OnePlus has a colour-screen Fitbit rival that's even cheaper than the Inspire

OnePlus has launched its eagerly anticipated fitness band, embedding a nifty heart rate and blood oxygen saturation monitor, sleep tracking and fitness, and a hefty battery that can last for up to two weeks.

It packs a punch for a wonderfully cheap price, honing in on core health features from beginners to fitness junkies looking for a solid fitness band. 

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The OnePlus Band ships in India on January 13 for ₹2,499, or approximately $35 / £25 / AU$44; disappointingly, it doesn’t have a European or US release date for now, which is a big setback if you fancied grabbing the shiny new gizmo on launch day. 

Apple users will be a bit miffed, too, with news that it only works with Android at launch, but not iOS. However, OnePlus is ensuring iOS compatibility later: “Support for iOS and corresponding OnePlus Health app (for iOS) will only be available post launch,” the official OnePlus Band page reads.

The OnePlus Band's existence mirrors growing interest in the health tracker sector; outwardly, it is a pure fitness device. It forgoes all the bells and whistles of more premium devices to hone in on fitness fundamentals: heart rate tracking functions, and support for 13 modes of exercise. T3 recently covered news of the development of a OnePlus smartwatch to rival the Apple Watch Series 6; its budget tracker certainly paves the way for an advanced OnePlus smartwatch design, and we're excited for the road ahead. 

By championing its fitness features, OnePlus could carve a spot as a reliable producer of budget fitness devices to rival Fitbit. If you want something a bit more capable in the form of a smartwatch, take a peek and firm up exactly what you're looking for through our best smartwatches guide – T3's useful tool to unpick all the technical lingo, and work out the best option for yourself. 

The OnePlus Band's native sleep tracking features, and ability to act as a proxy to your phone, is another welcome addition to the ergonomic gadget. Donning either a navy, black, or tangerine grey wristband, the device weighs in at 22.6 grams. Don’t be fooled, though, as the meagre weight belies the Band's specs, which pack some serious power for a $35 gadget. 

It has a 2.97-inch display that makes use of an AMOLED panel with adjustable brightness. If you’re interested in crunching numbers and improving your workouts through data, the OnePlus Band is Bluetooth 5.0 compatible, making for quick data exchange with your handset, and boasts a three-axis accelerometer, and gyroscope.

OnePlus' tracker is a robust entry into the fitness monitoring market and lays the foundations for new and more diverse releases over the next year and beyond.

Source: XDA Developers