The new Huawei Watch GT 3 is the company’s latest smartwatch and offers a staggering 14 days battery life as well as more accurate measurements of vital statistics to monitor health and fitness, and to instrument sports performance for in-depth analysis and more effective training.
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The new Huawei Watch GT 3 – freshly unboxed. Included is the wireless charger.
The Huawei Watch GT 3 is the successor to 2019’s Huawei Watch GT 2 and last year’s Watch GT 2e.
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Unboxing the Huawei Watch GT 3 health/fitness/sports smartwatch.
It offers improvements which includes features that had debuted with the flagship Huawei Watch 3 and Watch 3 Pro which was released for APAC in July this year.
The new Huawei Watch GT 3
First unveiled last month in October and launched for Singapore less than two weeks ago, the Huawei Watch GT 3 series will hit the shelves on 18 December, with pre-orders beginning today (until 17 December).
#tech4xmas: This will make an ideal Christmas gift for those keen on fitness and good health.
Major improvements over its predecessor in the sporty GT (Gran Turismo or Grand Tourer) line include an upgrade of the operating system from the Lite OS to HarmonyOS 2.1.0, an Apps grid replacing a scrolling menu, additional sensors, more accuracy in measurements and a rotatable crown.
Compared to the muscular flagship Watch 3 Pro, the new Huawei Watch GT 3 feels lighter and is slightly smaller though both watch faces measure 46mm.
The Watch GT 3 does not have the eSIM & Wi-Fi capabilities of the Watch 3 Pro, but has a much longer 14 days battery life.
Key features of the Huawei Watch GT 3 at a glance.
For comparison, the Apple Watch lasts for less than 24 hours on a single charge.
The Huawei Watch GT 3 comes with the same wireless charger as the Watch 3 Pro and can be charged wirelessly if you have a Huawei smartphone.
The Watch GT 3 has a stainless-steel front watch case with a curved bottom made from a polymer fiber composite material.
Both materials are strong and impact/scratch resistant.
The curved bottom makes it more comfortable to wear, less likely to accumulate sweat, and which enhances the signal accuracy of the sensors at the bottom.
Two sizes for the Huawei Watch GT 3
The Watch GT 3 comes in two sizes – 46mm and 42mm – with various strap options for each size.
The 46mm version uses 22mm watch straps while the 42mm version uses 20mm straps.
The 46mm version weighs only 42.6g (without strap) with an overall thickness of 11mm while the 42mm version weighs 35g (without strap) with an overall thickness of 10.2mm.
Both watches sport a 466x466pixel AMOLED display with the 46mm having a 326 ppi resolution from its 1.43-inch screen and the 42mm having a 352 ppi resolution from its 1.32-inch screen.
I love how brilliant and intense the AMOLED display is and I had zero difficulty reading it in bright sunlight with its 800 nits of peak brightness.
Due to the smaller size (and therefore lower battery capacity), the 42mm version has a lower battery life of 7 days which is still a long time.
Other than these differences, the two sizes share the same features and performances.
The Watch GT 3 has an upgraded rotatable crown (like the Watch 3) which enables certain precise interactions with the watch even if the hands are wet eg. while swimming or during the rain.
Instead of swiping the screen with wet fingers, rotating the crown allows you to scroll through the options, and adjust volume, alarm and navigation settings.
Incidentally, the Watch GT 3 is rated at 5ATM water resistant, which means it can survive being dunked in water up to a depth of 50m, and certainly the regular swim or shower.
I like that the crown and press button on the Watch GT 3 are located at the two and four o’clock positions respectively – instead of the traditional 3 o’clock position where a bending wrist might accidentally push the button.
The press button accesses the activity workout list directly by default but can be reprogrammed as a shortcut to many other functionalities as well.
One thing I love about the Huawei smartwatches is the multitude of watch face designs available that can be easily downloaded – both paid and free.
These include classy analogue multi-dial designs as well as sporty multi-coloured neon-light digital designs.
Key specifications of the Huawei Watch GT 3.
Many of these watch faces include direct displays of some of the exercise data (eg. heart rate and step count ) or frequently-used apps that the watch measures which you can tap to get more detailed information.
Which Huawei Watch GT 3 to get
The Huawei Watch GT 3 comes in two sizes – 46mm & 42mm – with options for either a black fluoroelastomer strap or leather strap (brown for the 46mm and white for the 42mm versions).
Priced at S$298 (for both 42mm & 46mm versions), the black fluoroelastomer strap is suitable for the active wearer since the strap can withstand getting wet and sweaty during workouts and sports.
Priced at S$348 (for both sizes), the elegant and classy leather versions are more suitable for the dressier occasions.
The versions with nylon woven strap and metal chain watch strap are not yet available in Singapore.
For the avid runner, there is a special edition – the Huawei Watch GT Runner (S$398) – which has been specifically designed for runners, using stronger and lighter materials (including titanium).
Some of these watch face designs include settings to let you tune which data to display on the watch face.
My personal favourite is the custom watch face which allows you to use your own photo/image as the watch face background.
For SpO2 monitoring, all-day monitoring is now available instead of user-triggered ad-hoc measurements.
Skin temperature measurement is also available on the Watch gt 3.
Other data that the Watch GT 3 records include stress levels, VO2 Max recording, sleep cycles and menstrual cycles etc.
In terms of workouts, the Watch GT 3 supports more than 100 workout modes, including 18 professional workouts, 12 outdoor workouts (running, walking, mountain climbing, hiking, cross-country running, cycling, open water swimming, triathlon, skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, free training and golf), and 6 indoor workouts (walking, running, cycling, pool swimming, free training, elliptical machine, and rowing machine) to cater to a wide range of exercise routines.
Improved Software and Hardware
Compared with Huawei TruSeen 4.0 on the Watch GT 2, the new Watch GT 3 now has TruSeen 5.0+, which improves the accuracy of the heart rate monitoring, especially during workouts.
The number of photodiode sensors has been doubled to 8 (in a circular layout) from 4 previously while the light source has increased to two from one.
Huawei boasts that the Fresnel film’s interference has been reduced by 66% so that the dynamic heart rate anti-interference ability has been optimised – thereby greatly improving the accuracy.
The Fresnel film is a micro-nano optical film that shields the PD, LED and the bottom glass to provide a better condensing effect, so that more light will enter the dermis and obtain signals from the capillaries during the process and reduce the interference of light signals in the superficial layers of the epidermis.
Using its Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm, Huawei’s TruSeen 5.0+ is able to access and combine more data.
A new multi-channel signal selection and fusion enhancement algorithm enhances the deep AI learning noise reduction algo so that when the user is in motion, the Watch GT 3 can derive an optimal signal based on signals from multiple channels.
As a result, the accuracy of the dynamic heart rate measurement in the Watch GT 3 has been halved to a 5bpm deviation threshold from the previous 10bpm measurement threshold.
For outdoor joggers, the GPS has been enhanced with a built-in dual-band GNSS five-system high-precision GNSS positioning chip, with reduced interference.
This translates to quicker and more precise positioning when I go for my outdoor walks and jogs.
For those into trekking and rambling, the Watch GT 3 now has offline navigation.
The route you took is logged by the watch so that if you get lost, its Route Back Navigation can provide turn-by-turn navigation to help you backtrack to the starting point.
Specifically for runners, the Watch GT 3 introduces the Running Ability Index (RAI) which combines training data from multiple sensors (eg. historical running heart rate and pace etc) in the Watch to provide an overall rating of your running ability, so you can better track your progress.
A higher score indicates a fitter level so it can recommend a more rigorous training regime for you.
The Watch GT 3 now comes with a speaker and microphone so you can take calls via your watch (connected to your phone through Bluetooth) instead of having to fish out the handphone when your hands are full or you’re in the middle of a workout.
You can also listen to music via the speaker if you’re tired of your Bluetooth headset or earbuds.
The phone has 32GB memory RAM and 4GB storage which can fit up to 500 songs onboard.
Unfortunately, it’s not integrated with the main music streaming services like Spotify, Deezer, or Tidal.
The Watch GT 3 also pushes notifications and messages from the phone to the watch, although there are no mens to reply.
The Healthy Living widget on the improved Huawei Health app.
You’ll have to pick up the phone to reply – so I tend to check my watch on whether there are any important messages and only pick up the phone to reply when there’s something really important.
Software-wise, the Huawei Health App has been upgraded with a new feature called the Healthy Living Shamrock.
As a project in cooperation with the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, the app pushes out regular reminders based on the preferences that I set.
These include health challenges (like steps), daily water intake, medication reminders, daily mindfulness, early sleep reminder, exercise volume etc to help users cultivate good and healthy living habits even in a busy life.
As you complete these tasks, the green clover grows until it fully blooms when you complete all the health tasks of the day.
The Watch GT 3 is also equipped with NFC for contactless payments but availability depends on the geographical location you’re in.
Personal Trainer on Your Wrist
New to the Watch GT 3 is the AI Running Coach App which serves as a “personal trainer on your wrist”.
The 46mm version of the Huawei Watch GT 3 has a more chiseled edge on the watch face while the 42mm version has a curved edge.
By analysing the historical data it records from your workouts, it can generate a personalised training plan designed for you, based on personal physical and running history data, combined with training objectives and performance requirements set by you.
The watch is able to identify the basic period, lifting period, consolidation period, and reduction period according to the user’s current athletic ability level and goals, then adjust the training intensity and gradually increase the training volume to gradually improve your running ability.
It can develop an Intelligent Dynamic Adjustment Plan that’s based on the weekly plan implementation and the body’s feedback on the training plan to automatically adjust the training plan for the user in the next week to ensure that the plan is suitable.
There are two sizes for the Huawei Watch GT 3: 46mm & 42mm. The version that I’ve reviewed over the past month or so is the 46mm version with the brown leather strap (3rd from left).
These algorithms are based on research that Huawei does in its Health Labs which does R&D into health and fitness monitoring and sports training.
Huawei has also replaced the 3rd-party activity tracking algorithms in its previous smartwatches with in-house developed algos in the Watch GT 3 with enhanced accuracy.
Tags: availability, fitness, Health Tech, Huawei, launch, new arrivals, pre-orders, prices, reviews, Singapore, smartwatches, sports, tech4xmas, tech4xmas 2021, wearables
What chip does the watch use? and what’s the battery capacity?
Huawei has not explicitly divulged these in their specifications. But the chip is likely some form of the ARM Cortex-M chipset while the battery is probably the same 455mAh cell used in recent models. What’s important is how long the battery will last and in my experience over the past month, it easily outstrips the 14 days despite rather heavy usage comparable to what was used in the spec sheet.
Cool. It does look quite good. Might just get it as a Christmas gift for my son. Not sure if it’ll arrive by Christmas though.
If you pre-order quickly enough, it might arrive starting from 18 Dec. So there’s probably enough time. Good luck!
Thanks!