Launch Spotlight: Honor Band 9 officially out today vs Band 7

Honor officially unveiled the Band 9 today on its website. After months of leaks and teasers, the wearable’s launch comes as no surprise. With the full specs now revealed, let’s explore the precise upgrades over the Band 7. As reported earlier, Honor chose to skip the Band 8, likely aligning its numbering with Huawei’s product range.

Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets

Read on to find out exactly how Honor’s latest fitness band compares to its predecessor.

Key takeaways

The Honor Band 9 provides a modest upgrade over the Honor Band 7, offering a slightly larger screen, better Bluetooth, and a button-free design. Functionally, the bands remain very similar. Both are solid budget choices for basic fitness tracking. Availability is limited to certain regions, and they typically cost around 50 euros, with potential deals on the older Band 7.

View on Honor; View on Amazon (Band 7).

Jump to

Hardware
Technical specs
Features
Bottom line

Honor Band 9 vs Band 7: Hardware

Look & feel

At first glance, there is little visual difference between Band 9 and Band 7. But some nuances do exist.

Both devices pack a classic rectangular smartwatch shape with slightly curved edges. And they both feature builds made of polymer materials with a NCVM metal texture coating process. This gives them a premium feel.

In terms of size, the Honor Band 9 is a tad wider and slimmer than its predecessor. To be exact, it comes in at at 43 x 27.88 x 9.49mm compared to the Honor Band 7’s dimensions of 43 x 25.4 x 10.99mm.

A notable physical change, though, is the lack of a physical button on Band 9. That device relies solely on touch controls for navigation. On Band 7 you also get a single button that aids in navigation and selection within the device’s interface.

Display, colour options, water resistance

Both devices boast AMOLED colored 2.5D displays for vibrant visuals, but the Honor Band 9 has the edge with a slightly larger screen size (1.57 inches compared to 1.47 inches) and a higher resolution. It also offers a 60Hz refresh rate for smoother visual feedback.

For those who enjoy water activities, both the Honor Band 7 and Band 9 boast 5 ATM water resistance. This should suffice for for swimming and other water-based workouts. So no worries on that count.

Finally, both bands offer a selection of color options. The Honor Band 7 comes in Rose Pink, Cedar Blue, and Magic Night Black. Band 9 sticks to three options but comes in a slightly altered palette: Purple, Black, and Blue.

Sensor technology

The Honor Band 9 and 7 packs everything you’d expect from a budget fitness band. This includes an accelerometer and gyroscope for motion tracking, alongside sensors for measuring blood oxygen saturation and heart rate. No surprise there.

In fact, the models boast the exact same list of sensors. The company hasn’t specified, by we are guessing some of these may have been upped to a new generation. Which should, in theory, mean better accuracy.

When it comes to GPS functionality, neither the Honor Band 7 nor the Honor Band 9 comes with built-in GPS. Like all low cost wearables, they rely, instead, on connected GPS via a smartphone. This means users you’ll need to have your phone during workouts, for accurate location tracking. An annoyance for those that like to exercise without their phone. But it is what it is.

As far as connectivity, there’s a slight upgrade with the Honor Band 9 featuring Bluetooth 5.3, compared to the Honor Band 7’s Bluetooth 5.2. This should provide a slightly more reliable connection with smartphones. It also may have energy consumption enhancements.

As before, NFC is offered as an optional feature. But don’t look for music storage. You’ll need to make do with controlling music on a connected smartphone. The limitation here is that music remote playback is not available for connected iOS devices. Only for phones with Android 9.0 and later.

Battery life

Both the Honor Band 7 and Honor Band 9 are advertised to have a long battery life. In fact there’s no difference here. But exactly how long you can go without charging depends on how you use them.

Users can expect up to two weeks of battery life under typical usage conditions and around 10 days under heavy usage, which is pretty impressive given their large AMOLED displays. This endurance is facilitated by a 180mAh battery, which supports fast charging. Of course, using the Connected GPS feature and having the screen on a lot can reduce battery life.

Honor Band 9 vs Band 7: Technical specs

Here’s a detailed tech specs comparison table for the Honor Band 7 and Honor Band 9:

Honor Band 9 vs Band 7: Features

Honor Band 9 is an incremental update over its predecessor. As you’d expect from a budget fitness band, they both stick to the basics. Think basic activity tracking, including heart rate and blood oxygen saturation. They also include sleep tracking, offering insights into sleep patterns and quality, and menstrual cycle tracking, providing valuable health data for female users. Still no altimeter for monitoring steps climbed or your altitude.

Sports tracking is also unchanged. Both models can keep tabs on 96 different activity. But 11 of these on Band 9 are what Honor refers to as professional sports modes. Meaning they have more tailored and precise algorithms for these activities.

One notable addition on the new device is something called Fitness Age. This is a simplified version of the Vo2max metric that appears on most sports watches. It analyses your fitness condition during exercise to estimate how fit you are. The goal is to get a score below your actual age.

The, above mentioned, lack of built-in GPS is notable. But that’s to be expected from a budget fitness band. It keeps the price low and battery life high.

Honor Band 9 vs Band 7: Final thoughts

The Honor Band 9 offers an incremental update over the already solid Honor Band 7. It brings a slightly larger and higher-resolution display, improved Bluetooth connectivity, and a refreshed design that eliminates the physical button. Other than those changes, the two devices offer very similar functionality.

If you’re looking for a solid, affordable fitness tracker with the core features, either band will serve you well. However, if you want the slightly larger display and potentially smoother experience, the Honor Band 9 holds a small advantage.

The bands are only sold in select countries. In Europe you can pick them up for around 50 euros, although you should be able to find some great deals on the older edition.

Buy the Honor Band 7 if:

• You want a capable fitness tracker at the lowest possible price.
• You prefer the more classic look of having a physical side button.
• You don’t mind a slightly smaller and lower-resolution display.

Buy the Honor Band 9 if:

• You want the slightly larger, brighter display with the extra visual smoothness.
• You like the updated design without a physical button.
• You want the benefit of the latest Bluetooth technology.

View on Honor; View on Amazon (Band 7).

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Huawei Band 8 vs Honor Band 7
Xiaomi Mi Band 8 vs Fitbit Charge 6
Amazfit Active vs Honor Watch 4
Xiaomi Smart Band 8 vs Amazfit Active
Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro vs 7 Pro

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