Honor Band 6 blurs the line between smartband and smartwatch

Honor introduced the latest member of its Band line and it’s a big step up from last year’s model. The new Honor Band 6 brings a 1.47-inch AMOLED panel with a 194 x 368-pixel resolution and 2.5D curved glass. This effectively positions the Band 6 in smartwatch territory if we go by screen size alone. The new band is wider and thicker than its predecessor though it appears to be several millimeters shorter. Elsewhere functionality is pretty similar to last year’s model.

Honor Band 5 and Band 6

Band 6 still does heart rate tracking, blood oxygen monitoring and sleep tracking as well as women’s health management. It also offers activity tracking for 10 different sports with automatic detection and is waterproof up to 50-meter depths. Once paired to your smartphone via Bluetooth, it can buzz your wrist with notifications and control music playback.

You also get the option to choose between a plethora of watch faces through the smartphone companion app. Charging is done through a proprietary magnetic cradle and battery life is rated at up to 14 days though this is presumably with the battery saver mode. The listed dimension of the smartband without the strap are 43 × 25.4 × 11.45mm and it weighs 18 grams.

The Honor Band 6 will retail for CNY 249 ($37) while the NFC equipped model will go for CNY 289 ($43). Pre-orders in China start tomorrow at 12AM while official sales tip-off next week on November 11. International availability details were not disclosed.