able to avoid registering with another app store.
I opened my phone’s file manager, located the downloaded file in the “Downloads” folder, and allowed third-party app installation.
The process was relatively straightforward, but registering a Huawei account is required, which may feel tedious to some users.
You can register using either your email or phone number. I assumed using an email would bypass the need for a phone number, but it still asked for one. This was one of the things I didn’t like. Also, the phone’s location services need to be enabled to maintain the connection with the band, even if Bluetooth is on, which is another drawback for me.
Main Feature Experience
- Battery Life and Charging Speed: In full tracking mode, the battery still had 43% remaining after 7 days of use. With notifications enabled, the battery only dropped to 38% after 7 days. Charging is quick—going from 34% to 100% using a 10W charger took less than an hour.
- Customizable App Homepage: You can customize the homepage with widgets to track key features.
Heart Health: The ECG and vascular elasticity detection features are not directly linked to the band.
Weight Tracking: Track your weight and calorie intake per meal.
Sports Records: I tested the jump rope mode, and the Huawei Band 8 provided very detailed records, including additional data that exceeded my expectations compared to my previous generic smartwatch. I was very impressed with its fitness tracking.
- Sleep Tracking: This is one of the standout features. It not only accurately tracks sleep and wake times but also monitors naps, talking in your sleep, and snoring. This gives me a more comprehensive understanding of my sleep quality. Detecting sleep apnea events requires agreeing to upload data to the cloud.
- Fitness:
- Health Monitoring Features: Although the band includes health monitoring features like ECG and vascular elasticity detection, these are more dependent on the app and not directly related to the band itself.
- Discover: I couldn’t explore this page because I didn’t grant full access to the app.
- Device: Displays paired devices and connection status, and allows changing the watch face settings.
- Profile: Device settings, personal data, and records, as well as app authorizations, can be reviewed and canceled under “Privacy Management -> Data Sharing and Authorization.”
Notifications and Other Minor Features
The band can display notifications from apps like SMS and Line, and you can freely select which notifications to receive. Additionally, it has small features like alarms and music control, adding to everyday convenience.
Huawei Band 8: Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Excellent battery life: even with full tracking and notifications enabled, it lasts a full week. | The app installation process is tedious, requiring a download from Huawei’s official website and account registration. |
| Accurate sleep tracking, including naps, sleep talking, and snoring, providing a comprehensive sleep analysis. | The phone’s location services must be enabled to keep the band connected, even with Bluetooth on, which is inconvenient. |
| Detailed fitness tracking, supporting various workout modes with rich data analysis. | ECG and vascular elasticity detection require the app, which could be misleading as the band doesn’t support these features directly. |
| High value for money, especially for users looking for basic health monitoring and fitness tracking. | Some features require data to be uploaded to the cloud, which may raise privacy concerns. |
| Fast charging: it goes from 34% to 100% in less than an hour. | Some features are unclear, and restricting app access might lead to some functionalities being unavailable. |
Conclusion
The Huawei Band 8 is a high-value health and fitness tracker. Its detailed fitness tracking and accurate sleep monitoring are impressive. Despite the somewhat cumbersome installation process and the requirement to enable location services to maintain the connection, its overall functionality and battery performance are satisfying. As for durability, that will require further long-term testing.
(auto translate using ChatGPT)