HUAWEI announces TalkBand B1, fitness wearable with a pull-out earpiece

At their MWC 2014 press conference, HUAWEI announced it is getting into the wearable market with a brand new wristband dubbed the Talkband B1. The TalkBand is designed to not only compete with existing devices like the Nike FuelBand and FitBit fitness devices, but HUAWEI also hopes to challenge upcoming fitness trackers from companies like Sony and LG.

Although the TalkBand has fitness functions that tell you how many calories you’ve burned or how many steps you’ve taken, it also has a few smartwatch functions baked in. For one thing, the wearable will show both the time and incoming calls on its 1.4-inch flexible display. Furthermore, the built-in Bluetooth 4.1 earpiece allows you to take the calls without ever pulling out your phone. The TalkBand also offers sleep tracking functionality and a smart alarm that is designed to wake you up at the best points in your sleep cycles.

The TalkBand B1 weighs in at 26g and is 14.6mm thin. There’s also a 90 mAh battery that HUAWEI says will last six days without the need to recharge, and claims it can recharge from dead in only two hours via USB.

Of course that six day figure probably depends on how you use the device and how much talking you do through it.

While HUAWEI is marketing the TalkBand B1 as the perfect companion for its massive MediaPad X1 phone/tablet hybrid, the TalkBand B1 will actually work just fine with any Android device running version 2.3 or higher (there’s also iOS 5+ support).

The TalkBand B1 might not have the full smartwatch functionality that you’d get from devices like the Gear 2 or the Pebble, but it could be more than good enough for those that want a fitness tracker that can also be used for making/taking calls and for telling the time.

Availability and pricing

The HUAWEI TalkBand B1 is slated to launch in March for the Chinese market. It is also expected to arrive from March to the following markets: Japan, the Middle East, Russia and Western Europe.

As for the pricing? The HUAWEI TalkBand B1 will set consumers back €99 in Europe, or roughly $136.