My most tasty fitness center companion

I spend numerous time swapping watches out and in, so it’s uncommon when one truly turns the heads of my family members. The HUAWEI Watch GT 6 Professional, although, instantly did. It’s polished sufficient to decorate up but constructed robust sufficient to maintain tempo on the paths. Extra importantly, it guarantees to outlast my persistence for charging cables with a battery life that stretches weeks, not days. At first blush, it seems like a watch equally involved with appears (therefore the blushing), longevity, and performance. Happily, that’s a mixture HUAWEI pulls off.

The HUAWEI Watch GT 6 Professional doesn’t reinvent its wardrobe, but it surely nonetheless makes a hanging first impression. With a 46mm construct and 1.47-inch show, it leans massive, but manages to remain comfy on my wrist, even throughout exercises. I’ve just lately revisited my love of jumproping, and regardless of its stature, the GT 6 Professional was comfy even whereas my arms flailed.

The octagonal bezel is a repeated design cue from the final technology, and the general aesthetic largely echoes final 12 months’s mannequin, which isn’t a nasty factor. The sharp, angular sides assist the system stand out in my watch field in any other case dominated by easy circles and rounded squares. Once I hear “octagon,” my thoughts jumps straight to the UFC, however on the GT 6 Professional, the form feels elevated and refined, with polished metallic and clear strains. Not like the most recent Galaxy Watch sequence, the design is exclusive in a good means.

On the Sports activities Version I examined, the polished case flows easily into the fluoroelastomer strap. In comparison with the metallic choice of the Traditional Version, the versatile sport band feels much more sensible for the fitness center and makes the system an inexpensive exercise companion with out undercutting its fashion-forward attraction. The strap didn’t cling or get steamy once I labored up a sweat on the bike. HUAWEI does promote further bands individually, and the swapping mechanism is enjoyably easy if you happen to’re fascinated by swapping into a special materials for nights out. Once more, I don’t really feel the game band detracts a lot from the upscale look anyway. The Professional mannequin options sapphire glass, aviation-grade titanium, and a nanocrystal ceramic rear cowl, so it’s loads elevated.

Entrance and middle, the GT 6 Professional’s AMOLED show is vibrant, crisp, and generously sized. Colours pop with out trying cartoonish, and with peak brightness as much as 3,000 nits throughout the sequence, the panel holds up even underneath direct daylight. Navigating the interface feels acquainted if you happen to’ve used HUAWEI wearables earlier than: swipes deliver you to well being stats, notifications, and fast settings with little fuss. The animations aren’t flashy, however they’re easy sufficient to maintain the expertise fluid. There are additionally quite a lot of watch face types to select from, starting from stylish minimalist appears to an animated pet one which, for my part, clashes with the in any other case mature aesthetic, however to every their very own. General, Concord OS is a UI that favors simplicity, which is sensible for a tool constructed to final weeks on a cost moderately than burn by energy chasing aptitude.

If there’s one spec that makes the HUAWEI Watch GT 6 Professional immediately tempting, it’s the battery. HUAWEI guarantees as much as 21 days on a single cost, which is about 3 times longer than a lot of the mainstream competitors. By comparability, the flagship Google Pixel Watch and Apple Watch common 24 to 36 hours, whereas Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 8 line tends to stretch nearer to 40 hours. Even Garmin, my typical go-to for multi-day stamina, doesn’t at all times match HUAWEI’s declare exterior of its beefier outside fashions. Subsequent to my Pixel Watch, which not often makes it previous a second morning, the GT 6 Professional seems like a luxurious.

In follow, which means I may head out for a two-week journey and realistically go away the charger behind. Battery life is very depending on utilization, and instruments like always-on will instantly shrink HUAWEI’s 21-day declare, however even with heavier use, together with GPS monitoring, the Watch GT 6 Professional remains to be constructed to final far longer than the common smartwatch. It’s liberating to not get up questioning if the battery will final by a future or a day on the paths.

The GT 6 Professional ships with a hefty magnetic charging puck that snaps the watch into place and delivers quick top-ups. Sadly, HUAWEI nonetheless depends on a USB connector moderately than USB-C, which feels outdated for a tool in any other case leaning so arduous into fashionable design.

Lengthy battery life means extra time on the wrist to really document stats, and the Watch GT 6 makes good use of its endurance. HUAWEI’s catalog of greater than 100 exercise modes carries over from the final technology, masking all the things from swimming to HIIT. New this 12 months are health monitoring enhancements for 4 well-liked outside actions: biking, path working, golf, and snowboarding.

Moving into reverse order, snowboarding mode now offers extra exact positioning and richer datasets. Given I stay in Hawaii, I don’t anticipate testing that individual improve anytime quickly. For golfers, the Professional gives high-definition fairway maps for extra sensible course administration. In path working mode, it provides altitude development charts and real-time grade evaluation (which means I can verify whether or not my quads are fairly sore or simply being whiny in actual time). In the event you’re extra of a path walker than a path runner, the function is beneficial irrespective of your tempo.

Lastly, for cyclists, the system provides a brand-new digital energy meter, the primary of its type on a HUAWEI watch. It mimics pro-level {hardware} to ship wattage estimates straight on the wrist, providing deeper insights with out requiring further gear.

Past sports activities, the most recent watches additionally debut HUAWEI’s all-new TruSense system, a {hardware} and software program improve geared toward enhancing accuracy throughout key well being metrics. HUAWEI says it improves coronary heart charge monitoring, SpO₂ monitoring, and sleep monitoring, and provides HRV measurements. In my very own testing, I observed fast coronary heart charge lock-on, and I nonetheless love HUAWEI’s post-workout restoration measurements. Coronary heart charge knowledge, sadly, stays a hurdle to export cleanly for comparisons, however on the system, measurements matched up carefully with my different trusted wearables.

In the case of GPS efficiency, the GT 6 Professional carried out nicely sufficient for many customers. I examined the watch on a sequence of runs, and for essentially the most half, its routes lined up carefully with my Apple Watch Extremely 2, a excessive bar for accuracy, as proven within the map above. You possibly can see some areas the place the watch wasn’t completely aligned, veering extensive of my precise path barely. But, tempo and distance matched practically completely, usually inside one hundredth of a mile. The accuracy isn’t excellent, but it surely’s possible adequate for many athletes.

I do extremely advocate turning off the exercise bulletins earlier than heading to a observe, except you need your splits loudly broadcast to everybody inside earshot.

It’s essential to set expectations. The HUAWEI Watch GT 6 Professional is just not a full-fledged smartwatch within the vein of a Pixel Watch, Galaxy Watch, or Apple Watch. HUAWEI’s GT lineup has at all times leaned towards fitness-first options and battery endurance moderately than deep good performance, and this mannequin follows swimsuit.

There’s no app retailer, no LTE connectivity, and solely restricted assist for third-party integrations. Notifications work superb, however replies are minimal, and also you gained’t discover the identical ecosystem of apps you’d anticipate on a Put on OS or watchOS system. Even the NFC {hardware} is restricted to HUAWEI Pockets, which isn’t universally supported and is successfully unusable within the U.S. If options like tap-to-pay or music streaming out of your wrist are important to you, the GT 6 Professional gained’t meet these wants. It’s higher to think about it as a sophisticated health tracker dressed up as a smartwatch, moderately than a smartwatch that occurs to trace health.

What stands out most concerning the system is its stamina and the way fully it leans into the GT identification. This isn’t HUAWEI attempting to beat Samsung, Google, or Apple at their very own smartwatch sport. The GT 6 Professional doesn’t have the type of deep integrations you’ll discover on opponents. If you’d like a tool to pay for groceries, handle your playlists, or function a wrist-based extension of your cellphone, this isn’t it. For that kind of person expertise you’ll want to buy the Galaxy Watch 8 ($349.99 at Amazon) or Pixel Watch 4 ($349.99 at Amazon), or if you happen to’re an iOS person, the Apple Watch Sequence 11 ($399 at Amazon).

As an alternative, the GT 6 Professional makes its case as a really polished, very enticing health tracker with phenomenal battery life. Its premium construct high quality and modern design, plus its spectacular multi-week endurance, set it other than mainstream opponents. Most smartwatches require fixed charging. Energy administration of the GT 6 Professional fades into the background whereas it data runs, rides, and sleep for weeks at a time with no wall outlet. In that sense, it’s nearer to a Garmin or perhaps a Fitbit than a Put on OS or watchOS system, but it surely’s wearing a bundle that may maintain its personal in opposition to luxury-leaning flagships.

If what you need is a sophisticated health companion that appears sharp, lasts perpetually (by smartwatch requirements), and retains the fundamentals coated, the HUAWEI Watch GT 6 Professional delivers. Simply don’t mistake it for a full-fledged smartwatch, as a result of it’s not attempting to be.

Lastly, sadly, the watch gained’t be formally obtainable anytime quickly to US buyers. As at all times, you may additionally face some function limitations if you happen to select to import the watch.