Huawei Band 10 Review – Sleek band with Touch ‘n Go QR payment and new metal case

Revealed at the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design global launch in Malaysia and slated for an imminent 20 March 2025 launch on our shores, the new Huawei Band 10 smartband brings a number of upgrades and new features to the table including support for Touch ‘n Go QR pay out of the box, allowing users to make payments by simply swiping with their Band 10 along with new case options made of aluminium. Huawei has graciously issued a sample for field testing and after taking it for a whirl around the block, here’s our Huawei Band 10 review where we share if it’s worth your money.

Huawei Band 10 Review – What’s been upgraded

Intended as the successor to the prior Huawei Band 9, the new Band 10 retains the same form factor with a rectangular display taking centre stage and a fluoroelastomer strap to keep it secure to your wrist but differs in that the watch case comes in your choice of either polymer or aluminium. 

Our Huawei Band 10 review sample is made of the latter and is functionally identical to the one made of polymer with your choice of five different case colourways – purple, green, blue, white and matte black with matching coloured fluoroelastomer straps. The variant with a polymer case comes in your choice of either black or pink with matching straps.

When compared to its predecessor the Band 9, the Huawei Band 10 is built to the same specifications and design albeit with improvements to its features and functionality which we’ll get into later. Our Huawei Band 10 review unit in matte black doesn’t differ radically from the polymer variant at first blush and features a 1.47-inch AMOLED touch display that supports swipe gestures. 

Adopting a clean minimalist design, our Huawei Band 10 review sample features a single power button on the side with most of the navigation around its menus revolving around swipe and tap gestures on the display. The underside hosts an optical heart rate sensor and an ambient light sensor with the case packing a 180mAh battery rated for 14 days of average usage. In terms of connectivity, the Band 10 features Bluetooth 5.0 and can pair up with any Android or iPhone without issue on top of Huawei-issued phones which makes it very versatile unlike other brands that typically only work best with their own devices.

The watch bands are secured by a small button on the base of the case which allows for easy tool-less swaps though the straps are of a proprietary design and cannot be swapped out for third party straps. The button is also decidedly tiny which requires you to use a flat object like a screwdriver.

As smartbands go, our Huawei Band 10 review unit is surprisingly light and sturdy with the whole affair weighing in at just 15g; 1g more than its predecessor the Band 9. This is on top of retaining 50 meters of water resistance in fresh water, allowing it to be used to track strokes and laps around a swimming pool on top of a number of other unique features.

There’s no issue of drop resistance as it’s so light that barring a user landing on it watch face down, it’s practically immune to drops and thus far after testing it for several days, the touchscreen has proven relatively resistant to nicks and scratches from regular use.

Where the Huawei Band 10 tops its predecessor is that it notably now features Touch ‘n Go QR pay baked in, allowing users to scan and make payments with the band itself which makes it a time saver for casual purchases. In addition to Touch ‘n Go QR pay support, the Huawei band 10 also adds in the Emotional Wellbeing Assistant feature from their higher end Watch GT 5 series that helps track the emotional state of the user and suggest ways to improve it.

Another new feature that’s appeared for the first time in the budget Huawei band series is the inclusion of HRV monitoring during sleep that is able to detect the time it takes to fall-asleep and wake-up along with the ability to detect sleep apnea to create an accurate picture of a user’s sleep quality or lack thereof.

In terms of endurance and battery life, the Huawei Band 10 has similar endurance as the older model with 14 days of battery life off its 180mAh battery and can be recharged in about 45 minutes from its bundled proprietary charging cable.

The Huawei Band 9’s prior capabilities – heart rate tracking and Sp02 monitoring are retained in the Huawei Band 10 as well as its abilities to offer 100 workout modes and the popular Activity Rings 2.0 that fills in as you finish your fitness goals for the day.

Huawei Band 10 Review – Setup and Performance

Out of the box, our Huawei Band 10 review sample comes with the smartband itself with its corresponding fluoroelastomer strap and a USB-A charging cable that ends in a unique pogo pin design that latches onto the underside of the band for charging.

You’ll need the companion Huawei Health app installed on a phone to get the Band 10 running though it’s a relatively painless process. Once the Band 10 has been turned on and paired with a phone, you simply have to scan a QR code on the Band 10’s display to have the Huawei Health app downloaded on your phone of choice. 

Once there, it’s clear sailing as you simply have to create or login to your Huawei member account to set up the Band 10. The Huawei Health app lets you download and tweak a host of settings and gain deeper insight into your health details and sleep quality. 

Beyond health biometrics, the Huawei Health app lets you swap out the watch face to suit your personal tastes. There are four preset ones baked into the watch including a charming Panda Huahua watch face that depicts their Emotional Wellbeing mascot which also shows your emotional state on top of telling the time. If these watch faces don’t quite suit you, you also have the option to download dozens more for free.

The Huawei Health app also notably offers deeper insight into sleep tracking beyond the broad overview on the Huawei Band 10’s small display. Of note is the inclusion of improved

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) tracking which tracks heart rate changes especially when sleeping so that users can detect the quality of sleep or lack thereof on a more accurate basis as well as the ability to track sleep apnea too. However, this requires at least 7 days of usage to draw enough actionable data for the watch to offer insight. 

After collecting the data, the Huawei health app can offer suggestions on how to improve sleep quality and also lets you track heart rate, respiratory rate and blood oxygen. Another critical feature in the Huawei Band 10 is the ability to detect irregular heartbeats which are indicative of other more serious health problems.

Beyond tracking heart rate, blood oxygen and sleep quality, our Huawei Band 10 review sample was also able to offer notifications from paired apps such as Gmail on the phone, act as a means to control content playback on the phone, check upcoming appointments from paired phones or a Google calendar and set a workout routine. Another useful feature is that it can also offer incoming call notifications, allowing you to either text or reject the call straight from the band itself. 

When put to the test, our Huawei Band 10 review unit was both comfortable and effective. Belying its modest price point that starts from RM189, it was able to track heart rate with a good degree of accuracy by comparing it with another competing model, make payments easier with the Touch ‘n Go QR pay feature and offer a modicum of actionable sleep tracking features that indicated that I had rather poor sleep quality and waking up at odd moments at night. 

One particular quibble with the Huawei Band 10 though is its small display and the stock watch face options are dense and cluttered, making viewing anything beyond the time a distracting affair but by the same token, the small screen also ensures excellent battery life.

On paper, the smartband is rated for 14 days of battery life which is respectable by any measure of the word. Overall battery life is excellent and our Huawei Band 10 review sample was able to keep ticking for over a week and still have a good 55% remaining with casual use and notifications on and charging is a relatively fast affair with the smartband able to get a full charge in about 50 minutes.

The only quibble here is that the charging cable itself is a proprietary design so you’re up the creek without a paddle if you lose it. On the bright side, the impressive battery life means that you can leave the cable at home in a safe place.

Should you buy the Huawei Band 10?

The Huawei Band 10 in aluminium is a light, comfortable and effective activity and sleep tracker with the provision of Touch ‘n Go QR pay for easy purchases. Add in close to two weeks of battery life and a modest price point that starts from RM189 and you have an easy recommendation for those seeking an effective and affordable smartband.

Huawei Band 10 review unit courtesy of Huawei Malaysia. To purchase, please visit https://consumer.huawei.com/my/wearables/band10/