HUAWEI WATCH GT 4 review
In October 2023, I received a smartwatch from Huawei for review – HUAWEI WATCH GT 4 46 mm. I took a little longer with the review, but I used the device a lot. I compared it with the Apple Watch Series 7 and the Mi Band 7 bracelet from Xiaomi. The big problem with reviewing such devices is that I don’t use the sleep functions, I almost never measure blood pressure and use them only for a certain amount of training (walking, swimming pool). When working out with iron, I try to pay more attention to the general condition of the body and do not start a specific workout. Sometimes I just forget. Many people have already reviewed the watch, I won’t be an innovator, but many reviews say almost nothing about the sports component. I will touch on it in the review; I didn’t analyze all the training in detail, but in three months I spent hours in the gym, training in hand-to-hand combat, and fencing. They also visited the hammam and sauna. In addition, they were used for everyday wear. The watch comes with the usual equipment: a charging cable, the watch itself and a rubber strap.
Review
Watch specifications:
dimensions 46 mm (46 ×46 ×11);
wrist circumference maximum 46 mm × 10.9 mm;
weight about 48 g (without strap);
AMOLED screen 1.43”;
resolution 466 × 466 pixels, 326 PPI;
stated operating time of 14 days with inactive use;
operating system HarmonyOS 4.
The watch has enough functions. They have blood pressure, heart rate, sleep measurements, and various training modes. There is a flashlight, a built-in wallet from Huawei (NFC function is supported, but only Huawei Pay). The set of applications is fixed, there is no marketplace in the watch, and if there are any new applications, it will only be when the OS itself is updated.
I used the WATCH GT 4 more as a sports accessory rather than just a watch. Yes, functions with sleep phases or health clovers have been tested, but I don’t really use them in everyday life. However, I constantly used various workouts, for example, walking on a treadmill and swimming. Therefore, all the functions I mentioned were tested to varying degrees and, in my opinion, it would be wrong in a review to talk a lot about one function and “well, yes, it works” about another.
To work normally with the watch, you need the Huawei Health program. I’ll make a reservation, I used a watch with iOS (works with iOS 13.0 and higher), it just so happens that I don’t have a phone with Android and HarmonyOS in the house. There are a couple of problems with iOS; there are no quick responses in instant messengers on Apple's OS; also, for HUAWEI Health to work properly, it must be running in RAM. I am not in the habit of keeping applications in the device’s RAM and try to close everything. In this case, notifications are processed normally, without launching “HUAWEI Health”. Judging by other watch reviews, the watch works better with Android 8.0 and above. I dare say that they work with HarmonyOS in the most productive way.
I'll start with the sports functions of the watch. HUAWEI WATCH GT 4, like many such watches, contains programs for tracking aerobic training: different types of running, walking, cycling, swimming, hiking (mountain climbing, hiking). There are no anaerobic (strength training) options in the watch by default. However, you can customize the workout for yourself. By the way, if you are involved in contact sports or fencing (like me), then the training regime will also need to be adjusted to suit you. The same Apple Watch has a separate workout for kickboxing.
At the end of the workout, if the watch is tracking it, the user is prompted to measure their heart rate. Also during training, the training zones (red, yellow, green) in which the athlete is located during the exercise are shown. My watch counted laps in the pool, and it did it better than the Apple Watch. As I already said, in the gym they tracked the body's activity. During hand-to-hand combat and fencing, I also tried to monitor my general condition. Aerobic training HUAWEI WATCH GT 4 and smart watches from Apple count the same. When I was in the red zone for a long time, the watch signaled this to me.
HUAWEI WATCH GT 4 has automatic workout detection, but this does not work with all sports. And unlike the Apple Watch, it's not turned on by default. Many times, when I'm in a hurry, my Apple watch will prompt me to record a workout.
The running index is displayed in a separate application to make it more convenient to watch, and in the Huawei Health application you can set heart rate parameters during training, running pace and distance markers. It is also possible to set goals for losing or gaining weight, and this can be done both in the application and in the watch itself. To do this, you will need to record all meals and all workouts. The training hours will be recorded, but, of course, you will have to bring in the food yourself.
As for the shock resistance of the watch, temperature changes and other things, my watch fell on the floor, both on parquet and linoleum, I tried not to drop it on the tile, but perhaps I missed once. There were no problems with glass cracks or scratches. During three months of training, no one ever hit them in fencing – only when I competed with them, they were hit on the watch (they were covered with a glove, but still) with a hard projectile. There were no problems, no cracks, no problems in operation.
The same thing applies to the hammam and sauna. Hours passed and then and again. Each run lasted from 7 to 15 minutes. And this did not affect the properties of the smart watch in any way. When overheating occurs, the watch signals this and prompts you to leave the area.
Moreover, after the bath procedures, I went outside, where there was a minus. True, not immediately, but the frost was harmless for hours. I don’t really recommend doing what I did, but it’s up to the watch owners themselves to decide. With the watch it was convenient for me to track the time spent in the hammam and sauna.
Opinion
And although the watch is not positioned as a sports watch, the more I used the HUAWEI WATCH GT 4, the more I got the impression that the watch was made more for amateur athletes, active tourists or people who regularly engage in physical activity. These thoughts were prompted by the abundance of training in walking, running and hiking. Even the “Health Clover” function, although it has a bunch of subfunctions, is more designed for physical education and aerobic exercise.
By the way, regarding weight loss, the watch has a default program that counts meals and calories if you set it to gain or lose weight. It can be controlled both from the phone and on the watch itself. And it even signals that you didn’t record your meal.
The watch claims to work for 14 days with inactive use (normal use). I checked: yes, that’s true, in rest mode they can hardly use the battery for 2 weeks. With active use, they can last about a week without recharging.
As I already said, the set of applications in the watch is limited and it changes only if the manufacturer adds something. It’s not very convenient that when used with an iPhone, you can answer a call, but you can only view messages.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I want to say that I liked the watch. However, there are a few caveats. In my opinion, it is better to pair the watch with phones running Android or HarmonyOS systems: more functions will be available. Further: it is better to take this watch for athletes or people who are beginning to comprehend the concepts of “healthy lifestyle”, “diet”, “sports”, “physical education”, “weight loss”. These people will find it convenient to monitor their workouts, nutrition, weight, sleep and heart rate with a watch (by the way, they monitor women’s cycles). And finally, they can be given to elderly people who monitor saturation, blood pressure and pulse. The rest is at the discretion of the person himself. As usual, I didn’t say anything evaluative about the cost, because I consider the issue of finance unethical. The price tag of the watch at the time of publication is ₽16 thousand. By the way, the watch looks, in my opinion, very stylish, and I would buy it even just because of the stylish design, so for those who want a stylish accessory, the watch is also suitable.
Personally, the watch lacked a SIM card slot and a couple of applications with podcasts or music (although there is a “Music” tab itself). Because when running, hiking or something similar, it is very convenient to take a smart watch with you and leave your smartphone at home. By the way, I also miss this in my Apple Watch. And yes, I know that there are other smartwatch models from Huawei with LTE, I miss LTE in these watches.
The biggest disadvantage of the watch is the inability to install applications from the marketplace. And even though I have an iPhone, I have the same problem on other OSes. The set of applications will be updated only at the request of the developers. Apart from this moment, the watch left the best impressions.
And one more thing: the HUAWEI WATCH GT 4 watch feels great after all the projectile hits, after baths, in the cold for three months, its battery also runs out, the sensor works normally and it counts laps in the pool quite well. So we can say that the watch has a decent margin of safety.
