Currently, fitness trackers from Xiaomi, Fitbit are popular among users. Recently, watchmaker Fastrack Titan forayed into the space with Reflex budget tracker. We have got our hands on a second-generation fitness tracker from Lenovo dubbed as HW02 Smart Wristband. Let’s check out if this could be your go-to fitness tracker.
Unboxing
Box Contents
- Lenovo HW02 in Orange color
- Charging cable
- User manual
Design and Hardware
The Lenovo HW02 Smart Wristband sports a 0.42-inch (40 x 72 pixels) OLED touch screen, which is hidden inside the band itself. The sunlight visibility of the band is extremely poor and you can barely see the stats when you are outdoor however, it is decent when you are indoors. The display shows date and day, steps taken, calories burnt, heart rate and battery indicator. You can check all the aforementioned stats by simply tapping the small button on the display. The band does not wake up mostly in the first attempt and you will have to twist your hand for two or three times to wake it automatically.
Lenovo says the band is made of skin-friendly TPU+TPE materials and it is comfortable to wear. There is a buckle on one end of the band that goes into the holes that are present on the other side. Wearing the band was a bit cumbersome and you will have to get the hang of it by using it overtime. Once the buckle is in the holes it hold the band tightly and you don’t have to worry about losing it.
The heart rate sensor and pogo pins for charging are situated at the bottom of the band.
Connecting the Lenovo HW02 with the app was simple and smooth. Syncing of the data is also pretty fast. It supports Bluetooth 4.2 and comes with pedometer, sedentary reminder and sleep tracking.
Software and Performance
After you download the app, you will have to add personal information like name, age, height, weight and so on. You can set goal reminders and when you are reaching to your target, the band will vibrate to remind. You can set the vibration levels to low, medium and high. Also present is a Sedentary reminder that can be set for 30, 60 and 90 min. You can set a start and end time for this Sedentary reminder.
There is Find Phone toggle button, when enabled will let you find your phone from your Lenovo band. The band will show a magnifying glass icon on the display and tapping it will trigger an alarm on the phone making it easier to find it. Up next, there is a Locate the band button that you can tap to find your band when you are not wearing it. Once you tap the button, the band will vibrate thereby making it easy for you to locate.
You can pair the band with Android (4.4 or later) or iOS (8.0 or later). get notification for calls, messages and apps like WhatsApp, and so on. You can head to Smart reminder and select the apps for which you want to receive notification.
The step counting was quite accurate most of the time. The app also distinguishes your steps between walking, running and aerobic which is a nice addition. It shows total steps, distance traveled and calories burnt. The graphical representation is also neat and makes it simple to look at your progress during a week.
The sleep tracking on the band is average. It shows deep sleep, light sleep and average heart beat while you were sleeping. The addition of measuring heart beat during the sleep was something we have also seen on Xiaomi Mi Band 2.
Also present is a doze off alert in never sleep mode, which basically is an alarm that vibrates if you are at work or are driving. You can activate the Anti-Sleep alarm by tapping on the bell icon in the sleep monitoring section.
The band also measures your heart beat. It takes up to 3-5 seconds to show your heart beat. You can also check your heart beat by tapping on the measure heart rate button on the app. The app also shows fat burning and tells you about different states of heart rate via a scale for easy reference.
The Lenovo HW02 band has a 60mAh lithium-ion battery and promises 5 to 10 days of battery. The band lasted for five straight days after wearing it almost every day during the testing period.
Even though the box says that it is waterproof with IP67 ratings, the document says that it is not recommended to wear it when taking a shower or swimming. It also says that it is not recommended to use the band if the battery is soaked.
Conclusion
The Lenovo HW02 Smart Wristband impresses with its decent step counting and sleep tracking. The OLED display could have been better for better outdoor visibility. However, wish that Lenovo had worked a bit more on the design of the band. The inclusion of the heart rate sensor gives the band an additional use case. The software part of the band is also decent with a simple app that offers enough data. However, at US$39.99 (Rs. 2575 approx.), the Lenovo HW02 is still an expensive choice as the Xiaomi Mi Band 2, which is priced at Rs. 1,999.
The Lenovo HW02 is still not available in India, but you can get it from retailers such as Aliexpress and Gearbest who will ship it to India.
Pros
- Decent accuracy level for step counting and sleep tracking
- OLED display shows time, remaining battery and more
- Heart Rate sensor
Cons
- Pricing is slightly on the higher side
- Sunlight visibility is poor