The Zeblaze ZeBand Smart wristband looks like a refined version of the Makibes JW018 tested ealier this year.It has a higher waterproof rating and a dedicated function to measure your swimming performance.
The look:
The combination of "Bayer materials" and "Aviation aluminium" gives a distinctive elegant look to this smart bracelet. In comparison most others just look like bulky pieces of silicon.
Wearing it: Ouch!
To me, a good watch is a watch that you forget. With this one, I just couldn't ignore the pain on my wrist while my hand was turning blue!
With a total length of about 21cm, the band is designed for tiny wrists. Another product that doesn't take into account the ethnic variation in bone density!
Despite being secured by 2 buttons, it snapped off my wrist a few times. I can't wait to loose it at the swimming pool!
The removable band would be a cool thing if only other (and larger) ones were provided to choose from.
Using it:
Like the Makibes F68 reviewed before, the ZeBand only works with HPlus Watch. There's no way to pair it with 3rd party fitness equipment or apps.
On connection, the smart band dumps its memory onto the app which presents a timeline graph with heart rate and steps. A week/month/year summary is also available. The sleep monitor report is rudimentary but clear.
Notifications:
The version 2.11.0 of HPlus Watch supports FB, Twitter, Whatsapp, and a few others, but not Gmail or Hangouts.
The notifications worked for phone calls with my Xperia but not for the incoming text messages (SMS).
Battery life: As for most of these watches, the announced battery life is optimistic and 15 days could only be achieved in standby mode. You'll get 5 days of normal use, which is the normal average for this kind of smart band. Basically 1 segment out of the 5 from the battery indicator goes every day.
Swimming mode: useless!
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| Don't judge by the picture, I really tried it in a swimming pool! |
The touch-sensitive surface of the band is completely erratic when wet and triggers or disable functions randomly, a common problem amongst touch-screen watches (like the Makibes F69, nevertheless sold as a swimming watch.)
The swimming mode completely failed at providing any accurate strokes or swimming performance information.
Conclusion:
The ZeBand is an entry level smart band with an elegant design and attractive price (18.50€ at Gearbest). However, it has many frustrating limitations, like the dodgy swimming function which could have been a distinctive advantage over the competition in that price range.
On the plus side, I must concede that it's one of the best looking smart bracelets I've seen yet.
Good:
● Low cost
● Elegant design
● IP67 certified waterproof
● Good HR accuracy
● Easy to set up
Not so good:
● Not Compatible with BLE compliant apps and equipment
● Wrist band too short
● Average battery life (~5 days)
● Display not bright enough for daylight
● Swimming mode not functional
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| Special thanks to David @ GearBest for providing the sample reviewed here. |
4 comments:
have you tested the sleeping mode ?
is the cycle sleep works ? do you feel more fresh on wake up ..
I wouldn't take the sleep analysis too seriously, it's not accurate. But it helps waking up early as I feel the urge to remove it before my hand turns blue! ;-)
Does the watch need to be connected to phone all the time, or i can connect once a day to sync all data? Do you know how long can the watch store data before it needs to be synced?
The watch keeps the data for a few days easily (don't know how long you can go before sync though). It dumps all to the app once connected.
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