Huawei’s Watch GT 2 comes in a variety of styles (Sport, Classic, and Elegant editions) and two sizes (42 mm and 46 mm) to suit every taste and wrist size. Both sizes feature bright OLED screens.
Our 46 mm GT 2 Sports Edition packs a 454 x 454 resolution display that provides great detail and colours and a 22mm strap fitting. While it might not quite be a total replacement for a dedicated sport watch (missing out on Strava support for instance), it does provide some solid health tracking features including heart rate, steps, calories burned, distances walked, and sleep pattern tracking. The Watch GT 2 also sports 50m water resistance so you can swim, bath, or shower with it on.
This smartwatch is powered by Huawei Lite OS and not Andriod Wear but coupled with its use of Huawei’s own wearable chip, the Kirin A1, and intelligent power-saving technology, it serves you day and night for a period of up to two weeks. We had no issue with battery life while using the Watch GT 2 tethered to our smartphone via Bluetooth 5.1 for extended periods between 06:00 and 23:00 at night for around 10-12 days before charging it, with around 8% battery left.
Huawei Lite OS is quite easy to navigate, as you simply swipe down for quick settings, up for notifications, and right to horizontally scroll through key features such as the music player, fitness logging and more. While you can take calls using this smartwatch, you are simply able to receive/view notifications and cannot interact with them like you can on an Apple Watch for example.
Moreover, there is no app store for the Watch GT 2, so you have to use the apps provided and there is also no virtual assistant such as Siri to interact with. Our review unit came with 16 watch faces preloaded and you can use the Huawei Health app on your Android smartphone to search for and load some more as well as to load music on to your smartwatch for workouts (should you have a Bluetooth headset/earphones to pair it with). This app really does a good job of presenting info in an easy to understand and visually appealing way. With workouts for example, it really is satisfying to go check your recovery times, heart rate zones, along with other data after a (not-too-)grueling workout, because of the well-designed app and accessible functionality unlocked by the smartwatch.
For those looking for a good amount of features, a nicely designed, and affordable smartwatch that offers most of the functionality they need as well as class-leading battery life, the Huawei Watch GT 2 will tick all of those boxes. The recommended retail price for the Huawei Watch GT 2 varies at different retailers but it usually sells for R3.499, making it a lot more affordable than rival devices from Samsung and Apple.
