[Review] Makibes M88 Smartband – Blood Pressure Monitor Fitness band

3We are a fan of Makibes products they have great devices especially on smartwatch section, these past few months Makibes introduced several cool looking products including DM58 or the Makibes Light EX18 Smart Watch . Most of the products by Makibes scores high on functionality as well as the price, it is no wonder why wearable fans choose Makibes over other brands. Well we are in-luck as we got here one of the latest smartband from the company, if you are interested in purchasing this smartband, please read first our take on the Makibes M88 smartband and decide for yourself.

Packaging and Design

The M88 smartband comes in a neat simple cardboard box packaging, the band comes with user manual and USB clip charger. Well for the design, it has a flexible TPU band that is non- removable with stainless steel pin to lock the band in place. The body is made of plastic with a slight curve design including the screen, making the band lightweight about 21.5 grams only. It has a small OLED screen, about 0.87”inch with touch key interface. The design is just OK, the hard plastic material might not suit the taste of others, but for some it has several benefits including being lightweight and durable in bumps and fall compared to a soft silicon band.

Regarding the display, the smartband don’t have an automatic switch of orientation from portrait to landscape, but there is an option for you to switch between the two layout, an option that is missing from other popular smartband with the same price and specs.

Hardware and Features

Just like other affordable smartband in the market, the Makibes M88 is powered by the Nordic nRF51822 processor with 256 K internal memory. Sensors in the Makibes M88 smartwatch includes a heart rate sensor from Kiomix and a pedometer, blood pressure monitor. Other additional features include distance counter, calorie counter as well as sleep monitor.

Get the product from Makibes AliExpress here    code:nopending02 
Makibes M88 Heart Rate Monitor

With the accuracy, well here is the outcome of my test, on the following features of the Makibes M88 smartband. Let’s go first with the pedometer, so far during my initial test walking and running, so far it is close to the manual count having +2 or -2 margin of error. The heart rate monitor result is almost close to the Lenovo HW01 and Mi Band 2, it is fast in providing results, but just like the Mi Band 2 you have to be idle in order for the band to give an accurate monitoring. With the blood pressure monitor, I am not sure if it’s a bit off or not,  I don’t have a tool to verify its accuracy, I guess let’s leave it to the expert to determine its accuracy, anyways I feel ok and the M88 says my normal blood pressure is normal, I guess it’s working ok, just a guess.

 

Support App – the support app for M88 us the H-Band app, so far just like other support app for smartbands, you are prompted by a sign-up form to be able to activate and use it with your band, if you are not a fan of it, it’s a good thing that the H-Band allows you to connect to the band without the need of signing up. So far no issues in the synchronization, the UI is pretty ok, with good animations during the test period. Pedometer, HR and HB has graphs and options to save your data for use, well for message notifications, you can set in the settings to activate, whether its phone call, messages or social apps such as WeChat, QQ, Facebook, Twitter or WhatsApp.

Overall – the M88 might not be able to compete with the likes of Fitbit or Gear Fit but it doesn’t mean that it is inferior. The Makibes M88 has several features that smartband fans will surely love, the M88 scores ok when it comes to accuracy on pedometer, it also got several fitness and sport features, in short it got the basics. And of course the main feature that M88 that Mi Band 2 and HW01 is lacking is the blood pressure sensor, the price is also a factor why it is a good pick for those who are looking for an affordable smartband with the HBM, BM and step monitor.

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Jo Di Calivo -Blogger, Tech Guru, providing the current news on wearables particularly on smartwatches, smartbands. And loves to go fishing on spare time.