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Friday, July 20, 2018

Huawei Talkband B5 release date, price, news, and features

This fitness tracker is also a Bluetooth headset

Huawei Talkband B5

Do you miss your Bluetooth headset for phones calls? Never had one, but always wanted to try one? Huawei has a unique tool that can do that as well as track your fitness stats.

The new Huawei Talkband B5 is a hybrid product that combines a Bluetooth headset that sits in your ear with a fitness tracker.

In general, it sits within a band that you can place on your wrist, and when it's there it will track your step count and much more. When you're getting a phone call, you can pop it out and place it in your ear to listen in.

This isn't the first time Huawei has done this - there have been three before, but this is called the B5 because the company decided to skip the number four as it's considered unlucky in China.

Below we've broken down all the details you need to know about Huawei's latest fitness tracker.

Cut to the chase

  • What is it? A new fitness tracker and Bluetooth headset hybrid
  • When is it out? Out in China soon and when it'll come out in other markets is unclear
  • What will it cost? Unclear at the moment
  • Huawei Talkband B5 release date and price


So far the Huawei Talkband B5 has a release date on July 20 confirmed for those in China, but it's expected to have an international launch by the end of the summer.

Huawei has said the wearable will be coming to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other markets from August this year. Exactly what those other markets will be is unclear, but at least it's confirmed to launch outside of China by the end of next month.

Pricing has yet to be announced for the Huawei Talkband B5 in China, and it's expected we'll hear more about that a few days before it goes on sale in the country.

The Huawei Talkband B3 cost $286 (about £220, AU$390) so we'd expect this to cost a similar amount when it comes to the west.

Huawei Talkband B5 design and display

If you've seen or used the Huawei Talkband B3, you likely won't see any major differences in the design of this newer product. At first look, it's a traditional fitness tracker, but you can unclip the main tracker part from the strap and put it into your ear.

It's a unique design idea and despite doubling as an earpiece it does still look like a normal fitness tracker when it's sat on your wrist.

Huawei Talkband B5

Huawei has included a variety of material choices in the new range including leather, metal and silicone straps in a variety of colors including silver, white, blue and black.

The actual tracker element itself seems to be either silver, gold or black, but it may be that the company has other design options ready to launch soon too.

There's a 1.13-inch AMOLED display on the top that features 2.5D glass to protect the fitness tracker elements hiding inside. The display has a resolution of 300 x 160 pixels. It's a long rectangular screen and resembles the design of a lot of other fitness trackers on the market right now.

It has an IP67 water-resistant rating, so while it won't be able to track your swimming you will be able to sweat or splash it with water without worrying about ruining it.

The standout element of the design is the fact you can pop the tracker out of the band and put it into your ear though. Previous Talkband products have been comfortable to fit into your ear when in Bluetooth headset mode so we've got our fingers crossed the Talkband B5 will be just as comfortable.

You can even listen to music through the Bluetooth headset, but it's not currently clear whether you can upload music to the tracker or just stream it from your phone.

Huawei Talkband B5 features and specs

Huawei Talkband B5

Alongside the ability to work like a Bluetooth headset, this tracker features similar elements to the Huawei Band 2 Pro. That's a fitness tracker that's good enough to sit high in our best fitness tracker list.

It'll track your fitness activities including running, walking and cycling as well as some other things, such as your heart rate, whenever you're wearing the tracker. It doesn't seem to have GPS, so you'll have to take your phone with you on exercises to track your location.

There's also sleep tracking if you're happy to wear this when you get into bed. It can monitor your levels of sleep including light, deep and REM.

There's a 108mAh battery inside the tracker, and Huawei claims that will last around three and a half days from a single charge. It also comes with other features such as an alarm or reminders for when you need to move during the day.

The Talkband B5 will work with all iPhones running iOS 9 or above and Android devices running 4.4 software or above. If you've got a Huawei or Honor phone running EMUI 4.1 or above, you'll get access to more features including the ability to mute calls and see who is calling you directly on your wrist.

You can also use Huawei's phone apps, so you can find your phone when it's lost with the Phone Finder app or the Remote Shutter app lets you control your phone's camera from the wearable.




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