The Huawei Watch GT series has traditionally revolved around battery, but in recent years the brand’s durable smartwatches have also flexed their fashion and fitness muscles. The latest in a long line of GT watches, the Watch GT 3 Pro is available in two flavors: titanium and a smaller option – ceramic.
There’s a lot we liked about Huawei GT watches in the past. Huawei’s software is compatible with both Android and iOS. While iPhone users don’t get all the benefits Android users get — no third-party app support, for example — Huawei still manages to do what Apple and Samsung don’t, creating a device-independent, premium smartwatch line.
It would be a mistake to expect Apple Watch-style functionality from the new GT3 Pro watches. To hit that two-week battery life, Huawei’s Harmony OS interface has been stripped down, so while it takes a lot of training, apps like Audible and Spotify, which run on Apple’s WatchOS, won’t work on the watch.
So can you really justify spending hundreds of dollars on a watch that doesn’t have great app support, or does the GT 3 Pro strike a balance between smart and watch with its superior battery and classic styling?
Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro price and availability
The Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro Titanium Edition costs £299.99 (about $370 / AUS$530) and will be available from May 30, 2022, with pre-orders from May 18.
Interestingly, the smaller version of the Watch GT 3 Pro – the Ceramic Edition – costs more than the larger titanium version with a suggested retail price of £429.99 (about $530 / AUS$750). Not only is it more expensive, it will also be available a little later – June 8, with pre-orders starting May 18.
In the UK, both editions are available from the Huawei Store and select retailers, including Amazon and Currys.
In addition to the Watch GT 3 Pro, Huawei is also launching the Huawei WatchFit 2, a watch with a name but a fitness tracker that obviously lacks some of the smarts of its more expensive siblings. It costs £129.99 and is more budget-friendly than the GT 3 Pro.
Design and display
Starting with the Titanium edition, the Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro has a roomy 1.43-inch AMOLED display. With a resolution of 466 x 466, it’s about as sharp as it gets for a smartwatch, and it looks great, especially with some of the pre-installed black dials that blend into the edges, creating the illusion of a front with full screen.
As for the design, the GT3 Pro’s titanium case is polished with a matte finish that looks rich, with robust links that keep them from squeezing hairy forearms.
The GT 3 Pro’s display is made of sapphire glass so it should be robust, while the back of the watch is ceramic for extra durability.
Slightly thinner than last year’s Watch GT 2 Pro, the GT 3 Pro is big and bold without feeling clunky. There’s a rotating crown on the right, along with a button with shortcuts to workout tracking.
As for the ceramic edition, the links of the smaller GT 3 Pro are white glossy chiclets, with a case that carries the ceramic construction over the sides and back, and matches a sapphire crystal display.
Despite the slightly smaller screen, clocking in at 1.32 inches, the resolution of the Ceramic Edition GT 3 Pro matches that of its bigger brother – 466 x 466. This makes the screen slightly sharper than that of the Titanium edition .
We are especially fans of how the titanium watch looks, as the classic design is likely to win over traditionals and lovers of premium technology alike. The ceramic version is a bit heavy – all those ceramic links aren’t light, even if they feel premium, and the styling may divide opinions with its less classic look.
Performance and software
With an operating system that Huawei calls HarmonyOS, the Watch GT 3 Pro has an evolution of the user interface found in the original Huawei Watch GT, a stripped-down, smart(ish) watch user interface.
Unlike the original GT, the GT 3 Pro’s interface is seriously responsive and also supports a handful of third-party apps, although the first-impression app experience hasn’t changed since the GT 3’s launch, meaning it isn’t great. Nevertheless, the operating system’s fitness tracking functionality has been expanded.
With support for both Android and iOS smartphones, the Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro is one of the few premium smartwatches that works across both the Apple and Google ecosystems. It connects by linking the Huawei Health app to the watch, and through the app you can download new watch faces, update software and get a big screen view of your well-being.
Fitness Features
Huawei is launching an updated version of its Health app alongside the Watch GT 3 Pro – Huawei Health+. The enhanced service includes exercise videos and diet tracking and advice. With plans to roll out in Germany and Italy in June, it is now available in beta.
Even without Huawei Health+, the watch comes with some strong fitness credentials. For starters, it brings 30m of freediving depth perception to the line, with apnea training and breathing guidance. It also has the most accurate GPS on any Huawei smartwatch to date, and our brief tests quickly pinpointed our location for a walk.
Like the GT3 before that, the GT3 Pro supports over 100 training modes and now includes syncing with training apps such as Strava, Runtastic and Komoot.
Although electrocardiogram (ECG) technology was introduced to the line over a year ago due to certification issues, it is only available in a handful of regions. This is still not available in the UK but when certification is complete a software update will unleash the feature.
Additional tracking includes all-day monitoring of SPO2, heart rate, stress levels, temperature, stress levels and more stats.
early pronunciation
There’s a lot to be said for keeping it simple. We like that Huawei’s GT series rolls back the functionality in favor of long battery life. With the two-week GT 3 Pro Titanium Edition and the one-week Ceramic Edition, the line functions more like a traditional watch than competition from Apple and Samsung – and that’s a good thing.
However, with fewer features and poorer app support than the comparably priced competition, the great battery life clearly comes with a tradeoff.
It’s exciting that Huawei has expanded its range when it comes to functionality and styling, giving us all more options when it comes to which wearable is right for us. Huawei gets a lot right – the watch works with both Android and iOS, and the software experience turned out to be fine for the most part. However, it remains to be seen whether Huawei has done enough and made the Watch GT 3 Pro the best smartwatch of 2022.