Now, there’s one watch to rule them all
For price, looks and function, Huawei’s GT 3 is the king
Huawei Watch GT 3 From €229
★★★★★
It’s been a difficult few years for Huawei and its mobile business, given US-China trade tensions. However, it continues to be one of the most innovative technology companies in the world and its tablets and MateBook laptops are exceptional.
Huawei’s wearables business is perhaps its most notable. Its entry-level fitness tracker bands and mid-range Watch Fit have comprehensive features and are excellent value.
Huawei’s watches, though, are the stars of the show, and this week I tested the new Watch GT 3.
Available in two case sizes, 42mm and 46mm, there are also various combinations of body colour. Straps are available in steel, leather, nylon and fluoroelastomer – a synthetic rubber that seems incredibly hard-wearing – and in a broad range of colours and styles. The fluoroelastomer, while perhaps the least attractive, will suit the outdoors or sports enthusiast best.
I ordered an extra brown leather strap for casual wear, which can be swapped on to the watch in less than a minute.
The time piece comes with a proprietary wireless charger – though any wireless charger will do the job – and also a quickstart guide.
You won’t need to worry about charging that often as the 46mm version of the GT 3 has a truly astonishing two-week battery life.
To set up the watch, I used the
Huawei Health app, available for Android and iOS. A simple pairing procedure via Bluetooth and the GT 3 connects to the app. The data the watch collects on your activity, sleep, heart, breathing and other health stats are accessible on your wrist – and in a more detailed way on the Health app.
The new heart-rate sensor, TruSeen™ 5.0, is a serious upgrade and significantly reduces external interference allowing for more accurate heart-rate monitoring even during strenuous exercise.
There’s also all-day blood oxygen and skin temperature monitoring – excellent features to help give you a broad view of your wellness.
Not only that, but the sleep tracking is excellent, capturing deep, light and REM sleep stages.
It tracks the regularity of your bedtime and rise time; how many times you woke, and your breathing quality overnight. Those stats combine to allow the app to rate your sleep for overall quality.
Besides health monitoring, notifications from smartphone apps such as WhatsApp or SMS can be shown on the watch and you can use quick replies by tapping.
Also with Bluetooth calling, you can take or make calls on the watch, and while it might look a tad sci-fi, the quality of a quick call, if you have to take one, is excellent.
The comprehensive fitness features on this watch will appeal to those who train for fun or very seriously.
There’s multi-system GPS for really detailed tracking of running, skiing or running routes, and it has support for 100 workout modes, and handles everything from spinning to yoga.
The watch shows sunrise and sunset every day, has a moon phase
THE 46MM VERSION
HAS A TWO-WEEK BATTERY LIFE
HAS MORE FITNESS
FEATURES THAN I WILL EVER USE
display and keeps you informed of tidal changes in real time. It’s also waterproof up to 50m.
There’s a built-in altitude barometer – useful for altitude-related training stats and can warn of the onset of extreme weather if you’re in the wild.
It’s hard to find fault here, but there are a couple.
For instance, it doesn’t currently support contactless payments a checkout and there’s a limited number of really useful third-party apps, something I hope Huawei will address with developers.
However, its 1.43” AMOLED screen is full of life and glorious colour – yet the watch is still light enough to be almost unnoticeable.
It has 14-day battery life, GPS, Bluetooth calling and more fitness and health features than I will ever use.
Costing substantially less than some premium smart watches that just aren’t as good, the Huawei Watch GT 3 is the best priced, best looking and best performing show in town.