2 weeks battery life. Built-in GPS. Smarter.
These are the major things that make the Huawei Watch GT 2 a better timepiece than its predecessor. While its overall design isn’t so much different from the Watch GT, almost everything that ticks inside makes it truly distinct.
Reason #1. Battery life is confirmed to last for more than 2 weeks from a single charge.
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Watch GT 2’s rate of discharge based on moderate to heavy usage is 1% per 3 hours. Based on our computation, at this specific rate of discharge, its battery life should at least be up for 12.5 days or 300 hours. However, this wasn’t the case in my experience as it lasted for 15 days. That is half a month from a single charge, and for someone who is used to charging twice to thrice per week from my previous smartwatch, you can just imagine how good this one is.
Reason #2. With a chipset that is built to make it smarter and more advanced.
Huawei Watch GT2’s hardware has been rebuilt from the ground up. Powered with a Kirin A1, it boasts a plethora of features that the 1st Huawei Watch will definitely not be able to keep up.
As Huawei’s 1st dedicated chipset for wearables, Kirin A1 includes a dual-chip design and supports the latest connectivity modules for better usage without sacrificing size and weight. This enabled Huawei to put more features on Watch GT2 like Bluetooth 5.1 and calling functionality, which I will further expound later.
Reason #3. You can take calls with it.
The Apple Watch isn’t the only smartwatch that would allow users to take calls and talk via the watch. The new Huawei Watch GT 2 is capable of doing it as well, thanks to its call functionality. Yes, you can actually take calls with it and speak to the person in the other line via the watch.
The watch has a microphone and speaker just below its dials. It is impressive to think that despite its being water-resistant, Huawei managed to include this much-needed feature. I proved this to be very useful many times especially when I couldn’t take my phone out during calls. Trust me – you’ll find this very useful too when the need arises.
Reason 4: Stunning new display
Huawei Watch GT 2’s display is different from its predecessor. It is still AMOLED – similar to the display found on Huawei Mate30 Pro – but there is one particular aspect in it that makes it look better than the 1st version. Huawei calls this 3D Glass AMOLED, and it makes all the content much readable, sharper and colorful.
This, however, does not just make the color and text pop on its display. It is also made to make the display more resistant to water and dust.
Reason 5. Smarter than ever before
If you loved the 1st Huawei Watch, there is no reason why you wouldn’t its new version. Watch GT 2 has more features as a sports and fitness band, and truly – it has more tricks up its sleeve.
For starters, it has a better sleep monitoring feature. While other sports bands are just monitoring the time you are sleep through your movement patterns. Watch GT 2 is a lot more scientific in its approach to monitoring your sleep.
Huawei calls this TruSleep 2.0, and it carefully looks at various patterns in your body while you’re asleep: heart rate, breathing and even sleep stages. Aided with its mobile app for Android or iOS, it tells you in detail how you slept. Slept too long – the app tells you why it’s detrimental to your health.
While our version in the Philippines does not come with Sp02 level (similar to what’s in Honor Band 5), this one has a new feature called TruRelax. This new feature allows the watch to monitor your stress level. I tested this many times, and it truly detects certain stress levels throughout the day.
For instance, one evening, I played Call of Duty Modern Warfare on PC. While playing this game, I noticed myself to get really stressed especially during intense gameplay. I wore the watch during this time, and monitored my stress level. The watch detected the I got stressed at around 9:44PM. It was during this time when I played a round of intense Team Deathmatch with friends, and the watch effectively recorded my stress level.
Huawei Watch GT 2 vs Watch GT
Huawei Watch GT 2 | Huawei Watch GT | |
(46mm) | (46mm) | |
DIMENSIONS | 45.9×45.9×10.7mm | 46.5×46.5×10.6mm |
WEIGHT | 41g (without the strap) | 46g(without the strap) |
WATCH CASE COLOR | Black Stainless Steel, Stainless Steel, Titanium Grey Stainless Steel | Black Stainless Steel, Stainless Steel, Titanium Grey Stainless Steel |
WATCH STRAP | Titanium Grey Metal Strap, Orange Fluoroelastomer Strap, Brown Leather Strap, Black Fluoroelastomer Strap | Dark Green Fluoroelastomer Strap, Orange Fluoroelastomer Strap, White Fluoroelastomer Strap, Black |
DISPLAY | 1.39 inch 3D Glass AMOLED 454 x 454 HD | 1.39 inch AMOLED 454 x 454 HD |
CONNECTIVITY | Bluetooth: BT5.1, BLE / BR / EDR | Bluetooth: BT4.2, BLE |
SENSORS | Accelerometer sensor | Accelerometer sensor |
Gyroscope sensor | Gyroscope sensor | |
Geomagnetic sensor | Magnetometer sensor | |
Optical heart rate sensor | Optical heart rate sensor | |
Ambient light sensor | Ambient light sensor | |
Air pressure sensor | Barometer sensor | |
Capacitive sensor | ||
BATTERY | 14 days for typical use | |
WATER RESISTANCE | 5 ATM water-resistant | |
NFC | Supported (limited in China Version) | |
Mic and Speaker | Supported (Bluetooth calling) | Not Supported (Calling remider) |
Music Storage | Yes | No |
SpO2 | Yes (limited in Andriod China version) | No |
Heartrate | Normal + underwater | Normal |
Chip | Kirin A1 | Not Disclosed |
Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.