HUAWEI WATCH IS AFFORDABLE GOOD-LOOKING
The Huawei Watch GT-AE9 Elegant edition is all about fitness
Since the introduction of the Apple Watch in 2014, smartwatches have improved by leaps and bounds in both functionality and design. Smartwatches can be placed into two categories: fitness focused and phone-extension focused. This Huawei Watch GT-AE9 has chosen the fitness focused route.
Let me say this at the beginning: generally speaking, smartwatches are not essential, but can make you less tied to your phone and encourage you to get off your lazy backend and get some exercise.
Good thing that this Watch GT is really keen on nagging you to move if you remain sedentary for a period of time, and tracks a lot of information while you’re moving around (and exercising). It’s easy enough to understand so your health can be processed painlessly.
According to my fitness-crazy friend who compared the watch’s heart rate monitor to his proper heart rate sensor device, the Huawei monitored his in real-time very accurately. It also provided in-depth sleep tracking with advice on how to sleep better. It has built-in workout set courses in case
you don’t know how to properly work out, like me.
It’s quite difficult to find a smartwatch you can take swimming in the Huawei’s price range. At around 6,000 baht, this one can be used in swimming pools or in open water at a depth of 50m for 10 minutes with no problem.
The watch is amazingly light and is very comfortable to wear. I already own a smartwatch that it is about two times heavier and is a lot less comfortable to wear. Like many smartwatches these days, you can easily replace straps.
One reason smartwatches have not gone mainstream yet, in my opinion, is that battery life doesn’t last for more than a few days.
Huawei claims that this watch can last up to seven days with a single charge. I found from personal use that included about 5km of walking and normal office work, the watch’s charge usually lasted around four days, which is OK, nowhere near as abysmal as the Apple Watch, which lasts a day if you’re lucky.
Even though, there are 14 watch faces to pick from in total (for now), most of them are quite informative, showing you time, steps, calorie loss, weather and the like. Also, most of them look very minimalistically elegant. But if you are more into customising the look and feel of your watch face, you’re better off with others running WearOS, like a TicWatch, or Apple Watch.
Since this runs Huawei’s own OS that mainly focuses on fitness tracking, the UI is fast and snappy and has very little lag. But that may be due to the lack of many sophisticated functions, e.g. receiving calls (you’re notified of incoming calls and can reject them). Also, calls from the Line app aren’t recognised, there are no extra apps, no additional watch faces, very minimal notifications — hardly any information is available outside of the headlines for each notification. If you expect proper notification, this watch will not do.
This watch will only support Thai language if you buy it from an official Huawei shop in Thailand. Apparently, the one I tested must have been imported from abroad. It showed blank spaces instead of Thai text, which is annoying since I have many Thai friends who text me in Thai. So, if you get a lot of messages in Thai, make sure you don’t buy an imported watch.
This watch cannot be “awakened” by tapping on the screen. You have to either flick your wrist or press the physical buttons.
Pairing requires you to install Huawei’s Health app, not Google’s Wear OS. Luckily, the app helps pair the phone to the watch seamlessly.
This is a great-looking and comfortable smartwatch for health-conscious people who don’t want to pay a high price while receiving plenty of advice to improve your health.