Huawei TalkBand B2: Specs, release date, price and more

Everything you need to know about Huawei's next-gen activity tracker
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The Huawei TalkBand B2, the successor to 2014's B1 flop, was officially announced over in Barcelona at MWC recently.

Here's all the important info on Huawei's activity tracking sequel....

Huawei TalkBand B2: Design

The TalkBand B2 is a wearable that, like its predecessor, offers both fitness tracking and Bluetooth headset functionality. It has one major advantage over the original, though – it actually looks pretty swish.

Hands-on: Huawei TalkBand B2 review

The black one (the TUP version) may look like an indistinguishable chunk of plastic and rubber but the silver and gold models – both of which feature a nice leather strap – are great looking, mostly because the display blends the colour of the design.

At 11.88mm thick, it's not exactly svelte but it's slimmer than its predecessor, although it's a bit heavier at between 30 and 33g depending on what materials you opt for.

Huawei TalkBand B2: Hardware

That flash looking display is a 0.73-inch, 128 x 88, PMOLED touchscreen one and Huawei are promising a battery life of 5 days from the 95mAh power pack. It's a life source capable of 7 hours of talk time as well.

Essential reading: Huawei Watch Android Wear device revealed

Yep, talk time. This is a Bluetooth headset, don't forget. If you get an incoming call you can simply pop the module out of the strap and into your lughole. On that front it boasts Bluetooth 4.1 tech and a dual-mic noise cancelling setup.

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Huawei TalkBand B2: Fitness tracking

In terms of activity tracking you're looking the familiar mix of step, distance, calories and sleep counting.

The app is both iOS and Android compatible and, we hope, will do a better job with tracking than the B1 thanks to the inclusion of a 6-axis sensor that packs both an accelerometer and a gyroscope.

On test: Our full Fitbit Surge review

The Chinese company claims the TalkBand B2 will automatically detect certain activities, such as running, walking and cycling and then sleep detection is automatic too.

There's a Huawei Health Platform app (iOS and Android) where you can see all of your tracked stats and, thanks to Huawei and Jawbone teaming up, you should be able to sync all the data to the latter's popular UP platform.

Smartphone notifications are also present and correct although Huawei hasn't yet revealed if the alerts extend beyond texts, emails and calendar alerts to third party updates from the likes of WhatsApp or Twitter.

Huawei TalkBand B2: Price and launch

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The B2 charges via a regular Micro USB port, which is nice in a wearable world dominated by proprietary charging accessories, and is both dust and water resistant: IP57 for the black-one (1m of submersion), IP55 (light spray) for the metallic ones.

Essential reading: Best fitness trackers

Prices and release date details for the Huawei TalkBand B2 have yet to be disclosed. We'll keep you updated.


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Paul Lamkin

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Wareable Media Group co-CEO Paul launched Wareable with James Stables in 2014, after working for a variety of the UK's biggest and best consumer tech publications including Pocket-lint, Forbes, Electric Pig, Tech Digest, What Laptop, T3 and has been a judge for the TechRadar Awards. 

Prior to founding Wareable, and subsequently The Ambient, he was the senior editor of MSN Tech and has written for a range of publications.


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