Sony SmartBand 2 review

On the whole, though, its step measurements seemed relatively precise while I was wearing the band, but its calorie counting was very, very generous indeed. This is a shame, as other fitness trackers I’ve been wearing at the same time have consistently measured around half the number of calories I’ve burned through exercise compared to the number calculated by the SmartBand 2.

It’s a bit of a pain that you have to use two apps to get the most out of your stats as well. While the SmartBand 2 app shows you your daily stats and lets you activate your smart alarm and notification settings, you’ll need to use Sony’s Life Log app on Android or Apple Health on iOS to put it in any kind of meaningful context.

^ Sony’s SmartBand 2 app is great for setting up the device, but you’ll need to open Life Log to view your stats in full

For instance, I tested the SmartBand 2 on Android, and while it’s great to be able to see at a glance how long you slept for and how many steps you’ve taken in the basic SmartBand 2 app, you’ll need to open Life Log to see how that’s changed over the course of the day. It’s a pity it isn’t all plumbed in to Life Log, as the SmartBand 2 app seems pretty superfluous by comparison.

Still, the Life Log app is pretty comprehensive, and compiles your data into helpful, colourful graphs which you can view by day, week, month or year. It’s a shame you can’t interact with the graphs in any way, but at least they’re easy to read and provide a good starting point for comparing historic data. The Life Log app also gives you ‘insights’ into your data, such as comparing the number of steps you take each week, how much you’ve recovered during sleep, and how your data compares to other Life Log users. The advice is quite simplistic, but the step summary can be quite useful to see how you’re progressing each week.

^ Life Log produces handy graphs to help you interpret your data, but it also logs everything else you do with your phone, such as the time spent browsing the web, taking photos and playing games

The Sony SmartBand 2 is by no means perfect, then, but it’s still a pretty decent fitness tracker for under £100. The heart rate monitor sets it apart from other cut-price trackers, it’s extremely comfy to wear, and its smart alarm feature is excellent. It’s not quite as precise as I’d like it to be, but it’s a good alternative to more expensive heart rate fitness bands, such as the £120 FitBit Charge HR and Jawbone UP3.