Big, round and shiny: the Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro in review

I’ve been wearing an Apple Watch on my wrist for over a year now. When Huawei offered to let me test the Watch GT 3 Pro, I accepted with curiosity. After all, even at first glance, it’s the complete opposite of the rectangular Apple Watch.

The Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro has a large, round dial with a gold rim. The case and the strap are a shiny snow white. On the right-hand side, there’s a rotatable watch crown, also rimmed with gold. Below it, there’s a long button, plated completely in gold.

Sports watches + Smartwatches

Huawei Watch GT3 Pro 43mm

42.90 mm, Ceramic, WLAN only, One size

42

Sports watches + Smartwatches

Huawei Watch GT3 Pro 43mm

42.90 mm, Ceramic, WLAN only, One size

42

There’s also a multi-link strap, which can be opened using a folding clasp. The 43-millimetre watch I’m given to test is the ceramic version, which you can also get for slightly cheaper by opting for the leather strap. A 46-millimetre version with a titanium case is also available.

Here’s an overview of the most important specs:

• Water resistant with an IP68 rating, for dives up to 30 metres
• GPS, Bluetooth and in some countries NFC (not in Switzerland)
• 292-mAh battery, with a running time of up to 7 days
• Software: Harmony OS
• Sensors: accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, optical heart rate sensor, barometer, body temperature sensor
• Activity tracking, sleep monitoring, stress tests, breathing exercises

The charger for the watch comes included in the box, and has a USB-A plug. Fine with me, although I think a USB-C plug would’ve been more practical.

On it goes

In order for the watch to fit my wrist, I need to remove some links from the strap. Huawei has included a mini screwdriver for this in the box. In its little container, I also find extra links for extending the strap.

Whenever I hold the multi-link strap in my hand, the individual elements go clacking against each other. I’m not sure what to make of the material yet. Quite deliberately, the watch isn’t supposed to look like a smartwatch. That being said, the white ceramic material doesn’t really remind me of a traditional watch either.

Taking the strap apart is laborious and fiddly, but after a while, I manage it nonetheless. The watch fits comfortably onto my wrist, but I don’t forget that I'm wearing it. It does weigh in at 103 grammes and measure 10.5 millimetres in width, after all. When I experiment with throwing on a tight-sleeved jacket, I find it difficult to free the dial from the cuff.

The set-up

It’s time to get the Huawei watch ticking, so I pull out my Oppo Reno 8 Pro. Thanks to a QR code included with the watch, pairing an Android phone is slightly more convenient than pairing an iPhone. However, Apple smartphones upwards of iOS 9.0 are compatible too. Android devices need to have at least version 6.0 installed.

The QR code takes me to the Huawei App Gallery, which I first need to download. Huawei has been barred from including Google services (and thus, the Play Store) on its devices for more than two years (article in German).

It’s only once I’ve installed the Huawei App Gallery that I can download the Huawei Health app, which I use to add the watch. This is quick and uncomplicated. I then take my first steps on Harmony OS, Huawei’s very own Linux-based operating system.

Software

I operate the watch by swiping with my finger tips, pressing both buttons and turning the watch crown. Swiping from right to left takes me directly to my heart rate. Continuing to swipe in that direction reveals my blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), activity rings (steps, workout and active hours), the weather, the moon cycle and sleep log. Scrolling through these screens is seamless, with individual apps proving quick to load.

As a Watch OS user, the Harmony OS takes some getting used to at first. Though, after a couple of days, I get along just fine. Even the rectangular app menu ceases to confuse me – I actually find it pretty handy. It’s much clearer than the round bubble menu on the Apple Watch.

The fact that you can enlarge or reduce the view of the app menu by rotating the crown is something I find ingenious. This zoom function helps me get to the app I want much faster. However, it might also be because I can’t add that many apps to begin with; the App Gallery selection is limited. Among the ones I can choose from, there’s a calculator, a calendar app, Huawei navigation app Petal Maps, sudoku, calorie counting and workout apps and Hue Essentials for controlling smart lighting.

Swiping from the bottom up takes me to the notifications centre. In the Health app, I specify which ones I want to receive on the watch. Notifications from Google apps or social media platforms are also displayed here. The thing is, I can’t open them.

Spotify and Google Maps are nowhere to be found. The only app that’s familiar to me is the Focus To-Do timer. Even assistants such as Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant are unable to help you out. At Huawei, it’s Celia who runs the show. Celia, however, can only assist you if you’ve also got a Huawei smartphone. So, if you’re unwilling to go without certain apps or digital assistants, the Huawei watch isn’t an option for you.

Display

The Huawei Watch has a 1.32 inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 466 × 466 pixels. Huawei doesn’t specify the exact brightness level in nits, but the display is extremely bright, with rich, vivid colours. If you’re wearing the watch while you sleep, you’re better off turning down the brightness. The display is protected by robust sapphire glass.

In the watch settings, I activate the always-on display. Although this shortens the battery runtime, it does ensure the time is constantly displayed. I can also choose between different watch faces. There are a couple available directly on the watch, but if you don’t like those designs, there are more to download for free or to buy in the Health app.

Connections

The Huawei Watch has limited connectivity. It supports Bluetooth and GPS, but can only connect to Wi-Fi via a smartphone. I can’t use an eSIM with the watch either – making phone calls or sending messages is impossible unless there’s a paired smartphone nearby.

The NFC feature isn’t available in Switzerland, which unfortunately means I can’t make payments with the Huawei GT 3 Pro. When I tap Wallet in the watch menu on the Oppo, Huawei tells me this service is unavailable in my country. Too bad. I think making payments is one of the best smartwatch features.

Health

The Watch GT 3 Pro is equipped with various sensors for measuring health data. I don’t usually use these features much, but for the purposes of this test, I’ve tried all of them out. Here’s what stood out to me.

For my pulse measurement, I click on the red app with the white heart, starting the monitoring immediately. What I find interesting here is the overview of the previous seven days.

In the red app with the white cross, I measure my blood oxygen saturation rate (SpO2). To do so, I need to keep my wrist still for a few seconds. Afterwards, the watch displays my blood oxygen saturation rate in per cent. On the same chart, I’m able to see my heart rate.

I find the automatic sleep monitoring handy too. I can fall asleep with the watch on my wrist, without having pressed a button, and it knows what’s going on. It also works for afternoon naps. During my test, the sleeping times are correct. The watch also displays how much time I spent in each sleep phase, e.g. REM, as a percentage. I can’t say whether these percentages or any of the other health measurements are accurate.

The Huawei Watch can also measure the temperature of my skin. Right now, it’s 33.1 degrees Celsius – slap bang in the middle of normal range. According to Huawei, the measurement is mainly used to monitor changes in skin temperature around the wrist after exercise.

If you ask me, the stress measurement is more useful. Fortunately, the display comes up green for me. Most of the time, I can recognise myself whether I’m stressed or not. Nevertheless, the measurement can still help with intentionally taking things easier – perhaps by way of the breathing app, which guides you through a breathing exercise with haptic feedback. This, as well as other health measurements, doesn’t need a paired smartphone to work. However, you do need to activate them in the Health app first. Most of them are disabled by default.

Sports

The Huawei Watch offers a wide range of sports for you to track. Pressing the bottom button allows me to quickly start a workout mode. During the session, the watch defines five levels of exercise intensity and energy consumption using so-called heart rate zones. Huawei explains in detail in the Health app what exactly the different coloured stages mean from blue to red.

Unfortunately, the shape of the watch with its inflexible band gets in my way during certain workouts. Take yoga, for example. Headstands and other positions that put strain on the wrist are very uncomfortable when wearing the watch. It works better for swimming, running or cycling – as long as the weight of the watch on your wrist doesn’t bother you.

Battery

With its 292-mAh battery, the watch has a very good battery life. Especially if you’re used to the Apple Watch’s battery life. Huawei says the watch can run for seven days in standby mode – something I can attest to. The battery life shortens depending on which measurements and energy-intensive settings you’ve activated, but even so, mine lasts four to five days. The charging time, on the other hand, is negligible. Popping the Huawei Watch on to its magnetic charger for around 25 minutes refills the battery to the halfway point. A full charge, Huawei says, takes 85 minutes.

Music und speakers

The Watch GT 3 Pro’s speakers are a genuine surprise. The first time I notice how good they are is when they loudly announce to the gym that I’ve been exercising for ten minutes. I hastily turn it down,

waiting until I get home before pulling up the pre-installed Huawei music app to test the volume of the watch again. There’s a pre-loaded Delacey song, but more tracks can be uploaded. MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, M4A and OPUS formats are supported.

The watch speaker is also good for making phone calls. To do this, I save a few contacts in the Health app beforehand. This allows me to take the call directly from the watch, although I need to have my phone close by. My friend on the other end of the line and I can hear each other well, even if our voices do sound slightly tinny on occasion.

If these are activities you prefer to do with headphones on, you can connect them to your watch via Bluetooth. This works great with my Linkbuds S.

My verdict

The Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro keeps on going for a long time and shows you the exact stages of your workout. Even without a smartphone, the health measurements work well. It’s surprisingly loud, can be operated seamlessly and boasts a beautiful display. What’s more, it can take some interesting measurements.

That being said, it’s too big and inflexible on the wrist for certain types of sport. I think the watch looks nicer in photos than in reality, especially because of the white ceramic material. It currently costs 398 Swiss francs or 413 euros. That’s not cheap. Especially when we’re talking about a watch that has neither an eSim, NFC nor standalone Wi-Fi, and is thus lacking the key features necessary to truly pass as a «smart» watch. Another downside is the sheer number of popular apps that you can’t use on the watch.

If you want a plain, understated watch that doesn’t look like a smartwatch, you’re better off looking at our range of hybrid smartwatches. If you have an iPhone, I’d recommend the Apple Watch. Not only is it cheaper, but you can also use popular apps and make calls without your phone.

There are also cheaper Android alternatives with the same plus points, including the Oppo Watch, which runs on Google’s Wear OS. I’d only recommend the Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro if you’re already a Huawei frequent flier, you like the look of the watch and the price doesn’t bother you.