Razer Nabu Smartband Review

Performance

The OLED display is nice and bright, even on a sunny day you’ll be able to clearly read it, unlike some devices which feature cheaper LCD panels that are hard to read in a lot of lighting conditions. I literally just turned it on for the first time in the next few pictures, but you can see the features available at stock, and you can select each by tapping the side button to scroll through them.

My only issue at first was that the band felt quite rigid, which isn’t a bad thing is such, but it can take a little time to get used to wearing it. It’s fine when you’re out and about, but perhaps not ideal for everyone to wear when sitting at a desk. After a few days of use, however, I don’t even notice it and now wear it all time on my right hand, which is the arm I use for my mouse on PC, so it’s really not a problem – once you get used to it.

The notifications are great, with a vibration letting you know you have a notification, then just look at the display at it scrolls past. Here you can see I had an email, and it gives me the sender and title name.

Clicking through the button on the top, I can see my current calories burnt.

Whichever page you leave it on, next time you press the button, that’s what will be displayed. If you want it on the clock, remember to set it back after checking your steps, calories, etc.

I’m actually amazed at the miles and steps counter, on average this week I’ve been burning through 5000 steps and 2.5 miles just around the office each day! It’s quite fun learning about your own activities, as you do so many smaller actions that you otherwise wouldn’t have guessed the figures of, they quickly add up. We took the Nabu on tour with us to Las Vegas for CES 2016, where we were clocking 25,000 steps per day and over 15 miles walked, which was within an error of margin from the results on our FitBit Charge HR, so I have confidence in the numbers generated by the Nabu.

You can set all kinds of apps to provide notifications to the Nabu, here you can see I’ve got an incoming call.

And that I missed it because I was too busy taking a picture of it… whoops! I found it great to get updates on trains, flight times when in the airport and more; you may miss your phone beeping, but you won’t miss that vibration on your wrist.

Pairing the Nabu with your smartphone is super easy, and once done, it’ll also update the firmware if there is one available.

The settings are extensive, allowing you to pick virtually any process to give you notifications. Want to know when your armies have leveled up in your favourite game, information from your SatNav, or when your phone battery is low? Not a problem, it’s all here.

Sleep tracking works really well, although according to my stats, I’m quite the fidget. It tracks your sleep after 8-mins of inactivity on a night-time and will let you know how much you moved around. I was surprised to find out I was awake at 06:00 for 12 minutes, though, not sure if it’s a glitch or I sleepwalk… who knows. The silent alarm is great too, a gentle vibration on the Nabu will wake you up without waking up everyone else in the house.

Set your daily goals and you’ll get notifications when you reach them, great if you’re planning a running route, or working towards a certain personal goal. Exceed your goal and your Nabu will congratulate you on doing so.

The mobile app gives you a nice roundup of all the data collected at a glance, meaning that you’re never more than a couple of taps away, on the phone or the Nabu, from seeing how much progress you’ve made.