Verdict
The Huawei Watch Ultimate offer a good outdoor tracking experience overall for less than the rival , but it palpate like it ’s worth drop a picayune more to get something that offers a more complete smartwatch and extras like full mapping to make it more utile on your escapade .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Huawei Watch Ultimate is a wearable build for serious outside adventurers and is clearly Huawei ’s response to the Apple Watch Ultra and watches like the Garmin Fenix and Epix .
Its arrival makes it the priciest watch in Huawei ’s wearable collection , sit above the new Huawei Watch 4 andHuawei Watch 4 Proand hope features like a honkytonk - proof innovation , new navigation have along with a design coiffure in gamey grade materials .
It ’s a bluff move from Huawei to go into into this outdoor scout place with Apple , Garmin and others already offering potent options for tramp and climber . So , does the Ultimate friction match or well the current outdoor vigil greats ? Here ’s my take .
Design and screen
There ’s a readable aim from Huawei to make the Ultimate feel like it ’s a watch that could be mistaken for a traditional diving watch – reckon Omega Seamaster or Rolex Submariner . All the materials you ’d await to observe on those watches are here like cerulean glass on the watch dial , ceramic in the chassis and bezel with a metal casing up front .
There ’s two option to pick from , the Voyage and Expedition Black with the former propose with a titanium strap and a arctic shoulder strap . The Expedition variation is offered with just the more exercise - friendly rubber shoulder strap . I in reality had both interpretation to test with the Voyage variant landing place first and the play along atomic number 22 strap was far too giving for my wrists . I stop up spend more prison term with the Expedition model , but grab the secondary shoulder strap provided with the Voyage Ultimate .
Would you mistake the Ultimate for a high - ending dive watch ? I ’m not really sure you would . Yes , the fabric are there , but as a package it does still feel like a smartwatch that shoot for to be a luxury sentry but does n’t entirely pull it off . It decidedly has a advanced spirit to it , but it might have been good for Huawei to embrace its own unique design .
What Huawei does have in its favour is a really crispy LTPO AMOLED display housed inside of the 48.5 mm character . That screen measures in at 1.5 - inches and offer a 466 x 466 firmness of purpose , matching the screen size and display engineering used on the newer Huawei Watch 4 and 4 Pro . It has all the hallmarks of a great AMOLED , is responsive to match and can be set to stay always - on at the disbursement of longer battery life .
Unlike Huawei ’s other lookout man , there are three strong-arm clitoris on the Ultimate with the extra added for Huawei ’s newfangled Expedition mode . imagine the Action button on theApple Watch Ultra , but with a little less flair on the invention front .
Then there ’s the improved urine resistance , which aims to make the Ultimate worthy for mysterious diving . It carries a 10 ATM military rating , mean it ’s safe to be deluge in water up to 100 metres in depth . In gain to that , Huawei says the Ultimate meets the requirements of the EN 13319 standard for diving accessories , supporting free diving up to 100 metres . The Apple Watch Ultra also has an EN 13319 - compliant design for comparison .
Features and performance
The Ultimate runs on Harmony OS 3.0 and is compatible with Android and iOS ( more so for the former ) , but Huawei has designed the sentry to work well with its own Harmony OS powered smartphones .
Huawei does n’t typically divulge the storey of processing power its watch compact , but like its other watches , things do flow slick . There ’s no cover lag , the animation on appliance and watch human face are smooth and it ’s generally an operating system that bring well and is easy to get to grips with .
The top right forcible button dumbfound you into the main app screen where you might take to watch over meter what each app ikon actually represents as a modality , while the Down button will give you quick access to your most often used spotter feature .
There ’s a good mix of picket faces and I appreciate that each face includes a force valuation to give you an reading of how much it ’ll drain the battery . The notification feed is just a swipe aside and there are dainty gubbins for info like the atmospheric condition and health monitoring . The music playback controls are well optimised and there ’s Bluetooth hollo but it lacks the standalone cellular financial backing you ’ll get on the flashy Huawei Watch 4 .
Those smartwatch features do n’t finger as well - built as the ace you ’ll get on an Apple Watch and Garmin ’s improving smartwatch ecosystem . If you care about features like requital , a strong third party app ecosystem and just a more complete smartwatch experience for both Android and iOS user , there are better options out there .
Fitness and health tracking
The Ultimate is placard to be a picket that you’re able to take on nosedive , rise , trail runs and any environs where your physical exertion becomes a lot more tough .
There are largely the same sensors onboard as include on Huawei Watch 4 to track and monitor your wellness and fittingness . That includes an ECG detector for more accurate nub pace readings , the threefold - band GPS Huawei introduced on theHuawei Watch GT 3to improve outdoor tracking accuracy when grabbing a reliable signal can be disrupt by tall building and heavily forested area . There ’s also temperature and an optical heart charge per unit sensor , which can also monitor SpO2 levels .
Let ’s be reliable though , It ’s really the Watch Ultimate ’s outside watch attainment that are the main draw . First up is the new dive mode , bring the new depth detector and add together modes for recreational , freedive and technical diving event profiles . There ’s also the crack of diving - centrical features like selecting the type of water you ’re pass to be diving into , turning on depth and dive timer reminders and deal Apnea trial to appraise those authoritative breath holding abilities . If diving event is your affair , there ’s plenty for you here offer natively on the watch .
You also have an pleasure trip mode , which is activated from the extra physical button and is designed for hikes , climbs and trail run . From that clitoris you’re able to set waypoints for central landmark while reduce the GPS try rate to better barrage fire functioning in commutation for location tracking truth . This mode also lets you see your compass , barometer and SpO2 data point and provides quick access to the torch mode . This lives outside of the standard tracking way , and is executed well in terms of how data is presented and does enfeeble less assault and battery at the expense of the good GPS accuracy .
Huawei does also include the ability to upload route and expend its route back sailing with breadcrumb - manner mapping . You do n’t get the full mathematical function financial backing that you get on theGarmin Fenix 7 Proor theGarmin Epix Pro Gen 2or the new Topo map support that ’s been add to the Apple Watch Ultra in watchOS 10 , which is a whang to the Watch Ultimate ’s certificate as matching the contest in this area .
Outside of those big outside feature , it ’s more of the same in term of the other sports , wellness and fitness tracking features that I ’ve receive on other late Huawei watches . I found the dual - ring GPS support performed better than the dual - band support on the company ’s previous article of clothing , though I constitute that grabbing a GPS signal take an age on more than one function .
essence rate carrying out had its good and bad days . On a more acute interval track seance it restrain up pretty well against Garmin ’s HRM Pro dresser shoulder strap and was 1 - 2 metronome marking out on ordinary and max recital . Then on more firm paced exercising it could be as much as 10 bpm out on some interpretation while other times near place on to a chest shoulder strap . It performed well for indoor rowing trailing and moderately much matched up with the swim data from a Garmin watch and the swim - tracking strain Swim Goggles .
For day - to - solar day trailing , daily step reckoning were generally a fair snatch under or over the everyday step counts on a Garmin watch and theOura Ring Gen 3 , which were much airless with those daily totals . For sleep , it offered standardised sleep duration and sleep stage breakdowns as the Oura Ring , which I ’ve find to be one of the most reliable sleep tracker yet .
There ’s wad here , whether you care more about your physical exercise sentence or your day-by-day activeness and truth and functioning is proficient and not so dear in home .
Battery life
With the Ultimate , Huawei is forebode similar battery numbers to its GT series picket , which means this is a smartwatch that can last up to two week in typical usance and that drops to 8 - days under more strenuous activity . These numbers are based on laboratory exam with feature like GPS use , quietus tracking and the amount of notifications you receive most notably impacting on the kind of battery you ’re going to revel .
I ’d say those numbers reflect the kind of battery life I experienced in my examination fourth dimension , which lean more on the side of heavy usage . It ’s a watch that can last up to a week and can go longer . Toggle the always - on display mode and the battery life will drop below a workweek .
The Watch Ultimate also charges up from 0 - 100 % in an hr , which is the same pace of bill as the Huawei Watch 4 . It does miss the Watch 4 ’s ultra longsighted life battery mode , which does mean it ’s not the longest - endure Huawei Watch you may purchase , but does put in a expert carrying out compare to similarly priced outdoor smartwatches .
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Should you buy it?
Huawei has managed to wield the firm barrage fire life performance it ’s deliver on some of its other smartwatches , which will go further than the Apple Watch Ultra .
at long last , if you may yield to spend a snatch more , you may grab a more ended outdoor smartwatch from Garmin and Apple .
Final Thoughts
The Huawei Watch Ultimate was a clear move by Huawei to equal and hopefully better what Garmin and Apple tender for outdoors enthusiasts . It ’s cheaper than the Apple Watch Ultra and the Garmin Epix Pro Gen 2 , so it does have that in its favor .
Its approach to pattern the aim of luxury sentry slightly misses the mark for me , while the lack of full mapping reinforcement seems like a bit of a fille here , especially when Apple ’s now added that to the Ultra too . Some of that diving reinforcement has now been add to the Watch 4 as well , which gives the Ultimate niche appeal and at long last does n’t find like it ’s worth grabbing over theApple Watch Ultraor theGarmin Epix Pro Gen 2 .
Trusted Score
How we test
We exhaustively test every smartwatch we survey . We use industry standard examination to equate features properly and we use the watch as our main gadget over the review period . We ’ll always separate you what we find and we never , ever , assume money to review a intersection .
FAQs
Yes , the Huawei Watch Ultimate can be paired with an iPhone though not all features are supported . Most celebrated is the want of access to Huawei ’s Watch AppGallery .
The Huawei Watch Ultimate does offer Wi - Fi , though it ’s in the first place used to bid general carrying out improvement .
Full Specs
