Realme Band is eyeing India’s basic fitness wearables market

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Health and Education have always been a priority in India. And currently, health care is on topmost priority. The fitness trackers are in demand worldwide. The segment continues to see growth, with basic wearables accounting for over 85 percent of the total number of shipments in India. Keen to grab a share of this market is Chinese smartphone manufacturer Realme with its Realme Band, a direct competitor to rival Xiaomi’s extremely popular Mi Band 4.

Realme is a Shenzhen-based Chinese smartphone manufacturer. The brand was officially established on May 4, 2018 by Sky Li. Realme also produces a wide range of other products such as headphones, fitness bags and bands.

The company started with Realme Buds Air, a pair of truly wireless earbuds that aped Apple’s Airpods design and retailed at less than one-third of that price. But the product did not satisfy the customers and was not a successful product. So, can the Realme Band do what the Buds Air couldn’t? Does the fitness tracker, priced at 1,499, have what it takes to defeat a tried-and-tested product like the Mi Band 4? Let’s find out.

Let’s first talk about design:

Realme states the fitness tracker band is very light in weight. It is just 20gm. The design is simple, with silicone straps and a 0.96-inch colour LCD screen. A bit of customization is possible by swapping out watch faces.
The screen has two main problems: viewing angles and sunlight legibility. It is near impossible to check how many steps you have completed if you’re out for a walk or run on a sunny day.

But, do not confuse it with a smartwatch. One can only read the notification from other app but not do anything beyond that. You can tap the capacitive button below the display to cycle between heart rate, three fitness activities (running, yoga, and cricket), and the weather. Just long-press the button to check any of them.

Accuracy

The band is obviously not 100% accurate. It allows users to pick from various activity modes, including cricket, yoga, run, walk, bike, hiking, fitness, climbing, and spinning – three of these can be stored at one time. This means that the tracker is good enough for step tracking, not much else.