Razer Nabu - A Smart Band worth buying?

Razer Nabu

Razer first demoed this at CES 2014 and it won peoples choice best of show - lots of people wanted it
but then it was delayed and delayed again. The hype finally started in December when Razer first did a limited order release. About 5000 sold out in 10 seconds for those who could actually access the store. They did this again a couple weeks and I finally got one. They did one more release so about 15000 of these are in the wild right now. They are currently as of recording this all sold out

So what is the razer nabu exactly and what does it do?

Well really, its a wearable, focusing on communication and fitness tracting. It has a small OLED display which will show your fitness progress as well as pretty much all the notifications from your phone. The entire system is controlled with one button - used to toggle through the notifications, menus and settings, and even turn it on and off. Its a style black rubber and comes in two sizes, Small-Medium and Medium-Large.  It works with any phone with Bluetooth LE (Android 4.3+ and iPhone 5/5s/5c/6/6+

So now lets talk about my thoughts. Ive been using the band since the beginning of January, and overall I really like it. I enjoy just turning over my wrist and seeing the notifications from my phone without having to pull it out of my pocket. The activity tracking is nice and its cool how it takes my activity and compares it to my height/weight and gives you (a rough estimate of) your calories burned.

But now lets talk about the downsides. First of all the size - when I ordered all they had was the medium large. When I first got it I thought i was screwed because the Large really is LARGE on my small wrist, but then I found the interchangeable clasp which brought it down to a medium which was much better. Now I think it would be better if I could get a small/medium for my small wrist but for now this works, it just slides up and down my wrist more. And because of this I think it tracks more of my small movements on my wrist. as steps and it says I move far more than my Misfit flash (which yes I also wear)


The build construction isnt the greatest. I have already in just over a month and a half of, not rough but not gentle either - real life us, had to glue parts of the rubber back down and some chunks are just missing. The screen hasnt scratched yet so that is nice.

And finally the apps. Most of the advanced functionality comes from the apps and they are just broken. So you setup and make changes to the settings and features of the Nabu from their app, but I have had it several times where settings I made just randomly revert to their old standards. Also the fitness app is completely broken. Its SUPPOSED to track my movement and sleep and put it up in nice graphs which were cool when they worked. But I have had it only successfully pull in my fitness data like twice. And because of this I dont even have any Broll of the fitness app. So for me I have just written the fitness part off as just a novilty but not a functional part of the band.

So what are my conclusions?

Well Razer - you have a great product, but it needs work. First off, make a better rubber that doesnt tear off from just general wear and tear so easily. Secondly fix the app sync so fitness apps actually work. And finally offer both sizes at launch. That being said, I love it just for the notification alerts alone. But personally I just going to keep using it until the Apple Watch comes out then probably switch to that.

So should you go get one? I would wait a bit. Its a great product but this is still the first version and Razer still has to at least fix the software. But if you REALLY want to support Razer and want a band that gives you notifications, then the Razer Nabu is a great option.

Tech Specs

Private message screen: 128x32 pixels OLED screen

Lithium-polymer battery with 5–7 days battery life*

Accelerometer

Cylindrical vibration motor

IP54 water resistant

Available Sizes

• Medium-Large 81.0mm L × 63.4mm H × 13.6mm W
• Small-Medium 75.3mm L × 59.1mm H × 13.6mm W

Compatible via Bluetooth LE with  

• iOS devices – iPhone 5, 5S, 5C, 6, and 6+
• Android 4.3 phones (or higher)

http://nabu.razerzone.com/