Realme Band

Look at others – Got free with Realme 6 May 2020. Band broke so send to service centre. Won't fix under warranty as they claim general wear and tear, not even 12 months! Realme don't offer replacement straps either, you have to buy a whole new one. Design flawed as the break is right next to the clip on the thinnest part. Guess that's what they want, you to buy a new one each year. Show details

Value for Money – When the opportunity arose to be able to test the Realme band, I obviously jumped at the chance. For the past few years I have tried several of the fitness bands/smart watches and I was curious to see how the Realme band shaped up in comparison. I had one of the first Fitbit bands, a Jawbone Up, a cheap smart watch that I don't recall much about… Read more

as it was pretty bad, two LifeTrak watches, a Fitbit Versa Lite which I had at the time of comparison with the Realme and now I recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy Watch. From the research I conducted on the Realme band, it appears as it will jump in at a very affordable price of $99, nowhere near the hundreds of dollars that some brands are asking for. So what do you get for that? Well I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with it, once the app was downloaded onto the Samsung S10 from the Play Store and the connection between the two was effortless it was time to play around. Now, I have never been a fan of the silicon bands as they do have an adverse reaction to my skin once I sweat etc but this was one of the better ones, I still had a reaction but not to the same extreme as other brands. In fact, this band was a lot more secure than some others on the market. Charging of the Realme is innovative as there is no charging cord or station, you simply detach one of the bands from the watch and plug the watch directly into a usb port and charging is quick and the battery life is on par with the Fitbit VL which is about 5 days, however, I did notice it decrease significantly when I had the watch set to automatically detect exercise. It does all the essentials, counting steps, full time heart rate monitor which isn't always an option on the base models of some other brands, notifications from your phone, weather updates and exercise modes which even includes a cricket function which unfortunately I didn't get a chance to play during the time of testing. There are some different watch displays to choose from so you can make it more unique to you, the bands also come in a range of colours from the standard black to green and yellow so there are choices. The app for me is very impressive, as soon as you are connected the device syncs effortlessly with the app and all the information you want to know is right there for you to find. I did notice an absence of calories burnt etc but steps, heart rate, sleep tracking and other important items are note are at your fingertips. And I must admit that I was more impressed with this app than the Fitbit app for the other watch I had on at the time. I did do some tests with accuracy but without counting my actual steps this is always difficult to determine which one is more accurate, I did have a more precise way to test as I have 3 pairs of Under Armour HOVR shoes which are bluetooth connected and able to track steps on them as well and what could be more accurate than something you are stepping on to actually count your steps. Well, let's say that all 3 were different but using the shoes as the marker, both the Realme and the Fitbit were within reasonable distance to be acceptable, the only issue I did find was wearing the watch/band on your more dominant hand obviously produced a higher result. Maybe for updates to the settings on the app for the Realme they could ask which hand you are wearing your watch on, whether it be the dominant hand or not. Overall, what did I think? For the money it is fantastic value, it does so much more than many that are in this category and does equal to some that are more than double. If you were looking to get a band/watch that can track your steps, heart rate and send you notifications then this is definitely one of the best choices that I have come across and for $99 (AU) it is a no brainer, many kid versions of other brands are dearer than this and do not offer as much, and yes my kids have other brands that retail for more and they don't compare to the Realme in regards to functions available. What I would change, well I would definitely look into a band that was not silicon as an option, have the upgrade on the app about the dominant hand just to make the step counts more accurate but apart from that it is very difficult to fault.

Would I recommend it? Yes indeed I would.

A top contender for its section of the market place – Realme Band Review The parcel arrived and the contents of the box were the watch mounted in a plastic surround and an extremely basic quick start guide, no user manual as such. A simple unpack and unclip one part of the band to expose the USB charger plug. The plug on the band can be plugged into the standard USB port on a desktop or Laptop… Read more

computer (for charging purposes) or as per the help files in the mobile app states into a low power USB phone charger (fast chargers not recommended). I used a phone charger & the band shows a red light when charging which goes out when the unit is fully charged, there is no charger or lead supplied with the unit but if you are like me you probably have half a drawer full anyway & another charger would just sit on the shelf. The model is available for purchase fitted with Black, Green or Yellow bands, with the main body being black you should be able to interchange colour schemes with original straps or when the multitude of replacement bands become available as normally happens with this sort of item on eBay. In this review I will mention some of the features & performance of the band in comparison with other units I own being namely A Garmin Forerunner 235, Fitbit HR 2, Garmin vivofit 3 & a Umidigi Uwatch 2, these units cover a price range of $50 to $450. The realme band is currently selling for $99, All prices quoted are in Australian dollars. Software for the unit at this stage is for Android only phones, (version 5 & above) there is currently no software available for Windows or Mac phones or desktop/Laptop computers in either operation systems, so sorry you will have to wait for that to happen. The software was easily installed (download from the Google play website) and on opening requested your basic information gender/age/height/weight/country & also a Nickname. At the completion of entering this information the unit paired with my phone giving instructions along the way. My own phone is a Umidigi F1 running Android Version 9 & the pairing & the running of the “realme app” proved completely trouble free which surprised me for a new release in the marketplace. My own phone is loaded to the hilt with many applications and I had expected teething problems with the software as I had with the other units I own, but no problems to date with the realme band. Battery life with all options activated run around the four & a half day mark, turn off your notifications etc. and the battery life is extended by another couple of days, this compares with most of the other units I own with similar functions activated except for the Umidigi which runs around eight to nine days but does not have as many functions. In the photographs attached I have included pictures of the various functions & settings available for adjustment and customisation of the unit to suit your needs, there are so many different settings that you can adjust that I did not list them here but included photos of the display screens so you could view them all at your leisure. Looking down the photos will show you the range and a simple tap on the arrow (right hand side of screen) takes you into the adjustment panel for that action, these panels have explanatory notes (in most cases where needed) to help you make your selection. When setting up your exercise modes you have your choice of nine different activities, and you can select any three of these at any one time to display on your watch. Initially I was concerned about the basic user manual but on installation & setting up of the software with the on screen prompts I found that further information was not required, the software had it all covered. One of the included screen shots shows the different coloured/design watch faces available (just tap on the one you like & its syncs with the band immediately as do all adjustments). This changes the main face only, with sub menus being the same with all watch faces. You will note that all adjustments are made from the application on your phone at this stage, I guess that Mac & PC versions of the software will come in time, being a new brand in the market place and presently only retail the fitness band, ear buds (Wireless) and their Android phones (which are worth a look at especially the models with the 64MP cameras if your into photography as I am) have been released. In operation the unit only requires a simple touch on the Function key to scroll between the different displays or to activate a sports mode if timing an event. Once you have scrolled through to select your activity touch and hold your finger on the Function key and the unit will start a three second countdown to commence you can them scroll through the different sub menu displays with a touch of the Function key to view all your data as its recording. To complete the activity simply touch and hold your finger on the Function key and the unit will complete the recording of the activity. Unfortunately, the display only stays lit up for five seconds, and I would like to see a user adjustment on this time period in the future as it was this five second time period did not give me enough time to fully digest the information in some instances. The unit was small in size with a thin wrist band than my other units and I was not sure how it would go in comparison but I found the smaller size very much to my liking as it was not a bulky on my wrist & did not tend to catch in long sleeved clothing (Winter time) as some of my other units had done (I wore the band 24/7 while testing). In direct sunlight the display (with any clock face selected) was on par with my Fitbit unit & far superior to my Umidigi unit which is near impossible to read outdoors without having to shade it with your body or hand. The only exception to this was the pulse rate display in which the numbers are in red and harder to read. Accuracy when testing compared to my other units was on par with the number of steps taken and when counting out 100 steps was even on the money, I did find that some household activities with many arm movements did trick the unit to increase the overall step count but this is not uncommon with this type of unit and I have experienced it with other brands. The pulse rate function was also in the ballpark when compared to my other units. Bear in mind that any of the units mentioned I have found pulse rate to be only approximate as any unit using led technology can be effected by too many variables (strap tension, skin temperature, air temperature (especially early mornings under 10 degrees) to name a few) to be 100% accurate. For 100% accuracy you would need to purchase something like the Garmin Forerunner with a chest belt. This unit fits into nicely in the marketplace both in performance & price (slightly cheaper & with more functions the Vivofit 3) as a unit designed for the casual user or the person who has a interest in their health and likes to keep a record of their activities without being fanatical about it. For those who work out & train at a club level & are monitoring the performance to the optimum this is not the unit you would choose but one of the upmarket units with GPS included, but for everyone else I feel that this unit is more than ample in its performance. At this point in time there is no apps available to combine the unit with My Fitness Pal (if using it) but for those who wish to do so it would just be a simple matter of entering the data from the watch once a day when logging on to record your daily calorie intake. I normally wear my Garmin Forerunner 24/7 (owned it for a few years) & one of the other units mentioned for comparison purposes on my other wrist, my other units are now retired and this little realme band has become my new backup unit, I have simply fallen in love with it, its simplicity of use, its slimness in size & lack of bulk, its light weight & its neat fit on my wrist, I am more than happy to recommend the realme band to anyone looking for a unit from this section of the market place in fact at this point of time if I was about to purchase a new unit for average everyday use this would be my number choice.