Huawei Watch Ultimate Review | Trusted Reviews

Verdict

The Huawei Watch Final provides out of doors monitoring expertise total for lower than the competitors, however it feels prefer it’s value spending a bit extra to get one thing that gives a extra full smartwatch and extras like full mapping to make it extra helpful in your adventures.

Introduction

The Huawei Watch Final is a wearable constructed for critical out of doors adventurers and is clearly Huawei’s reply to the Apple Watch Extremely and watches just like the Garmin Fenix and Epix.

Its arrival makes it the priciest watch in Huawei’s wearable assortment, sitting above the brand new Huawei Watch 4 and Huawei Watch 4 Professional and guarantees options like a dive-proof design, new navigation options together with a design wearing excessive grade supplies.

It’s a daring transfer from Huawei to enter into this out of doors watch area with Apple, Garmin and others already providing robust choices for hikers and climbers. So, does the Final match or higher the present out of doors watch greats? Right here’s my take.

Design and display

• Is available in two mannequin choices
• 1.5-inch LTPO AMOLED display
• Waterproof as much as 100 metres

There’s a transparent intention from Huawei to make the Final really feel prefer it’s a watch that could possibly be mistaken for a standard dive watch – assume Omega Seamaster or Rolex Submariner. All of the supplies you’d anticipate finding on these watches are right here like sapphire glass on the watch dial, ceramic within the chassis and bezel with a metallic casing up entrance.

There’s two choices to choose from, the Voyage and Expedition Black with the previous supplied with a titanium strap and a rubber strap. The Expedition model is obtainable with simply the extra exercise-friendly rubber strap. I truly had each variations to check with the Voyage model touchdown first and the accompanying titanium strap was far too massive for my wrists. I ended up spending extra time with the Expedition mannequin, however grabbed the secondary strap supplied with the Voyage Final.

Would you mistake the Final for a high-end dive watch? I’m not likely certain you’d. Sure, the supplies are there, however as a package deal it does nonetheless really feel like a smartwatch that aspires to be a luxurious watch however doesn’t totally pull it off. It positively has a complicated really feel to it, however it may need been higher for Huawei to embrace its personal distinctive design.

What Huawei does have in its favour is a very crisp LTPO AMOLED show housed within the 48.5mm case. That display measures in at 1.5-inches and provides a 466 x 466 decision, matching the display measurement and show expertise used on the newer Huawei Watch 4 and 4 Professional. It has all of the hallmarks of an amazing AMOLED, is responsive to the touch and could be set to remain always-on on the expense of longer battery life. 

In contrast to Huawei’s different watches, there are three bodily buttons on the Final with the additional added for Huawei’s new Expedition mode. Assume the Motion button on the Apple Watch Extremely, however with rather less aptitude on the design entrance.

Then there’s the improved water resistance, which goals to make the Final appropriate for deep diving. It carries a ten ATM ranking, that means it’s secure to be submerged in water as much as 100 metres in depth. Along with that, Huawei says the Final meets the necessities of the EN 13319 customary for diving equipment, supporting free diving as much as 100 metres. The Apple Watch Extremely additionally has an EN 13319-compliant design for comparability.

Options and efficiency 

• Concord OS works with Android and iOS
• Entry to Huawei AppGallery for Android solely
• Good assortment of watch faces

The Final runs on Concord OS 3.0 and is suitable with Android and iOS (extra so for the previous), however Huawei has designed the watch to work greatest with its personal Concord OS powered smartphones.

Huawei doesn’t usually reveal the extent of processing energy its watches pack, however like its different watches, issues do run slick. There’s no display lag, the animation on widgets and watch faces are easy and it’s typically an working system that works nicely and is straightforward to familiarize yourself with.

The highest proper bodily button will get you into the primary app display the place you would possibly have to study over time what every app icon truly represents as a mode, whereas the Down button gives you fast entry to your most regularly used watch characteristic.

There’s mixture of watch faces and I recognize that every face features a energy ranking to provide you a sign of how a lot it’ll drain the battery. The notification feed is only a swipe away and there are good widgets for info just like the climate and wellness monitoring. The music playback controls are nicely optimised and there’s Bluetooth calling however it lacks the standalone mobile help you’ll get on the cheaper Huawei Watch 4.

These smartwatch options don’t really feel as well-built as those you’ll get on an Apple Watch and Garmin’s enhancing smartwatch ecosystem. In the event you care about options like funds, a powerful third social gathering app ecosystem and only a extra full smartwatch expertise for each Android and iOS customers, there are higher choices on the market.

Health and well being monitoring 

• Expedition mode for hikes, climbing and path working
• Devoted diving mode
• 100+ exercise modes together with golf

The Final is billed to be a watch that you would be able to tackle dives, hikes, path runs and any setting the place your exercise turns into much more rugged.

There are largely the identical sensors onboard as included on Huawei Watch 4 to trace and monitor your well being and health. That features an ECG sensor for extra correct coronary heart fee readings, the dual-band GPS Huawei launched on the Huawei Watch GT 3 to enhance out of doors monitoring accuracy when grabbing a dependable sign could be disrupted by tall buildings and closely forested areas. There’s additionally temperature and an optical coronary heart fee sensor, which might additionally monitor SpO2 ranges.

Let’s be trustworthy although, It’s actually the Watch Final’s out of doors watch expertise which are the primary draw. First up is the brand new diving mode, bringing the brand new depth sensor and including modes for leisure, freedive and technical diving profiles. There’s additionally the supply of diving-centric options like deciding on the kind of water you’re going to be diving into, turning on depth and dive timer reminders and conducting Apnea checks to evaluate these necessary breath holding talents. If diving is your factor, there’s lots for you right here supplied natively on the watch.

You even have an Expedition mode, which is activated from the extra bodily button and is designed for hikes, climbs and path runs. From that button you’ll be able to set waypoints for key landmarks whereas lowering the GPS sampling fee to enhance battery efficiency in trade for location monitoring accuracy. This mode additionally helps you to see your compass, barometer and SpO2 knowledge and gives fast entry to the torch mode. This lives outdoors of the usual monitoring mode, and is executed nicely when it comes to how knowledge is offered and does drain much less battery on the expense of the very best GPS accuracy.

Huawei does additionally embrace the power to add routes and use its route again navigation with breadcrumb-style mapping. You don’t get the complete mapping help that you simply get on the Garmin Fenix 7 Professional or the Garmin Epix Professional Gen 2 or the brand new Topo map help that’s been added to the Apple Watch Extremely in watchOS 10, which is a knock to the Watch Final’s credentials as matching the competitors on this space.

Outdoors of these massive out of doors options, it’s extra of the identical when it comes to the opposite sports activities, well being and health monitoring options that I’ve skilled on different latest Huawei watches. I discovered the dual-band GPS help carried out higher than the dual-band help on the corporate’s earlier wearables, although I discovered that grabbing a GPS sign took an age on a couple of event.

Coronary heart fee efficiency had its good and unhealthy days. On a extra intense interval observe session it held up fairly nicely in opposition to Garmin’s HRM Professional chest strap and was 1-2 bpm out on common and max readings. Then on extra steadier paced exercises it could possibly be as a lot as 10 bpm out on some readings whereas different occasions close to spot on to a chest strap. It carried out nicely for indoor rowing monitoring and just about matched up with the swim knowledge from a Garmin watch and the swim-tracking Kind Swim Goggles.

For day-to-day monitoring, day by day step counts had been typically a good bit beneath or over the day by day step counts on a Garmin watch and the Oura Ring Gen 3, which had been a lot nearer with these day by day totals. For sleep, it supplied comparable sleep period and sleep stage breakdowns because the Oura Ring, which I’ve discovered to be some of the dependable sleep trackers but.

There’s lots right here, whether or not you care extra about your exercise time or your day by day exercise and accuracy and efficiency is sweet and never so good in locations.

Battery life 

• As much as 14-days in typical use
• As much as 8-days in heavy utilization
• Fees totally in a single hour

With the Final, Huawei is promising comparable battery numbers to its GT sequence watches, which suggests this can be a smartwatch that may last as long as two weeks in typical utilization and that drops to 8-days beneath extra strenuous exercise. These numbers are based mostly on lab checks with options like GPS use, sleep monitoring and the quantity of notifications you obtain most notably impacting on the sort of battery you’re going to get pleasure from.

I’d say these numbers mirror the sort of battery life I skilled in my testing time, which leaned extra on the facet of heavy utilization. It’s a watch that may last as long as every week and might go longer. Toggle the always-on show mode and the battery life will drop beneath every week.

The Watch Final additionally costs up from 0-100% in an hour, which is identical fee of charging because the Huawei Watch 4. It does lack the Watch 4’s extremely lengthy life battery mode, which does imply it’s not the longest-lasting Huawei Watch you should buy, however does put in efficiency in comparison with equally priced out of doors smartwatches.

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