Huawei’s Watch range of wearables has steadily grown to include both more sporty and more luxurious models. The GT4 is a top-end tracker with emphasis on health- and fitness data, but packed into a stylish all-metal body offering excellent all-day wearability. As a full-featured tracker, it measures the usual: step count, heart rate, sleep quality and stress levels.
However, the built-in apps for these have evolved over time to feature more accurate data gathering and analysis, and are now on par with the market leaders. Huawei says the GT4 can track more than 100 movement types, including some more exotic activities, from skate-boarding to ballroom dancing and, most recently, padel. GPS tracking has been much improved using new antenna tech. All the popular features from previous Huawei Watch models are still here, including the generous on-board music storage and making and taking calls on the watch using Bluetooth. Text messages, alerts and appointments are seamlessly synched from your phone, with one-tap quick responses available.
It is an undeniably classy package with a subtle octagonal case in stainless steel, and a superb AMOLED screen covered in toughened glass. The crown serves as both a button and a scroll wheel while the function of the second button can be customised. The phone app is easier to navigate than ever, with better aesthetics, and access to thousands of paid and free watch faces. But there is one main reason Huawei wearables have always found favour with the Tech team: battery life. In the Watch series, a dual-processor system allows it to use a low-energy chip for its basic functions, and a more powerful one for your workouts or when you need to use lots of data.
The end result is a very impressive 10 days of battery with mixed usage and occasional workouts. Unfortunately, it is no longer the bargain it once was, and it is not a true smartwatch because you can’t add apps to it, but there is truly little this watch does not do straight out of the box.
Step/heart/sleep/stress metrics, 1.43″ AMOLED display @II 326 PPI, 2 GB storage, BT/NFC, 48 g, R7 000
