Механизмы

Mechanical watch lover Jan Coomans tries on the latest smart-watch

русская версия | english version
Huawei Watch GT 4

I’ll be the first to admit that when smart watches first came onto the scene I wasn’t all that bothered about them. I wear watches because I like them, not because they’re absolutely necessary to know what time it is. Obviously, quite a few years have gone by and the technology has kept on improving. So when Huawei sent me their new “Watch GT 4” I decided to try it on for size. Especially because GT series is a kind of tribute to Gran Turismo cars, so these watches are about speed, about aesthetics and about engineering miracles. Everything I do love!

I suppose what bothered me most about things like the Apple Watch is that it looked like a miniature tablet on a strap, but thankfully due to advances in the way they can make AMOLED screens these days and thanks to classical advanced design this Huawei watch manages to look like an actual… watch. Not only that, it feels like one too when you’re wearing it. In fact the strap (made of recycled composite materials, which shows their eco-friendly approach) is soft and supple which combined with the overall low weight of the device makes this watch the comfiest thing I’ve worn on my left wrist, like, ever. I do still like my mechanical watches of course, the pieces of jewellery that they are, but I can’t pretend like I didn’t like the sheer comfort of the GT 4 watch.

Huawei Watch GT 4

The next step of course was to pair it with my Android phone (it’s also compatible with iOS devices) which was a simple enough exercise once I got the latest version of the Huawei Health app. I never found the need to be any more connected to my phone than I already was, but truth be told on those moments that I didn’t have my phone on my person it was awfully convenient to get notifications, messages and incoming calls. In fact, this watch could do pretty much whatever mobile phones used to do before turned into cameras that you could type on and make calls with. But now in a way, way smaller package.

Huawei Watch GT 4

The Watch 4 GT is the new generation of the cult series Huawei Watch GT and runs on Huawei’s own HarmonyOS. It comes in two sizes — 46 and 41 millimetres and the larger of the two has an octagonal case and is what you’d say is a more male looking watch. The smaller 41 millimetre version is decidedly more elegant looking which a larger part of the female audience may find attractive.

Huawei Watch GT 4

There’s basic and premium designs, the green 46mm sample which I was wearing is one of the basic ones but I definitely thought it looked good.

Huawei Watch GT 4

The touchscreen has a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch which is a very tech-y way of saying that the display is super sharp and pleasing to look at. Depending on your use case the internal battery can last up to 14 days, but as it’s super easy to charge on the magnetic wireless charger that is supplied in the box there’s no reason not to charge it when you’re not wearing it. That way you can increase the screen on time and not have to wait for the screen to come on when you want to take a quick glance at something. But I must say I was surprised just how long it took for the Watch GT 4’s battery to get low, it’s certainly not a stretch to say that it lasts multiple times longer than your smartphone’s battery so it can go several days without charging even with frequent use.

Huawei Watch GT 4

I’ve recently had the ill advised idea to take up playing tennis so it was the perfect opportunity to test out the Huawei Watch GT 4’s sports functionalities during one of my practice sessions. In any case it did a stellar job keeping me both notified of incoming messages and telling me how poor my stamina was by displaying my heart rate as I was struggling to chase down tennis balls. I generally don’t wear a watch while playing tennis as most of them are a bit bothersome, but the previously mentioned lightness of the smart watch made it possible for me to keep it on and as a result I even knew what time it was for a change. On top of everything else from minimum and maximum heart rate to the amount of calories I burned.

Huawei Watch GT 4

Huawei Watch GT 4

Something a bit more up my street of course is driving on racetracks, and while they do have their own timing systems you can’t see those while driving and you’re not always allowed to have timing inside the car so then it becomes pretty easy to have a fully digital lap timer on your wrist where you can just press a button to mark each lap.

Huawei Watch GT 4
It’s a match: GT 4 smart watch in my Cayman GTS

Clearly, the health monitoring angle is an important selling point for smart watches and this one has Huawei’s latest TruSeen 5.5 sensor which captures heart rate, skin temperature and blood oxygen level and TruSleep 3.0 measures your sleep quality (and can track and report breathing problems) if you don’t mind keeping it on as you go to bed. Apparently the GT 4 watch can even do things like keep track of your menstrual cycle but I wasn’t able to test that out for physiological reasons. For people who want to keep track of their vital functions, there’s no certainly shortage of data for you to gather.

While I’m certainly not going to chuck all my watches in the bin just yet, I do see the light in terms of the advantages that this watch can have a lot of the time. It even keeps me from getting bored with the look since the digital display can be turned into pretty much any design you like with a few clicks — there are free designs as well as those who cost a small sum of money. That’s certainly easier and more cost efficient than swapping between mechanical Swiss-made timepieces. The future is here, and perhaps has been for some time. I guess I must’ve been too busy or ignorant to notice.

Huawei Watch GT 4
06 октября 2023
Jan Coomans для раздела Механизмы