Huawei Watch GT2 46mm review: Great fitness band, not-so-great smartwatch

It impresses with its design, battery, health and fitness tracking, and performance. But its restricted companion app for smartphones and a limited app ecosystem leave you asking for more

Technology News : The ongoing tussle between the US and China has made the latter’s biggest technology company Huawei change its product strategy in several international markets, including India. Known for its premium smartphones in the country, Huawei announced in 2019 that it would also bring its ecosystem products to India. Soon after, the company launched in India its premium smartwatch, the Huawei Watch GT2.

Priced at Rs 15,990, the Huawei Watch GT2 (46mm) has packed in some interesting features, besides the regular fitness-related ones. On paper, the smartwatch seems to have something in store for everyone. But does it? Let’s find out:

What it offers

Design: The Huawei Watch GT2 has a mature design that goes well with most outfits. It has a circular case with a slightly raised touchscreen on top and a heart-rate sensor at the bottom. Covering the case is a metallic frame made of stainless steel, which looks novel and modern. The frame around the screen is minimal and stamped with numerical (multiple of twos), representing time in the 24-hour format. The right side of the frame features twin multipurpose buttons; the top one for general menu and bottom one (customisable) for workout menu.

Display: The Huawei Watch GT2 design is accentuated by a bold-looking 1.39-inch OLED touchscreen of a 454 x 454 resolution. The screen supports sliding gestures; swipe-down for quick settings, swipe-up for notifications, and swipe-horizontally (left and right) to access music player and information related to heart rate, stress, weather, steps count, etc. The screen is bright, vivid and has good sunlight legibility. It supports several watch faces, most with dark backgrounds that look dazzling on OLED screen. The watch also supports custom watch faces, allowing you to turn any picture from your phone into a watch face background.

Health and fitness features: The Huawei Watch GT2 is loaded with several health and fitness features, including the uncommon stress and air pressure monitors. Starting from health-related features, the smartwatch has a multipurpose heart rate sensor, which accurately registers heart rhythms during active and resting hours. Through this sensor, the watch also monitors stress levels. It supports auto stress level monitoring, and has a dedicated breathing exercise built in to assist in bringing down the stress level. The heart-rate sensor also doubles up as a sleep monitor to register sleep quality.