TECH REVIEW – From a technical standpoint, Huawei has crafted a wonder with this watch. It’s a stunningly powerful device that echoes the aesthetics of a premium dive watch. Fast, feature-rich, and with precise tracking, its utility is undeniable. It’s Huawei’s finest watch to date, yet the frustrating limitations and the lack of Google Play services accessibility, along with compatibility issues with certain phones, prevent a significant portion of potential users from fully utilizing it. Huawei’s best smartwatch could indeed be greatly enhanced with more effective solutions to these problems.

I’m really impressed with the Huawei Watch GT 4. It’s a striking device available in various materials and color options, each looking fantastic. The large AMOLED screen has a pleasant and smooth refresh rate, vibrant colors, and the speaker is loud – even embarrassingly so if you leave workout notifications on in public places like on public transport or at a press conference.

It’s also highly functional, with extremely accurate metrics. The TruSleep tracking was accurate, and the metrics in the Huawei Health app were pleasingly detailed, though I missed some actionable advice in this area. Huawei’s TruSeen 5.5+ algorithm provides excellent heart rate tracking that extends to workout tracking as well, and the GPS is comparable to the best smartwatches, ensuring great results during runs and bike rides.

Regrettably Limited

Nevertheless, when I have to return it to the distributor, I wouldn’t purchase one for myself. Under normal circumstances, such a watch would receive glowing praise from me, perhaps even a perfect score, but here it only reaches 78%. The watch itself is fantastic, but the frustrations associated with Huawei’s baggage cannot be ignored.

The restrictions imposed by the United States and other smartphone manufacturers, along with Huawei’s persistent use of its own AppGallery store, which most phones only support through a browser, result in a watch that struggles to effectively interact with many popular apps. Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Spotify, and others are on the no-go list, though some, like Strava, worked fine.

Interestingly, the watch is SUPPOSED to support Google Maps, but in reality, it crashes with a Connection Error. This is particularly frustrating as I frequently use this app for navigation on my (also Chinese, but not US-banned Redmi Note 11) smartphone, and it would be even more practical on a smartwatch – if it worked. There are many such apps that similarly fail to function, but Google Maps is a glaring example.

If you can overlook these flaws, a wonderful watch awaits, deserving of love. If you already own a Huawei phone and are accustomed to the system’s unique workarounds, then this watch is likely the ideal smartwatch for you.

The watch I tested costs around £229.99 for the 46mm with a silicone black strap and £249.90 for the 41mm with a silicone white strap in the UK, which is quite steep, but the overall quality and capabilities of the smartwatch make the price-to-value ratio acceptable. It undeniably looks gorgeous and could be a powerhouse with the right support; however, strong competition exists, and most other brands usually allow the use of Google Play and its applications.

Aesthetics and Style Are Spot On

It’s a pity because, in terms of exterior and style, Huawei watches are among the best, and this smartwatch is even cooler compared to other Huawei models. When I compared the Watch GT 4 models to the thick, boxy, plastic cases of the gimmicky Huawei Watch Buds and Huawei Watch D, the difference was like night and day. While the Watch D and Watch Buds were quirky at best and unsightly at worst, the Huawei Watch GT 4 models look fantastic, with built-in microphones and speakers that allow you to take and make calls right from your wrist.

These watches evoke various styles of traditional watches, from delicate round fashion and dress watches to field and diving units. The unit I tested, the 46mm with a plastic strap, very much resembled an analog dive watch when I chose the right face. Like all GT 4 models, it has a circular digital crown on the top right and a secondary button on the bottom right, which, combined with the highly responsive touchscreen, made navigating around the watch a pleasure.

The screen is large and visually impressive, and the display quality is quite fantastic. This full-color AMOLED screen offers an excellent refresh rate, ensuring a seamless touch experience, and the colors vividly come to life. The AMOLED screen was better than many Garmins (though not quite up to Apple’s Retina Display) and emitted around 600 nits of brightness. This is sufficient for most people, though it falls short of the Apple Watch Series 9, which can emit an impressive 2000 nits.

Some watch faces (at least the free ones) are rather lackluster, but I found one I liked that mimicked an analog watch face, featuring several complications on the face, including a step counter, the current phase of the moon, and a calendar. It echoed a classic watch style and complemented the watch’s aesthetics nicely.

“Strength and Health!”

The Huawei Watch GT 4 relies entirely on the Huawei Health app, which isn’t available in the iOS or Google Play store but can be easily downloaded through your browser and the provided QR code. From there, you can customize your watch faces, toggle various notification streams on and off, and view all your health data in more detail. The Huawei Health app excels at what it does, presenting comprehensive information and offering actionable advice on your workouts and sleep. (Though, its somewhat cumbersome handling did deduct a few points in the overall score.)

For instance, being a night owl, the Huawei Health app advised me to avoid caffeine consumption before bedtime – not particularly groundbreaking advice, but useful in drawing attention to it. The Watch GT 4 boasts a variety of workout programs, from outdoor and indoor cycling to swimming in pools and open water, measuring your strokes and distances as you progress.

The workout profiles integrate well with Huawei Health and offer additional features like AI-generated plans to assist you in targeted training for common exercises like running, which you can follow on your watch. The TruSleep and TruSeen 5.5+ sensors provide advanced heart rate monitoring and ECG functionalities. A temperature sensor, blood oxygen measurement, and a stress metric round up the suite of useful health features on offer here.

All the Huawei-native stuff is great: the problem lies in the lack of compatibility with other phones and operating systems. You can receive WhatsApp and email notifications, but responding to them is another story, and good luck trying to use apps like Gmail without significant sideloading trickery. And the list goes on. As I used the watch, more and more features either were missing or didn’t function well…

Battery Holds Up Well in Training, Just a Bit Tricky to Get it “Cooperating”…

During my testing of the Huawei Watch GT 4, the battery life met expectations. I tested it over five days, and each day the watch’s battery depleted between 5 and 10 percent depending on GPS usage. I’m quite satisfied that the watch lives up to its bold claims of up to 14 days, and I see that the average user could get 10 days out of the watch with a few GPS-intensive workouts.

The sleep and workout metrics performed very well, and I was happy with the results I got. Running Ability Index, Training Load, and Training Index metrics take a lot of your stats (if you’re a runner, of course) and distill them into simple numbers. Running Ability tells you if you’re running, for example, 44% better than users of a similar age, gender, height, and weight. Huawei is adept at condensing complex statistics into easily digestible nuggets of information – reminiscent of the best Fitbit watches in this regard.

When I tested the GPS tracking against an Apple Watch Ultra 2, the main noticeable difference was that the Huawei Watch GT 4 took much longer to connect to a network. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 connected almost instantaneously, while the GT 4 took at least two and a half minutes, during which it advised me to be in an open area, likely where the workout is starting. This might not seem like much to ask, but you either stand still for about 150 seconds in front of your house before you start running, or you just start running, and the watch begins tracking you halfway through your first kilometer.

Other than that, the Watch GT 4 closely matched the Ultra 2 in terms of both heart rate and distance covered when I wore them simultaneously, so I’m satisfied with the watch’s accuracy.

So, does the Watch GT 4 set our hearts racing? Definitely, but it would be great if the Chinese manufacturer and the USA could finally reach an agreement to fully utilize all the features of Huawei products.

-Gergely Herpai (BadSector)-