I had a lot of different "smart"watches in the past. I want to buy a new one, simple and small as possible but it should also fully support Sleep as Android.
Some weeks ago I ordered the Huawei Band 9 for Pixel. After unpacking and setting it up, I realized that this watch is not supported at all by Sleep as Android since Huawei doesn’t allow third party developers to access the sensor data via API in realtime. So the watch is useless, brilliant. Luckily it was less than $50.
So I ordered the Fitbit by Google Charge 6 yesterday, since I have a Pixel and well, a Google device should work perfectly, right? After I checked Sleep as Android Settings, I saw that the Charge 6 is not supported so I cancelled the order.
Do you guys have any suggestions for a new smartwatch. I had Samsung before (way back even the Apple Watch) but they are all way too big. So the Charge 6 or Band 9 dimensions were perfectly right, best would be the Pebble but well, I am some years too late for this device
Requirements:
Similar (ugly) design as the Charge 6 or Band 9, long battery time, heart rate sensor, simple training modes and system notification sync (so that I can see at least incoming calls and text messages). I don’t want to reply from there, notifications would be enough.
The alternatives that I personally found were the regular ones. Big and low battery time or they restrict access so that Sleep as Android couldn’t be used.
PS: I see in the Sleep as Android Settings that the XIAOMI MI BAND is supported, I cannot find “Mi Band”, all I can find is “Xiaomi Smart Band 8” which seems to be something different?
Some Xiaomi MiBands are supported via the Notify or the Tools app (the same issue with missing API, but the developers of these two apps managed to hack the data flow). Not all models are compatible, though, there were some technical limitations. Do you have any specific MiBand in mind?
Hi Lenka, thanks a lot for your reply. After sending my question, I found the documentation and the (very confusing) third party page. From my understanding the old Mi Smart Band 6 should theoretically work with their third party app as long as I don’t update the firmware of the watch. I first thought about the Mi Smart Band 8 (especially because it was cheaper than the 6 ) but read there are a lot more restrictions, so for now I bought the Mi Band 6 and also the app from the third party developer.
Will post a message here for other users if all works well, in case others search for a “cheap” solution.
You’ll want to read this blog post from the developers last year that I recently came across, where they recommend the Ticwatch Pro 5 as the best sleep tracking smartwatch that currently exists.
Little update: The Mi Band 6 arrived. I already sent it back. Didn’t expect that Xiaomi would remove the hardware button but they did (only the Band 2 and 3 or so have real hardware buttons) so it was already useless for me.
Anyway, I still gave it a try. Setting up the third party (which of course I already paid without testing ) was hell since pre-installed on the watch or “band” was a firmware which didn’t support Sleep as Android, so I had to downgrade. Terrible documentations everywhere, developer of the third party recommends to keep the firmware up to date on his website but in the app itself hidden in the Sleep for Android Settings a hint that new firmware may break it. After many attempts it finally connected, then the third party app crashed, it lost connection, etc. Out of 20 tries, 1x it worked (sensor data was sent).
I gave up, I don’t really have time for that. I want a working device.
NOT Sleep for Android’s fault. It would be so easy if Huawei or Xiaomi would allow third party access but well… at least it helped me a bit. After all this trouble, for sure never ever anything from Xiaomi or Huawei for me again.
@dave247, thanks a lot for sharing the post. But sadly the TicWatch 5 has this typical real watch design. I already have a real watch, so I only need a handy band
) was hell since pre-installed on the watch or “band” was a firmware which didn’t support Sleep as Android, so I had to downgrade. Terrible documentations everywhere, developer of the third party recommends to keep the firmware up to date on his website but in the app itself hidden in the Sleep for Android Settings a hint that new firmware may break it. After many attempts it finally connected, then the third party app crashed, it lost connection, etc. Out of 20 tries, 1x it worked (sensor data was sent).
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