The Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro is the latest ‘GT’ flagship smartwatch from the company, and I’ve had a chance to use it for review purposes. I’ve been using it for about three weeks before typing down my thoughts for all of you to see. Huawei’s ‘GT’ lineup of smartwatches is made for fitness-oriented people who appreciate great battery life. It can easily cater to the rest of you, though, as Huawei refined the design of its ‘GT’ lineup, so those watches do look quite classy at this point.
The watch we’re here to talk about is no exception to the rule. The Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro is a great-looking watch, and not many would disagree with that. I received a ‘Sports Edition’ of the watch, which is basically the variant with a rubber band. There’s also the ‘Classic Edition’ with a red and blue ring, and an all-titanium strap. Other than that, these two watches are the same. This is a 46mm variant of the watch, and there’s also a 41mm model, catered to women, first and foremost, due to its size. With that being said, let’s get down to business.
Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro Review: Hardware / Design
Much like its predecessor, this smartwatch is built to last. Huawei used aerospace-grade titanium alloy for the frame here. Ceramic is used at the bottom of the watch, and Huawei also used very durable glass protection on the front. The company says that it used “ultra-hard coatings and nano-flim waterproof finish”. This is supposed to improve water resistance and corrosion resistance too. The watch is not only IP68 and 5ATM rated, but comes with the IP69K certification this time too.
It’s made for wear and tear
Huawei is so confident in this watch’s build quality and resistance to scratches, that it released a promo video dedicated to it. I, of course, did not test how long will it last under torture tests, but I wasn’t all that careful while using it and did shower with it. I even took it swimming once. Not a scratch on the display or the watch itself. And yes, I did catch a door frame or two with it, for sure.
The 46mm Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro weighs 53 without the strap. Compared to regular smartwatches of a similar size, it’s not heavy at all, compared to the regular Huawei Watch GT 5, is it noticeably heavier. In the general sense, this watch is not heavy at all, just do note that if you get the titanium watch band, you’ll also add quite a bit of heft to it. It actually feels like a perfect weight for me personally. I honestly even forgot it’s on my hand soon after I put it on, but I’m used to wearing watches of a similar size, so… it’ll depend from user to user.
Titanium is prelevant when it comes to build materials
You’ll notice that Huawei stuck with that octagon frame shape, around the display. There are also titanium arms up and down, or lugs if you wish. Considering those lugs are not open up and and down, you can’t really use just about any watch band with this watch. Chances are you’ll be able to attach many of them, but they won’t look as nice as the ones Huawei sells, as those bands are made to fit perfectly with the design of these lugs. The octagonal design does look really nice in real life, I’m not going to lie, though I do prefer the design of the Watch GT 4 and GT 5 more, that’s just me, though.
The rotating crown has excellent haptic feedback
On the right side of the watch you’ll notice two buttons, and also its speaker and microphone. The top button doubles as a rotating crown, and the bottom one is customizable. Both are quite clicky, though the top one has a different feel and more travel, naturally. The top button is really nicely designed, and it’s a joy to use. It offers plenty of haptic feedback, and feels really durable too. Huawei has been doing a great job with those buttons for years, this is yet another welcomed refinement.
The watch band is very comfortable
There is nothing located on the left side of the watch. If we peek under it, you’ll find a heart rate sensor. Also, even though, based on renders, it seems like the bezel of the watch is higher than the display, Huawei did a really nice transition from one to the other, so that it feels very smooth when you glide your finger across it. They’re basically on the same height. Your finger won’t get stuck while you’re swiping around or anything of the sort. This watch offers truly great build, and I even liked the fluoroelastomer strap that comes with it. I like different materials in general, but this one is just so convenient for when the watch is exposed to water, and it’s just so comfortable to wear. It dries up in no time. The same goes for exercising.
Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro Review: Display
Huawei included a 1.43-inch AMOLED display on this smartwatch: It’s a round display with a resolution of 466 x 466. That panel is well-protected, and it does get bright enough, very much so. The automatic brightness setting worked perfectly for me, though you can always disable that and go with the manual slider. Either way, you can get it tuned so that it’s more than bright enough, even when you’re in direct sunlight. The display is also very vivid and has great viewing angles too. The touch response is also excellent here.
The display brightness goes up to 1,200 nits
The peak brightness of this panel, in case you’re wondering, is 1,200 nits. It’s not the brightest smartwatch screen I’ve ever seen, but it’s more than bright enough. Even in direct sunlight, I was able to see everything just fine on it. So, the brightness is also not something you should be worried about. There are a bunch of watch faces included here, and an option to get more, but that’s something we’ll leave for the ‘Software’ section.
Motion sensors work like a charm
The watch also powered on the display every time I needed it to do that. Whenever I swung and rotated my hand towards my face to actually check the time or what’s new, it fired up the display, without fail. That motion works great here, which is not surprising based on my past experiences with Huawei’s smartwatches. The display in itself is excellent. There’s really nothing to complain about. It’s bright, sharp, and offers good touch response. You don’t have to worry about it at all, it’s one of the better ones out there.
Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro Review: Performance
I feel like I’m always repeating myself when it comes to the general performance of Huawei smartwatches. I’ve been reviewing them for years, and the performance was almost always outstanding. Everything you do on this watch will feel snappy, whether it’s scrolling through messages, navigating through menus, or using some of its fitness features. I was unable to get the watch to stutter during daily use. Everything felt extremely smooth, and on top of that, Huawei also improved the animations.
The animations are snappy & fluid
To be quite honest, I never really paid too much attention to animations on previous smartwatches. On this one, I noticed them immediately. Not because they’re annoying or anything, but because they work really well. They are snappy and very smooth. It makes for a nice user experience. When you’re closing down the app drawer, for example, the apps fade away into the middle of the screen. Huawei is actually using various different animations, depending on what you’re doing.
I’ve used this smartwatch for two weeks, and in those two weeks, I was unable to get the watch to even stutter. I don’t know what chip is running it, nor how much RAM there is, but everything is running smoothly.
Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro Review: Battery
Huawei’s GT series smartwatch usually excels in the battery life department. The same is the case with this watch, actually. The Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro offers great battery life. The company claims you can get up to 14 days of battery life, though that’s if you barely use the watch. The company quotes a 9-day battery life for “regular usage”, and 5-day battery life “with Always On Display enabled”. That’s all very nice, but what’s it actually like? Well, I’ve been using the watch for around two weeks before writing this review, and this is my experience…
This watch will easily last over a week for the vast majority of people
I’ve had to charge it twice in those two weeks, but do note that the watch did come with around 60% battery life out of the box, so I didn’t fully drain it twice. I did have all the possible tracking modes fired up, of course, while I also used it three times for the gym, received a ton of notifications, used the GPS function twice, and much more. The Always On Display was not on, though. I never leave it on the watches I use, as the vast majority of people don’t use it. I don’t see the point in it, to be quite honest, as the screen turns on every time I need it to, when I swing the watch towards me, without fail. So why would it be on when I’m not looking at it? That’s just my thinking on the matter.
In any case, with considerable usage, I’d say that Huawei’s estimate is about right, around 1 week’s worth of battery life. If you pick and choose what modes you’d like to turn on, however. Perhaps you don’t need sleep tracking, or continuous heart rate tracking. And perhaps you won’t be using the watch’s GPS function. If that ends up being the case, you can get like extra 3-4 days worth of use. This watch can really be pushed the distance in terms of battery life, it all depends on your usage.
It can be fully charged in about an hour
What about charging? Well, it will take you about an hour to fully charge this smartwatch. It charges via the included charging puck, wirelessly. It magnetizes itself to the charger when you bring it near, and that’s it. That charging speed is not earth-shattering, but it’s not slow either, based on everything we’ve seen. An hour’s worth of charging for over a week’s worth of battery life seems like a great balance.
Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro Review: Software
The Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro comes with Huawei’s proprietary OS out of the box, HarmonyOS. To be more specific, version 5.0 is running here, the latest one. Huawei did issue a number of subtle improvements here, such as the animations, but for the most part, it’s the experience you’re used to. The animations are fast and fluid, and this is the first time I’ve actually noticed them on Huawei’s watches. They were here before, but they’re so well executed here. The entire HarmonyOS experience has been great for me, as the OS is very responsive, there was not even a hint of lag or anything of the sort.
14 watch faces come out of the box, but many more are available
As per usual, you’re getting your watch face front and center. You can change that by long-pressing, or via the Huawei Health app. 14 watch faces come pre-installed, but you can easily get more via the aforementioned application. Tons of them are available, both free and paid ones. If you swipe from top down, you’ll see your quick toggles, while doing the opposite will show you your notifications. Separate widget screens are available if you swipe from right to left, while doing the opposite will show you the weather and a media control widget.
Tapping the rotating crown fires up the app drawer, which has the Apple Watch style with all the apps thrown on the screen at once, and from there you can use the rotating crown to zoom in or out. You can switch this for a regular row of all the apps on the watch if you want, though, no problem. The bottom button on the right is customizable. It’s set for workouts by default, but I always change that to the stopwatch, as that’s something I use a lot on the watch. There are plenty of options, though.
Notifications sync only one way, but that’s mostly a good thing
Now, regarding the notifications. They don’t offer two-way sync, which is actually something I prefer. For example, if you delete a notification from your phone, it will delete it from the watch too. If you do the same from the watch first, the notification will remain on your phone. That way you’ll never miss notifications that you need to respond to, even if you delete them from the watch. That’s the way I prefer to have it, as I never respond from my watch, so… there you go.
The notification cards look great, though there’s room for a slight improvement
Speaking of notifications, the notification cards are great, and they show plenty of information in terms of message lengths. Depending on the app, you can use predefined responses and even type your responses via a keyboard. Emojis are available too, of course. What Huawei still didn’t nail down is the app icons for all the apps. For some apps, such as Viber, the icon is not showing. It was showing on the previous version of HarmonyOS, so I’m not sure what happened there. It won’t show for all apps, is my point, which can be a bit annoying, but it’s not a huge problem. Notifications for all the apps I’ve set arrived instantly, I had absolutely no problems in that regard. You do have to follow Huawei’s instructions and remove Huawei Health from the battery saving list, and so on.
There are not many apps to choose from
If you’re looking to install third-party apps on the watch, well, you can, but there are not many to choose from. So if you need some specific app that you’re used to using on Wear OS, you won’t get that here. The vast majority of people likely won’t care, though, as all you need is included on the watch itself, realistically.
HarmonyOS 5.0 on the Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro is outstanding. It’s a refinement of the previous version, and it’s the best iteration I’ve used yet.
Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro Review: Health & Fitness
This smartwatch is packed with health and fitness features, as you’d expect. The improved ‘TruSense’ feature is back. It’s basically a hub for all fitness features that Huawei has to offer. Do note that this watch now offers 12 blood oxygen channels compared to 4 on its predecessor. It should be able to give you a blood oxygen reading in about 15 seconds, and in my case that proved to be accurate. You’re also getting a medical-grade ECG analysis here, stress level readings, the watch can measure your skin temperature, and so on. Another change that is worth highlighting, however, is the fact that Huawei is now using new glass darkening technology. That will stop the outside light from entering the sensors, which in return should mean more accurate readings. And yes, I did notice that.
Blood Oxygen readings are faster than ever
I was able to get blood oxygen readings in about 15 seconds, give or take. I’m not sure how accurate they are, but I compared it to the results from the Watch GT 4, and I’m getting different results. Skin temperature readings were also different in comparison, while the ECG analysis results were also faster than on the previous model. The sleep tracking also worked as intended, for the most part. I still haven’t found a watch that will manage to pick up when I wake up properly. Why? Because when I wake up, I take my phone off the charger and I scroll through news for about half an hour. My left hand, where the watch is located, is not in motion, and thus it never registers me as being awake. That’s the reason I almost always turn off sleep tracking after I test it. It’s the same thing on every watch I used.
You’re getting access to over 100 sports modes
What about the fitness aspect? Well, there are over 100 sports modes at your disposal. That ranges from indoor and outdoor running, to poo swimming, diving, and golf. Those are just some examples, of course, various different exercises are mentioned here. Do note that the free diving mode is exclusive to this watch. You can use the ‘Running Courses’ feature to draw up a plan for yourself, and even use the RouteDraw feature if you plan on going biking or running. The GPS picked up the signal very quickly, and it was more accurate than it was on the Watch GT 4. It worked really well there too, but at a specific location where it stumbled last time, it did not with this watch. All in all, it was a good experience during my gym workouts and bike rides.
Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro Review: Audio
There are not many of you who use your smartwatches to make calls. If you do plan on doing so, however, you can do it via the Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro thanks to Bluetooth calling. There is a speaker located on the right side of the watch, and also a microphone is included. The sound output from that speaker is better than the vast majority of smartwatches I’ve had the pleasure of using. In terms of smartwatches, it’s really good, in the general sense, not so much. You do have to keep in mind this is a smartwatch speaker. It is more than good enough for making phone calls, though, plenty loud, actually.
The microphone on the watch is not all that bad
What about the input quality? Well, a couple of my friends I talked to via the watch said that I sounded “a bit odd”, but that’s about it. The issues did arise when I was in a noisy environment, but that is to be expected. So just stay away from busy roads and construction work, and you’ll be able to use this watch for phone calls just fine.
Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro: Should you buy it?
Whether or not the Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro is the right watch for you, well, only you’d know that. However, I do hope that this review helped you with that decision. The main strengths of the watch are definitely its build, battery life, and a wide range of fitness and health features. It is a great all-around smartwatch, though, and as long as you don’t mind not having access to Google features and tons of third-party apps, this watch is worth considering. Its build quality is outstanding, and it does everything a smartwatch should really well. It is quite pricey, though, so… it’s up to you to see whether it’s worth it or not… for you.
You should buy the HONOR Watch 5 if you:
…like larger smartwatches
…appreciate premium build materials
…often bump your smartwatch against various surfaces
…are a sporty person
…don’t like to take off your smartwatch when showering & swimming
…need accurate GPS
…want the best Huawei has to offer
…require access to offline maps on a watch
…like to take phone calls directly to your watch
You shouldn’t buy the HONOR Watch 5 if you:
…need specific apps installed directly on the watch
…want access to Google services
