Verdict
The Huawei Watch 4 Pro is now a chip of a health and sports tracking ball of fire , but if you want the salutary smartwatch , we ’d still say the Apple Watch reins for iPhone and it fall down short in some areas against the Wear OS - powered Samsung Galaxy Watch .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Huawei Watch 4 Pro is the successor to the Watch 3 Pro , the high - end smartwatch Huawei establish back in 2021 , as its U. S. Army of habiliment continues to develop in number .
Unlike its GT series and the diving - centric Watch Ultimate , the Watch 4 is a open nod to the Huawei Watches that once carry Google ’s jade OS and matched it up with classic watch styling .
Those Wear bone are long gone now as Huawei ’s own HarmonyOS represents the present and future for the company ’s gadget , with fresh intent element and software features , particularly on the health front , that Huawei hopes will make the Watch 4 and catch 4 Pro ( which we quiz ) stand out from the crowd .
Design and screen
Just like with theHuawei Watch 3series , there are two var. in the course of the Watch 4 and the Watch 4 Pro , the latter of which is the focus here .
The main conflict between the two lie with the case , strap and screen material used . The Pro is a touch loggerheaded than the standard Watch 4 ( 12.9 mm vs 10.9 mm ) and heavier too , so if you desire the slimmer and tripping option , it ’s the non - Pro version you want .
I had the 48mm - sized Watch 4 Pro to test , which sees a leap in case size and uses aerospace - grade titanium in its physical body , a obliterable leather strap and a more voluptuary sapphire glass screen . Some of those elements definitely experience prissy than others . The matte silver titanium case is a nice match for Huawei ’s sizable 1.5 - column inch , LTPO AMOLED touchscreen display , though we found the leather strap attached to not to be as attractive as the case it ’s attached to . There is a titanium strap alternative if you want an all - metal look as well .
The champion of the show is that covert . It ’s full-grown , sharp , colours really bug out on it and you’re able to keep the screen typeset to always - on . It really lift what it ’s like to glance down at the Watch 4 professional . What I would say though is that the view angle are n’t always great in brighter outdoor lighting , while the bezel environ it could be a touch slimmer or not be there at all .
Huawei include a single forcible release that launches its new Quick legal community package feature , while the rotating crown further adds a touch modality of sophistication to interacting with the onboard software .
If you want to go swimming with the Watch 4 Pro , you’re able to as it carries a 5ATM water supply rating making it good to be submerged in water up to 50 cadence . In addition to that , it join Huawei ’s Watch Ultimate in being suitable for diving in depth up to 30 metres .
Features and performance
Like the old spotter and all of Huawei ’s belated watches , the Watch 4 Pro runs on HarmonyOS and at the time of this review we ’re up to version 3.1 . It ’s compatible with both Android and iOS , but pairing with an iPhone wo n’t get you the full experience . You ca n’t get at features like Huawei Music or Huawei ’s payment support .
The experience of using HarmonyOS is pretty practiced overall . It ’s well optimize to that big show ; visually it looks very tricky and it also runs swimmingly . Huawei has added in some young UI component like the ability to choose from more contraption , a warm bar to have you pick from your most frequently used features , and the float task musket ball which pops a running app to the top of the filmdom while you interact with another one .
Those addition do figure out in the confines of the watch ’s show and does n’t feel like it ’s making the area feel too busy , do it a secure spotter to multitask on . Crucially , it does n’t see a pearl in carrying out either .
In terms of what you have to bug into as a smartwatch , there ’s plenty here . I ’m a huge lover of the new preloaded watch face , which usefully bespeak the degree of might they sap from the battery when in use . While Huawei makes a big mickle about its major planet - centric faces , I think some love should be show particularly to the Variforms view fount , which might be one of the best examples of turning a sentry face into a time sea wolf plot . If you want more spotter confront , you may buy some via the Huawei Health phone app , but some of those faces are as expensive as £ 5 , which seems a jot overweening .
face aside , you ’ve got all the things you ’d expect to find on a smartwatch and feature that Huawei has previously done a very well line with . I ’m peach atmospheric condition update , music playback controls , timers , setting up warning equipment and regard and displaying notification .
Huawei ’s Celia assistant makes use of goods and services of the onboard microphone , but is well suited to basic questions as opposed to the more contextual interrogation you may birth at assistant like the Google Assistant , or Alexa and Siri . There is the ability to use the Watch 4 Pro as a standalone machine with an eSIM for when you ’re out from your earpiece . Huawei claims there ’s a wealth of third party apps useable to download from its app store , but it does n’t take long to know that you ’ll find significantly more high profile third political party apps in Apple and Google ’s storefronts by comparison .
Using the Huawei Watch 4 Pro day - to - day as a smartwatch is fine for those inwardness smartwatch features , but in terms of thing like payments , app and chic assistant support , it does n’t really best the competition .
Fitness and health tracking
Huawei has already done secure work in making its scout more utilitarian for tracking your exercise and health , and it ’s the latter that it ’s seek to amend with the Watch 4 Pro . We now have feature film like Health Glance , which snaffle multiple health metric including your heart rate , SpO2 and respiratory datum from a single measurement . Both Amazfit and Garmin offer like feature to this .
There ’s also an ECG sensing element to take on the spot measurements when you place your digit on the electrodes baked into the flat forcible release . It can even detect when your heart rate is abnormally high or low , and there ’s now the ability to measure for arterial stiffness which is related to high blood pressure or hypertension . Last up is a raw respiratory check that apply auditive sensors to take heed to your coughing whilst in a quiet space to assess that your lungs are fully functioning .
In just health features alone , the Watch 4 Pro offer a lot . The ECG readings seemed reliable against the ECG capabilities of an Apple Watch and against heart rate readings from a pulse oximeter . cutis temperature readings felt more reliable than it did on past Huawei Watches and the Health Glance bank check did n’t seem to throw up any odd sorts of data . The respiratory check through cough tell us it was normal , so gratefully no abnormality to report here . That data point is viewable in the Huawei Health app , neatly explain what typical metrics should be .
An data-based feature that is n’t here but is useable in China is the ability to assess blood sugar levels . It ’s still found on a small research Seth , so it ’s likely to be a characteristic we wo n’t see for some time until it ’s delivering a firm enough level of truth .
In terms of tracking your exercise and general fitness , you ’re well covered on that front . There ’s over 100 physical exercise modes including the diving modes from the pricier Watch Ultimate , and it also admit the route back navigation modality Huawei late add to watches like the GT Runner to improve its utility outside . There are more recently introduced running metric function like Running Ability , VO2 Max and recommended retrieval multiplication for those who require a bigger hit of stats . Huawei has redesigned its daily activity band based on the World Health Organization recommendations too , and it ’ll track your sleep while providing tips to help you improve your sleep time .
As a fitness tracker , it ’ll prod you when you ’ve not been participating enough during the day and the newfangled - look action ring do look a lot prissy on that LTPO presentation . Daily step counts were in the ballpark of Garmin ’s whole tone trail with a breakdown of your Move , Exercise and Stand rings viewable in the Health app . Sleep tracking perform well too , and offer standardized sopor duration and sopor scores as theOura Ring Gen 3 .
For sports trailing , I ’ve turn tail , rowed , jumped in the pool and on a treadmill with the Watch 4 Pro and it ’s had its respectable and bad moments . On outdoor runs , GPS tracking performed well and tender up similar metric for data like medium pace . In a backwash however it struggle to pick up a honest GPS connexion at the start and was well brusk of the aloofness of the course . Heart pace data was good in general for steady paced exercising , and slenderly faltered for more high intensity physical exercise , but you’re able to pair an external centre rate monitor to improve that truth .
We ’ve been pretty impressed by what Huawei offers on the sport trailing front and now it ’s adding richer health insights into the commixture to give the Watch 4 Pro a much greater entreaty for those who do n’t just care about their next endurance contest PB .
Battery life
When Huawei moved off from Wear OS it handle to push the battery functioning on its watches in a really far-famed way . The Huawei Watch 3 however felt like a step back as it only managed 2 - 3 daytime in smartwatch mode . This time around Huawei has promise more battery lifetime in that mode and it has for certain fork out .
That 2 - 3 solar day stint has now become 4.5 days in what it deems typical exercise . I managed to get up to five days in this mode , but we ’d say 4.5 - 5 years seems about good . It will be less with the display set to always - on as well . There ’s also an ultra - tenacious battery mode , which incapacitate mobile and Wi - Fi connections . That will get you anywhere from 12 - 21 days calculate on how much battery you presently have left to play with .
There ’s even a utilitarian power consumption way to see what is take up up the most battery , and a power preservation menu to ensure you ’re not using features that speedily drain the juice .
When you do get dispirited , there ’s quick boot financial backing to get you a day ’s use from a 15 - minute charge on Huawei ’s clean puck - determine charging cradle .
Ultimately , Huawei has delivered more stamp battery and it ’s the variety of extra battery that has made the Watch 4 Pro less frustrating to apply than the Watch 3 .
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Should you buy it?
Huawei has suitably ramped up the health monitoring accomplishment to match its already solid array of sports tracking modes .
The Watch 4 Pro is expensive and it ’s hard to argue that you should grab it over an Apple Watch .
Final Thoughts
Huawei is let a mess of matter good with its smartwatches . Whether it ’s figure , the hocus-pocus of the software or the fact that it continues to advertise frontward on the battery front as well . It still lack in some areas compared to other smartwatches , especially when you bet at the core smartwatch features where theApple Watch 8andSamsung Galaxy Watch 5edge it . You ’ll get a very skilful experience from the Watch 4 Pro , but we ’re not sure it quite betters what else is out there .
Trusted Score
How we test
We thoroughly test every smartwatch we review . We expend industry received examination to compare features properly and we employ the vigil as our main equipment over the recapitulation period . We ’ll always distinguish you what we find and we never , ever , accept money to review a product .
FAQs
Yes , you may answer calls on the Huawei Watch 4 Pro . If you activate the eSim support , you could also make and handle outcry without your sound nearby .
The Huawei Watch 4 can be used for contactless payment once you ’ve set up financial support in the Huawei Health app .
Full Specs
