Smartwatches were once seen as the future and eventual replacement for mobile phones and while that hasn’t quite come to pass, they have integrated themselves into our daily lives as fantastic health tools. So it’s a relief when a brand can not only compete but excel in this space and that’s exactly what Huawei has done.
The Chinese tech company is known mainly for its smartphones, tablets and laptops have been a staple of the smartwatch market since its first Huawei Watch back in 2015.
Despite not being part of Google's Wear OS the Huawei Watch has become known for its long battery life and excellent health tracking tools and their latest lineup now includes and premium Huawei Watch Ultimate.
Design
I love that Huawei watches look like actual watches with their large circular design that at first glance looks like any other modern watch.
Unlike the Fitbit, Apple Watch and Pixel Watch, the new Huawei Watch Ultimate is the absolute unit, looking rugged and well built at 48.5mm × 48.5mm × 13mm which won’t be to everyone’s taste.
This is also reflected in its weight of 76g making it heavier than most smartwatches even the previous Huawei GT 3 Pro (which is the chunkiest watch I had for comparison) but surprisingly not much larger.
While it certainly does have some heft to it, it never felt bulky or uncomfortable on my wrist.
Extra care has been taken to improve the already robust build quality with the Ultimate’s case now being made from Zirconium-based Liquid metal, which isn't a liquid and is actually an alloy of some of the toughest metals to create something stronger than Aluminium, Steel and Titanium, making it incredibly durable and corrosion resistant.
It is finished with a ceramic bezel framing the screen and it also uses Sapphire glass, the same material used in premium and luxury watches and is rated just below diamond on resistance.
It’s also available in two colours Expedition Black and Voyager Blue with the option of two straps either the black rubber strap or the fancy titanium strap, which adds around £50 more
It has no issues getting wet either whether it's sweat, rain swimming or diving with its 10 ATM water-resistant and certified for ISO 22810 and EN13319 standards, which means it can handle a depth of around 100 metres making it great for swimming, snorkelling and diving, allowing it more depth than many of its competitors.
Controls
The watch is simple and intuitive to use and navigate its menus. It uses a touch display as well as three simple buttons the assist button, a rotating crown, and a function button.
Swiping down from the top of the screen brings the quick setting like settings, torch, alarm, do not disturb etc which is very handy to be able to get to quickly. While swiping up from the bottom shows notifications.
Swiping left and right allows you to see some important stats like your sleep tracker, weather, your fitness targets like step count and how close you are to completing them, your Sp02 level, and your heart rate.
Display
The screen is a fantastic 1.5 inches, LTPO, AMOLED display which supports a dynamic refresh rate from 1 to 60Hz allowing it to preserve battery when you're not scrolling through its menus but remaining crystal clear and responsive.
It’s also incredibly bright and sharp with a resolution of 466 x 466 pixels, and a PPI of 311 which makes it sharper than most on the market, making it super clear to see your stats.
While the watch does have the option of an always-on display that doesn’t impact battery life too much, you can have this turned off to further prolong its use.
Features
The Ultimate features a plethora of the latest versions of Huawies handy fitness and health measuring features, like ECG, heart rate tracking, blood oxygen, Arterial stiffness, and sleep tracking, as well as the standard step counter and a diverse selection of workout modes.
While you might not use them all they are fantastic tools to have on your wrist although most need to be manually switched on within the Huawei Health app on your phone.
It also has several other handy features like find my phone, the ability to play stored music either through pair of wireless buds or with its own built-in speaker.
And if you want to go hands-free you can even take calls from the watch and see and reply to messages provided you are connected to your smartphone.
A brand new feature on the Ultimate is Expedition mode, this changes the layout of the watch to display, distance, battery, outdoor environmental conditions and health indicators, and it uses Dual-Band Five-System GNSS to ensure accurate map positioning and allows you to set waypoints to help you track your journey.
Battery
The Li-Po 530 mAh battery is one of the Ultimates stand-out features lasting a whopping 2 weeks which is miles ahead of Google and Apple’s smartwatches so it’s always ready to go when you need it. It also can be fully charged in one hour and supports Qi wireless charging.
Operating System
HarmonyOS 3.0 is quick and responsive but there are some caveats to using a Huawei device that might put some off, for example, it is not part of Google’s Wear OS, which means you can’t use the Google play store to download, apps and watch faces for the GT4.
Many aspects of the watch can be further customised like watch faces, downloading MP3s and activating some features are all done using the Huawei health app, which is a free app which can be downloaded from the Huawei website and annoyingly is no longer available from the Google Play store.
I was surprised that there was no voice recording included but additional apps can be downloaded through the app gallery in the Huawei health app. I also couldn’t test the AI Voice features as it required a Huawei device.
One of the few issues I have with the Ultimate is that you cannot use it for NFC contactless payments as Huawei Wallet is not supported in the UK.
Price
However, that premium build comes at a premium cost, starting at £699 while the more attractive titanium band version is £749, putting it in the range of top-tier smartwatches like the Apple Watch Ultra which is £849 and Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro which is £479 and diving watches like the Garmin Descent Mk2 for £1,049.99.
Huawei Watch Ultimate Verdict 5/5
The Huawei Watch Ultimate really does live up to its name with its attractive watch-like design, incredible durability and it’s amazing battery life making this the perfect smartwatch for outdoor adventures or anyone who wants a smartwatch that can go the distance.
I was already a fan of Huawei's smartwatches but this is the best smartwatch they have ever made. My biggest issue with the watch is it being excluded from the Google ecosystem but it never caused any big issues.
While its £700 asking price might seem steep, unlike many others in the range I feel like you are actually getting some amazing features that make it more than worth its asking price.
The Huawei Watch Ultimate is out now and is available starting at £699 from the Huawei website
