Huawei Watch 2: Full, in-depth review

Name: Huawei Watch 2: Full, in-depth review
Item: Huawei Watch 2: Full, in-depth review
Rating: 3.75
Author: Fergus Halliday

Fergus Halliday

PC World

@Cvamped

11/10/17

Expert Rating

3.75 / 5

Pros

Good battery life
Solid performance

Cons

Display too small
4G connectivity isn't elegant
No waterproofing

Bottom Line

The Huawei Watch is a slick, second-generation device that irons out the kinks of the past, emerging from the chrysalis of iteration as the fully-fledged smartwatch it always could have been, given patience.

Would you buy this?

Yes 43
No 18

Price
$ 599.00 (AUD)

The Pitch

The pitch for the Huawei Watch 2 is a coin which, like most coins, has two sides. On one hand, its mere existence works to distinguish Huawei as a tech brand that’s not just experimenting or flirting with the smartwatch category but one reasonably committed to keeping it in their portfolio.

Despite an increasingly competitive wearables market and even one of their rotating CEOs telling journalists that he doesn’t see the point in the category, Huawei have stuck it out and brought what might be the best Android Wear smartwatch yet to market. The Huawei Watch is a slick, second-generation device that irons out the kinks of the past, emerging from the chrysalis of iteration as the fully-fledged smartwatch it always could have been, given patience.

Of course, then there’s the other side of the coin: 4G. The new Series 3 Apple Watch has recently garnered plenty of praise for cutting the cord and making the move to cellular connectivity. The 4G-ready Huawei Watch 2 debuted almost two months beforehand, yet found little praise for its trouble. The reason: they aren't Apple. At least, not yet.

Regardless, even if their bid to become "the Apple of Android" when it comes to smartphone has hit a few snags, there's a stronger case than ever to call them "the Apple of Android Wear" with the arrival of the Huawei Watch 2.

Specs

The Huawei Watch 2 is a smartwatch with a 1.2-inch AMOLED display (390 x 390 pixels) that's both touch-sensitive and coated in Corning’s Gorilla Glass. The device is powered by a Qualcomm MSM8909W 1.1 GHz processor and 768MB of RAM.It also boasts on-board storage of approximately 4GB (2.3GB once the OS is installed) and dual-mic noise cancellation for on-the-go phone calls.

The Huawei Watch 2 comes IP68-rated against water and dust damage. Then, under the hood, it incorporates a bevy of different sensors alongside its 420mAh battery. It runs on Android Wear 2.0 and comes packing Wi-Fi, NFC, cellular (4G via a SIM card) and Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity.