Huawei Watch 2 tested: The compromiss from fitness gadget and smartwatch
A TEST REPORT from David Wurm 
on October 07, 2017, 21:37 p.m. | 2 comments
After the predecessor with some weaknesses, Huawei now wants to improve some teething problems with the Watch 2. Does the Huawei Watch 2 really keep what it promises? My test.
Unlike its predecessor, the Huawei Watch 2 comes with the new Android Wear 2.0. In addition, the watch is no longer that bulky and comes with two buttons on the side. Instead of elegant, Huawei is now more sporty. But: is this the replacement for a fitness gadget? I was able to test the watch extensively for a few weeks.
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Workmanship and appearance
The Huawei Watch 2 looks very high quality and consists of a scratch-resistant display. The 22mm bracelet can also be easily exchanged without additional tools. The included tape is not the best, but it was absolutely fine. There are two buttons on the edge, the upper one serving as the home button and the lower one that can be assigned individually. Even if it seems different at first, the bezel is not made of metal, but of plastic. The associated AMOLED display also offers a diagonal of 1,2 inches with a resolution of 390 x 390 pixels. It was still fairly easy to read even in direct sunlight.
The buttons have a good pressure point and can be assigned individually. (Picture: TechnikNews.NET)
In addition, the fitness smartwatch is waterproof according to IP68 and can withstand water pressure up to two meters deep. So swimming and showering was also without it in my test Proproblems possible. However, it often happened when swimming that certain actions were carried out on the display through the water. For sports, there is a heart rate sensor on the back, which continuously measures the wearer's pulse. This has always delivered very accurate results both above and below water. In addition, there is a GPS module - so the recording of activities proeasily possible without a smartphone. By clicking on the button below you get to the training app, from which you can choose from several sports. You can currently choose from: cardio, fat burning, indoor cycling, treadmill, running, walking, outdoor cycling and others.
The Huawei Watch 2 is unfortunately not made of metal, but of plastic. (Image: TechnikNews.NET)
The inside: very fast and energy-saving
The Huawei Watch 2 comes inside with a Snapdragon Wear 2100 with 1,1 Ghz. This 768MB RAM is at the side and offers fast multitasking and switching between apps. Apps also started very quickly during the test and the watch reacted quickly to inputs. Jerks only occurred while determining the location using GPS when starting a training session. Four gigabytes of internal storage are also available for apps. As with other smartwatches, this is very tight.
What else is very important for a watch besides the above aspects? The battery - with a capacity of 420mAh, this ensures a battery life of around one day. In the intelligent power saving mode, I even managed two days during my test. In both cases, Bluetooth was always connected to the smartphone and WLAN was always on - hats off. But if the GPS was continuously activated for a workout, the battery lasted almost 30 minutes. Due to the somewhat impractical charging cradle, the smartwatch is full again in two hours by means of quick charging.
However, Huawei has come up with a good solution when the battery drops below 5%. Then the smartwatch only shows the current time on the display and counts steps. The software and everything in the background are switched off - in this mode you can still get through a whole day. In total, the clock remains switched on for three days, even if it cannot always be used. However, it does what a watch is actually supposed to do: display the time for three days without the battery being charged.
The Huawei Watch 2 can be charged with its own charging station, which is attached to the back of the watch. (Picture: TechnikNews.NET)
Android Wear 2.0: Now finally more independent
With the major version update for Android Wear, the watches with the Google operating system are finally becoming more independent. For example, apps can now be installed directly on the watch in the Play Store without having to have them on the smartphone. In addition, there is the Google Assistant, which can then be called up by a long click on the upper button. He can use the integrated microphone of the Watch 2 to perform actions using voice input.
On the other hand, I found the keyboard completely useless, which is now also on board with the latest version. Typing, for example for replies to messages, is almost impossible and not for me due to the bad suggestions productive. However, I find the short replies that are automatically displayed based on the received message nice. Voice input for messages is of course still available and worked without it Prostated problems.
You can also receive calls on the Huawei Watch when the Bluetooth connection is active. The built-in microphone does not provide the best voice quality, but it does reproduce content clearly enough for the conversation partner. The loudspeaker, on the other hand, is a complete mistake. The volume is not much better even at the maximum setting and also much too quiet when “holding it to the ear”. Unfortunately, this is also not usable for making calls due to the poor voice quality. Thus, making calls with the Huawei Watch 2 is a nice feature, the competition shows, for example, with the Apple Watch Series 3 how to do it better.
Water doesn't bother the fitness gadget. Even swimming is without Proproblems possible. (Picture: TechnikNews.NET)
Conclusion: There is more
Even with the second edition of the Huawei Watch, the watch remains a compromiss between a fitness gadget and a smartwatch. On the one hand, it offers too little information for a fitness watch and, on the other hand, the battery life with activated GPS is far too short. It does the job of a smartwatch well, although things like telephoning and charging cradle didn't really convince me here either. However, for the current price of around 220 euros in the colors carbon black with a sports bracelet and concrete gray with a concrete gray sports bracelet, it is a real smartwatch bargain with a good battery life.
The integrated heart rate monitor records the heart rate throughout the day. (Picture: TechnikNews.NET)
The watch also comes in an LTE version, which is even more independent of the smartphone thanks to the integrated module. This is currently available in the colors carbon black with carbon black sports armband and dynamic orange for a price of around 300 euros. Unfortunately, I couldn't test how long the battery life is with this - but probably less. Thus, the Huawei Watch 2 is a successful successor to the Huawei Watch, but not yet fully developed. Let's see what we will see from Huawei next year in terms of smartwatches.
Buy the Huawei Watch 2 Bluetooth version from Amazon
Buy the Huawei Watch 2 LTE version from Amazon
Good review and, in contrast to other sites, also a bit critical!
However, I have to say that you don't make calls with a smartwatch anyway. So this point doesn't really matter to me, I'll have a look around for the current prices for the watch and maybe strike.
Great article!