Huawei - WATCH GT 4

[An Ode To The Pebble](https://freeimage.host/i/d35r0o7) So, I wanted to share my thoughts about this rather interesting watch. I heard how good it is, for its price, so I was curious about it. Let me tell you beforehand that I've used a lot of Huawei Watches and I currently also own a GT4 and a Watch 4 Pro. 🙂 I'll do more comparisons with the GT4 since they are much closer than the Watch 4 Pro. - DESIGN/BUILD I think it's obvious at this point, the design is very reminiscent of the Apple Watch. According to Huawei, the change from a rectangular shape to this was due to consumers' request, particularly from women. I'll be honest, I think they made the right call to switch from the retangular form to the Square-ish form factor. It really sits flush on the wrist and it is very comfortable to wear (very light at 33g!), especially with the nylon band version. I chose the Grey version and it looks good on the wrist. And the red rotating crown is a nice touch.  - CORE SMARTWATCH EXPERIENCE The core Huawei Watch experience is pretty much similar from the other Huawei watches. It's pretty much basic compared to smartwatches from Google's Ecosystem and Apple, and for the most part, it gets the basics right.  You can track your health and fitness data, check the weather, notifications, play music from your watch or your phone, etc.  The Huawei has really improved and I love how the data is presented neatly on the square screen.  It really feels "natural" to look at it and isn't awkward on the eyes. I appreciate the new UI. The fonts are bold and readable and the colors in the background makes the data stand out a bit more.  The notifications are really presented nicely and make full use of the screen estate. Huawei does allow some certain amount of granularity, but a lot of apps will be grouped together under a generic app icon, which is something to get used to. The vibration coming from the watch is okay, you'll feel it, when you get a message or a call. Oh, the watch does show a great amount of emojis, so it's no problem there. In addition, if paired with an android phone, you can reply to messages using preset replies or an emoji.  The watch has a speaker and a mic. It supports bluetooth calling and I've used it a few times for calls and I can hear people well from it. They also hear my voice fine from their end. The watch comes with a Calendar app (Long Overdue!) which syncs every event from your Calendar to the watch. (This feature is also found on the Watch 4 Pro and GT4). It has a weather app. Accuweather is the provider. Pretty good in where I live. Can't complain. However, note that there is no barometer sensor with the Fit 3. Third-Party Apps  As with any Huawei smartwatch (Except the Watch Series), you shouldn't expect a lot of apps from it. In fact, 3rd party apps is almost nonexistent. It does get a very useful Navigation (I fully recommend it) and Calculator app from the AppGallery store.   You should know that at this time, Petal Maps isn't included with the watch, unlike the GT4. Watchfaces It has a good number of watchfaces but there aren't that many in the store yet. Kinda normal since it has just been released.  **For those that are watchfaces developers that can make their own watchfaces: Designing on it is actually great. You can get pretty creative and break some conventions since it is a Square-ish watch. It's fun. - HEALTH/FITNESS FEATURES Fitness: I used it for fitness and honestly, it's been a great experience. I've used it for mostly outdoor walk and runs and the watch seemed to track well my steps, distance and heart rate. I do say "seemed" since I didn't have anything else to compare with. But the HR seemed to match the intensity of the workout I was doing. Also, I absolutely love how the Workout App looks and presents the data, the background changes color according to the intensity and it makes great use of the screen estate. Also has a Running Ability Index and VO2Max. One shouldn't expect this to be as accurate as the higher end watches or like Garmin watches. But it does the job for those that aren't that serious about athleticism. One thing to mention, that is disappointing, is the absence of the barometer and altimeter sensors. Because of this, some workouts like Golf or Hiking, are not available. That being said, it's not a dealbreaker. It has a calorie tracker. And it does estimate the amount of calories burned when idle (and not just calories burned from working out). I haven't used the Diet Log feature so I cannot comment on whether it is good or not.  Overall, it is a great performer for its price. It really doesn't miss.  Health: So, the watch supports HR tracking, Sleep tracking, SpO2, and Stress tracking. It also supports Pulse wave arrhythmia analysis in certain countries. • A note, Body temperature sensor is missing.  Sooo, this is where my experience might differ from a lot of people here. For my part, heart rate tracking with the watch works well when I am in a higher rate. But when I am idling, this is when the watch has trouble finding my pulse. Smartwatches tend to use PPG (photoplethysmogram) sensors in order to detect the blood flow. The green light it emits goes through the skin, hits the blood and the blood reflects the green light back to the sensors, allowing it to measure and estimate your heart rate.  Usually, some amount of light gets absorbed as it goes through the skin but enough gets reflected back to the watch to get a pulse. Now, for me, I am considerably dark-skinned and high amount of melanin absorbs a higher amount of light. This affects a smartwatch's capability of detecting a pulse and functionning correctly. Fun fact, if you have a wrist tattoo, it's even worse, as ink completely blocks the light from going through. your watch will essentially be a brick. Moving on.  As a result, it has trouble picking up my sleep. In fact, it always fails. SpO2 tracking is also difficult to do correctly. [Heart Rate while asleep comparison](https://freeimage.host/i/d35Lnt4) [Sleep Tracking comparison](https://freeimage.host/i/d35s2kb) [SPO2 comparison while asleep](https://freeimage.host/i/d35icdu) *Note that the GT4 would have performed the same than the Huawei Watch 4 Pro here. It seems the Huawei TruSeen 5.5 doesn't work well on me, and to be frank, I'd venture that it doesn't work well on any dark-skinned individual prior to the TruSeen 5.5+ algorithm. I know that it is easy to attribute it to a faulty unit, but... I've had the same problem with the following watches: - Huawei Watch Fit 2 - Huawei Watch GT3 Pro - Huawei Watch 3 Pro - Huawei Watch 4 Pro The only Huawei watch that could track my pulse without skipping a beat, since day one, is the Huawei Watch GT4, which came with the 5.5+ algorithm.  Funnily enough, the following watch could do the same, after a significant HarmonyOS 4.X update: - Huawei Watch GT3 Pro (Fixed after HarmonyOS 4.0) - Huawei Watch 4 Pro (Fixed after HarmonyOS 4.2) So if you are a black person, or someone that has a considerable about of ink on the wrist, it is absolutely something to keep in mind. - BATTERY Honestly, this is something that Huawei nails everytime. You can easily do 7 days with normal usage amd stretch it a bit further, if you manage to disable to features. Better than any Apple Watch in that aspect, haha. - DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE FIT 3 AND THE GT4  Because I know some people will ask about it. - Altimeter is absent, that means less workout options and the elevation graph is absent. - Barometer is absent. - Body Temperature is absent. (It weirdly supports Cycle Tracking, however.) - The Petal Maps App is absent. If you want directions, you'll have to get the G-Maps navigation app from the AppGallery. Note that this is a paid app. But the main advantage is that it does use Google Maps. - Overall, the accuracy of the GT4's sensors are quite better than the Fit 3. I won't touch on the differences with the Huawei Watch 4 Pro since this is an entry watch. But if you are interested, I can reply in the comments. DO I RECOMMEND IT? Honestly, despite my issues with the HR algorithm, it will definitely work for most people and it is an easy recommendation to make. I'm keeping mine because: - My other watches can track my sleep. - I actually love wearing it for walking and/or running. It's very light, slim and comfortable. It really doesn't get in the way, so bumping it against something is not that common. Note that I am used and usually prefer wearing big and heavy watches. - The core smartwatch experience works and is definitely enough for me. - The issues can be fixed with an update. The question is whether Huawei will push one, and if so, when. That being said, if accuracy is a big thing for you and you are considerably dark skinned/have tattoos, you might want to skip it and look somewhere else... for now. BONUS: If you want my opinion about which watch I prefer to wear daily... I think I'd choose the Huawei Watch 4 Pro because of the look and added functionalities. :) But the GT4 and Huawei Watch Fit 3 are also great and I do rotate. Hope you enjoyed my non-professional review. 🙂

- I can't say that the distance has been that generous, when compared with my other watches. It's always been usually spot on with of course a certain margin of error. - The GPS was and is always spot on for me, and has never strayed far from my path or even lost its position lock. This is compared with my other 2 premium Huawei watches with Dual Satellite position locking, and a Oneplus Watch 2R. And I have done a LOT of walks and runs. As usual, your mileage may vary. But this is why I specifically say that the review is **based on my own experience** with it

Get a Huawei Fit 4. About $150. It has GPS, maps and all the things that you need. It's also one of the non-Apple watches that has accurate sensors.

Oh really? Can you give examples at all? If I would feel the same I may just cancel the pre-order and try something else. As much as I would like to stay in the Galaxy ecosystem for fluid integration, having a watch last for days sounds so much better especially for sleep tracking which I've never done with my Apple Watch because I have to charge it every night! I don't want to be in the same situation if it can be helped. I have actually just ordered a Huawei Watch GT 4 from Amazon which is arriving tomorrow in the meantime so I can stop using the Apple Watch. I love the look of it and it's so cheap. I'll see how I get on with it until the OnePlus arrives unless I do cancel it. Maybe just even use the Huawei until July when the new Samsung watches will be announced.

I'll probably wait for the next one tbh. Either get that one or the current when its cheaper. Just installing a temp one at the moment which is the Huawei GT4. Nice watch but will see how it operates.

Yeah, gt4 watch and ui looks better. It has a decent hr sensor. But its very limited compared to garmin. Gf has a gt4 and i got chest strap for.her. if works good but any activity recorded with strap is not included to a daily routine. So 1 hour of indor cycling equals to nothing unless watch is on hand and optical sensor is used. I cant get any chalenges or similar on gt4, probably region lock or sometinf. Thats an absolute con for motivation and stuff. Also you cant edit activity screens/data on most, mqybe just on running. Dont get me wrong, gt4 is great but trqining functionality and conectivity is on the garmin side by a mile. Garmin downside is its stuck in the last decade in how things look. These new expensive garmins look a bit bettee tho. And things like adding a course is a bit convoluted and not very straightforward. Only doable from a desktop web... Some features are locked in to more expensive category.. you gotta live with that..