Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro review, the missing piece

Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro review

In November of last year, Huawei unveiled the Huawei Watch GT 3 for the local market, the HarmonyOS smartwatch that places particular interest in health and sport. Now, just over six months after the base model and about a month after the announcement in China, the Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro has also arrived in Italy. We have had the opportunity to try out the most luxurious version of the smartwatch for you, with a white ceramic case and strap.

What are the differences with the basic model? How does the Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro arriving in our market differ from the variant sold in the East? And above all, is it worth buying?

Class and elegance of another league

This model has a 43mm case and a standard 20mm strap attachment so it is relatively compact on the wrist, however the weight of 50g (excluding strap) I must admit it makes itself felt: the premium materials have a certain consistency, keep that in mind. The titanium version is available with a 46mm case, 22mm straps and a larger battery but despite this it has almost the same weight (54g).

The case and strap (in this case ranging between 130 and 190 mm) are made entirely of polished ceramic with some golden accents in stainless steel. The golden bezel has 24 bezels, each positioned half an hour apart around the dial protected in sapphire crystal, the same material also used to protect the sensors placed on the side in contact with the wrist.




There are very few smartwatches like Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro that have such an elegant design and a construction that puts them in direct competition with classic watches . This version is perhaps more suitable for everyday life and for great occasions. You can obviously use it for physical activity but, if you are looking primarily for a sportwatch, at the design level the Titanium model and above all the Huawei Watch GT Runner are more at ease in a gym.




Huawei also includes extra links in the package and a useful screwdriver that will allow you to add or remove segments to the strap independently, without necessarily having to go to a watchmaker or jeweler.

Despite everything, Huawei has also certified this variant for immersion up to 30m depth (5ATM) and against the entry of water and dust according to the IP68 standard, therefore it will not be a problem to use it in the pool, for swimming or freediving training.

A confirmation on the hardware side

Speaking of hardware and technology, this smartwatch does not bring with it huge surprises compared to the other recent models in the Huawei Watch and Watch GT range. The 1.33 "AMOLED screen maintains the same resolution of 466 × 466 pixels as the 46mm case model, making it even sharper. We have not been given official data regarding the maximum brightness of the panel, however we can assume that it is the same unit as the Huawei Watch 3 capable of touching 1000 nits for perfect readability even in sunny weather.

It is It is possible to set an always-on display and finally I can confirm that the extra battery consumption, although still present using the function, does not represent a problem as I had reported at the launch of Watch 3 (surely it was a software optimization problem, by now more mature). The automatic switching on of the display with the rotation of the wrist also works very well, responding instantly to the gesture.



Judging by the 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory, besides that from the overall speed of the smartwatch, I assume the same HiSilicon Hi6262 chip as all other Huawei smart watch models announced in the last 12 months is mounted under the dial. An excellent confirmation as the brand's wearables have always been, in my opinion, among the most responsive and fluid available on the market despite a truly extensive suite of features. The larger internal memory is mainly useful for copying audio tracks to be used in standalone mode rather than for apps, but we will talk about this later.

Present Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, dual band GPS and NFC chip, even if this is last at the moment it cannot be used in Italy for payments. Instead, Wi-Fi and data connectivity via eSIM are lacking, exactly like the other exponents of the Watch GT range and the main difference of the products of the series from Watch 3 and Watch 3 Pro.



The system TruSeen 5.0+ sensors, the same as the Watch GT Runner, includes 8 photodiodes arranged in a circle to minimize the level of interference from external light. Health parameters detection algorithms have also been improved to better eliminate disturbances and ensure maximum accuracy. Huawei claims to have achieved an accuracy level of 97% within the limit of 10bpm even in the case of high intensity training (HIIT).

All the sensors you would expect from a modern top-of-the-range smartwatch are inevitable: present accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, altimeter (atmospheric pressure sensor), a heart rate monitor capable of also estimating blood oxygenation SpO2 and a thermometer for skin temperature.



The variant Chinese Watch GT 3 Pro also allows you to perform and record ECGs as well as detect AFIB (atrial fibrillation) in real time, a function unfortunately missing in the international model. Too bad, it would have been a real point of differentiation from most of the competition and from the other watches of the brand.

The excellent speaker and microphone dedicated to calls and interaction with the voice assistant continue to be present Voice AI, useful for many basic functions but still far from the giants of the sector (read Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and Apple's Siri).

Autonomy: it is important to choose the most suitable model for you

Although I absolutely cannot complain about the autonomy of the Huawei smartwatches, after all they far exceed the Wear OS watch that I use daily, the 292mAh battery alone of the Watch GT 3 Pro in this expensive version is a bit subdued . The company promises up to 7 days of autonomy with light use. Personally, I have almost always exceeded three days but have never reached the end of the fourth.

The large model has 530mAh and the company claims up to 14 days with the same functionality as the smartwatch we tested. If you use it intensively, therefore, even with GPS and long training sessions it is almost safe to recharge on the second day. Well but not excellent, evaluate this too before deciding which Watch GT 3 Pro variant is best for you.



Charging takes place in less than 85 minutes with the wireless base included in the package, which has a really strong magnet and which ensures the correct positioning of the watch. Once again we find a non-removable USB Type-A cable, forcing you to buy a new base in case of damage to the thin cable.

Compatible with Qi wireless charging up to 10W, it is also possible to recharge the watch using the sharing mode of a smartphone or with generic compatible bases.

HarmonyOS hasn't changed… luckily!

Another pleasant confirmation can be found in HarmonyOS 2.1, an operating system developed at home by Huawei after the American ban and used by us only on wearables and tablets (in China it also made its debut on smartphones). Fast, fast, fast, it's one of the best wearable software ever and the more devices I try, the more convinced I am. If on smartphones it leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth of users linked to certain services, on tablets and especially on smartwatches HarmonyOS shows its best.

In this specific version, the AppGallery application store is missing because there is no standalone network connectivity. The store is still accessible from the Huawei Health application on the smartphone, compatible with Android 6.0+, iOS 9.0+ and necessary for the watch to function properly.

Unfortunately, there are still very few third-party applications to date, Huawei should convince and encourage more developers to get busy but it is not easy.



It is possible to reply to message notifications (including Telegram, WhatsApp and other platforms) directly from the watch but using only emoji or predefined responses editable from the smartphone application. There is no keyboard and there is no dictation of voice messages. A real shame.

If separated from the smartphone it can still act as a music player by connecting a pair of Bluetooth headsets, it records biometric data and obviously allows the use of the fitness functions.

You can register more than 100 different sports and workouts, some as truly accurate as golf or freediving. Huawei has studied and implemented one of the best solutions available for fitness among mainstream products, thus excluding pure sportwatches such as Garmin and the like.

Present 24-hour reading of heartbeat, oxygenation of the blood (SpO2), temperature and stress. Sleep tracking is done precisely and accurately. This precise Watch GT 3 Pro model is in my opinion a bit heavy and annoying to wear at night, even if it doesn't take long to get used to.

Data display is possible directly from the watch, me if it is of your interest to go into detail you will have to rely on Huawei Health on your smartphone.

Conclusions

Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro is the piece that was missing in the brand's wearable lineup, positioned as premium alternative to Watch GT 3 and Watch GT Runner, but without including all the functions of the queen series which includes Watch 3 and Watch 3 GT with more complete connectivity.

This particular version made almost entirely of ceramic costs well 599.00 euros, does not aim to achieve an excellent balance between quality and price. It is a special product, a hi-tech jewel that is not afraid to enter a price range accessible to a few to be even more exclusive. The competition at this price mainly concerns some versions of the Apple Watch, which however you cannot use with an Android smartphone, and the Garmins of the Fenix ​​range, but less elegant and more oriented to extreme sportsmen.

The most attentive to the wallet and less to the design they would do better to rely on the other versions with 46mm case, more performing in terms of autonomy and with a lower price. There is a version of the Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro with a white ceramic case and leather strap that will save you 100 euros, which I find more sensible if you intend to replace this strap with a third-party one.



Excluded variants, however, how does this smartwatch behave? As anticipated in the software section, Huawei wearables with HarmonyOS are among my favorites. Fluid, fast, responsive, with a battery life that is still superior to Wear OS opponents, while maintaining practically all the same features. The app store is less well stocked, it is true, and to download new watch faces you will be forced to go to the Huawei Health app on your smartphone.

At the hardware level we are faced with a beautiful, colorful and bright display , the text always appears clear and the dials never appear “pixelated” or “clearly digital”, a close analysis with the screen on is needed to understand that this is a smartwatch and not an elegant classic wristwatch. Well the increase in memory compared to the Runner version.

However, not even in the less expensive variant, a product suitable for all budgets and it is a device that wants to compete directly with Samsung Galaxy Watch4 and Apple Watch Serie 7. In some things he succeeds better than his direct opponents, in others less so. It is up to the end user to assess whether an expense of this type is necessary to meet their needs but, as far as I'm concerned, I would be willing to invest for a product of this quality!