Huawei has launched its new fitness tracker – the Huawei Band 8 – as it goes head to head-with Xiaomi.
Huawei has gone aggressive with the design, and the Band 8 weighs only 14g, and measures only 9mm on the wrist. And it still manages to pack in Huawei’s sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring, and SpO2 tracking.
It's only got a release in China right now – but there's little doubt this will head to Europe and the rest of the world. It follows the Huawei Band 7, which impressed us in our review period in 2022.
There’s no GPS on board, you’ll need to head to the likes of the Huawei Watch Fit 2 for those powers, but for those who aren’t focused on outdoor workouts, the design, and thickness seem more than a good enough payoff.
The Huawei Band 8 can still piggyback off a paired smartphone for GPS, so all is not lost if you enjoy a weekend jog.
Make sure you read our best fitness tracker picks.
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Huawei Band 8 specs:
• 1.47-inch AMOLED display
• Weighs only 14 grams, with a thickness of 8.99mm
• Green, Black, Sakura Pink, and Vibrant Orange
• Over 1,000 downloadable watch
• Up to 2 weeks of battery life
• TruSeen heart rate monitoring and TruSleep 3.0 sleep monitoring
• TruSport exercise tracking with multiple sports modes
• SpO2 blood oxygen measurements
From the top down things haven’t changed dramatically. It still embodies that tall, rectangular design that the Huawei Band has trailblazed, which has been aped by pretty much every fitness tracker maker out there.
It features a quality 1.47-inch AMOLED display, and comes in Green, Black, Sakura Pink, and Vibrant Orange.
Users can choose from over 1,000 watch faces, with the option to create custom faces based on their attire or preferences, as well as a variety of always-on-display themes.
The Huawei Band 8 also packs the TruSeen 4.0 heart rate monitoring and TruSleep 3.0 sleep monitoring algorithm, and TruSport exercise tracking with 100+ sports modes.
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It also supports NFC connectivity for various payment systems.
Huawei also offers a special Vibrant Orange version of the Band 8, which features a nylon strap and black frame.
And it looks set to be aggressive on price too.
The standard version of the Huawei Band 8 is priced at 269 yuan (35 EUR) and the nylon version is priced at 279 yuan (35 EUR). It will go on sale 26 April
The Huawei Band 8 NFC version will retail for 309 yuan (41 EUR) from 31 May.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.