We'll admit that we, too, have been influenced by the movement. And if there’s one thing about the fit group that appeals to us and gives us that extra motivation to retire from our long-term post as a couch potato, it is, of course, the interesting gadgets and gizmos.

They just make the healthy (and sweaty) lifestyle look so much cooler!

However, admittedly, some of those fancy techs come with deluxe price tags. That’s why when we learnt about the OPPO Band and its friendly cost of RM159, we got both excited and curious!

“Could it deliver what it should? Would it last as we hoped? Should it be worth considering?”; these were some of the questions that we had in mind.

The star features

Before we get to the part where we share our experience testing it out, allow us to highlight some of the cool features of the OPPO Band.

For starters, the OPPO Band offers the SpO2 monitoring function as it comes with a built-in optical blood oxygen sensor.

In case you’re not too familiar with the term SpO2, it refers to oxygen saturation. It tells you the amount of haemoglobin that carries oxygen in the blood relative to the haemoglobin that does not carry oxygen.

Monitoring SpO2 has been especially important in the current situation as low oxygen levels have been associated with COVID-19. With the OPPO Band, you can even choose to monitor your SpO2 throughout your sleep or at intervals.

Should you opt to track your SpO2 in real-time as you get your eight-hour sleep, it would continuously conduct the SpO2 monitoring 28,800 times. That sounds pretty cool if you ask us.

The OPPO Band also has a built-in optical heart rate sensor, which means that it also offers real-time heart rate monitoring. The smart band would release a vibrating alert to remind you to proceed with caution should it detect any heart rate abnormalities.

This is a great feature, especially when exercising so that you know when to stop pushing yourself.

Speaking of exercising, it wouldn’t be a fitness band without the workout modes! The OPPO Band offers 12 workout modes for you to choose from.

The OPPO Band is water-resistant up to 50 meters. It also has the ability to sync your phone’s notifications.

After having tested the OPPO Band ourselves, here’s what we thought…

How does it look?

The OPPO Band has a 1.1-inch AMOLED screen. We’ll be honest — having been accustomed to a bigger surface area when it comes to our watches, the size of the OPPO Band screen had us raising our eyebrows initially.

But after using it, we can confirm that it wasn’t bad at all! The sharp display contributes to the pleasant experience too.

But it is still quite ‘petite’ in appearance, so for those with bigger wrists and a preference for a bulkier look, you might want to take note of this.

We got the black sport strap that appears to have a slight matte finish to it. As we put on the OPPO Band on our wrist, it just made us feel like we belong with the active group.

Please excuse our dramatic perspective, but they did say you have to look the part. And for that, we’ll give points to the OPPO Band for giving us the sense that we, too, fit in.

The other colour option for the strap is lavender. If you’re like us and have the thought of purchasing just the strap to add to your collection, we’re sorry to break it to you but that’s not possible.

Choose your colour wisely, folks.

On the daily

Setting up the OPPO Band was pretty straightforward. You’d just have to download the HeyTap Health app on your smartphone and connect it with the band via Bluetooth.

Both the band and app have a clean and simple user interface. Navigating them was smooth and easy.

By default, there are several watch faces readily available and accessible with a simple side swipe on the band. There are more options available on the app.

However, you can only have five watch face options stored at any one time. If you’ve reached that limit and would like to add another watch face to your OPPO Band, you would have to sacrifice one of the existing options you had chosen via the app.

We're not big on the limitation but it’s something we could tolerate.

There is also the ‘Raise to wake’ setting which when turned on, would awaken the screen display whenever the wearer raises their wrist. This would come in handy when you’re working out.

We found that it performed accordingly but there were times when it seemed to be a bit slow to respond.

If you prefer to have this setting turned off, you could just cover the screen with your hand to awaken it and put it back to sleep. We had some extra fun gesturing our palm over the screen as if we were Ben10.

“It’s fitness time” or simply, “What is the time,” we’d say.

You could also set a few alarms on the OPPO Band. But don’t throw out your regular alarm clock just yet. We had no problem sleeping through the wrist buzz. But then again, maybe that’s just the heavy sleeper in us.

As a fitness wearable, the OPPO Band keeps track of your daily step count and calories burnt. It reminds you to move around when you’ve stayed idle for some time too, which is exactly the nudge we need.

We also really appreciate the ‘Breathe’ function that guides you to inhale and exhale within the duration of your choice (between one to five minutes).

It’s a simple yet impactful function. We can see ourselves turning to it when we have those panicky moments.

Putting the OPPO Band to the test

We decided to test out the findings of the OPPO Band SpO2 and heart rate features and compare them to the ones measured by a pulse oximeter, a device meant to specifically measure blood oxygen levels and pulse rates.

A little heads-up on the info that we came across: some factors that may result in the inaccuracy or even, inability for the SpO2 readings to go through include thick hair or tattoos on the arms, dropping or moving the arms, low arm temperature and if the band is not worn properly.

Based on the several times we tested it out at different hours of the day, the result is pretty impressive!

The OPPO Band had on-point moments and when they differed, it was only between one per cent to three per cent against the pulse oximeter for the SpO2 readings.

The heart rate, however, occasionally, had about a five per cent difference.

Here's our full experiment:

This gives us that extra confidence in the OPPO Band, especially for its SpO2 reading.

Fitness tracking power

At the time of writing, we have not been able to try out all of the workout modes available due to a lack of access to certain facilities and equipment.

However, based on the ones that we managed to try, we find the data provided to be insightful.

Most of the workout modes offer insights on the duration, calories burned and heart rate. For ‘Outdoor Run’ and ‘Indoor Run’, additional data such as distance, pace and average stride frequency are included.

You can customise your goals based on the distance, duration or calories too. As for the ‘Outdoor Walk’, instead of distance, you get the step count.

‘Pool Swimming’ comes with data on trips and average pace per 100 meters. You can also customise the pool length. The data provided may not be super comprehensive but we think it has the fundamentals laid out for you to be aware of your performance.

Out of all the workout modes available, we find the ‘Fat Burn Run’ to be most interesting. It informs you of your heart rate as you do your thing.

We think in the long run (pun intended), this would be helpful in our weight loss journey.

The OPPO Band is not compatible to sync with Strava and the likes though. And we reckon that some may find that the data provided are not as in-depth as what some other wearables have to offer.

But we feel that the OPPO Band presents a good selection of the essential ones. It doesn’t feel too overwhelming for amateurs like us.

The Sleep Monitoring faculty

The OPPO Band’s sleep data is one of the features that excites us.

It measures your total sleep hours, deep and light sleep status as well as awake status among others.

And we must say, the insights — particularly, the awake time — are pretty accurate! We know this because when we are somehow awakened in the wee hours, we’d immediately check our phone (despite having the OPPO Band on our wrist just because we’re a creature of habit) to see if we could still go back to sleep or have to jump out of bed immediately.

It’s cool to know the quality of sleep we’re getting.

Sleeping with the OPPO Band on was no issue for us because the OPPO Band is lightweight.

The syncing ability

We also tested out the notification sync whereby you could receive messaging and call notifications, control music playback and camera as well as find your phone through the band.

We’d say it did its job, especially with the music control.

But when it comes to receiving messages, we’d rather put in the effort to check them on our phone instead. The OPPO Band screen could only fit 50 characters and based on our experience, it doesn’t recognise emojis.

There’s not much to shout about the phone-finding feature either. Your band needs to be connected to the phone for it to set off when you ‘Find Phone.’ While it may come in useful during certain occasions, we think the function is rather limited.

Charging and the battery life

When it comes to the charging process for the OPPO Band, we can’t say we’re pleased. For starters, the wire of the charging base is super short.

By our measurement, the wire, inclusive of the USB head, is only approximately 16 cm.

Then, there’s the fact you can’t simply place the OPPO Band on a charging dock. Instead, you’d have to pop out the band body from the strap and pop it in the charging base.

It just feels rather inconvenient to us. It takes about 1.5 hours to fully charge too.

One should also note that there are no physical buttons for the OPPO Band. If it shuts down, you will have to charge it to turn it back on. And that’s a bit of a turn off for us.

But the OPPO Band does win our hearts with its battery performance. It has a battery capacity of 100 mAh and let us tell you, folks; it feels superior! After almost a week, it was still going strong.

We actually got to wondering when we could recharge it. But hey, not having to charge it daily is liberating!

It’s a yay from us!

All in all, the OPPO Band delivers!

It kept us informed and conscious of our form — as an effective smart band should. Plus, as we mentioned earlier, having a fitness wearable is great motivation to do more! For its price range, the versatile OPPO Band is indeed a solid option.

If you seek to gain some valuable data to improve your lifestyle without having to break the bank, we feel that the OPPO Band is definitely worth considering.

And thanks to our friends from OPPO Malaysia, we got a couple of OPPO Bands for you to bring home.

To encourage you to start moving, OPPO Malaysia wants you to show them what your favourite go-to workout is; be it badminton, jogging, cycling or just yoga at home.

All you need to do is answer a couple of simple questions below and share with us your favourite go-to workout:

{^widget|(name)BizForm|(defaultformlayout)Standard|(bizformname)OPPOBand_1|(widget_displayname)On-line+form|(width)|(height)^} Winners will be notified via e-mail on 27 August. Remember to check the Spam folder, okay?

Terms and Conditions: - Closing date: 26 August 2021. - This contest is open to residents of Malaysia only. - The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entertained. The publisher reserves the right to replace the prizes published here with other prizes of equivalent value and the redemption of said prizes are up to the publisher's discretion. - Winners will be notified via email/mail/phone. - Details provided will become the property of MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd and may be used for future marketing purposes.