Huawei launches the Watch GT and Band 3 Pro: a brand new smartwatch OS and updated fitness tracker

Earlier today, Huawei took the wraps off the Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro, and Mate 20 X. Huawei has also announced the Watch GT running Light OS, a new home-grown watch operating system and the Band 3 Pro, Huawei’s refreshed and updated fitness tracker for the masses.

The Huawei Watch GT will retail for €199 and €249 for the Sport and Classic versions, respectively, while the Band 3 Pro will retail for €99.

Huawei Watch GT

In a move that will disappoint Wear OS fans and perhaps hammers another nail into Wear OS’ coffin, Huawei’s new flagship smartwatch is based on the company’s in-house Light OS platform.

In a single charge, Huawei boasts that its new Watch GT will give you two weeks of battery life, including heart-rate monitoring with high and low intensity. If you turn off GPS tracking and heart-rate monitoring, Huawei tells us the Watch GT will last 30 days for message and call notifications.

If you’re an ultra-marathoner and you fancy a smartwatch, perhaps the Watch GT is for you. Huawei boasts 22 hours of continuous exercise tracking—and that includes GPS tracking and heart-rate monitoring with its six LEDs on the rear.

All of these smartwatch features are fairly standard, and the stainless steel/ceramic design is pretty nondescript, but underneath is a novel dual-chip architecture. One low-speed chip for basic tasks and the second for high-intensity tasks. It also comes with some well-recognized smartwatch features like sleep pattern recognition, though it’s questionable how effective this will be.

The Watch GT seems like a true jack-of-all-trades with fitness-tracking chops too, but basing it on a new watch OS could make or break the Watch GT, so only real-life use can tell us how well the Watch GT performs as a smartwatch. In Huawei’s (scripted) demonstration, the watch OS didn’t stand out as funky or different, and in fact looked very much like Wear OS. I’m cautiously optimistic about the Watch GT.

Huawei Band 3 Pro

Unlike the Watch GT, the Huawei Band 3 Pro is an evolution rather than a revolution. It has similar features to the watch but has the same form-factor as a fitness tracker like last year’s Band 2 Pro. It has a 0.95 inch AMOLED touchscreen, and frankly looks almost identical to last year’s Band 2 Pro, and Huawei says the tracker will last for up to 20 days of normal use. Notably absent from today’s line-up is a non-Pro Band 3.

As mentioned above, the Huawei Watch GT will retail for €199 and €249 for the Sport and Classic versions, respectively, while the Band 3 Pro will retail for €99. Release date was not shared at the time of this event.

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