Huawei launches new version of the Huawei Watch GT, the Huawei Watch GT 2

Mate 30 series launch | From Huawei

Together with the launch of the Mate 30 series, Huawei introduced an updated version of their Watch GT, the Watch GT2.

Artículo disponible en Español | Article disponible en Français

Huawei introduced the Watch GT together with the launch of the Mate 20 series last year. This sports watch had one of the best battery life in the industry, at around 2 weeks. New variants were unveiled at the launch event of the P30 series, eventually leading to over 3 million units being shipped in 10 months.

This time, Huawei unveiled the Huawei Watch GT 2, which shares a very similar design to the original version, although a few things have been changed:

We find, once again, a 46mm variant, coming with a bezel made of a single piece of 3D glass, having an HD OLED display of 1.39 inches and a brightness of 1 000 nits, and an always-on mode:

The company also announced a 42mm variant, which is thinner and lighter compared to the 46mm variant, with the body of the watch being 9.4 millimetres and weighting barely 29 grams:

As with the previous generation of the Watch GT, users are able to pick between multiple different dials, and will likely have access to the watch face market too, to download new watch faces made by both the company and other users. The straps can also be switched with other styles, colours and materials, making it an extremely customizable product.

In terms of hardware changes, the Huawei Watch GT 2 uses Huawei’s new Bluetooth chipset, presented a few days ago at IFA2019, together with the Kirin 990/Kirin 990 5G, the Kirin A1. The Kirin A1 is the world’s first Bluetooth and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) 5.1 wearable chip, offering two times better power efficiency compared to other solutions, and has a better range overall compared to other smartwatches on the market.

A new addition on the Watch GT 2 (although limited to the 46mm variant) is the ability to answer and reject calls, with an embedded speaker and microphone. With the Kirin A1, the company claims it is possible to answer calls up to 150 metres away from the smartphone, although this likely depends on whether there’s any interferences in between, such as other waves (Wi-Fi, other Bluetooth devices, etc), or just obstacles such as walls. We also see more internal memory added. While the original one had no real internal memory space at all, with LiteOS being literally able to run on a toaster, we are now able to store up to 500 songs, which corresponds to roughly 2GB of free storage space on the watch.

On the Watch GT 2 46mm, users can expect 2 weeks battery life (14 days) of typical use, although this drastically diminishes to 30 hours when using the GPS, 24 hours of music playback or 10 hours of Bluetooth calls. Meanwhile, the Watch GT 2 42mm cuts this to around 1 week of battery life (7 days) of typical use, due to the smaller body.

The Watch GT remains a product aimed at people interested in tracking their workout. On the Watch GT 2, we find the 13 original workout settings, with 2 new ones added. For running courses, the watch supports 13 different ones:

The watch also supports a wide range of features such as heart rate monitoring while swimming, stress level throughout the day with Huawei TruRelax, as well as features such as “Find my phone”, flashlight, notifications, workout records, barometer, compass, weather and alarm.

In terms of pricing, the Watch GT 2 is divided in two categories, with the 46mm version costing 249€ and the 42mm version costing 229€. In terms of availability, the new smartwatch should be available from next month, October 2019.

Here are the specifications available for now:

  • 1.39” AMOLED screen, 454*454 pixels resolution (46mm), 1.2” AMOLED screen, 390*390 pixels resolution (42mm)
  • GPS on both models
  • Bluetooth 5.1
  • 14 days batter on 46mm/7 days battery on 42mm
  • Available in:
    • 46mm: 4 different styles, 249€
    • 42mm: 4 different styles, 229€

More on this subject:​