The rumors of OnePlus smartwatches are almost as old as the OnePlus smartphones themselves, but any full smartwatch that may exist is yet to come. The first wearable OnePlus is a cheap fitness track for the Indian market. Banda OnePlus is priced to compete with the best-selling Banda 5 Mi in India, but some of its glaring deficiencies at the basic level prevent Banda OnePlus from realizing its full potential.
Design, hardware, what’s in the box
It is very easy to confuse the OnePlus band with almost any cheap fitness band on the market – unless you look at the prominent OnePlus brand. There is no capacitive button on the front, as everything is executed using swipe gestures on its 1.1 inch screen. This small rectangular screen is vivid and looks very bright in the sun, although you have to dig into the settings to access the manual brightness controls. Upon turning the capsule, you will find your heart rate and SpO2 sensors, along with a 2-pin charging connector.
To load the bracelet, you must remove the core and attach it to a plastic charging base. Moving and replacing the capsule on its handle can be a little tricky, which is frustrating when there are much more elegant solutions in the same price range. But this should not be an obstacle, as you would only do this once every few days.
The included TPU strap is high quality and comfortable enough to be worn all day. It did not irritate my skin in any way – something I have always faced with the older Mi bands – and its closure remains secure and does not undo itself, even during intensive exercises. What comes in the box is almost all black, with a gray lining inside (more colors are sold separately), so it must be very discreet even for use on more formal occasions.
Like the band itself, the packaging is also minimal. All you get is the charging cradle with a short USB-A cable and some documentation, in addition to the band. That’s it.
Software, performance, battery
The integration process was not complicated, although you will need to create an application profile before you can pair the band. On a OnePlus phone, the app will automatically choose your saved OnePlus account (FYI, the app and the Band are compatible with all Android phones). Those looking to use this fitness tracker with an iPhone will be disappointed to learn that there is no iOS app yet, although OnePlus says it is in progress.
The application is extremely barebones, with only essential options available to you. For example, it doesn’t motivate you enough to “close the rings” regularly or match scores with your friends, plus there’s little or no customization for the included watch faces and movement touches – things that the Honor and Xiaomi alternatives are best in However, the app has some well-organized heads that inform you of your daily activity immediately, and you can expand any of them to dive deeper into your data (see below).
The Fitness tab is where you record your running and walking sessions outdoors with GPS-assisted tracking. The Manage tab is where you see all the settings for customizing your wristband with watch faces, adjusting notification sync settings, managing your profile, alarms and everything in between. One thing that is missing from the settings are third-party integrations with apps like Strava and Google Fit – the last of which is supported by fitness trackers from OnePlus’ own sister brand, Realme. Another thing that caught my attention was the slow transfer of firmware files to the band, although this is something that an application update can easily fix.
But you don’t have to pick up the phone for every interaction with the Band. OnePlus included a good selection of features directly on the band, allowing you to take a look at your activity logs or even start any of the 13 supported exercises. It also means that you will have to start recording your exercise sessions manually, as the band does not have automatic exercise tracking, although it can automatically pause the measurement when you are resting and resume after that. In addition to the usual activities, such as cycling and running, the band can also follow the swimming in the pool and even the cricket matches, which many Indians will enjoy.
As for the tracking itself, sleep monitoring proved to be extremely unreliable in my tests. The band thought I was in a “light sleep” when I was clearly out of bed, walking around – a problem we never had with Mi Band 5. And there were more than a few cases where the band recorded very loudly wake up. I mean, I would be the first to know when I don’t sleep half the night. In addition, the band does not track their REM cycles, which is a shame as the Honor Band has been supporting it for a long time. All you get is deep sleep, light sleep and an hour to wake up, plus a score based on the quality of your sleep. Sleep tracking is notoriously difficult to get right, but the data I got from the OnePlus band is not even remotely credible.
Other than that, the step count was within the acceptable margin of error, as well as the heart rate, nothing special about it. For outdoor activities, I found the GPS decent enough. The route he took at the end was correct and the general usage was on par with many of his rivals. When monitoring other exercises, the band provides some basic information, including the intensity of your exercise, mainly based on your heart rate and other integrated sensors.
The heart rate monitor (left) and the SpO2 sensor (right) in action.
The prominent feature of the OnePlus Band is the tracking of SpO2 (blood oxygen), which you don’t often find in offers of this type. The feature kicks in when you’re sleeping to record blood oxygen saturation at regular intervals. Although I didn’t have a medical grade meter on hand to compare the results, my readings were always within the suggested range. Still, this is not something you should rely on anything more than to maintain casual control over your health.
I really like the Band as a notification receiver. Phone notifications are synced without delay and are well displayed, with custom app icons for many popular apps. Obviously, you can’t interact with them on such a small screen, but they helped me avoid touching my phone so often during the workday. I call it victory! And when you receive a call, the band allows you to mute or disconnect the call.
The OnePlus band also gets a lot of little things right. You can control the phone’s camera and media playback with the Band with ease. I also like the push-to-wake gesture, which worked all the time for me without fail. However, the band lacks women’s health tracking tools that many budget bands are starting to include today.
In terms of battery life, the OP Band is decidedly good. My use case included regular work and personal notifications, pulse tracking at the standard interval (every two minutes), regular sleep monitoring with SpO2 enabled. With this type of use, the band died in just under 6 days. That number may drop even more if you do more GPS-assisted training tracking sessions. Although, technically, you can squeeze out a little more energy from the bandwidth if you lower some tracking frequencies, but it would still be no match for the alleged 14-day backup.
Should you buy?
There are a few that prevent me from giving the OnePlus Band a thumbs up, at least with its current retail price. The band is not yet ready for prime time, when the similarly priced Mi Band 5 does everything better. Still, OnePlus’ first wearable is respectable and it will be interesting to see what it can do if the supposed smartwatch is ever released.
Buy if:
- You only need basic fitness monitoring features.
- Tracking sleep is not something you worry about.
No, but if:
- You can get a Mi Band 5 just as easily.
- Having third party integrations is critical for you.
Where to buy
OnePlus India, Amazon India and Flipkart