realme Band 2 Unboxing and First Impressions

Along with other TechLife products, realme has unleased a new fitness wearable in the Philippines called Band 2.

Meet realme Band 2

On paper, The Band 2 has a much bigger display compared to its predecessor, the realme Band. On paper, it is a budget-friendly smartwatch with numerous health and fitness features. It has a blood oxygen sensor, a heart rate monitor, and up to 90 sports modes!

Let's begin with the first part of our review—unboxing and first impressions.

Unboxing/Accessories

What's inside the box

The wearable comes in the familiar bright yellow box, the signature color of the brand. For accessories, the package contains a charging cradle with cable and USB-A port, and paper documentations.

Build Quality/Design

Rectangular-shaped face with rounded edges

The new design of the Band 2 looks more like a watch than a fitness band accessory with the bigger display occupying the wrist perfectly. As you can see, it has a rectangular and glossy body that is made of plastic. The sides are in metallic gray color but repel fingerprint smudges.

Backview with charging pins and sensors

The underside on the other hand is made of polycarbonate material with a matte texture. It contains most of the sensors, including the metallic pin to connect it with the charging dock.

The watch has an IP68 rating so it's deemed fit enough to withstand dust, dirt, and sand. Under test conditions, it will able to be submerged up to a maximum depth of 1.5m underwater for up to thirty minutes. This is better if you prefer to use it while swimming.

Adjustable silicone strap

Moreover, its straps are wider at 22mm which can be replaced using the lock mechanism attached to the ends of the case. Unfortunately, there's still no other option aside from the black one that comes with the package. There's also a subtle "Dare to Leap" embellishment on the strap that you may easily miss out on if you don't look at it closely.

The watch feels quite light when worn as it weighs 38 grams only. It appears to have a durable build but lacks the high-end vibe of the realme Watch S Pro. But it's totally okay as it is more budget-friendly.

Slim and minimalist aesthetics

Design-wise, I love how the realme equipped this Band 2 with a unique and practical design. The rectangular-shaped body allows to show details but it still looks sleek on the wrist. 

Colorful and vibrant display

The realme Band 2 frames a 1.4-inch color touch screen with 320 x 167 resolution and 500 nits peak brightness. Understandably, the bottom bezel is slightly thicker.

The great thing is, this wearable offers more details and contrast. Colors are also more saturated and vibrant.

Bright and legible extra screen real estate

The brightness can now be adjusted into five levels, at 500 nits as its maximum. It is pretty convenient if you're using the watch under direct sunlight. Aside from that, we observed that the glare is minimal so you can easily read notifications.

There's not a single button on the realme Band 2 so you'll have to use swiping gestures to navigation. Swiping up will let you access the menu and all of the features while swiping down will show you your notifications.

Shortcut access to settings

If you swipe it to the right, you'll see a shortcut of some of its functionalities like raise-to-wake do not disturb, brightness, and etc. Lastly, swiping to the left will display will show you a summary of your steps, calorie burned, and the number of hours you remained active.

To use a feature, simply tap it once and follow the instruction written on the display. You can swipe up to exit and go back to the menu portion.

realme Band 2 Specs

Display: 1.4-inch LCD touchscreen with 320 x 167 resolution at 258 ppi

Battery: 204mAh

OS: Android 5.1 and above

Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.1

Sensors: 3-axis accelerometer, GH3011 sensor, heart rate sensor, SpO2 sensor

Others: IP68 water and dust resistance, Colors: Black

Dimensions: 259.8 x 24. 6 x 12.1 mm (with strap)

Weight: 27.3 g

Price: PHP 2,490

As of the moment

The Band 2 might be a solid contender with its redefined case, improved display, and useful functionalities. This is a promising wearable due to notable improvements in display size and brightness. 

It's also a huge plus that IP68 water resistance so it can be worn even during intense workouts and water activities.

During our initial test, Band 2 is so easy to connect and use with the realme Link app. You can personalize the watch faces with 50 options to choose from. You can even select an image from your phone's gallery for the watch face.

Realme equipped this fitness band with a lot of health features such as the Sp02 sensor, sleep monitoring sensor, and heart-rate monitoring sensor. It even boasts of a stress monitoring feature and a meditation function called "breathe".

Starting October 22, the realme Band 2 will be sold for only PHP 1,740 (PHP 750 early bird discount) on the brand's flagship stores in Lazada and Shopee. It's also available in realme authorized stores nationwide.

For our review: realme Band 2 Review - Budget fitness band to beat for 2021?