Let’s start with the good things about the Honor Band 3. The activity tracker from Huawei is light and its 18 grams sit on your wrist like a butterfly, which helps when you’re doing an intense workout and every gram on you counts. While I didn’t care much about the orange version (it also comes in black and navy blue), the rubberised strap is firm.

The company claims the band is water-resistant up to 50 m. While I couldn’t verify that as I don't swim, it did work smoothly during rains on a morning walk. Without bothering about the band, I could carry on with my exercise and also enjoy the rains.

For its price , the Honor Band 3 packs in a lot. While the notifications for calls, messages and updates were fairly accurate, the band tracks heart rate and even gives an analysis of your sleep. I didn’t make much use of the last feature — I already know I could do with a little more sleep. The OLED display is sufficiently bright in case you need to check your steps and calories burnt. But if you are used to watches, then Honor Band’s 0.91-inch display might bother you initially.

But things get worse if you’re a runner. I’m training for the Wipro Marathon in Chennai, slated for December. Distance and speed (as am hoping to improve my timing) are top priorities for me now. But here the Honor Band 3 fails miserably.

Without GPS, its sense for distance is hampered. The Band gave me incorrect information at the end of each run. Equally bothersome was the display. While it’s legible when you are walking, the display is much tougher to read when you are running. This bothered me, and in the end affected my timing.

Price: ₹2,799

Pros: Big bang for the buck, if you restrict yourself to walking

Cons: No GPS, display hard to read while running

comment COMMENT NOW