Huawei is always known for setting high expectations and breeching them effortlessly with every innovative product release. The new HUAWEI Watch GT Runner, it’s first sports watch is one such. This installment targets the runners specifically. We got an opportunity to try it on and let’s see, if it lives up to its expectations.
Weighing just around 38.5g and a design inspiration drawn from the grille of a sports car, this watch has in its every awe inspiring yet robust finish. Be it the durable polymer-fibre case, offset with ceramic finish, and aircraft-grade titanium alloy crown or the hollowed-out lug built to allow a more breathable comfortable wearing experience, the HUAWEI Watch GT Runner looks chiseled to perfection!!
The 1.43-inch AMOLED 466 x 466 pixels HD touchscreen supports slide and touch gestures. While, the display size is apt and the contents are legible even during the day too. The straps are made of silicone, they are both light and soft and are skin friendly. I had the watch on for days together, yet, the wearing experience was great.
Since it is a dedicated sports watch, Huawei has gone to a great length to ensure that the newly upgraded heart rate module is precise. Powered by the HUAWEI TruSeen 5.0+, the heartrate module includes eight photodiodes in a circular layout and two sets of light sources, combined with a curved glass for a comfortable wear and reduced external light interference. The readings did correspond with the strap on heart rate monitor.
The HUAWEI Watch GT Runner provides a lot of insights that can be used by runners of any stage to improve and take them to the next level. The metrics recorded range from training intensity, training volume, recovery time, running ability evaluation, fatigue updates, evaluation of running technique. On the whole this smartwatch has every feature required to inspire the wearer. I’m personally not much into running but to my surprise the insights offered by this watch did make me test my limits and enabled me discover a hidden runner inside me.
The AI running coach was a specific feature that excited me a lot. It let me choose my own training plans and the real-time voice guidance kept providing me with regular audio alerts about my heart rate, pace and other body data. A detailed analysis of the data recorded can be accessed through the HUAWEI Health app that is installed in the smartphone (HarmonyOS 2 or later, Android 6.0 or later, iOS 9.0 or later). The watch connects to the app via the Bluetooth. I experienced some issues while trying to initially pair the watch with my android phone.
The pairing happened after a bit of a struggle. I did try to set my training program via the HUAWEI Health app. The training program did guide me through with the workout and the real-time voice guidance kept giving me regular alerts and after completing the scheduled workout for the day, the watch even rendered the info that I can access a detailed breakdown of the training via the Health app but viola!! The training data vanished into thin air!! And this was a big disappointment.
I also experienced a lot of sync issues with the HUAWEI Health app. There was an instance, when I used the Outdoor walking mode and after completing my walk, I found the data was recorded in the watch but realized that it was not reflecting in my exercise records in the Health app!! Huawei needs to ensure that such serious slippages does not occur as this leads to discouragement. Addition of automatic workout detection will also be helpful.
Another area of concern for HUAWEI is the lack of connectivity with other major fitness tracker apps like Strava, Healthifyme, etc.
Getting back to the other prominent features, one among them is the Dataface. This watchface provides all relevant data such as the time, weather updates, access to music, air pressure, training load, Altitude, sun rise, sun set to the wearer in just a glimpse.
The HUAWEI Watch GT Runner comes with dual band five-systems GNSS, that offers accurate track positioning, dual band real time concurrent calls, faster satellite search speed and offers accurate positioning. This feature accurately mapped my routes and rendered it accurately on the Health app. The GPS feature works to perfection.
The watch comes with a 4GB memory, which can store up to 500 songs in the device. Other than these the HUAWEI Watch GT Runner provides all features that most of the premium smartwatches available in the market today provide.
The HUAWEI Watch GT Runner comes with a magnetic charging thimble, which charges the watch at a decent rate and once fully charged the power lasts for up to 10 days.
To conclude, the HUAWEI Watch GT Runner looks stylish, robust yet feels light and offers a good battery life. The Huawei Health App is ever improving and the graphical representation of the data is amazing and easy to interpret. This sports watch has all the right ingredients to help, especially, the runners (any category) test their limits and improve their running, such as the improved heart rate monitor, running ability index, AI running Coach, efficient GPS, water resistance, etc. But these features get eclipsed because of repeated sync issues with the Health app and initial Bluetooth connectivity hitches.
The HUAWEI Watch GT Runner is priced at AED 1,299, with gifts worth AED 598 including; Huawei Smart Scale 3 and Huawei FreeLace. The watch is available in both black and grey soft silicone strap variants. The offer can be purchased from Huawei’s official e-store, Huawei Experience stores and across select retailers.