Background
Launched in September 2015 and announced in the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in March, the Huawei Watch was touted as one of the most premium smart watch in the Android Wear space. Although it is now not the most premium (that reward goes to the Tag Heuer Connected, but good luck getting one of those), the Huawei Watch is still one of the top dogs in terms of presentation.
How it fares as a smart watch though, read more to find out.
Physical Hardware
Usually I do not cover this, but man is the box pretty. Compared to the LG G Watch that I am using which comes in a plain white box, the Huawei Watch’s box screams “FANCY!” all over the place. The presentation of the watch is impeccable to say the least. I seriously felt like a rich kid when I opened this box, and that is a good thing.
Taking the watch out of the box after appreciating the beauty for minutes, we are greeted by a stainless steel frame and a leather band.
However, leather bands are something I have doubts upon. Singapore is an extremely humid country, so people tend to sweat a lot. Tendencies are that leather will stink eventually after quite some time. So be prepared to shell a bit in terms of changing the straps.
The good news is that the watch straps are identical to standard 18mm watch straps, and couple with quick-release straps meant that removing the leather strap and changing a new one is really easy. Another thing is that the leather strap is slightly wrinkled due to the way the watch is presented in the box, which also does not bode well for the watch.
At the side of the watch have the power button, and at the back of the watch contains the charging pins and the heart rate monitor.
Charging is done through a magnetic dock, which is similar to many other smartwatches. However more prudence is needed to charge due to the dock being round as well. The magnets are really strong, so as long as the pins are aligned you can tell that the watch is charging.
The front is the circular 1.4 inch sapphire coated display. This is in stark contrasts to many other watches which use Gorilla Glass for their display (LG G Watch included). This meant that your watch display probably will not get scratched unless you do something funny to the screen like punching a diamond on the screen.
As this is 1.4inch and there is little to no bezels unlike the LG G Watch, this meant that the watch is surprisingly compact. Although the watch is rather thick (thicker than the G Watch), it is actually surprisingly light despite it looking heavy at 55g.
However that does not meant that the other areas are not prone to wear and tear. This is true especially for the band (wrinkles and smell). Perfectionists will need to treat this watch with utmost care as you would not want to scratch up your expensive watch.
Specifications
Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB RAM and 4GB storage. That sounds familiar isn’t it?
That is the exact same specifications as the LG G Watch. However, there are some additional new things under the hood. Namely the Wi-Fi antenna, the slightly newer Bluetooth 4.1 rather than 4.0 on the G Watch (I don’t know the difference though), and again the Heart Rate Monitor.
However what I felt is the biggest jump is the display; a 400 by 400 AMOLED display. This really is a very beautiful screen. It being AMOLED meant that colours pop, black watch faces looks really nice. The sharpness of the added resolution also helps quite a fair bit. Add to the fact that this is a circle watch; you can get it to look stunning, almost like a normal classy time-piece.
Performance
With a sharper display, it also meant more pixels to be pushed by the processor. With the same processor as the LG G Watch, I was expecting the performance to be slightly lower compared to my G Watch. However, there is not much of a noticeable difference at least to me.
Performance is almost perfect as it is rather snappy. I do feel a bit more sluggishness than my LG G Watch, however it is not much more until it bothers me.
As most features are the same as the LG G Watch review, you can read my impressions of those features there. Instead, I will be covering features that are absent on the G Watch, but present on the Huawei Watch.
Wi-Fi on a watch
This was one of the features which is lacking on the G Watch. The Huawei Watch comes with a Wi-Fi antenna built into the watch. Switching on Wi-Fi is really easy. As long as the password of the Wi-Fi is saved on the phone, the watch will auto-connect to the network.
Wi-Fi on the watch could suck the battery really hard. When the watch is on WiFi, the battery drains almost twice as fast compared to Bluetooth; which is why the watch prefers to be on Bluetooth if it is within the phone’s Bluetooth range.
However, there is the added convenience of a much larger range as compared to Bluetooth. As long as the watch is within Wi-Fi reception zone, it is still connected. This means not requiring me to carry the phone around all the time. This is very useful especially at home.
Heart Rate Monitor and Fitness
The Heart Rate sensor is there for the fitness junkies who want to check the intensity of their workout. I will admit that I am not one of those people, and I also do not have a heart-rate monitor lying around the house, so I am unable to test the accuracy of this reading. Other sources do claim that the sensor is good enough for general use.
For Huawei, there is also an app from Huawei to help with your workouts, and inside the watch there is also their own proprietary app. Couple with the capabilities of pairing with a Bluetooth device, this meant that the watch is pretty capable to use for workouts even without the phone.
Android Wear actually also support GPS as well. However that is absent from both the G Watch and the Huawei Watch, so I am unable to comment further with regards to this. Right now as it is, those fitness buffs might find Android Wear quite enticing indeed.
Battery
The Huawei Watch have a 300mAh battery, which is 25% lesser than the G Watch. However, battery life is on par with the G Watch. With the “always on” option battery is at around 30%, and it is around 50% when that option is off.
Mileage may vary depending on the amount of notifications being pushed on your device as well. The battery also might go for a nosedive if the device is consistently connected to WiFi. Unless the phone’s Bluetooth is off or the watch is not within the Bluetooth range, the battery drain should not occur that often.
Conclusion
As this is the last part of the Android Wear series, I would be having separate conclusions for the Huawei Watch and the Android Wear platform in general.
Huawei Watch
The Huawei Watch is honestly one of the best smart-watches in the market right now. As the software experience is almost identical from watch to watch in Android Wear (as my experiences with the G Watch is almost identical to the Huawei Watch), what matters is actually the hardware, and the Huawei Watch totally nails it in that area. The display is stunning, the build quality is impeccable, and the box makes me feel like a rich kid.
However for my personal use I find it a little bit too fanciful. If you are someone who frequently wears in formal attire, the Huawei Watch would go very well with it. As an average University student right now, my usual dressing of T-shirts and Bermudas simply does not match up very well with the watch. It is honestly not the watch’s problem, rather it is my lifestyle’s problem; the watch being a misfit to my lifestyle.
Another thing I felt is how contradictory the device is. The watch comes in Leather and Stainless Steel options, which makes it very unsuitable for fitness usage, as stainless steel bands tend to scratch up really easily and leather bands will probably stink after sweating; which is why it perplexes me when there is actually a heart-rate monitor on the watch. If you are reading this Huawei, perhaps exclude those sensors, cut back the price a bit, and I believe the watch could be a home-run.
Speaking of the price, at SGD 550 for the base stainless steel model, it is definitely not cheap in comparison to the competition. I managed to snag this watch at SGD 440 on Qoo10 (e-mail me if you want the details), and even then it is still pretty expensive for most people. However that is also true for any high-end mechanical watches as well.
This draws me into the final verdict. Right now, I could recommend the Huawei Watch to those who are into style; those who sees the watch as more of a beautiful accessory rather than a tool. If you are under that category and you want to get into the smart-watch world, there is not much to go wrong with this.
I am pretty much in love with this device; however sadly my life does not require such a fanciful smart-watch right now. So I would be keeping my LG G Watch and find a new owner for my Huawei Watch. It’s nice knowing you Huawei Watch.
“The Huawei Watch is what its looks suggest; impeccable build quality in a premium package. Despite the contradictory nature of the watch, this watch is the top dog of smart-watches to beat for all wristwatch lovers, although it does come at a steep cost”.
Android Wear
Let’s evaluate the eco-system in general now.
First thing’s first. There is a learning curve for this operating system. Although pairing with the device is a breeze, there are just too many possibilities with the watch that it takes some time to get used to it. Maybe that is a good thing due to the sheer capabilities of the watch, I have no idea.
I would say this though; the convenience factor is really there. Little did I know of how taking out a phone from a pocket would be such an “inconvenience”. Perhaps I am spoilt by using a smart-watch, I honestly have no idea.
At the end of the day though, a smart-watch (including Android Wear) is something that one could live without definitely. However once someone actually experience the added convenience, one would never go back again.
As for Android Wear, I believe it is a good operating system that has tons of potential. The beauty of this operating system is the power of choice. I already had proven in my 2 reviews, we can have a very cheap but simple smart-watch, and we can go all-out fancy as well. That is I believe the true advantage of Android Wear unlike other platforms. (The Pebble does have a normal and steel variant as well, but I digress).
I still believe that Android Wear is not for everyone. The learning curve makes this device not really suitable for your mom or dad. It is also not suitable for iPhone users, as they are unable to fully harness the features of Android Wear.
However, I guess Android Wear at least won me over. I am fully invested into the ecosystem now, and probably will not be leaving anytime soon.
Remarks
All photos are taken on a LG G Flex 2. I hope that the photos are good enough for the review.
I will be doing a compilation article on the Android Wear experience for ease of reading as well for the full-software experience. So do keep a lookout for it.
Any questions feel free to drop email again at nus.tech.friends@gmail.com. Lastly, we wish everyone Merry Christmas!
NUS TECH FRIENDS 