The bargain fitness smartwatch which runs and runs
HUAWEI’S fitness smartwatches have always been about striking a balancing act between price, functionality and battery life.
They are relatively inexpensive and last for ages – up to two weeks between charges. They also have a very decent range of fitness settings, while also offering a decent chunk of your expected smartphone notification alerts.
But they stop short of the kind of functionality you would get on an Apple Watch or some of the more expensive Android or Garmin fitness specialists watches.
They don’t have speakers or microphones and they don’t let you respond to alerts or messages on the watch itself. You can’t easily swap out straps either, and you have to live with ‘flick to see’ for battery life reasons.
Even so, if you ignore the hideously convoluted name of the latest model, the Watch GT2E, it looks like Huawei has pitched its latest model just right.
As well as your alerts, the 1.4in bright, colourful circular touchscreen gives you steps, heart rate and sleep data. And you can pick from a very solid number of straightforward running, walking, hiking, cycling, swimming or workout programs. It also has a compass, GPS and a ‘find my phone’ feature as well as a music controller via paired earbuds.
Its rubber strap and composite watch frame is perfect for active wear and the two-button control mechanism simplifies things a lot.
And then there’s that battery life. You will get a solid 10 days out of this with ordinary use, maybe a day or two longer if you go lightly on the features. That’s almost unheard of at this price point. Only Garmin’s €800 Fenix 6 series offers the same, in my recent test experience.
It’s not perfect. Although I found it useful, pairing it with some smartphones can be hit and miss. I had no problem on a Huawei or an iPhone, with slightly less functionality. But on another new Android phone, TCL’s upper- to midrange 10 Pro, it just wouldn’t synchronise.
To properly pair it with any phone, you need to install Huawei Health, but on some phones you’ll be prompted to also install Huawei Mobile Services from the app store as a pre-requisite. On the TCL Pro 10, a fairly standard Android handset, it kept saying there was an incompatibility. I’d be annoyed if I bought the Huawei Watch and that was my only phone.
Nevertheless, if you’re looking for an affordable medium between a smart watch and a fitness wearable, the Watch GT2E is a bargain. It strikes a fantastic balance between long battery life and really good, solid functionality.