Having a smartwatch or fitness watch of any kind is one that many still consider as a luxury. True to it, wearable devices are still not as affordable and always seem to target people that really need them. Huawei has for a while been releasing smartwatches and fitness bands crowned by the Huawei Watch GT 2 that gave Apple a run for its money. But the new Huawei Watch Fit is one that should be gaining almost if not more attention as the GT 2.

I have been wearing the Huawei Watch Fit for a couple of weeks now and it’s clear that fitness bands should not go lower than what this offers.

Design

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The very first thing to notice from the Huawei Watch Fit is its resemblance to both a smartwatch and fitness band. The device looks like a stretched-out, skinny Apple Watch. However, this look is one that’s too common with the cheaper ends of the wearable spectrum making it lack that uniqueness. It would have been great if Huawei would go beyond the Apple-emulation but it is what it is, so let’s just note it and move on.

I did like the polycarbonate finish that starts from the edges all the way to the back. Of course, it’s not ceramic but the plastic itself does feel slightly different giving it that premium feel when you have the watch on your wrist. In fact, the material helps in making the watch really light (34 grams) which is an appeal for anyone that loves lightweight watches.

The only button on the device is the flat one situated on the right-hand side. The sensor module at the back is quite big for a watch of Its size. So, you might want to not have it too tight or you’ll have a huge hole printed on your wrist in a matter of minutes.

Generally, the watch does feel and look good in the early days but as you move on, you start noticing how more of a fitness watch it is. But then again, it’s all about first impressions, right?

Display

One of the best features to love about the watch is the 1.64-inch OLED screen that is slightly curved that does a good job of fitting in all the same information a circular watch does. The bezels might be a turn-off but it’s hard to get a smartwatch that really escapes from this fate.

After some time, you do get used to the small font that pales in comparison to that of larger watches.

Surprisingly, the OLED screen does offer a good view at 456 x 280-pixel resolution and 326 ppi of brightness. The watch offers about a dozen pre-loaded faces that you can choose from. Some of them are customisable and you can also get more via the Huawei Health app.

Some of the faces really help in bringing out the accurate blacks of the screen but some just go ahead to expose the size limitations. I, especially, found myself going for the analogue watch faces as they pop out and make the watch look just classy.

Always-on is also an option with six watch faces although the feature cuts your battery life by half. Plus, the watch can be a little distracting if you have that bright watch face on all the time.

Software and Battery Life

The Huawei Watch Fit runs Lite OS, the same wearable operating system you’ll find on other devices in the Huawei Watch family. Bearing in mind this device’s shape, Huawei had to adjust the UI to fit the screen and look good enough.

I did find the UI to be quite smooth and simple although a larger screen would make it even better. There are no gimmicks or special effects and you all you have is click your icons to navigate through the system, piece of cake!

This impressive performance is also thanks to the DK3.5+ST chipset that makes the OS fluid enough and responsive probably even more than the GT 2 that runs on Kirin A1.

The watch can function independently although it’s much more fun when you have it connected to your phone via Bluetooth as you control on the Huawei Watch app. Once connected, you can easily get to control music, get notifications and have all your fitness, health and sleep data collected on the app and analysed.

What got me annoyed sometimes was the delay in notifications that sometimes never even appeared on the watch.

Luckily, the OS does not demand too much power as the watch lasted me about 10 days or even more. Charging via the pins at the back takes about an hour which is surprising for a battery that lasts that long on a single charge.

Activity, Health and Fitness Tracking

The opening remarks were about how the Huawei Watch Fit is a fitness device that blends into the world of smartwatches and the features are really what set it apart.

The watch tracks up to 96 different activities. This includes walking, running, elliptical (cardio) and rowing. The irritating bit is the vibration that reminds you to get up and stretch when you’ve been inactive for too long. This could be ideal for anyone that has to sit for hours on a desk working without taking at least a short break.

Other fitness tracking modes include indoor and outdoor running and cycling, hiking, running courses, swimming and a lot more. What I found fascinating was the constant desire I had to work out once in a while both in and outdoors to see what kind of data the watch collects. The exercise modes start from as simple as neck and back stretches all the way to the intense stuff that would require you to register at a gym.

Thanks to the advanced sensor, the watch gets to track your heartbeat constantly and also your blood oxygen levels via the SpO2 feature.

After a workout or long walk, I would find the levels going down as I gasp for air which is pretty much my body trying to level the amount of oxygen in my blood. So, as mysterious as this feature might seem, the estimates were quite reasonable.

Sleep tracking was one of the features I literally fell in love with. The feature not only gives you your sleep hours but also evaluates how healthy your sleep patterns are, helping you know how to adjust.

The data is collected by the watch and then transferred on to the app and analysed to show you how long you were in deep sleep, light sleep or REM (rapid eye movement). Every single night sleep is then given points depending on how long it was and the patterns as well.

From all these features, you can tell Huawei’s intentions to have an advanced fitness tracker that can guide what is your everyday life and help you do better for your health. But the mobile features make it even better since you can get to just use it as a regular smartwatch for your online activity.

Verdict

Huawei Watch Fit is currently available in Kenyan stores at KES 11,999, which many would still complain to be too much for a watch. However, if you know what you really want from this hybrid and have always wanted something this smart yet affordable, you should go for it. Otherwise, you will be forced to look for alternatives that will cost you about KES 30k or even more.