With regards to smartwatches, there are two completely different approaches normally on provide. On the one hand, you’ve the ‘correct’ smartwatches, designed for many interactivity, replying to notifications, making funds and listening to music. Consider the Pixel Watch, Galaxy Watch or Apple Watch and also you get the image.

Whereas nice, they do all have one weak point: battery life. You will get a few days tops from any of them. That is the place the second strategy is available in: much less interplay, extra environment friendly shows, however an enormous deal with health and well being information. On this class, you may discover Garmin and Huawei. And particularly, you may discover the Huawei Watch GT 4; the newest smooth, attractive smartwatch from an organization that is doubled down on health over the previous few years. So what’s it like?

Huawei Watch GT 4

If what you need greater than something from a smartwatch is to have a wrist system that is nice at monitoring and providing up helpful well being and health information, Huawei Watch GT 4 will completely try this, with out charging you an arm and a leg, and in a watch that appears attractive.

Execs

• Nice health monitoring talents
• Stunning and sturdy design
• Lengthy battery life
• Syncs with Strava and Apple Well being
• Actually accessible worth for the standard

Cons

• No contactless funds or third social gathering music help
• Appeared to over-estimate distance with GPS
• Nonetheless some method to go on watch face customisation

Design

• 46 x 46 x 10.9mm – 48g excluding strap
• Stainless-steel casing, polymer fiber again
• 5ATM waterproof and IP68 mud/water rated

One factor Huawei will get constantly proper – or a minimum of extra proper than most different tech firms – is design. Its current crop of units, starting from the Watch GT 3 via to Huawei Watch Final, and Huawei Watch 4 collection, delivers designs which are a lot nearer to what you’d need from a correct watch.

In actual fact, have a look at the smartwatch market at this worth level – and you may battle to seek out something as authentic-looking because the Watch GT 4, whether or not you are wanting on the smaller, rounder 41mm mannequin, which has a nimble historically female form or the bigger, 46mm mannequin with a extra historically masculine octagon form.

I like the matte, anodised end to the 46mm mannequin, and there is a reassuring sturdiness to the metallic. It does not really feel hole, or weak in any sense. Plus, the numbered index across the bezel provides that really feel of authenticity to what’s clearly attempting to be a sporty chronograph-style watch. It is a lot sleeker and slimmer than the Huawei Watch 4 Professional too, which is an enormous plus level.

The mannequin I have been testing ships with a metallic hyperlink bracelet, and – in contrast to a whole lot of others on this type – it is really remarkably simple to take away hyperlinks from to resize, and even simpler to take away from the watch than you would possibly assume.

A number of of the hyperlinks on either side of the band have a quick-release slider you can pull again, which then makes it easy to angle and take away that hyperlink. You do not want any devoted instruments or tiny, fiddly screwdrivers. The band is eliminated equally and contains a single push button close to the top. Press it, then merely slide the top downwards, away from the watch lugs.

When you like sporty metallic hyperlink bands, you may love this one too. It creates a seamless-looking curved form when on the arm, and joins completely with the case. Personally, I do not like metallic bands so I rapidly switched it for the black rubber band that additionally got here with it. Given I used to be going to be carrying it throughout a heatwave and whereas exercising, it was the extra comfy, sensible and light-weight choice.

There are others although. Huawei is launching a Rainforest Inexperienced model that ships with a dual-material inexperienced nylon and rubber band, there’s additionally a brown leather-based model and a black rubber mannequin. The smaller fashions include both a white leather-based band, a rose gold Milanese strap or a two-tone metallic hyperlink ‘Piano Key’ band.

When you do not like several of them, it is simple sufficient to change them out to your personal alternative of common third-party strap (22mm for the bigger watch, 18mm for the smaller).

In addition to all of that, you get the standard requirements of water and dirt resistance. It is 5ATM rated, so you need to be capable of take it swimming, and it is received an IP68 ranking too. In different phrases – except you are going deep-sea diving – this could survive absolutely anything.

Show, options and software program

• 1.43-inch AMOLED spherical show – 466 x 466 decision
• HarmonyOS 4.0 – Appropriate with iPhone, Android and Huawei

One factor I’ve criticised up to now with Huawei is the watch faces. On the one hand – there are few platforms on the market which have as many watch faces accessible to obtain. There are literally thousands of them to obtain. Some paid, some free.

However – and the place Huawei has lacked up to now – is the customisation of these preloaded watch faces. A whole lot of them had little or no in the way in which of choices to customize, normally that means you may change the knowledge that appeared within the issues, and never lots else. You could not change the color.

With the Watch GT 4, Huawei is enhancing on that entrance. Just a few of the brand new watch faces will now allow you to change index kinds, accent colors and scale. The collection of watch faces that allow you to do that – on the time I wrote this evaluation – was nonetheless a bit restricted, but it surely’s progress in the fitting path.

I’ve usually discovered I will uncover a watch face I like the type of, however do not just like the default colors, after which there’s nothing I can do to vary it. Now that is much less of a problem, however there’s nonetheless some method to go.

The show itself is nearly flawless. Like so a lot of Huawei’s different watches, it is a massive, vibrant and punchy AMOLED-based panel. That top-contrast show means it is very easy to learn in just about any situation, even in vibrant daylight. The colors and particulars shine via clearly, and the scale of the panel implies that when monitoring an exercise there’s a lot of area for information that is simple to learn (a minimum of – on the 46mm mannequin).

You do – in fact – get an always-on show mode too. Some watch faces have their very own devoted always-on standby view, so that you could all the time see the time. Having this enabled does eat extra of the accessible battery, so when you go along with the smaller mannequin with the smaller battery, you would possibly need to take into account not having this enabled. You might not even miss all of it that a lot since I’ve discovered the movement sensor that prompts the raise-to-wake perform to be actually delicate and dependable. Even when I transfer my wrist barely, it wakes the watch up.

I will go over health elements of the software program individually, however as a smartwatch platform, Huawei does the fundamentals, however not lots else. It is a platform constructed on Concord OS 4.0, and which means no matter whether or not you employ Android or iPhone, you may have smartphone notifications seem in your wrist. There are sensible preset replies accessible for messages, however no typing or voice responses as you get on Apple Watch or Put on OS.

The opposite issues it is lacking are contactless funds and help for third-party offline music listening. Right here, Garmin has the benefit. With Garmin Pay and help for Spotify, Amazon Music and Deezer, you get each of these options when you select a Garmin watch as a substitute. You possibly can load music recordsdata instantly onto the Huawei watch, however with most patrons utilizing fashionable streaming providers now, this looks like an space that wants taking a look at.

In any other case, the interface is straightforward and simple to make use of. You possibly can entry your full app grid by urgent the rotating crown, and zoom out and in of it by scrolling that very same button. Or, as normal, you may swipe via your favourited widgets or ‘playing cards’ which present your chosen highlights.

You possibly can have these organized and set the way you need, however they’re full-screen widgets that may present you issues like final evening’s sleep, your exercise progress for the day, your calorie deficit (when you’re monitoring that), a compass, and some completely different multi-data dashboards that may present you a number of snippets of knowledge.

There is a new multitasking view this 12 months too, which is activated by double-pressing the crown. This exhibits a carousel of all of the current apps you have used, so you may rapidly swap out of your watch face to your exercise, to your music or calendar, or no matter else you have used lately.

Health and well being

• TruSeen 5.5+ sensor system
• All-day HR, SpO2, stress, motion and pores and skin temperature
• Improved sleep monitoring and menstrual cycle administration

With any health system, the essential factor is to have a constant and dependable tracker that offers you the knowledge you want and presents it in a approach that is smart. And – in a whole lot of methods – Huawei will get this proper.

I examined the watch in a variety of methods over the interval of carrying it for this evaluation. No because of some growing old knees, working wasn’t one in all them, but it surely has been on a protracted 25km stroll, plus a variety of high-intensity kettlebell exercises and lower-intensity yoga classes to combine it up as a lot as attainable.

Other than the stroll – which was nearly as good a battery check as the rest – the classes have been usually between 20-40 minutes in size, and featured in my routine 2-4 occasions per week.

There have been a number of issues I used to be impressed with, however most essential was the heart-rate sensor which has been responsive, constant and dependable all through. Even throughout kettlebell classes, which – for therefore many causes up to now and somewhat extra lately with the Galaxy Watch 6 – generally is a battle to get correct data from.

In units launched over the previous 18 months to 2 years, I’ve usually discovered the motion, the sweat, and the pace at which heart-rate accelerates throughout these high-intensity classes to result in confused sensors. In these cases the watches would take 5-10 minutes to catch up and present correct heart-rates, rendering the monitoring virtually ineffective, as a result of it might then imply perceived effort and calorie counts have been approach off. It is also essential for predicting restoration time.

With the Huawei Watch GT 4 that wasn’t a problem. I wore it alongside a Garmin Venu 3 and the Galaxy Watch 6 Basic at completely different factors, and located it responsive, delivering fast heart-rate modifications on display clearly. It was nonetheless just a few beats per minute away from what the Garmin confirmed, but it surely was constant and usable data.

GPS information was good too, a minimum of, in that it was in step with itself. I did discover – in comparison with most different watches I’ve examined alongside elements of the identical routes – that it appears to overestimate distances.

For example, a portion of the lengthy 25km stroll is a route I’ve finished many occasions up to now and no matter whether or not it is the Apple Watch Collection 7, Galaxy Watch 5, Galaxy Watch 6 or any of the Garmin fashions I’ve examined over the previous 4-5 years, it is come out at simply over 5km. In actual fact, it is normally across the 5.2km mark, and Huawei’s newest watch measured round 200 metres additional.

Huawei Well being vs Strava – identical information, identical exercise, identical system monitoring it. 

The attention-grabbing factor I seen was that when that session then imported and synced with Strava (which it will possibly do now), the distances have been calculated decrease, and far nearer to what I might count on these distances to be. So, maybe, the information it collects is correct, however the way in which the Huawei watch and Huawei Well being interprets it’s a little off.

One other enchancment that may very well be made is extra of a deal with bodily situation, restoration and readiness. It is an space we have seen the likes of Garmin and Fitbit work on lots in current fashions. The concept being you can test your well being dashboard any time and see how lengthy it’s essential relaxation earlier than being prepared to your subsequent coaching/train session.

Huawei does inform you how lengthy it’s essential get better after every particular person exercise, and exhibits this within the exercise log, however there is no basic ‘coaching readiness’ or ‘restoration’ part you may have a look at apart from one a part of the watch’s interface.

In any other case, I like Huawei Well being as a platform. It serves up a lot of helpful information about actions. Any GPS exercise like strolling, biking and working comes with an interactive map with the route plotted on it. You will get the breakdown of tempo, effort, distance and all the opposite particulars you want. It is also simple sufficient to make use of and does not conceal efficiency stats behind difficult menus.

When you’re a runner or simply need to get into working, the devoted working/teaching plan phase is a good instrument to make use of to get your self match, and practice as much as a selected degree. Whether or not that is simply as a newbie, or desirous to do your first 5K, 10K or half-marathon.

Earlier than my knees determined to be outdated and unforgiving, this was a characteristic I examined up to now and it’s helpful, however I did not discover it nearly as good for progressing or enhancing working health because the Garmin Teaching plans or the Nike Run Membership plans, each of which use both your tempo or a perceived effort to find out how exhausting you run on classes.

Huawei’s teaching appears to go on coronary heart charge, and never a personalised coronary heart charge both, however somewhat an arbitrarily assigned zone restrict, which implies – when you regularly go above 150-160bpm on a run – you may end up strolling somewhat than working, which is not all the time that helpful.

Battery life

• 14-day battery life – wi-fi charging
• Bluetooth 5.2 – Constructed-in microphone and speaker

Battery life is an enormous cause to go along with the Huawei Watch over one thing just like the Apple Watch or Galaxy Watch 6. With the bigger mannequin – with the always-on show switched off – you may stand up to 14 days. That is with typical utilization and notifications enabled. If – as an example like me – you flip most of your notifications off you may discover you may go longer than two weeks on a full cost.

The factor that impressed me most concerning the battery life was its endurance whereas monitoring the lengthy stroll I discussed earlier within the piece. I began that stroll with roughly 70 per cent battery on the watch and completed the stroll hours later with greater than half of the battery nonetheless remaining. So – in brief – even if you wish to take this watch on an all-day hike, monitoring your GPS, your coronary heart charge and the whole lot else whereas on the transfer, you are able to do it and never have to fret that the battery will die.

Charging is comparatively fast utilizing the included magnetic charging disc. Not as quick as a few of the others I’ve examined, however with a full cost in 100 minutes or so, you are not ready an age. Plus, the magnetic connection is powerful and safe sufficient that it will not disconnect simply if knocked.

Verdict

With the Watch GT 4, Huawei is sticking to what it does greatest: Delivering detailed, correct health and well being monitoring talents in a tool that appears and looks like a correct watch. There aren’t many who get that mixture proper, however Huawei completely does.

It is cross-platform, supporting Android and iOS, and presents battery life that may final about two weeks on a full cost (a minimum of with the bigger mannequin). All in a tool with an enormous, vibrant, vibrant show.

There’s nonetheless some work to be finished to compete with the likes of Garmin and Samsung, notably across the space of contactless funds, watch face customisation and third-party help for offline music, but when all you care about is health and battery life, it is a good watch and one that does not value the earth.