When it comes to wearable tech, we do not have many of these in Kenya. When Tecno announced that they would be launching a wearable alongside the Camon C9, I was definitely excited about it. The T-Band retails at around KES.3000, a much affordable price point compared to other offerings from the likes of Sony and Samsung (I know we have the cheap “smart watch” knock-offs from China but I won’t even consider those). First things first, it is very important that you understand, the T-Band is not a smart watch, but a fitness tracker. This means that the main job of the T-Band is to help you keep fit.
Read More: Tecno Camon C9 Review
The T-Band is a well-built, plastic band with rubberized straps. It has a circular button on the top which is mainly used as a remote shutter on the Camon C9 (Yeah, it only works on the C9).
What’s does the T-Band do?
1. Tracking Your Steps
As a fitness tracker, the the T-Band does an ok job when it comes to tracking the number of steps you take. It uses a pedometer to estimate how many steps you have taken, which exposes the T-Band to inaccuracies as it thinks you have made a step if whenever you swing your hand. So you can be sure if the app shows that you have taken 7,000 steps, take is as 5,000 steps just to be safe.
2. Tracking Your Sleep
Apart from tracking your steps, the T-Band tracks your sleep and it does a pathetic job at it. No apologies to Tecno but the technology the T-Band uses to track sleep is at the bottom of the pyramid. I could never get the band to track my sleep, actually, I had to remove and place it on my desk over night just to ensure it tracks my sleep. It thinks each time there is no movement, you are sleeping. When you take long showers, you are sleeping. When you’re in class seated for long, you are sleeping. Other times it actually could not track any sleep at all, even when I put the band away to see if it would register as sleep.
3. Notifications alert
Honestly, the best thing about the T-Band is its ability to alert you of notifications when they arrive. It greatly reduced the number of times I had to check my phone only to find I was hallucinating a vibration. The T-Band does a very good job when it comes to notifications alert. It alerts you through a slight vibration and flashing of LEDs. The notifications are only limited to Calls and SMS, I wish there were more options but it is what it is. You have the option of turning off the notification alerts through the app, but I wouldn’t recommend this.
Battery Life
It would not be fair to wrap up the review without mentioning how well the battery life of the T-Band performs. Over the two weeks I have spent with the band, I have only charged the band once – when I unboxed it. The battery performs so well, you might actually forget that the band needs to be charged. Kudos to Tecno for not letting us down when it comes to battery life of the T-Band, as those who have used wearables before will tell you, most of them have bad battery life.
Just to mention, when you manage to finally drain the T-Band, it will alert you through the app and you will connect it to the charging dock included in the box. I wish it was USB compatible but the dock is kinda cool.
Wrap Up
The Tecno T-Band is a good wearable gadget. I do wish it had an in-built screen though, to show the time and tracking stats independently but, oh well. In case you are wondering, yeah, the T-Band works well with other brands. It also has an anti-theft feature, which is “geek talk” for “the band will vibrate to alert you whenever you move away from your device.” You can also press the button on the T-Band for around 3 seconds and it will ring your phone so that you can find it incase you had misplaced it.
At a price of not less than KES. 3000, the T-Band offers a good enough experience and “cool” factor into the world of wearables. It will definitely turn some heads around as not many people have seen or even know about wearables, but with Infinix set to launch their X-Band soon (What’s wrong with these guys and lack of creativity) the glory days of the T-Band are setting fast.
Read More: Infinix X-Band Hands -On
