I've always been a fan of smartwatches that keeps the typical watch silhouette, which was why I have long been just fans of analogue watches due to their smaller silhouette, until I saw the HUAWEI Watch GT 6 in action. Aside from its comprehensive tracking, it had several other upgrades including battery life, mechanical positioning of GPS technology and—my favourite part—more customization options!
Here's what we think of the latest HUAWEI GT 6 (41mm), priced at RM999, after a week of trying it.
Editor
Jodee Tan chevron_right
Table of Contents
HUAWEI Watch GT 6 Full Specifications
- Display: 1.32-inch AMOLED, color screen, 466 × 466 pixels, 352 PPI
- Processor: TBC
- Operating System & UI: HarmonyOS 0.6
- Memory: 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM
- Battery: 867 mAh high-silicon stacked battery, up to 14 days light usage
- Built: Sapphire crystal (display), 5ATM + IP68
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 6.0 (BR + BLE), NFC support, Multi-band GNSS: GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, GALILEO, QZSS, NavIC
- Compatibility: Android 9.0 and up; iOS 13.0 and up
- Dimensions: 41.3mm × 41.3mm × 9.99mm (~40g, without straps)
- Sensors:
- Accelerometer
- Gyroscope
- Magnetometer
- Optical heart rate sensor
- Barometer
- Temperature sensors
- Ambient light sensor
Design & Display
With a 1.32-inch AMOLED color screen, our bright-display 41mm-size HUAWEI Watch GT 6 model is an easy sight to look at and navigate. It comes with one out of the few main strap colours available upon purchase: Black, Lilac, White & Brown, the latter of which was our chosen variant. Its strap, made in vegan leather, gives quite a comfortable wear and does not leave uncomfortable marks on the wrist, nor does it feel sweaty and stuffy to wear after the whole day. HUAWEI also has some other straps available to pair your watch with, such as Fluoroelastomer, Composite Leather, and Milanese strap options.
Weighing below 40g (the watch face only), the wear experience is also a lightweight yet secured one. Though it's a brown vegan leather strap, even during mid-impact HIIT exercises, it never tried to slip off or feel uncomfortable to wear.
Like the 46mm size GT 6 model, the 41mm model also features a stainless steel construction and come with speaker and microphone support for calling functionality. With that in mind, this watch shouldn't scratch easily. At least, it did not gain any scratches in the one week of our wear experience without any baby-ing involved.
Additionally, the watch also has 5 ATM water resistance (up to 50 meters) and IP69 rating that withstands high-pressure water resistance. It is thus suitable for swimming in pools and coastal areas (keep in mind that getting a silicone strap to wear it is highly-recommended for water activities).
Performance & Battery
The biggest enhancement made to upgrade the performance of the Watch GT 6 is its Sunflower Positioning System 2.0, essentially means the mechanics being repositioned to allow better tracking and connectivity to the satellite, thereby boosting 20% more accuracy for tracking your wherabouts better. Aiding that is also a new antenna architecture which improves GNSS performance.
You'll also get upgraded battery life with up to 7 days of regular use, and 14 days use on the 41mm model when in light usage mode and with trail run tracking activated. Beta tests with light usage also recorded 21 days usage on the 46mm model.
In our experience, this is likely to be accurate, as we experienced (give or take) 10-15% battery depletion in a day with light-mid use. That's between 7 - 10 days of use. Interestingly, HUAWEI shared that they've also used upgraded batteries that allowed 26% more space utilisation which allowed them the opportunity to insert more intersting hardware.
Health Tracking
HUAWEI has fitted the Watch GT 6 with, reportedly, faster and more accurate as well as comprehensive analysis for both sports and sleep analysis. The TruSense system has brought up the Cycling-mode heart rate accuracy up to 98%. This also offers the GT 6 the chance to do grade analysis to your cycling sessions, automatic detection for cycling and even traffic activities.
The watch also comes with more comprehensive data now (new HRV), on-the-spot tracking analysis for stress, and an on-screen pet for 'support' when you access certain features such as emotion tracking.
OS & other Operation
Running on HarmonyOS 0.6 and now with more storage onboard at 64GB size, you can run and store the likes of more watchfaces, several of which are multimodal and can be further customised. Our favourite is to play with the sticker background variant which brings personal touch (and a smile to your face). There's also pet-themed watchface, more animated that are brighter, colourful and more youthful, as well as more font choices and watch interface placements.
You can also set your own videos as the background for your watch face, which allows up to 5 seconds of video. Unfortunately we were not able to test this (I was truly looking forward to this) as I think it's currently not yet available pre-launch.
Admittedly, some things I've not set up but look forward to is the watch's Touch n' Go payment feature as well as running with a full on GPS map to look at.
Get HUAWEI Watch GT 6 Because:
You love customizing your watch
The biggest feature that attracted me to the Watch GT 6 was its customisation appeal. Smartwatches are still considered niche wants due to the love for analogue watches among regular users. But I believe if HUAWEI continues to allow for acute personalisation options without compromising on their watch health tracking abilities, we will definitely see more reasons to adopt smartwatches like the Watch GT 6. Plus, its clear and neat interface makes the analysis tracking visual experience feel much nicer on the Watch GT 6.
You want ample, reasonable battery life
I am not the biggest fan of needing to baby all of my tech and personal belongings. So having a good reasonable battery size on a smartwatch with eSIM, GPS & constant tracking features is commendable. As mentioned, I am able to get between 7 - 10 days of use at my current rate of usage. If I stick to light mode use, I could easily get the 14 days battery advertised. 2 weeks of holiday without worries, here I come!
You want great accessibility as a non HUAWEI smartphone users
The biggest win here is the fact that you can easily use the Watch GT 6 on either Android or iOS platforms via the HUAWEI health watch app, making its accessibility reasonable and easy. If you happen to be participating in local insurance app-programmes such as AIA for points and cashback incentives, HUAWEI is also one of the brands that are recognised and embedded into the tracking system.
Don't Get it Because:
You want an even more affordable option
HUAWEI Watch GT 6 is a smartwatch after all, rather than a fitness tracker, so you technically get what you pay for, as it costs about RM999 (precised local pricing to be updated). Personally, I feel it's a fair price to pay, as you get comprehensive tracking and its ample of connectivity options. But if you need a sleek smartwatch under RM1,000, Xiaomi's Smartwatch S4 (41mm) is also a good alternative albeit with less acute analysis.
You want more sensors
The HUAWEI Watch GT 6 has ample of sensors that's enough to entertain both beginner and intermmediate users already, but its sensors and tarcking are still not as ample as, say, Samsung Galaxy watches. Though we have to give it to HUAWEI for making a beginner-friendly watch, advanced users or those who wants a watch to track more acute and sensitive conditions may find this watch to be shy of those abilities.
Who is this for?
Honestly, the HUAWEI Watch GT 6 is great for those interested to own a smartwatch, and is an easy recommendation for late beginners to intermmediate health-concious users to look into.
Its health analysis might not be the most comprehensive for advanced users (to which, the Watch GT 6 Pro is recommended instead), but I find its amount of data is sufficient for someone like me, both a casual and interested smartwatch user who wants something that looks sleek and is practical enough.
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