On the body, there’s the screen (which we’ll get into below), and also a round button, which functions like a sort of home button. We found this feature a little confusing – it’s not always clear if you should press this button, or the main screen, to toggle a function like turning off an alarm or closing a notification. It’s a testament to the advancements made by companies like Honor, Xiaomi and Huawei in the affordable smartphone space that an even more budget piece of tech like the Honor Band 5 can operate as smoothly as it does in application. Everything feels responsive here, whether it’s scrolling through menus or waking the screen from its slumber, any delay between my input and the Honor Band 5 reacting is largely minimal.

Speaking of faces, there were only three to choose from on the Band 4, but now there are lots , with nine included on the device out of the box, and more available through the app, giving you plenty of options for customizing your device.The HONOR Watch Face Store is available on Android only and is supported via the OTA upgrade. Availability varies by region. Admittedly, some of the watch faces on offer are probably designed for people with more acute vision than myself, but I was able to get all the information I needed clearly by simply swapping to a different style. While we’re on that point, Honor has made leaps and bounds in offering a larger variety of watch faces this time around – although it didn’t seem like that at first. Being at such a low price however, any scepticism surrounding its competency is justly warranted, but I’m happy to report that my time spent with the Honor Band 5 was an absolute blast. Honor Band 5 – Design There are no physical buttons to speak of on the Honor Band 5, so the touchscreen is your main mode of interacting with the device. If you’ve had the chance to play around with the likes of the Apple Watch Series 5 or even the recent Fossil Gen 5 smartwatch, don’t expect the Honor Band 5 to match either of these devices when it comes to the fluidity of scrolling through menus.

The accuracy of the fitness data recorded can reach up to 95% even when GPS is not enabled. The data is generated from tests conducted while running on a treadmill in Honor lab. Call rejection is supported on phones running on both Android and iOS system. You can only mute an incoming call while using phones running on iOS system. In our review for the Honor Band 4, we noted the device as having just a meagre three watch faces to choose from. This minor annoyance seemed to repeat itself on the Honor Band 5, that is until an update just a few days after setup delivered dozens of options, and I’ve continued to see new watch faces being added to the selection ever since. SWOLF (abbreviation for “Swim Golf”) is a score obtained by adding together your strokes per length and the time for the length. For example, a 25-yard swim at 30 seconds in 20 strokes is SWOLF 50.Neither is perfect, but you can see here that the Polar is a fair bit closer to the street than the Honor Band 5 – I wasn’t running through people’s houses. In other words, if you know your phone’s GPS is flakey, or it has aggressive battery saving that kills GPS when the screen is off, then this function isn’t ideal for you. The availability of SpO2 Monitor varies depending on markets and regions. SpO2 Monitor is not designed to be a medical device, and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All data and measurements should be used for personal reference only. This feature will come later via OTA. With that said, the Honor Band 5 looks identical to its predecessor – which in turn never looked too different from the Honor Band 3 – although it’s hardly an issue if, like me, you were already a fan of that design. There’s even a handy voice (available via the Honor Health App) that can let you know when you’ve hit various milestones – even if it did scare the life out of me when trying it out during an evening walk home.

This seems accurate to me. My sleep is typically around the 80% mark, but this dipped to 60% when I was staying at a friend’s house in a bed that was comically short for me. The app then offers advice on how to improve your sleep, but oddly “get a normal-sized bed” isn’t one of the nuggets it provides. What we’re left with is a vibrant, slightly curved 0.95″ 2.5D screen, one that’s easy to read in direct sunlight and arguably the punchiest display I’ve ever seen on a wearable. Given the small size of the screen itself, any pixilation goes completely unnoticed by the human eye but that doesn’t mean you’ll have a tough time reading text and information. For the avid sportsman or woman, we have two types of suitable Honor band 5 bands. The standard Honor band 5 silicone band, or the genuine Honor band 5 sports band. Both are made of strong and malleable silicone material, but the sports bands have additional ventilation holes so they are even more comfortable when you are exercising. They are waterproof so you can also wash them without worrying about them starting to smell. Stainles steel strapsBut your mileage may vary – in every sense of the word. Another run around a more built-up area showed the possible perils of relying on phone GPS. A short run was measured as an accurate 3.81km by the Polar watch, and a short 3.67km by the Honor Band 5. Why? A close up of the GPS data tells the full story:

The Honor Band 5 gets the basics right, though. Lift your arm or tap below it and the screen springs to life with a view of your step count and the time. Swipe down and you’ll gain access to your heart rate, sleep log and the option to start exercises. Other, less frequently used function, such as the timer, stopwatch and find phone facilities, are hidden behind another submenu. If you find swiping annoying, you can set it up so twisting your wrist cycles through screens but, given you need to touch the screen to confirm, this feels a bit of a waste of time.

The Honor Band 4 Running has a water resistance rating of 50 meters under ISO standard 22810:2010. You can wear the Honor Band 4 Running when you are showering or swimming in shallow water. We do not recommend you to wear it into the sauna or while diving. You should not use the Honor Band 4 Running in conditions that may corrode the product, such as using it in seawater. The battery life data is generated from tests conducted in the Honor lab. The actual usage time may vary according under different function settings and usage habits. Water resistance rating of 50m based on the ISO standard 22810:2010, meaning that the band works when swimming or washing hands, etc. Rinse the band with clean water and dry it promptly after swimming in seawater for prolonged use.