Huawei Watch 4 Review
Huawei Watch 4 is a great smartwatch that is very suitable for Android users. The perfect balance of design, materials and health and fitness features make it a really strong proposition, even if the price makes it an expensive option. Huawei still can't keep up with Apple or Google when it comes to apps and payments, but otherwise, the Watch 4 might appeal to a lot of people.
- Nice look, great screen
- A wide range of health benefits
- Good accuracy of fit
- expensive
- No app/payment support
- Average battery life
The Huawei Watch 4 is Huawei's updated flagship smartwatch that's back with more health and fitness features.
It is superior to the Huawei Watch Ultimate and has many features in common, including water resistance.
If you opt for the Huawei Watch 4 Pro, you'll get the same titanium materials and plenty of medical and health-tracking features.
But does it solve the problems we found in the Huawei Watch 4 review? And is it worth the high price?
We followed in his footsteps to find out.
price and competition
continuous 
The Huawei Watch 4 costs £399/€399 (they're not officially available in the US and haven't appeared on Amazon yet), so they're still expensive - and higher than the Apple Watch Series 8.
If you opt for the Huawei Watch 4 Pro, it will cost £499/€499.
The Huawei Watch Ultimate costs £799/$899, which is silly, and the incredible specs of the Watch 4 make it even less recommended.
But the Huawei Watch GT3 still offers great value, and the Watch GT 3 Pro also offers ECG and arterial stiffness.
Squirrel_12863270
Otherwise, any iOS user is better off with an Apple Watch; is correct
But the Huawei Watch 4 beats most Wear OS watches in terms of design, health and wellness features, and battery life. But you have to live without apps and fees. This makes the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 a great alternative.
design and presentation
continuous 
The Huawei Watch 4 lacks more grandeur than the Huawei Watch Ultimate, and that's the best part.
The standard Watch 4 has a 46mm stainless steel case, so it's not particularly unisex and quite large on the wrist.
We tested the Huawei Watch 4 Pro (47mm), which is about 20 grams heavier despite its titanium case. Dominating the wrist thanks to the 13mm crystal dome, it suits anyone who dreams of a big timepiece.
Both models have a 5ATM rating, making them suitable for swimming in a pool, but they also meet the EN13319 standard, making them suitable for free diving up to 30 metres. They also have a depth sensor that automatically records and displays data as you dive.
Our test device came with a titanium band, which we immediately swapped out for a standard band because it didn't work - and it's a shame the Huawei Watch 4 doesn't have a silicone alternative. However, any 20mm tape will do, so you can easily find something.
But there are also options with titanium switches, composite material or leather.
continuous 
As with most Huawei wearables, the Watch 4's display is gorgeous. It's a massive 1.5-inch LTPO AMOLED display with a resolution of 466 x 466, and there's not much that makes it better.
It's easy to read, packed with information and facts, and looks good and professional. It doesn't have the personality of the Apple Watch Ultimate, but it's still a great watch.
Features, operating system and ecosystem
continuous 
Huawei Watch 4 runs HarmonyOS 3, the company's latest operating system for wearables and mobile devices.
In terms of usability, Huawei has made improvements, with some new app dock features available with a second press of a button, as well as a "floating wallet" that takes you back to previous apps.
The Watch 4 also has an app gallery where you can download a small number of HarmonyOS apps.
However, these are mostly popular Huawei apps (see cards/wallet) for you to choose from, not the standard ones you're used to.
The best of these come pre-installed, such as Huawei's Petal Maps (see above).
This particular app works well but has some weird features. It clearly showed every church or place of worship, but we couldn't identify things like train stations. It also shows things like sidewalks, but you have to get so close that it becomes very difficult to follow everything. It's not Google Maps, but you can access it to navigate your way through your workout, and it's even more efficient if you have an LTE connection.
The rest of the app gallery's offerings are fairly random, with some notable offerings in the form of Adidas Running. But it is certainly not filled with premium games.
There is also a Huawei wallet for storing cards, tickets and entrance tickets.
Compared to watchOS and Wear OS, it falls short when it comes to apps and support for contactless payments.
Android users can download apps from Huawei's ever-expanding app gallery.
Huawei Watch 4 supports eSIM, so you can add it to your data plan. This means calls and messages will be on your wrist, not on your phone. But without a music/podcasting app and mail client, we have to question its appeal.
The Huawei Watch 4 has a lot of health and fitness features that we'll see soon.
But it also includes Celia's voice assistants. It's great for opening apps and features with your voice if that's important to you.
Using the Huawei Watch 4 has some quirks, especially with iOS. We have noticed some issues with WhatsApp sending notifications multiple times, sometimes only a few days apart. But overall, it's easy to use and includes basic smartwatch features.
watch sports
continuous 
Huawei has excelled in sports tracking in recent years, and all of its best features are available on the Watch 4.
The Watch 4 has GPS, but lacks the multi-band motion processing we find in the Huawei Watch Ultimate. This isn't a problem as Ultimate had a bug that didn't allow us to accurately determine the distance.
Fortunately, the Watch 4 didn't have this problem, and our GPS correctly detected distances of 5-10 km, which is in line with the Apple Watch Ultra.
continuous 
As with devices like the Huawei Watch GT 3, GT3 Pro and the excellent Huawei Fit 2, there are over 100 sports modes with a particular focus on running.
When it comes to running, there are not only several training profiles and guided training modes, but also a lot of biometrics and statistics.
The Running Skills Index provides some information about your performance as well as recovery information, including a timer that counts down to your next run.
When you complete the first mile of your run, your performance status is displayed.
There are certain problems here. The Watch 4 measures VO2 Max, though that's good enough for some very expensive smartwatches. So the race announcer was also very generous with the possible times for the most popular race distances.
Also, we found that the performance index would often show a blank number, especially if we didn't run that day, which seemed like a mistake.
Overall, heart rate accuracy was decent. After problems with the Huawei Watch Ultimate Watch 4 showed positive, average and maximum heart rate accurately tracked on the chest strap.
We have no hesitation in recommending the Huawei Watch 4 as a fitness smartwatch. However, we should note that there are issues with some of the release points. Still, the Android smartwatch space is rife with questionable fit data (we're talking about you, Samsung), so overall it's easy to recommend. If you want quality fitness analytics, buy a Garmin or Polar.
Another thing worth noting is that the sports tracking is almost identical to that of the Huawei Watch GT3, so ditching the stuff can save you money.
health monitoring
continuous 
Huawei Watch 4 is a powerful health tracker and Huawei's most complete medical watch (Watch-D-Band).
The Watch 4 has plenty of health indicators, but luckily the Huawei Health app has also evolved to make better use of all that information.
There's a Health Glance feature that combines an ECG (CE-marked), arterial stiffness tests, heart rate, SpO2, stress and a new respiratory health score into one test (three in one session). All this is reported in the Huawei Health application.
continuous 
The respiratory health test is a weird test and we're not sure the instructions are clear enough. Take two to three deep breaths for 30 seconds and cough into the watch's microphone.
We didn't know whether to breathe in and cough or cough out. It was a bit confusing to say the least. But it's interesting data that's unique to wearables, and we got a slightly telling "average" rating.
Huawei now reveals health trends that track things like resting heart rate, SpO2, stress and sleep duration.
Unfortunately, there's no way to measure skin temperature between the two devices, which would make this feature less useful than it is. Skin temperature isn't used to detect disease or track your menstrual cycle, so it's a small start.
continuous 
The Health Trends feature is similar to Fitbit's health dashboard, but data trends are much more user-friendly. The Fitbit (and Whoop/Oura) focuses on heart rate variability or the interval between heartbeats. Low HRV is an important indicator of stress/fatigue/poor recovery, but it seems abstract and requires user knowledge to understand.
That's why it's so cool to understand Huawei's health trends. Heart rate trends during sleep and rest are of more interest to most people, and we applaud Huawei for focusing on this.
However, Whoop and Oura have used HRV with great success, so we want Huawei to do it and make it big. It's also disappointing that breath rate isn't used as a powerful health tool here.
Activity and sleep tracking
continuous 
Huawei has also updated its activity tracking with Health Clover, which recommends doing it every day.
To do this, take a step before you go to bed and alternate between your sleep and wakefulness goals. Also keep your stress under control and if not, control your breathing. It's a little abstract, but we prefer a more holistic view of health that goes beyond steps and calories.
Health Clovers is implemented on the Watch 4 and can be found in the Applications menu.
There is, however, a traditional activity tracking widget that switches from the main watch face to traditional calories, active minutes, and standing hours.
continuous 
Overall, we like Huawei's sleep tracker with its slick interface and accurate results, from deep sleep duration to breathing quality and wake-up time. Each of them is analyzed and evaluated individually, which allows you to improve your sleep.
As always with Huawei's sleep trackers, we found the overall lifespan to be overkill, with the Watch 4 getting more hours of sleep than the Whoop, which we think is the best in the business.
continuous 
This is not a major problem as it is consistent enough to compare sleep data over time. However, we believe that the exorbitant price tag means that people have fewer opportunities to improve their sleep or develop better sleep habits.
battery life
The battery life of the Huawei smartwatch was a strong point, but considering the top specs, the Huawei Watch 4's longevity isn't much better than the Apple Watch Ultra or TicWatch Pro 5.
Huawei claims the Watch 4 Pro's battery life is 4.5 days of normal use and 3 days for the standard Watch 4. It worked well in our testing, but you'll have to do without the always-on screen.
According to Huawei's estimates, with the Watch 4 Pro's always-on display, we saw a daily drop of around 35%. With the same margin as the standard Watch 4, expect about two days.
GPS operating hours are reduced by only 10%. So if you want to run a marathon with the Watch 4, you're all set.
If you're using LTE, you can expect these numbers to drop again.
James Stiles
James is the founder of Wareable and has been a technology journalist for the past 15 years.
After starting his career at Future Publishing , James became an editor for T3 Magazine and T3.com and a regular contributor to TechRadar before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014 .
James has led Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the world's leading experts in wearable technology. He has reviewed, tested and analyzed virtually every wearable device on the market and is passionate about the growing industry and wearables that help people live healthier and happier lives.
