This time a year ago, Huawei(wah-way) was trying to get its feet wet in the US market. They brought us the P8 Lite, and also teamed up with Jawbone to incorporate their software into their activity tracker band called the TalkBand B2. Both I will say didn’t really pass off too good in the market and kind of came and went. Huawei went back to the wearable drawing board and created the rather stunning and cultivating Huawei Watch. Compared to the TalkBand model, the Huawei Watch as the name states is an Android Wear running smartwatch created to provide elegance and great functionality in what’s becoming a crowded smartwatch market. Does it really stand out from the crowded digital wrist watches of the world?
Style
First and foremost, the Huawei Watch was designed to fit just about everyone’s taste and that can be seen in various different styles they have for you to choose. You have casings ranging from Rose Gold Plated Stainless Steel to Black Stainless Steel or just Stainless Steel. Huawei provided us with the Stainless Steel model with the leather strap. Of course options can vary for you and can mix up the casings and straps to whatever you like. You can easily detach them to thanks to the latches on each strap hooked up to the 18mm lugs.
The Huawei Watch doesn’t feel cheap by any means and feels and looks like something you can wear on the daily when you don’t want to look like a geek doing it sometimes. Besides that you have a button on the right side you can use to dim or undim the display, or holding it to bring up the menu. Flip over to the back and you have the heart rate sensor and where you would attach the included charger. The charger maybe one of my dislikes about the device. If not connected probably even when the magnetic charger prongs clamp on you might not be charging up. Also if you misplace this charger you are in a world of hurt. I wish it had QI charging like say the Gear S2 or Moto 360 smartwatches. QI charging is just easier and can be used with a plethora of QI chargers.
Performance / Display
There is where the Huawei Watch really shines. It has a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and a gorgeous 1.4″ full circle AMOLED screen with 286 PPI. It’s a one-two punch of great tech brought upon your wrist. With the light UI of Android Wear you are able to navigate from task to task with ease and also getting notifications from my smartphone whether it be the iPhone 6S+ or V10 with no whims. Display wise you aren’t really going to get a better screen on this watch. While the Moto 360 2nd Gen looks great that missing display is always an eyesore(to me) no matter how much you get accustomed to. Huawei’s display pops with vibrant colors and works good in natural daylight outside.
Of course all this does take a toll on the battery which is at 300mAh. If keeping in “Always-On” mode I might get a day with moderate usage on the Huawei Watch. It puts it in range other devices. If you don’t have the display on all the time you might squeeze out a day and a half maybe two if lucky when synced on. Just using it as a regular timepiece will provide longer times of use before throwing it back on the cradle charger. It does charge pretty fast though but that’s because of the small battery. Also depending on the watchface you use it will tell you if the battery is charging or not.
Verdict
Even with its so so battery life mixed with annoying cradle charger, the Huawei Watch is one of the best looking smartwatches on the market. Its display is clean and bright coupled with a great response time thanks to this nifty processor underneath If you are looking for style, the Huawei Watch definitely brings it with its various options but just be prepared to give up your wallet. Prices start at $349 and go up to $799.
