The Huawei Watch is a decent smartwatch, packing in a lot of essentials very well, but it does not exactly justify the premium tag that Huawei is advertising it as.
Smartwatches have been steadily evolving over time, with many companies now focussing on making watches that are aimed at premium watch buyers, and not just technology enthusiasts. Huawei, here, has aimed at the same. What I'm not sure about, though, is how much they've succeeded. In fact, the Huawei Watch is already about one year old, on arrival in India.
The Watch looks decent, and has a simplistic approach to design. For those who prefer bling, there is the Swarovski Crystal variant. The watch begins its journey with genuine leather straps, and metal strap versions will follow. On this note, what is interesting to observe is Huawei's certainty and confidence surrounding the product. The company wishes to introduce the Watch as a lifestyle gadget, with plans to showcase it across offline premium watch resellers, so that people can try it out before making a purchase. But maybe, there is a wee bit of doubt. Huawei is also playing the exclusive card, aiming to sell a limited number of watches. The Watch starts selling today on Flipkart, and will remain exclusively so for the immediate future. And at Rs. 22,999, that is possibly the right way to go. The Huawei Watch is more expensive than the new Moto 360 and Asus Zenwatch 2 and doesn't really offer much over them.
For budget-conscious buyers, there is the TalkBand B2, and the upcoming B3 that was launched in London a few days ago. Billing a smartwatch as a premium gadget and pricing it at Rs. 22,999 means that Huawei will almost certainly sell a very limited number of these watches, and looking at the price-sensitive market, successfully selling a limited number of watches will be quite decent a campaign for the company.
But that is enough about the pricing. The watch itself is quite decent a product in terms of hardware, but it does not immediately strike you as a very premium watch, if you're holding the standard variant in your hands. Adding to that, even the black leather strap does not really feel upmarket. The device is light weight, but at this price, many discerning watch buyers would be looking for a wrist accessory with slightly higher weight and density. These are areas that the Apple Watch really aces at, appearing as a premium lifestyle gadget, and the Huawei Watch misses out on.
The display, though, is a sheer delight. It is rich, responsive, and feels just right. 268ppi is pretty good on such a small display. Huawei has also added a pretty large variety of watch faces by default, adding to the customising factor of the watch. However, Samsung aced smartwatch innovation around the 23k mark with the rotating bezel on the Gear S2, and if you're looking for that kind of innovation to make your watch stand out, this is not the product.
The Huawei Watch packs in 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage, along with a 300mAh battery pack. Hardware-wise, it is well-poised. It also houses an array of sensors, including a PPG heart rate sensor, 6-axis motion sensor, pedometer and barometric sensor, which should see you through all your activity tracking needs. It covers all the essential grounds, and Android Wear gives it a massive support ground for applications, although, the app database is still to become really useful. You can also make and answer calls from the Watch itself, but that is the only feature that really stands out from other, similar watches.
The Huawei Watch is quite decent a product, but it is not the premium, smart timepiece. Should you pay 23 grand for it? I'm not convinced upon first sight.
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Souvik Das
The one that switches between BMWs and Harbour Line Second Class. View Full Profile
