Huawei's beautiful Android Wear watch goes on sale Sept. 17 starting at $349 (hands-on)
The Huawei Watch features the highest resolution display of any smartwatch and is the first Android Wear watch to be protected by sapphire crystal.
Huawei may not be the first brand that comes to mind when you think of luxury. The Chinese company is primarily known for its line of affordable Android smartphones, but your opinion may soon change. I know mine has.
We first saw the Huawei Watch back at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona this past March. It featured a stainless steel body and a display that was protected by sapphire crystal, a first for an Android Wear watch. We were impressed, but there was still a lot of unanswered questions. When would it be released? And more importantly, how much would it cost?
After a long delay, we finally have all of our answers. A premium product translates into a premium price. The Huawei Watch isn't cheap. The cheapest model will cost you $349, while the more-expensive gold model tops out at $799. While that price gets you arguably the best looking Android Wear watch around, it's still just an Android Wear watch, and by no means is it or the platform perfect. (Pricing and availability for the UK and Australia has not been confirmed, but US prices convert to about £230/AU$500 and £520/AU$1,140, respectively.)
What is it?
The Huawei Watch is the the company's first smartwatch. Just like the Moto 360, LG G Watch R and Watch Urbane, the Huawei Watch runs Google's Android Wear operating system. It can display personalized Google Now cards and notifications for text messages, emails and calls from your iPhone or Android smartphone right on your wrist.
On the software side, it doesn't do anything different than other Android Wear watches, although Huawei did include more than 40 customizable watch faces. The watch is also a dedicated activity tracker that can measure steps, distance and calories burned. On Android, it can sync with third-party apps from Jawbone, Strava and many others in the Play store.
Design and hardware
The Huawei Watch will be the eighth Android Wear watch to hit the market, but it does have some unique features that will help it stand out. The screen is protected by sapphire crystal, which should make it harder to scratch. The 1.4-inch AMOLED display is a complete circle, which I liked a lot -- especially compared to the screen on the Moto 360, which features an unsightly black bar at the bottom. The 400x400-pixel resolution on the Huawei Watch is also higher than any other Android Wear watch available today. That works out to about 286 pixels per inch (ppi) -- the higher that number, the sharper the screen.
Not only does the watch look like a premium product, but it also feels like one. The Huawei Watch is built with cold-forged stainless steel. It wasn't too heavy, but also not light to the point where it feels cheap. A smartwatch hasn't felt this good since the
.On the top right, around two o'clock, sits the crown. While it looks nice, it doesn't spin or have much use. You can press the crown to light up the display or access the app drawer. In other words, it's not like the digital crown on the Apple Watch, which you can spin to scroll through apps.
On the inside the Huawei Watch is near identical to every other Android Wear watch. It's powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor, rather than a newer Snapdragon 410. It's also equipped with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage for music and apps. The watch carries an IP67 rating, which means it can withstand splashing and showering (sans the leather strap of course), but you shouldn't go in the pool with it.
On the back there's an optical heart-rate sensor, which Huawei claims to be "the most accurate" of any smartwatch. There's also a gyroscope, an accelerometer and a barometer. These are used to measure your steps throughout the day.
Huawei claims the 300mAh battery will get you up to two days of usage, even with the always-on display feature enabled. That's better than the Apple Watch, but it falls short of the Pebble Time Steel, which lasts about a week. The watch is charged using a magnetic dock that clips to the back. A fast-charging feature will get you up to 80 percent battery life in just 45 minutes, while a full charge will take you under an hour and a half.
The Huawei Watch is by no means perfect. There's Wi-Fi on board so you can use the watch without a phone nearby, but it doesn't do anything new, nor does it include features found in some competitors. It doesn't include NFC for mobile payments like the Apple Watch, doesn't have cellular connectivity like the Samsung Gear S2, and doesn't have GPS for tracking pace and distance when running like the Sony Smartwatch 3.
Size and options
The face on the Huawei Watch measures 42mm. The size looked good on my wrist, but some of my female colleagues found it to be a bit big on theirs. Interested in a smaller size? You are out of luck. The Huawei Watch will only be available in one size, which is a shame given that the Apple Watch is available in both 42mm and 38mm models.
The watch supports both 18mm and 21mm straps that can be swapped out for any regular watch strap of the same size. A quick release mechanism makes it easy to swap out the bands, there's no need for a special tool. Huawei offers a leather strap, link bracelet and a mesh band, which looks quite similar to the one on the Apple Watch.
Pricing and availability
The Huawei Watch is available in three models: silver, black and rose gold plated. All models feature the same stainless steel body, heart-rate sensor, and sapphire crystal display.
The silver model with a leather strap will be available for $349, while adding either a silver link bracelet or mesh strap increases the price to $399. The sleek black model will be offered with a black link bracelet for $449, while the high-end rose gold-plated model will be available for $699 with the leather strap or $799 with the gold link bracelet.
The silver and black models are available for pre-order today, with the rose gold models coming later this year. The Huawei Watch will arrive in stores and online from retailers like Amazon and Best Buy on September 17.
Catch all the electronics news from this week's show in Berlin.