Realme Band review: A cheap fitness tracker with glaring weaknesses

I don't like the Realme Band because …

… the heart rate measurement is inaccurate

Of course, no one expects a medical level of precision from a $30 fitness tracker. But you would expect some very basic requirements. An example of this is knowing your resting pulse during the day. One day, the Realme Band records a minimum pulse of 41 bpm during Fall asleep without any major deviations — but then spit out a resting pulse of 63 bpm on that particular day. That means there's something asymmetrical about it.

Read more: What do resting heart rate, SpO2, REM Sleep, etc, really mean?

The result is similarly mixed when it comes to sports: On my last leg day, the Realme Band broadcast a maximum heart rate of 121 bpm and an average heart rate of 93 bpm. The Garmin system with chest strap measures a maximum heart rate of 154 bpm The minute and average pulse is 129 bpm.

There's also a noticeable difference when running, though less drastic: With the Sigma chest strap system, I measured an average heart rate of 155 bpm and a maximum heart rate of 170. The Realme Band ends up with a slightly higher average reading Heart rate of 162 bpm and maximum heart rate of 174 bpm.

Read more: 12 terms you should know about wearable devices

Sleep recording works reasonably well, although the band doesn't distinguish between me still asleep and lying in bed reading the news. Do deep and light sleep stages really make sense at all? I can't say that because of the lack of results from Actual Sleep Lab. However, they do not correlate at all with Garmin Venu data worn simultaneously for multiple nights.

…the UI is annoying

The Realme Band has a touch button at the bottom of the screen – there are no swipe gestures or anything similar to that due to the lack of a touch screen. To navigate the menu, you have to tap the screen x a number from times.Then you will start long press to start the selected training.

Since there is no capacitive sensor but a simple pressure sensor is installed here, unfortunately I started some exercises regularly during the day by accident when my jacket sleeve pressed against the belt, or somehow rested on my arm unfavorably.

… Realme Band is not practical for sports

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like anyone from the Realme development department has actually worked with the Realme Band and tried to get their heart rate from the screen.To read your heart rate during an active workout, You have to switch to the corresponding display option by tapping four times: once after the screen turns off after a few seconds. Then the heart rate is displayed in dark red on a black background and, at best, can be guessed during a daytime run.

Unfortunately, the app fails to get any better. If you turn on a running activity in the app on your smartphone, GPS tracking is activated in the app, and it's recorded while you're running. and synced minutes before. If you start a running activity comfortably on your wrist and your smartphone is in your pocket, your heart rate will be tracked but no GPS data will be recorded. This simply has to work better – and it should as there are competitors in the same price range that offer better performance.

Also otherwise the app is pretty spartan. Detailed analysis options? In the screenshot above, there are problems even with simple arithmetic.