Huawei Band 4 and Band 4e launched in Kenya, Watch GT 2 and others on the way

At the event where it unveiled its latest smartphone, Huawei also showcased its wearable devices, most notably the Band 4 series.

The Huawei Band 4 and Band 4e, which made their Kenyan debut alongside the Y9s smartphone, will be available for purchase from later this month.

The Huawei Band 4 is just a few weeks old having been announced last month.

Huawei Band 4

The Band 4, the hero member of the series, tracks one as they go about their daily activities – walking, eating and sleeping – as well during workouts and other activities like cycling.

It also monitors one’s heart rate. Pairing with compatible devices is via the Huawei Health application and a Bluetooth connection.

While cementing the Band 4’s status as a low-end fitness tracker, the 0.96-inch display with a resolution of 80 x 160 pixels goes a long way in guaranteeing the 6-day battery life that Huawei assures users they will be getting.

Added features like the ability to find one’s phone when they misplace it as well as using the Band 4 as a remote camera shutter go a long way in helping it standout and justifying the Kshs 1,500 price difference between it and the Band 4e.

Available in a choice of three colours, black, pink and amber, the Huawei Band 4 will be going for Kshs 4,700.

Huawei Band 4e

The Huawei Band 4e offers an affordable entry point to the world of wearables at just Kshs 3,200.

That means that it loses a lot of the defining features of the Band 4, especially the design, and keeping just enough of the basics to allow it to function as a smart tracker would be expected to.

However, that should not put off anyone keen on not spending a lot to stay in shape. It is made just for that. It can be detached from the stylish wristbands it arrives in (there’s a choice of up to 6) and, using a “clothing buckle” that is included in the box, for attachment in other areas like pieces of clothing or shoes, for instance.

The Band 4e’s standout feature is its basketball performance tracker, allows users to get more detailed analysis about their movements as it detects any jump, sprint etc during a game. It also utilizes its six-axis motion sensors to provide comprehensive analysis to runners that features things like footstrike patterns, landing impact, ground contact time and more. Maybe it’s not just those shoes that one needs.

The Band 4e can also be used as a mobile phone finder in addition to its other features. Its battery, thanks to the reduced feature strain and a smaller PMOLED (0.5-inch) display, takes twice as long as that of the Band 4 (12 days) in order to be exhausted. It can go for up to 3 weeks nonstop, at least according to its maker, when on standby and last for up to 40 hours when used exclusively for running.

Both wearables have a rating of 5 ATM i.e. they can survive a dunk in fresh water for up to 10 minutes at a depth of up to 50 metres. Both wearables require devices they’re paired with to be running on Android 4.4, KitKat, or newer versions.

Others

As we already know, these are not the only wearable devices and accessories that Huawei has. It announced quite a number back in September at IFA 2019 that also included some that are powered by its Kirin A1 chip. Most of them, including the networking devices, are set to become available in the country before the end of the year.

Yes, the second-generation Huawei Watch GT 2, the Huawei FreeLace Bluetooth earphones and the truly wireless Huawei FreeBuds 3, will all be coming to a store near you soon.

While Huawei is staying mum on the pricing of those devices, the Watch GT 2 can be expected to start selling at Kshs 30,000.

Will you be picking any of these?