14 DAY TRIAL // Wearables are becoming more popular these days and it's no wonder why: most of them come as an extension to a smartphone and allow you to perform a number of tasks without even pulling out the phone, while also offering a bunch of other goodies that are supposed to make our lives easier.
Still in their early days, wearables are rapidly gaining traction, mostly because of their tracking capabilities, but at this moment, most of them provide pretty much the same options.
That's why manufacturers are always trying to do something different and add that little special thing that could help them set apart from the rest and get more buyers in this quickly growing business.
Huawei is one of them and the TalkBand B2 is living proof. As its name suggests, this isn't just a band (or a smartwatch), but a talkband which allows you to talk to your contacts without even touching the phone. How it does this is what makes it really special, so read on to find out what the TalkBand B2 is all about.
Technical specifications
First off, let's start with the technical specifications of the device launched by Huawei in early 2015:
| Height | Leather strap version 235.10mm TPU plastic version 242.85mm |
|---|---|
| Width | 22.0mm |
| Weight | Leather strap version：32.2g (headset:12.5g;strap with tray:19.7g） TPU plastic strap version：30.6gheadset:12.5g;strap with tray:18.1g) |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 3.0 |
| Display | 0.73-inch, 128x88px, single button control, touch screen |
| Battery | 95mAh Standby time: 14 days (BT connection off) Working time: 6 days (Depend on wireless call usage time) Charging time: 1.5 hour |
| Call features | Dual-mic reduction |
| Charging | Standard Micro USB charging |
| Sensors | A+G-sensors |
| Supported platforms | iOS, Android |
Design
The first time you see the TalkBand B2, it's really hard to figure out it's a smartwatch. It looks unbelievably well for a smartwatch and it's pretty much one of the most gorgeous in terms of design that have been released until now.
The TalkBand B2 is available in two versions (and three colors), with either a leather strap or a plastic one (white, black, and gold). We've tested the leather version in gold, which looked absolutely amazing. It was a fine piece of jewelry that looks fabulous if you want to stay classy, but to track your every single move.
The gold version is just the right choice for an office outfit, but if you're more into casual or sporty looks, the plastic version is much better. The strap comes in a single universal size, but it can be adjusted to fit your wrist easily.
The device is made of aluminum alloy metal, but it's surprisingly light. The leather strap version weighs only 32.2 grams, while the plastic version drops to 30.6 grams.
“This smartwatch makes you look classy.”
It features a 0.73-inch PMOLED touch screen with a resolution of 128x88 pixels which allows you to browse through its menus and access all features, as well as a side button that has a select function and lets you awake or sleep the device. As Huawei explains, the display “is made of plastic sprayed with anti-scratch and anti-fingerprint coating.”
All in all, the TalkBand B2 is definitely one of the most gorgeous smartwatches currently on the market and it just feels right on your wrist. The choice of multiple colors and the aluminum alloy metal case gives it a premium look that's available for only $175 (160 Euros) depending on the market.
Features
Despite its appealing look, the TalkBand B2 doesn't provide more than the essential smartwatch capabilities with just one exception: it instantly becomes a Bluetooth headset whenever someone calls you.
The B2 is a hybrid whose display is actually a Bluetooth headset which can be removed from the strap and you can easily stick it in your ear to talk to anyone who calls you. There are three different-size ear plugs to make sure that you feel comfortable wearing it.
We've heard quite a lot of people complaining that the Bluetooth headset doesn't fit well in your ear, but after nearly one month of daily use, we can assure you this isn't true. Sure, there are exceptions, but the Bluetooth module is very light and soft, so just jam it in your ear when someone calls you and you won't even feel it's there.
The quality of the call is decent. The TalkBand B2 uses Bluetooth 3.0 to connect to your mobile phone and features dual-mic reduction to reduce surrounding noise and provide crystal clear audio quality. That's what Huawei says.
In reality, the phone call is not really crystal clear, but it should be good enough for 99 percent of the buyers and better than what most affordable Bluetooth headsets out there can provide you with. You can adjust the volume of the headset by simply swiping up or down while you're wearing the headset, so everything's very intuitive. The side button lets you end a call with a press.
“It provides inaccurate data every once in a while.”
The TalkBand B2's ability to double as a Bluetooth headset is clearly the ace up its sleeve, but Huawei also calls it a tracker, so it comes with a bunch of other features which most of the smartphones already have. So you won't be wowed, but it's somehow good they're there.
First, there's the motion detector, which means that you can track walking, running and jogging. It's all possible with Huawei Wear, the mobile phone application which can be installed on any Android or iOS device. The device automatically tracks your moves and provides you with stats that are updated when you sync the watch to the phone or right on its screen, so you'll always know how many steps you've made.
The display also shows you the number of burned calories, as well as notifications from your phone whenever someone calls you. Notifications for messages are not displayed because Huawei says this would be really distracting and since most buyers use it while driving, it should be better this way. Options to enable this when not driving would be helpful though.
By default, the device vibrates every 45 minutes to remind you to exercise, which is particularly helpful if you're as lazy as we are and work on the laptop all day long. But after few such alerts, we decided to disable this feature (you can do this from the Huawei Wear app).
Support for biking is also offered, but it fails to work properly and the data collected is messed up, so it's better to use it only to track exercises such as walking, running, or jogging. No swimming support either, as the watch isn't waterproof (Huawei says that it can withstand a few rain drops, but you're not advised to take a shower with it).
And last but not least, the TalkBand B2 also features sleep monitoring, but we've found this feature to be really awful. First, it automatically detects your sleep, but very often, it fails to do that correctly. One night, I fell asleep at about 12:00 AM, but the device started logging my sleep at 1:43 AM, so it had a nearly 2-hour delay. Ending sleeping tracking doesn't seem to work correctly either, as one day it said I was still sleeping, when I was actually already up and on my way to the office. So you can't rely on this feature too much and statistics are far from being accurate.
The smartwatch also lets you set up alarms, which clearly come in handy if you don't want to wake up everyone around you every morning, as well as support for gestures, so you can rotate your wrist to wake it up or to browse through its main options.
There's also a phone finder feature, which makes your phone ring so you can find it easily, and also a tool to let the smartwatch act as a camera shutter to take better selfies.
Battery life
This is where the TalkBand B2 really excels. Our tests have proved that the B2 lasts longer than Microsoft's Band and the Fitbit Flex with both Bluetooth on and off.
Huawei says that its 95 mAh battery provides 6 days of working time and 14 days of standby time with Bluetooth off.
We've actually managed to get 7 full days of working time with Bluetooth always on and few calls every day, so battery life is impressive to say the least. For the Band, we've had to recharge it every 2 days, while the Fitbit Flex doesn't provide such advanced capabilities and provides almost the same battery life.
Charging time is about 1.5 hours, according to Huawei's figures and that's indeed true. You can recharge the device using a microUSB port, which is quite handy given the fact that other devices, including the aforementioned Band and Flex, come with their own chargers.
The TalkBand B2 can be charged with 5V chargers with the current of 0.5A, 1A, 1.5A, or 2A.
Software
Synchronization features and additional capabilities for your TalkBand are provided via the Huawei Wear app which can be installed on Android and iOS devices.
The app is quite easy to use, but mostly because it doesn't provide too many features and information regarding your activities. You can indeed view the data collected by your TalkBand, see weekly and monthly charts, analyze your performance and check out the daily goal, but this is pretty much what all the other smartwatches already do.
The same app can be used to update the firmware of your device and Huawei really seems to be up to the task with this one. New firmware updates are provided every once in a while and during the one month of tests we performed, we received two different firmware updates.
The connection between the TalkBand B2 and the smartphone works just as expected, but it's worth mentioning that you can only synchronize it with one Android or iOS phone at a single time.
The Good
The audio quality is very good and since it's so light, you won't even feel it when wearing the headset for an hour.
The device itself is also light and the leather strap makes it very comfortable, as compared to other smartwatches on the market.
Battery life is insane and we'd clearly want to have this on the other smartwatches. Right now, one of the main setbacks of wearables is the somewhat limited battery life and it's no wonder why so many people avoid buying them. Having yet another device to recharge is just too much, but the TalkBand B2 makes this problem go away.
The Bad
Sleeping monitoring doesn’t work as expected and figures are very inaccurate. The lack of an HR sensor is clearly a big setback for those who want to stay in tip-top shape, and it could really help provide more accurate data, including more advanced analysis.
But offering an HR sensor on a leather strap is clearly a challenge and it might reduce the comfort that it provides. Look at Microsoft's Band, for instance. It has an HR sensor, but it's a challenge to get used to it. Sleeping with a Band could be difficult unless you really want to give it a chance, but the second-generation version is expected to make the device more comfortable.
Plus, the combination of a leather strap, which makes it look quite classy, and a sports tracker is a little bit odd. Leather isn't the best choice for someone who's supposed to sweat a lot.
The truth
As far as smartwatches are concerned, Huawei's device doesn't provide the same capabilities as its rivals and the figures it provides are not only basic, but also inaccurate very often. It's had to believe that anyone would ever buy the B2 as a sports companion.
Second, the Bluetooth headset is OK, but why buy such an accessory that's attached to your wrist when you can always buy a stand-alone version and keep it in your car all the time?
Basically, Huawei launched the B2 in an attempt to tackle the growing wearable market and set itself apart during the process, but the result isn't quite impressive. It's a smart attempt at the growing appetite for wearables, but not enough.
