HUAWEI Watch 4 Review

HUAWEI Philippines has recently launched their newest wearable device in the country, the HUAWEI WATCH 4. This device is the follow up to the wearable that I personally liked, the HUAWEI WATCH 3 but this time, we’re getting more features and a slight design change.

HUAWEI Watch 4 Review: Design

The HUAWEI Watch 4’s design is one of its biggest selling points. It has one of the best designs on a smartwatch. First, there’s the stainless steel case on the watch that feels really solid and makes the smartwatch more premium and then there’s the 3D Curved Glass which is more curvier and the dome glass is more noticeable compared to the previous generation.

There’s the rotatable crown as well with the etched HUAWEI WATCH in it which is a nice touch. This is no normal rotatable crown as it has a linear motor that responds whenever you rotate it making it feel more like a mechanical watch. It’s responsive and has a crisp feel as well. You can use its rotating crown for its watch faces and also for other applications.

Below the crown is the button that you can use for shortcuts but just like before, you can still customize it to apps that you always use on your HUAWEI Watch 4. 

The review unit that we got comes with a Fluoroelastomer strap and it’s very similar to our experience with the HUAWEI Watch 3. It has a rubbery like texture and feel and for me, it wasn’t really a problem and it does have a balance feel of sporty and premium to me.

As for the build, the HUAWEI Watch 4 comes with a stainless steel body along with a IP6X water resistance so you can use the Watch 4 anywhere you want.

HUAWEI Watch 4 Review: eSIM

One of its selling points is the eSIM support on the watch and unlike the HUAWEI Watch 3, the Watch 4 supports both one sim, two device and also an independent eSIM on the Watch 4 itself. However, as of this posting, the one sim, two device is only supported on selected devices.

As for the eSIM, I was surprised on how seamless the setup is on the HUAWEI Health app and you have the choice to have the Watch 4’s eSIM deactivated whenever the Watch 4 is connected to the smartphone.This saves the battery on the smartphone however, if you’re using a separate eSIM for your Watch 4, this also means that you won’t receive calls and texts on the Watch.

Now you might ask me, why do you need an eSIM on a wearable device like this? It’s simple. With this, you can leave your smartphone when you workout outside or you can have a consistent connection with your watch even when you forgot to bring your smartphone.

You can also have a separate eSIM for the Watch 4 and you can even send SMS and answer calls on the Watch 4 directly.

HUAWEI Watch 4 Review: Display

The Watch 3 and the Watch 4 does look similar from afar but the WATCH 4 has a more curvier glass with its 3D Curved Glass. Not only that, it also has thinner bezels which makes the watch faces bigger a lot better to look at.

There’s the 1.5” LTPO OLED display as well with AOD and what I love about it is that the Watch 4’s 3D Curved glass blends perfectly with the watchfaces on the smartwatch. The AOD is a lot better too as they have more content to show unlike before which makes it better to look at even when at AOD mode.

It’s also really bright which makes the smartwatch’s display really visible under direct sunlight.

HUAWEI Watch 4 Review: Battery life

The HUAWEI Watch 4 comes with 530mAh battery inside and when it comes to charging, it supports Wireless SuperCharge which is now faster to charge compared to the previous generations. HUAWEI has promised an up to 14 days of battery life on the smartphone with ultra-long battery mode and also a 4 days of battery on standard mode.

In my case, I was using a separate eSIM on the Watch 4 and I turned off the auto-disable to network when connected to the smartphone so it takes a lot of juice from the battery. I’ve also turned AOD along with max brightness but surprisingly, it can get a day and a half of battery. However, I was expecting that I can get more from the Watch 4. 

It doesn’t have the same battery life of the GT series of smartwatch from HUAWEI as the Watch number series are smarter and also faster. And again, the HUAWEI Watch 4 does come with eSIM support. This was enough to be used for a day but I wished that it had a longer battery life.

But of course, optimizing the brightness, the mobile data usage, and other things, the HUAWEI Watch 4 can last for days depending on your usage. 

HUAWEI Watch 4 Review: Software and experience

The HUAWEI Watch 4 runs on HarmonyOS 4.0 and the UI is very user-friendly and for those who have used HUAWEI Watch or Watch GT series, the UI is very similar to it. 

It comes with features such as raising the wrist to wake the screen and everything was smooth including navigation along apps and even opening apps. The faster opening of apps is noticeable on the Watch 4. There are also apps that are available for download on the HUAWEI AppGallery and thankfully GCash is about to arrive on the Watch 4 really soon so you can pay via QR with your HUAWEI Watch 4 only.

I believe that HUAWEI can still improve their app availability on the HUAWEI Watch 4 but the GCash app on the HUAWEI Watch 4 is a good sign that we may see more 3rd party apps that we can use for our everyday routine.

Just like before, there are new watchfaces for the HUAWEI Watch 4 and the newest default one shows you your location and also the globe which is a nice touch and rotating the crown also gives you an animation. Of course there are apps like Petal maps, music player and many more included with the watch 

The widgets are really helpful as well which gives you a quick look and shortcuts to your health trackers and again, the button on the side gives you a shortcut to customizable quick bar. 

Unlike Wear OS devices, the HUAWEI Watch 4 is compatible to both iOS and Android as well aside from HUAWEI devices. But of course, you get to have more features on HUAWEI devices. But the most basic ones including health tracking and also having an eSIM will be supported on all operating system. 

HUAWEI Watch 4 Review: Health tracking and sensors

The biggest and unique features of the HUAWEI Watch 4 is the health tracking as the smartwatch packs a lot of health tracking features and sensors inside. 

Health at a glance

This is a feature on the watch that gives you the overview of your health using different indicators. During the test, you can know your heart rate, oxygen level, respiratory overview, cardiovascular health and more. This gives you the whole analysis of your health in one single go. I think this is a small feature that should be in all smartwatches so you can really monitor your health.

New health tracking and sensors

One of the things that I like with HUAWEI Watches is that trackers and sensors are accurate or close to accurate. Again, the smartwatch is not a merical tool or software for treating conditions but it’s a good tool on whether you should have yourself checked at a hospital or clinic. 

One of the newest features that we have here is ECG. The HUAWEI Watch 4 now supports ECG that can check on your heart by just touching the side button for 30 seconds. It can detect if your cardiac rhythm is normal and give you outputs as well. It’s 

The HUAWEI Watch 4 also features arterial stiffness detection, a first that I’ve seen on a smartwatch and from HUAWEI. The best thing about it is that it’s not invasive and detection of arterial stiffness can definitely save your life someday. Again, it’s not a medical tool but the HUAWEI Watch 4 might be a device that can help you detect some abnormalities that you might not know.

During this time of post-COVID and flu season, it’s great to have a respiratory overview if you’re feeling healthy or not. One of the cool and unique features of the HUAWEI Watch 4 so you can watch out if you’re having respiratory problems by just coughing on your watch on a silent room.

Verdict

The HUAWEI Watch 4 might have an almost similar design to the HUAWEI Watch 3 but the Watch 4 has a lot of drastic changes inside. First, there’s the eSIM compatibility that can receive SMS and calls, more sensors that includes ECG, arterial stiffness, and respiratory checks, and a lot more. There’s a 3D curved glass on the outside as well which is a beauty along with the thinner bezels. 

It might not have the same battery as the Watch GT Series or even the previous generation but the features that we have inside it is jampacked and the smartwatch can still last a day even at mobile data on all the time.

Its health features might not be a big deal for some but there’s a chance that it can save your life thanks to its health tracking sensors. The HUAWEI Watch 4 is a little bit on the expensive side though at Php 22,999.