The Huawei Band 7 looks to be the company’s direct competitor to the likes of the Fitbit Inspire 2, and packs a lot of tech into a very small, and very affordable product.
It’s one of the best fitness trackers around right now, thanks to a combination of factors that belie its £49.99/$59.99 price tag (availability in the U.S. is through third-party sellers). It’s thin and light, but offers a bright, colorful OLED display that other cheaper bands simply cannot match. It’s easy to read, presents metrics in a pleasing way, and just feels more useful in direct sunlight than other options.
SPECS
-Two week battery life
-No GPS
-5ATM water-resistant
-1.47-inch AMOLED display
-Weight: 16g without strap
There are drawbacks, of course — there’s no GPS, and because it piggybacks off of iOS and Android, it doesn’t have any third-party app connections. There’s also no way to store music on the device for listening to playlists while working out.
And yet, if you don’t mind carrying your phone with you on a run or to the gym, the Huawei Band 7 may just knock the Fit Inspire 2 off of its perch for anyone looking for a fitness tracker that won’t cost a lot, but doesn’t sacrifice features.
Price and release date
The Huawei Band 7 launched in May 2022 and is available at £49.99 or AUS$159. Sadly, availability is limited in the U.S., but we’ve seen some sellers offer it for $59.99.
Design and display
The Huawei Band 7 is available in Graphite Black, Nebula Pink, Flame Red, or Wilderness Green (our review unit is the latter).
Its design is a little squarer than the Fitbit Inspire 2, with a more rectangular face that incorporates some slimline bezels that are subtly hidden by the predominantly black display. And what a display it is too, with an AMOLED making colors ‘pop’ in every facet of the UI and the blacks remaining deep throughout.
There are a series of watch faces available, with each able to be tweaked in small ways. It’s not quite the same as you’d find on something like an Apple Watch, but we found ourselves swapping faces depending on the occasion.
Straps are swappable, with the device itself weighing just 16g without them. Unlike the Inspire 2’s capacitive ‘button’, the Huawei Band 7 offers a physical button which we preferred for being more reliable — particularly with sweaty hands. Still, it’s worth remembering that this could theoretically increase the chances of getting sweat inside the device and therefore limit its long-time usability.
Features
To begin with the bad news, the Huawei Band 7 lacks any GPS functionality. This is a shame, and perhaps not too unexpected given the price point, but that does mean it’ll lean on a connected smartphone to do all of the heavy lifting with regard to location. Still, if you prefer to go for a run and take your phone with you anyway, it’ll be no biggie.
This would also be good because there’s no onboard storage for queuing songs or podcasts for your workout. It’s something even Fitbit has shied away from in recent years, so again, it’s not that surprising.
What is surprising, in a good way, is the number of sensors on offer here. There’s an accelerometer and gyroscope, but there’s also what Huawei refers to as TruSeen 4.0. The two-pronged tech assesses blood oxygen and heart rate at the same time, and the two run constantly if you choose – meaning no stopping to take an Sp02 reading. Considering blood oxygen tracking was only introduced to Apple Watch Series 6, which costs considerably more, its presence here is a huge boon for the Huawei Band 7.
The Band 7 also does a great job with sleep tracking, with TruSleep 2.0 helping track duration and sleep states in more detail than you’d expect for such a cheap tracker.
Everything is presented nicely on the Huawei Fit app, which works almost entirely the same as Fitbit’s — it’s a dashboard that users can dive deeper into with a tap.
Performance
Throughout testing, we ran the Huawei Band 7 on one wrist with an Apple Watch Series 7 on the other in order to check the step tracking. Across the board, from running to walking, from a pool swim to a cycle, the Band 7 didn’t skip a beat and matched the internal GPS of the Apple Watch while piggybacking off the iPhone’s GPS.
In fact, the only issue was the number of workout types available — your cardio staples are covered, as well as the option to tweak them further and create your own, but we’d have liked more options. If you’re a dancer, into combat sports, or something else that’s not covered here, you may be a little disappointed.
One area that exceeds expectation is the Huawei Band 7’s battery life. The Band 7 will last for an incredible two weeks, meaning it’s ideal for extreme workouts over the course of longer periods. Charging can be fiddly, though, and lacks the ease of the Fitbit range’s magnetic connectors.
Verdict
For a fitness tracker newcomer, the Huawei Band 7 is an easy purchase. It lacks the more guided workouts of the Fitbit and the powerful third-party connections of something like an Apple Watch, but if you want to track your steps, find out how far you can run, walk, or cycle, and track your heart rate or blood oxygen level without needing to charge for two weeks, it’s ideal.
If this isn’t for you
For more features (and a color screen), the Luxe offers the next step up in the Fitbit range, while the Versa 3 adds more sensors and expands more into smartwatch territory.
We’re hesitant to suggest the Apple Watch given that the Series 3 seems primed for the chop soon and there’s nothing Apple makes for iOS users at this price range, either.
