Huawei Watch GT 6 Pro Review: A Deep Dive into Huawei’s Premium Smartwatch
The global wearables market leader, Huawei, continues to refine its premium smartwatch offerings, prioritizing advancements in health and activity tracking. The Watch GT 6 Pro, succeeding the GT 5 Pro, maintains a familiar design while incorporating key updates across several functionalities. This review provides a comprehensive analysis for technology professionals and enthusiasts.
Hardware Overview:
The Watch GT 6 Pro features several hardware enhancements. The device incorporates a slightly larger and significantly brighter OLED screen, improved positioning accuracy through enhanced GPS capabilities, and a larger capacity battery. Huawei has also implemented an updated TruSense system accompanied by refined algorithms to improve health data accuracy.
Sports Tracking Features:
Enhancements to the GT 6 Pro include:
- A novel virtual power meter designed for cyclists.
- Vector maps for golfers.
- Continued support for high-performance run tracking.
Technical Specifications:
- Display: 1.47″ AMOLED touchscreen, 466 x 466 px resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, 3,000 nits HBM brightness, Always-On Display (AOD)
- Straps: Detachable proprietary straps, adjustable length (140-210mm)
- Features: 5ATM water resistance (50m depth), IP69 rating, Dive proof (up to 40 meters), real-time heart rate monitor, 24/7 Blood Oxygen level monitor, Sleep tracking, Stress monitoring, Sports tracking, Step Counter, Meditation, Notifications, Idle Alert, Phone Finder, Weather Forecast, Music and Camera Control, Alarm, Stopwatch, linear Vibration Motor, Flashlight.
- Sports Modes: Outdoor Run, Indoor Run, Outdoor Walk, Cycling, Hiking, Pool Swimming, Jump rope, Freestyle (150+ more in Huawei Health app)
- Sensors: Optical heart rate sensor, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Magnetometer, Barometer, Skin temperature sensor, Ambient light sensor, ECG sensor, Depth sensor
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 6.0, Compatible with Android 9.0 and iOS 13+, dual-band L1+L5 GNSS, NFC, microphone and speakers
- Battery: 867mAh
- Colors: Black, Brown, Silver
- Dimensions: 45.6 mm × 45.6 mm × 11.25 mm
- Weight (without strap): 54.7 grams
Design and Build Quality:
The Watch GT 6 Pro maintains Huawei’s commitment to premium build quality. The device incorporates a cold and TC4 titanium alloy casing. The packaging includes the watch itself, a watch strap, and a proprietary magnetic puck charger with a USB-A cable.
The review unit featured a brown composite woven strap, combining fluororubber with a patterned woven design. The straps are 22mm in size, and incorporate a proprietary metal pin system, limiting compatibility with standard strap options.
The 46mm casing houses a circular 1.47” OLED touchscreen protected by sapphire glass. The display area has increased by shrinking the bezels, resulting in a larger display area than the GT 5 Pro, while retaining the same overall watch size.
The most notable display upgrade is the brightness output, with a claimed peak brightness of 3,000 nits. The auto-brightness function renders the screen legible in nearly all ambient light conditions.
The Watch GT 6 Pro includes a crown button and a secondary programmable button on the right side.
The device weighs approximately 55 grams without the strap and exceeds 11 mm in thickness, making it a substantial wrist-worn device.
The device boasts an IP69 ingress protection rating and is EN13319 compliant, making it dive-proof up to 40 meters, suitable for snorkeling and freediving activities.
Software and Features:
The Watch GT 6 Pro runs on Harmony OS 6.0, offering an interface similar to previous iterations. The user interface includes a swipe-based card interface, a quick settings panel, and a notification area. The interface supports a rotating crown button and a second programmable button. A single press on the crown button opens the app drawer. The secondary button launches the workout app by default, but users can customize it to other apps or sports modes.
Double-tapping the crown accesses recently used apps, enabling quick switching between them. Double-pressing the quick launch button is reserved for the Huawei Wallet app, which is currently unsupported in Europe. Pressing both buttons simultaneously captures screenshots, saved within the Huawei Health app and synchronized with the user’s phone gallery.
The device offers Always-On Display (AOD) functionality. Huawei’s first-party watch faces incorporate a black background to conserve battery life while still displaying complication details.
Users with Android and HarmonyOS phones can type replies on messaging apps, using a QWERTY keyboard.
Limitations:
The absence of cellular connectivity is a recurring feature omission in the Huawei Watch GT series. Additionally, the region-locked NFC payment system is a drawback.
The Huawei Health app provides comprehensive management of the GT 6 Pro, offering a broad range of features and detailed health and activity data. The app is compatible with both iOS and Android, as well as Huawei’s HarmonyOS.
Health and Activity Tracking:
Health Tracking Capabilities:
The device incorporates a suite of features and enhanced health tracking algorithms, including a skin temperature sensor. The GT 6 Pro supports heart rate and blood oxygen (SpO2) tracking, alongside sleep and stress measurements, and an emotional well-being option.
The GT 6 Pro offers ECG readings, which provide insights for detecting early-stage atrial fibrillation (AFib). The ECG reports can be exported via the Huawei Health app and shared with healthcare professionals.
Performance:
The Watch GT 6 Pro demonstrates strong performance in heart rate and distance tracking. During runs and hikes, the device provides more accurate readings compared to the Huawei Watch Fit 3. It also provides reliable step counting.
Automatic workout detection is available for activities like running and cycling.
The device supports offline maps via Huawei Petal Maps, including downloadable regional maps with topographical details. This is helpful for hikers, and route recording and GPX file import are supported for navigation.
GPS Accuracy and Cycling Features:
The Watch GT 6 Pro has enhanced GPS capabilities. Its new antenna design and positioning algorithms promise improved accuracy, with dual-band support for major satellite positioning systems. During testing, GPS localization took up to 20 seconds to lock, followed by a stable connection, even in urban environments, and pedestrian underpasses.
A notable addition is the virtual power meter for cycling. Utilizing Huawei’s algorithm, trained on cycling datasets, it displays real-time and average power metrics.
Battery Life:
The Watch GT 6 Pro demonstrates excellent battery endurance. The device features a new high-silicon stacked custom-shaped battery cell with an 867mAh capacity.
In testing, the device achieved 13 days of usage between charges, with auto-brightness enabled, AOD disabled, 100 daily notifications, 30 minutes of exercise every two days, and continuous monitoring of heart rate, blood oxygen, sleep, and stress.
Huawei claims up to 21 days of usage with light use, which is possible with restricted feature use. AOD enabled, the device offers up to 7 days of battery life.
A full charge from 0-100% with the proprietary magnetic puck charger at 10W takes 108 minutes. The device also supports Qi wireless charging, with slower charging times.
Conclusion:
The Huawei Watch GT 6 Pro represents a substantial upgrade over the GT 5 Pro, with improvements in display, battery life, and sports tracking features.
The device offers premium build quality and delivers dependable health and activity tracking, alongside excellent battery endurance, lasting over 10 days between charges.
While the Harmony OS 6.0 interface offers a good range of watch faces, the limited third-party app support and the absence of contactless payments are notable drawbacks.
The Huawei Watch GT 6 Pro, with a price point of €380/£330, provides an appealing option for fitness enthusiasts seeking a well-built smartwatch with reliable health and activity tracking and extended battery life.
