A fitness-focused smartwatch with a sporty design, a good screen and tracking support for a wealth of disciplines.
Should I Buy The Huawei Watch GT 2e?
Pros
- Extensive activity tracking
- Lots of sensors
- Good display
Cons
- Overpromises on battery life
- Poor third-party app support
- Jittery user experience
Our Verdict
Price When Reviewed
- US$ 122.00
Launching alongside Huawei’s P40 Series smartphones, the Watch GT 2e is more of a reimagining than a true successor to last years Huawei Watch GT 2 duo.
The GT 2e comes based on the same fundamental internals and feature set as the 46mm GT 2, albeit with a new design and a couple of hardware tweaks that cumulatively render this new smartwatch markedly more affordable than the company’s 2019 efforts.
Design & Build
The biggest departure from the standard Watch GT 2 is the 2e's design language. Similarly to Samsung's decision to fork its Gear S2 smartwatch into both modern and traditional forms - with the Gear S2 Classic - the GT 2e is definitely more contemporary in its aesthetic.
Of the four colourways that the GT 2e is available in, the Graphite Black and Lava Red (pictured) options sport a black stainless steel body, while the Mint Green and Icy White finishes feature a silver casing - all of which are the same size, at 53mm by 46.8mm.
The bands on the GT 2e integrate quick-release pins, so can be chopped and changed as desired, however, their design is such that they follow the geometry of the casing. As a result, while you can technically swap out the bands with any other suitably-sized strap, only official GT 2e bands will marry up with the casing's contours properly.
It's also worth noting that the Graphite Black and Icy White options feature a solid fluoroelastomer strap, while the Lava Red and Mint Green variants feature perforated two-tone TPU straps; not dissimilar from Nike's Sport Bands for the Apple Watch. Extended wear resulted in some staining on the strap, but this can be cleaned off with a little care.
Display
While by default the buttons serve to offer quick access to the GT 2e's apps and workout menus respectively, most user interaction happens via the watch's 1.39in circular AMOLED touchscreen.
As well as pleasing contrast - thanks to the use of that OLED display tech - the GT 2e's screen also doles out rich colours and crisp detail, on par with the likes of the Apple Watch (they both share a pixel density of 326ppi). Touch response is also good, albeit hindered by minor performance lag on occasion.
Software & Features
The GT 2e is a fitness tracker first and foremost but also features a number of smartwatch staples too.
Some functions can operate under standalone conditions, like its inbuilt stopwatch, flashlight and alarms (the GT 2e lacks a speaker, so these are silent, vibration-based alarms), while other features, like notifications, weather and remote camera shutter control, are only possible when connected to your smartphone.
Supported professional-grade workouts include both indoor and outdoor pursuits, such as running, mountain climbing, hiking, swimming and even triathlons, while across all 100 workout modes the watch can provide insight on aspects like steps taken, active minutes, active heart rate, calories burned and floors climbed.
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| Oxygen saturation (SpO2) reading features on the GT 2e but getting consistent readings can be tricky |
Related: Best fitness trackers
During a workout (in this example, running) you're presented with a myriad of information points. So many in fact that they're spread across multiple screens that the user needs to swipe through if you're looking for something specific. While most of this data is available to view after the fact, those after real-time insights might find it a hassle to try and scroll through multiple screens while in the middle of their workout.
The Huawei Health app is how the GT 2e communicates with your smartphone and it's a fairly easy-to-understand user experience, once you tapped around its various screens a few times. Syncing with the watch is responsive, meaning that I can get back from a run, having left my phone at home, and by the time I've unlocked it and loaded the app up, the newest fitness data is available to view within a matter of seconds.
The reports automatically generated from sleep data feature a sleep score, as well as suggestions on better sleep practices, with properly cited references for all of the recommendations that inform this portion of the Health app.
Performance & Battery Life
As a workout companion, the GT 2e proves pleasingly-reliable, with consistent pace, GPS and heart rate results across repeat workouts.
One of my biggest scepticisms was the watch's ability to auto-detect certain activities; to the point where three minutes into my run, I had to stop to check whether the feature was actually switched on (it was). Sure enough, I should have just stuck at it, as a further three minutes in, the GT 2e detected that I'd gone for a run and retroactively incorporated the previous few minutes of exercise into its tracking data, so none of my efforts went untracked.
Huawei's Kirin A1 chip can be found in across a myriad of its wearables - not just its smartwatches - and that includes the GT 2e. In this instance, it's paired with 4GB of storage (for local music playback, if desired) and 16MB of RAM.
While performance is smoother than the likes of Amazfit's circular-faced fitness trackers, the small amount of memory means fluidity just isn't on-par with the slickest smartwatches out there, Apple and Samsung's latest offerings.
Battery
The 455mAh battery found inside the GT 2e is unchanged in capacity from the standard GT 2. Huawei promises up to 14-days use per charge but in testing the 2e falls short of the mark. I consistently landed at about 12 days of use between charges, without any fitness tracking on top, which is still respectable but doesn't quite live up to the promised hype.
For reference, a 30-minute run with GPS tracking and heart rate monitoring sipped up 5% of the GT 2e's battery.
As for charging, the GT 2e is thankfully quick, reaching 48% charge in 30 minutes and a full recharge in just over an hour.
Price & Availability
The Huawei Watch GT 2e went on sale in April 2020 and is available from Huawei's own site for £159.99 in the UK. It's also available from the likes of Amazon UK and Currys for a notable discount.
Verdict
The Huawei Watch GT 2e delivers on the majority of the promises it makes and serves as a more fitness-focused entry in the company's GT 2 smartwatch family, especially in terms of design. Its lower price comes as a result of a weaker user experience but its actual fitness capabilities aren't really impacted all that much.
Huawei Health offers a pleasingly-deep amount of insight for those who enjoy the notion of 'the quantified self', which helps elevate the GT 2e above some of the most competitively-priced smartwatch-style fitness trackers out there, namely from the likes of Huami/Amazfit/Zepp.
If you're not convinced by the line the GT 2e walks, save yourself a little cash and buy a dedicated tracker, like the Fitbit Charge 4, or move in the other direction for a more robust smartwatch experience by jumping up to the whichever of Samsung's Galaxy Watch or Watch Active entries falls within your budget.
Read next: Best smartwatches
Specs
- 1.39in circular 454×454 AMOLED display
- Huawei Kirin A1 processor
- 4GB storage
- 16MB RAM
- 5ATM water resistance
- Up to 14 days battery life
- Lite OS
- Support for 100 workout modes total
- Support for 15 professional workout modes w/ automatic workout detection
- Stress monitoring
- Sleep monitoring
- GPS
- SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation) tracking
- Bluetooth 5.1
- Quick-release fluoroelastomer or TPU straps
- Stainless steel case
- 53×46.8×10.8mm
- 43 grams (without strap)
- Colours: Graphite Black, Lava Red, Mint Green, Icy White
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