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Review: Is Huawei Watch the first eye-catching iPhone-compatible Android Wear smartwatch? [Video]

Huawei Watch is beautiful. I know that’s a rather odd way to start out this review, but this is hands-down one of the best looking smart watches on the market. I suppose that opinion is somewhat subjective depending on your taste, but every little detail about Huawei Watch’s design is proof that there’s light at the end of the tunnel for beautiful smartwatch design…

Huawei Watch is one of the first new Android Wear devices rolling out in this new iOS-compaible world and I believe it’s one of Apple’s biggest competitors in this space in terms of design and detail. It also breathes new life into the Android space with it’s refreshingly classy design. Take a look at the unboxing experience in the video below. I was impressed. It actually felt like I was opening a high-end analog watch for the first time.

The quality of materials used all around puts Huawei Watch in another category of class. The polished 42mm stainless steel body comes in at 11.3mm thick, but surprisingly doesn’t feel as bulky as it sounds. The leather strap works well in combination, but there are also other strap variations you can pick up at difference price points or just slap your own 18mm watch band on it for ultimate customization.

Check out our Huawei Watch review video below:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2IxBSfCAUA]

The circular AMOLED display measures in at 1.4-inches and has a resolution of 400 x 400 (286 ppi). It’s covered by sapphire crystal, which puts its durability and scratch resistance a step above the competition in the Android Wear space. The display is powered by a 300 mAh battery, 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, and 512MB of RAM with 4GB of storage. Nothing special in terms of Android Wear specifications, but the Sapphire-covered AMOLED display is a big win in my opinion. You’ll also be happy to know that this little guy carries an IP67 dust and water resistance rating as well.

For the sake of finding something to replace Apple Watch, I decided to set up the Huawei Watch with my iPhone 6. If you haven’t been through this process before on iOS, it’s very simple and both the watch and phone will guide you through it. Functionality is rather limited when connected to iPhone. You can count on notifications pushing through, but everything happens on a very simple level.

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You won’t be able to do very much with these incoming notifications (aside from archive, delete, and reply with the Gmail app), but for some people including myself, just having them is enough. Of course, there’s the fitness aspect and a few other handy tools, but nothing nearly as comprehensive as you’ll find with Apple Watch for anyone curious. On the other hand, Huawei Watch offers the exact same experience as any other Android Wear smartwatch out there when paired with an Android device, but that’s not a bad thing. Everything from changing watch faces, diving into settings, scrolling through notifications and messages, is a breeze as Android Wear has been since its inception.

If you’re not familiar with Android Wear at all, we’ve got a review to get you up to speed. Also, for a closer look at Android Wear in its entirety, check out Cam Bunton’s video on his first impressions with Android Wear’s new iPhone compatibility.

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I can’t stress this enough, Huawei Watch is absolutely gorgeous in style and operation. Everything is buttery smooth. Majority of your navigation here is done with swipes across the display, but there’s also a side button which will allow you to sleep the watch (which can also be accomplished by palming the display), or access the app menu with a long-press. There’s a heart rate monitor on the under side of it and you’ll also find the connection points to attach Huawei Watch’s puck-like charger. Unfortunately it’s not charged through a wireless standard, but the magnetic puck snaps into place easily. This is helpful because like most other smartwatches out at the moment, you’ll be charging Huawei Watch each night. Not a deal breaker for myself though.

So what’s the real story here? In my eyes, Huawei is taking this smartwatch thing very seriously. This is the Android Wear watch to be in 2015. It’s without a doubt the best ones we’ve seen to date, but is it the best smartwatch? That’s subjective depending on your needs. Can the Huawei Watch replace Apple Watch in my life? It definitely can, but my needs are simple and it most certainly wins over my other Android Wear devices . It’s beautifully crafted and price competitively with the market coming in at $349. For the materials and presentation, that’s well worth it to me. Huawei has managed to release a first generation product that’s at a level which may surpass all of the second generation Android Wear competitors in every category. Good job, Huawei.

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Comments

  1. epicflyingcat - 9 years ago

    Best looking smartwatch on the market by a mile. Although, I don’t think it’s worth the extra cost over the Moto 360 2

  2. rogifan - 9 years ago

    Man that thing would look gigantic on my wrist.

  3. rogifan - 9 years ago

    But I will say the look of it puts the Gear S 2 to shame. The novelty of the rotating bezel will wear off quickly and people will want something that looks more high quality. For me personally I’m glad the Watch will stand out as something different in a sea of round smart watches. How does Huawei stand out when their watch looks very similar to the Moro 360 which looks very similar to the LG Urbane and now Samsung is in the game with round. I don’t think there’s enough they can do design wise to stand out. Especially since they’ll probably have to keep prices low in order to generate sales.

  4. dailycardoodle - 9 years ago

    The black display looks nice but that blue one with skeuomorphic details, shadows under hands, faux shiny face etc. is so disgusting, it’s hard to put into words.

    • David Peltz - 9 years ago

      Couldn’t disagree more, Mr. Ive. There are still time and places where skeumorphisism is great and a smart watch is one of them. The watch faces on this thing are gorgeous and put the Apple Watch faces to shame. Just got the H watch yesterday and will use it for a week ago and decide whether its functional enough with iOS to justify selling my Apple Watch which, frankly, I find boring and uninspiring as hell.

      • Richard Pyun - 8 years ago

        So how do you like the watch so far with iphone? I’m debating on the lg urbane or lg urbane 2 and have an iphone

  5. Bob Black - 9 years ago

    It won’t make a difference to the appleheads.. they love their new toy.. especially the calliope music it constantly plays …/s

  6. spiralynth - 9 years ago

    Android anything = Utter garbage

    Huawei = Owned by Chinese Military/Government

    :.ergo.:

    Android anything + Huawei = Are you out of your fucking mind to even consider buying this crap?

  7. John Cray - 8 years ago

    My new Huawei seems incompatible on my iPhone 5S IF the BlueTooth settings on the iPhone also list a Pebble and/or Apple Watch app.there as well (I had both).. (Do Not delete the Huawei app….ever…for any reason, which I did. It took half my day to find and restore it alone. Safari said the replacement app address from Apple was invalid and continued to refuse to reload it. Huawei kicked the other two off; locked both the Pebble Time and Apple Watch completely down, made them unusable and impossible to reconnect so long as Huawei remained. I shut everything Huawei down! What a mess; resetting and restarting the iPhone and bringing the Pebble and the Apple back to life from their factory settings. Apparently Huawei doesn’t like any competition; or is it Apple?.

  8. John Cray - 8 years ago

    DO NOT load any additional smartwatches to iPhone’s BlueTooth settings if you intend to place Huawei there. If you’ve got them there, move them out or Huawei won’t work. It’ll boot the others off and lock them down (unusable). Had to bring them back to life with their factory settings.