Honor Band 5 and Mi Band 4 are two of the hottest watch bands in the market today. With their ultra-lightweight build, impressive list of features and superb pricing, we are not surprised that these watchbands are getting the amount of attention they deserve.
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Today, we’re taking a look at the features of both watch bands. Our methodology revolves around checking the features of each device and give our feedback and recommendation so you can have an informed purchase should you plan to get one soon.
Build: Honor Band is lighter by .6 grams. This is totally negligible, and this isn’t something that you’d consider checking out when buying a watchband. The strap of Honor Band 5 is textured and has a more traditional clasp, which gives it a more masculine look. (Recommendation: Get Honor Band if you want a more to have a watchband with a watch clasp.)
Display: Both devices have .95″ AMOLED Display with 120 x 240 resolution. Honor Band’s display has high pixel density than Mi Band, which means that GUI on the latter looks more pixelated than the former.
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I would also like to point out that Honor Band 5 has a rectangular dial shape while Mi Band 4 has an elliptical shape. The former offers more pre-installed watch faces (8) compared to Mi Band 4 (4). The major advantage of the former in this department is that it allows end-users to change the wallpaper of the watch band via Custom Watch Face settings. (Recommendation: It’s a tie!)
Battery and Charging: Honor Band 5 has a discharge rate of 5% per hour when connected to your smartphone at maximum brightness and moderate usage of features. Mi Band 4, on the other hand, has 2-3% discharge rate per hour. If we’re going to talk about standby time, Mi Band wins with 20 days stand by time vs Honor Band 5’s 15 days. Fully charging the devices is another thing. Honor Band 5 has a charging time of 1 hour while Mi Band 4 will get fully charged after around 2 hours. (Recommendation: Battery is a crucial factor when buying a watch band. We recommend Mi Band for longer stand by and usage time at the expense of longer charging time.)
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Features: Most of the features installed on both devices are very important. For a sports or health watch band, the essential applications are available like Heart Rate Monitor and Workout Presets. The major advantage of Honor Band 5 over Mi Band 4 is its ability to measure Sp02 or blood oxygenation.
Normal value is within 95% to 100%. Mine is at 98% at resting state. If your blood oxygenation drops below 95% even while exercising, it’s an indication that you may be suffering from hypoxia. With Honor Hand 5, you can easily monitor this. The only downside is while the watch band can monitor blood oxygenation, Huawei Health does not (at the time of this writing) does not provide after-tests or even real-time data).
You can also control your music via Honor Band 5 and Mi Band 4. The feature came a little late on Honor Band 5 (Version 1.1.0.100) though.
(Recommendation: Features-wise, Honor Band 5 has a competitive advantage over Mi Band 4.)
| Honor Band 5 | Mi Band 4 | |
| Weight | 22.7 g | 22.1 g |
| Display | 0.95” AMOLED Display, 120 x 240px RGB | 0.95″ AMOLED Display, 120 x 240 RGB |
| Dial Shape | Rectangle | Elliptical |
| Pre-installed Watch Faces | 8 | 4 |
| Supports Custom Watch Face | No | Yes |
| Charging time | 1 hour for 100 mAh battery | ≤ 2 hours for 135 mAh battery |
| Band material | TPU | TPU + TPE |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, GLONASS, NFC | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GLONASS, NFC |
| Heart Rate Monitor | Yes | Yes |
| Blood Oxygen detection | Yes | None |
| Sleep Tracker | Yes | Yes |
| Workout Presets | 9 | 6 |
| Water Resistance | 5ATM | 5ATM |
| Music Control | Yes | Yes |
| Battery | 100 mAh | 135 mAh |
Which is the better watch band between the two?
Based on the merits per each feature, Honor Band 5 is the better watch band. For the same price you are paying for the Mi Band 4, the former provides better features and workout presets at the expense of lower battery capacity.
Both devices are now available on sale for only PhP1,699.
Gianfranco is the co-founder of gadgetpilipinas.net. He graduated from Far Eastern University. A Psychology student turned tech-savvy. He's currently the HR Supervisor of Blip Media and one of the content producers of Gadget Pilipinas. He enjoys playing competitive video games and binge-watch American TV series.
