Huawei Band 7 Smart Band Review – A Bang-For-The-Buck Fitness Tracker

First Impressions

The Huawei Band 7 comes in simple packaging, with the front of the box showing an image of the Band 7 at the center and the Huawei logo in the upper right corner. The lower right corner indicates that the Band 7 is powered by HarmonyOS, which is its operating system.

On the right side of the box, you’ll see a QR Code that takes you to the website where you can download the Huawei Health App, which is needed for setting up. Meanwhile, on the rear side of the box, you’ll find the band’s distinct features, like the 1.47″ AMOLED FullView display, Continuous Heart Rate Monitoring, and 5ATM Water Resistance. 

Upon opening the box, which has to be done underneath because the flaps are glued shut, you’ll find the smart band, strap, magnetic charging cable, and paperwork. 

I noticed that most manufacturers nowadays keep the packaging as minimal as possible. I think the reason behind this is to keep them from using more materials like adhesive, paper, and other resources. This is also to make their packaging as recyclable as possible, which is always a good thing.

The only issue I have is there’s a small dent at the lower side of the smart band’s housing, but I think this is more of a problem with the shipping and handling, and not with Huawei.

Design and Build Quality

Regarding the Huawei Band 7’s design and build quality, I’m surprised by how slim and compact it is compared to my other smart bands. But it doesn’t look that much different from other fitness trackers in the market.

Huawei stated that the housing is made of “Durable Polymer Materials,” which is just a fancy term for plastic. However, at first glance, I thought it was made of metal because of its appearance. The housing feels solid and doesn’t feel like an entry-level wearable at all.

The band has a 1.47” AMOLED Display with a resolution of 194 x 368 pixels and is kind of curved along the edges. On the right side, there’s a button that can be used for turning the band on and accessing the different features. Underneath, the smart band has a matte plastic feel to it, and it’s where the sensors and two metal charging pins are located.  

The Huawei Band 7 is available in 4 different color choices: Wilderness Green, Nebula Pink, Flame Red, and Graphite Black, which is the one that I got. It’s nice that Huawei provided us with additional color choices, as other entry-level devices are usually only available in generic black.

The strap is detachable so that you can swap it out with your preferred band, be it in a different color or other material. This is great if you want to change how it looks to match your outfits. I also bought a case for it to protect it from dents and scratches but it just made the band a bit bulky.

In terms of weight, the Band 7 weighs 16g on its own and 28g with the strap. It feels quite light on my wrist and doesn’t feel like anything while I’m wearing it.

Responsiveness and Display

Now, let’s discuss the Huawei Band 7’s responsiveness to gestures and display.

Navigating through different windows, like viewing notifications, weather, and other trackers, wasn’t much of a hassle as the screen is responsive with every tap and swipe. The display has sufficient brightness that can go up to 450 nits, and even under the glaring sun, it’s still visible. 

At night or when in darker places, the display can be too much as it doesn’t have an ambient light sensor. Adjusting its brightness can only be done manually in the band’s settings. On the other hand, viewing the band from different angles wasn’t a problem, thanks to its curved glass on the edges. 

Despite the Huawei Band 7’s small size, texts from notifications and other features are readable on the screen. Notifications with longer content are still readable but you must scroll further down to view the rest.

The colors are on point and the blacks are black. This makes the band’s display more vibrant and visible.

If you’re concerned about the Band 7’s bezels, they’re not noticeable, and kudos to Huawei for keeping them discrete as much as possible. Even the available band displays are surrounded by pitch black to complement well with the bezels.

Features

The Huawei Band 7 is powered by Huawei’s custom OS, which is HarmonyOS. It’s not like other OS from a well-known wearable that lets you install third-party apps, but it kind of covers most of the primary functions that a fitness tracker must have.

First and foremost, Huawei highlights the Always On Display for the Band 7, which makes the smart band function more as a watch by slightly dimming its display when idle.

Its other features include a steps tracker that records the steps taken throughout the day and resets every midnight. It also has the usual health-tracking features, such as continuous heart rate monitoring, stress monitoring, blood oxygen tracking, and sleep tracking.

For sports tracking, the Huawei Band 7 is supported by the Huawei TruSport Fitness System, which tracks different indoor and outdoor activities like cycling and running.

There are 96 workout modes, which include common activities like running, cycling, and swimming, but it also has not-so-common ones like tug of war and parachuting.

Although Huawei stated that the smart band incorporates automatic workout detection, I encountered some difficulty activating this feature on my unit. As a result, I had to manually select a workout mode to initiate the tracking process.

Despite this minor setback, the positive aspect is that the Huawei Band 7 excels in accurately tracking fitness metrics, providing a comprehensive overview of my physical activity.

User Interface

Like other smart bands and smartwatches, the Huawei Band 7 features a “Card View” that shows basic information like the weather, heart rate, and automatic SpO2 measurement.

The default band display shows the battery percentage, steps taken, and, of course, the time. Doing a long press on the band display lets you change it with your stock displays.

Pressing on the side button takes you to the main menu that shows a list of features such as timer, alarm, stopwatch, flashlight, find phone, and settings.

All in all, the Band 7’s user interface is simple and straightforward, making it easy for new users to navigate and explore the smart band.

Huawei Health App

The Huawei Health App is a must-download app to further access the Huawei Band 7’s capabilities. In the app, you’ll find more detailed information about your workouts and sleep quality. The Automatic SpO2 measurement can also be enabled within the app.

The app lets users set a goal, like a weight loss program, and get personalized recommendations on what to do next to achieve this goal.

Customization is also available within the app. More than a hundred available band displays can be downloaded, but most of them come with a price, which I find disappointing. This means that I have to spend extra for more customization.

In case you misplace your smart band or lose it somewhere not that far away, the Huawei Health App has a “Find My Device” feature that makes the Band 7 vibrate. It’s a bit helpful if you’ll ask me.

Lastly, it’s also worth mentioning that, while the Huawei Health App is available on the AppStore for iOS, it isn’t available in the Google Play Store due to US Sanctions. However, a QR on the side of the Band 7’s box is ready to be scanned so you can still download the app.

Battery Life

As Huawei stated, the Huawei Band 7 is packed with a 180mAh battery that can last up to 14 days on a single charge with typical use and 10 days with heavy usage. 

Of course, for people who work out regularly with the automatic detections turned on, the 14-day battery life isn’t possible. Also, enabling the Always On Display will quickly deplete the battery of the smart band.

Charging the smart band also doesn’t take up much time as it can charge from zero to 100% in under an hour. In case you’re in a rush, charging the smart band for five minutes can give you up to two days of battery life, as Huawei stated.

Downsides

Now, let’s quickly discuss the Huawei Band 7’s downsides and setbacks. 

The band doesn’t have a built-in microphone and speaker, which means that receiving calls or listening to music isn’t possible. It also lacks GPS support so it mainly relies on your smartphone’s GPS to track outdoor runs.

Final Thoughts

The Huawei Band 7 has all you need for a fitness tracker – it’s slim, compact, easy to use, has a large display and solid battery life, and best of all, it’s affordable. So, what’s not to love with this smart band?

Yes, it has minor setbacks but considering its price, it’s understandable for an entry-level wearable to lack some features. I’d totally recommend the Huawei Band 7 if you’re looking for a bang-for-the-buck fitness tracker.

This post was last updated on 2024-12-13 / Some images from Amazon Product API & some links may be affiliate links which may earn us a commission from purchases.