Realme Band review: One of the better fitness bands in the budget segment

Priced at Rs 1,499, the Realme Band fitness tracker features a tiny colour display, heart-rate sensor and ingress protection (IP68) rating for water and dust resistance

The Realme Band is an affordable fitness wearable, and a new entrant in an already congested market of entry-level health and fitness wearables which is currently dominated by Xiaomi. For Realme’s first such product, the Band seems to offer a motley mix of design and features. Priced at Rs 1,499, this fitness tracker features a tiny colour display, heart-rate sensor and ingress protection (IP68) rating for water and dust resistance. 

Business Standard used the Realme Band for some time. Here’s our review:

Design and display

The Realme Band looks identical to other affordable fitness bands available in the market. It has a minimal design which looks simple but premium. Light in weight (20g), the band has a plastic body. It has a replaceable silicone strap -- you can choose a green, yellow or black option, too. These straps add some zing to the band’s otherwise minimal design.

The band sports a 0.96-inch curved colour screen of a 160 x 80 pixel resolution. Unfortunately, the screen is not touch-enabled and has a dedicated touch button at the bottom side to operate it. Though reasonably bright, the screen has poor sunlight legibility; using it outdoors is a challenge.

Performance

Being an entry-level fitness band, the Realme Band covers the basics right. It has a heart-rate sensor to monitor heart beats which doubles up as a sleep tracker. The band uses this sensor to track health and fitness activities, and supports a total of nine sports mode -- cricket, yoga, run, walk, bike, hiking, fitness, climbing and spinning.

The band also supports step counter, calorie counter, water reminder, idle alert, sports tracker, notifications, etc.

Complementing the band is the newly announced Realme Link app, which makes it easy to customise the band and sync data to a smartphone.

Now, in terms of efficiency, the band might not be very accurate, but it is one of the affordable options, and it does capture data without deviating too much from actual. If you have used a good fitness tracker like one from Garmin or Fitbit, you would easily make out where the band lacks. But, if you compare it with other entry-level bands,you might want to cut it some slack.

The band supports smartphone notifications for most apps, including WhatsApp and Facebook. However, the tiny display is not best suited for this purpose.

The band has a 90mAH battery, which lasts for around a week. Though the Band's on-battery time is not the best in the segment, it has a direct USB port to charge it without any wire. We tracked hour-long activities using the band and it did not drain the battery too much. We could also get further insights on the Realme Link app. It's good to see that such options are available even with budget fitness trackers.

Verdict

At Rs 1,499, the Realme Band ticks all the right boxes with regard to design and utility. It is a basic fitness band that might appeal to those planning to get a little more conscious about their health and buy a basic fitness band for starters.