Huawei Watch GT 6 Pro

Introduction

The Huawei Watch GT 6 Pro is another great addition to the company’s fitness-first range of wearables, but the comparatively high price tag may put some people off.

Whenever I get into a discussion about smartwatches, I still point towards the green Huawei Watch GT 4 as the best-looking wearable I’ve ever used, even though I’ve tested countless other smartwatches in the time since that device came out.

When I was offered to put the new Huawei Watch GT 6 Pro through its paces, I jumped at the chance, eager to see what developments Huawei had implemented since my stint with the GT 4.

Having now used the watch for about two weeks, I can say that while this is undoubtedly a great product, and one that’s class leading in several ways, its very existence just reminds me of how great a value proposition the regular, non-pro GT Watch actually is.

Design and Screen

• Understated design isn’t as much fun as the GT 6
• The screen is now 5.5% larger than before
• Screen brightness has leapt up to 3000 nits

Unlike the standard GT 6 range, which has had a visual overhaul in quite a few areas, it’s very much business as usual for the Huawei Watch GT 6 Pro, although there are a few minor tweaks that do separate it from the Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro upon closer inspection.

If you put the two watches side by side, then you’ll notice that the GT 6 Pro now has a raised timing bezel around the edges. This does a nice job of framing the display on hand, and particularly on the black model that I have in for review, it adds to a certain level of confidence that the watch embodies.

Even with the fairly sporty silicone band, the watch itself has a clean aesthetic that wouldn’t look out of place at the office with a suit. It’s quite ideal for a professional who needs a watch that can function both at the office and at the gym.

There’s also a new brown colourway which does look rather fetching, and brings in a bit more colour which I think the GT 6 Pro unfortunately needs. By comparison, the standard GT 6 range is filled with colour, and the green option that I love so much has made a return but such fun is nowhere to be found on the Pro models, and I wouldn’t be surprised if more people opted for the GT 6 based on looks alone.

You can only get one size option with the GT 6 Pro as well, while the GT 6 is available in 46mm and 41mm, with the latter being ideal for anyone with smaller wrists or who prefers not to be weighed down by a bulkier smartwatch. Still, one of the things you do get with the GT 6 Pro is a truly gorgeous display.

This 1.47-inch AMOLED panel, in addition to being 5.5% larger than the screen on the GT 5 Pro, is lovely to look at. There’s plenty of space for text and data to sprawl out, so I never found myself squinting to see what was presented to me, and it’s all brought to life with tremendous colour, which nicely complements the striking app icons that Huawei has designed in its watch UI.

The biggest upgrade by far however is that the peak brightness has shot up from 1200 nits on the GT 5 Pro to 3000 nits.

Not only has this made it much easier to read the watch when walking around outdoors on a sunny day, but it’s also made the always-on display more legible when it uses a black background. I do get the feeling that if the next smartwatch I test has a lower peak brightness then I’m really going to miss the experience that Huawei has put together here.

Performance and Software

• Navigating HarmonyOS is a smooth experience
• The watch lacks major smart features
• More feature packed competitors are available for about the same price

If you already have some experience with Huawei devices at large then you’ll know that, from the perspective of a consumer in the west, the software experience is where it all starts to crumble somewhat, and unfortunately it’s no different with the Watch GT 6 Pro.

I will say HarmonyOS on Huawei’s wearables does feel very sleek – the apps are well presented and the tiles, which are easily accessible by swiping to the left from the watch face, feel very similar to what you’ll find on Wear OS. The problem is that the overall experience is far more limited than what you would typically expect to find around the GT 6 Pro’s £329 price point.

If you live in Europe or the UK, you won’t be getting access to third-party apps like how you would with the Galaxy Watch 8 or the Apple Watch Series 10. There’s no Google Maps, no access to NFC payments, or even the ability to download music offline via Spotify – something that I regularly rely on whenever I head out for a run or down to the gym.

Instead, you’re getting what I would describe as a ‘smartwatch lite’ experience, wherein you do still have access to a handful of features that you wouldn’t get with analogue or even some of the best fitness trackers, such as weather reports, calendar access, alarms and remote access to your phone’s camera.

Petal Maps does offer an alternative to Apple and Google’s navigation apps, although it’s hardly a like-for-like experience. And while it is always helpful to receive directions on your wrist, the feature is only available via Android phones, so iPhone users are completely out of luck.

I also noticed a small number of software bugs during my time testing the GT 6 Pro. I did find that some notifications weren’t coming through when using Android, although this didn’t seem to be a problem on iOS, but what did catch me off guard is that the watch appeared to register a fall whilst I was driving, and initiated a countdown to calling the emergency services.

Thankfully I was able to disable the feature in time, but it was certainly not something that I wanted to deal with in that moment. Strangely enough, the bug happened again when I was taking picture of the watch, so you can see the problem below.

On a more positive note, the Watch GT 6 Pro does have a fairly nice collection of watch faces. I wouldn’t rank them quite so highly as what you’ll find on Apple and Samsung’s ecosystem, but they are filled with colour – something which can’t be said for those found on the TicWatch Atlas.

Tracking and Features

• Plenty of options when it comes to fitness tracking
• Health Insights are fantastic for keeping tabs on your body
• Does a great job of breaking down stats

While the smart features on offer are something of a mixed bag, the same cannot be said when discussing the GT 6 Pro’s capabilities as a fitness tracker – in this department, Huawei’s watch absolutely nails the assignment.

If all you’re interested in is improving your health through regular exercising, sensible eating and detailed insights that help you to better understand your body, then this is one of the best wearables you can buy right now.

For starters, the watch itself has no noticeable gaps when it comes to the type of workouts you can track. So far I’ve used it for running, weightlifting, swimming and walking, but there are plenty of more niche activities listed including tug of war, dodgeball and even a mode for triathlons if you’re feeling adventurous. I do appreciate the fact that you can get to these workouts quickly by simply pressing the push button on the device, so you can get up and running quickly.

In fact, that sense of speed has also been carried over to the GPS tracking on the watch. When tracking one of my lunchtime walks, it only took five seconds for the watch to establish a stable GPS connection, and via the accompanying Huawei Health app, I was able to turn that walk into a fun animated video that showcased the route of my journey, something which frequent runners who are also active on social media are sure to appreciate.

What really impressed me though were the heart rate monitoring results that I picked up when also wearing the chest-worn Polar H10 for comparison. Typically I would expect a smartwatch to be slightly off the mark by about 1-2BPM, but that still gives you a reasonable understanding of how your cardiovascular system has responded to a certain workout – with the GT 6 Pro however, I found no discrepancy.

When tracking a 30-minute run on the treadmill, the GT 6 Pro and the Polar H10 were perfectly in sync, registering an 86BPM low, a 150BPM average and a 17BPM high. I don’t know how Huawei has managed to achieve this but it’s an unbelievably impressive feat nonetheless, and just further cements this watch’s credentials as a top-tier fitness tracker.

One thing that I’ve always appreciated about Huawei’s approach to health tracking is that, while you can dive into all of the granular stats if you want to, there are far more user-friendly text explanations of what it all means. For example, the Health Insights tab tells me at a glance if there are any negative or positive trends to keep an eye on with regards to my recent sleep patterns and exercise routines.

This approach to making health tracking accessible is still best presented when you dive into the sleep tracking portion of the Huawei Health app. Not only does it tell you in plain terms whether or not you got a good night’s sleep, it also explains the effect that your recent circadian rhythm might have on how you feel throughout the day, as provides actionable advice on how you might try to improve your sleep performance in the future. The whole thing is just leagues ahead of any other smartwatch I’ve used, and it seems almost laughable when you consider that the Apple Watch – via watchOS 26 – is only now getting a sleep score feature to give you some kind of indicator on this front.

The GT 6 Pro, in conjunction with a connected smartphone, also has the ability to calculate cycling power, effectively doing away with the need for a dedicated power meter and saving you from being bogged down by tech. I’m not much of a cyclist so the feature isn’t one that I’d personally put to use, but it is nice to see Huawei thinking of ways to lighten the load for fitness enthusiasts who would rather not be carrying around more than a few devices, if they can help it.

Battery Life

• Expect up to 14-days in average use
• Up to 9-days with the always-on display toggled
• Takes roughly one hour 29 minutes to fully charge

Just like in health tracking, battery life is another area where Huawei has always been a step above the competition, and that continues here. Huawei claims that you can get up to 21-days of light use from the GT 6 Pro, which is definitely impressive, but I don’t think it’s an important stat given how people will want to use this watch.

Arguably more important is the claim of a 14-day battery life under typical use, which feels more realistic after the time I’ve spent with the device. For the duration of my testing, I’ve kept the always-on display toggled and managed to get up to nine days of use, and that’s with a handful of workouts tracked and wearing the watch every night to keep tabs on my sleep. Given that you’d be lucky to get over a day of use from the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, with an always-on display, it’s great to see Huawei offering a long lasting alternative.

Charging isn’t the speediest around, but given just how rarely you’ll need to top up the GT 6 Pro compared to other watches, I can’t say that I mind too much.

Although it took me about one hour and 29 minutes of charging to go from a dead cell to a full battery, I was able to claw back about 43% after a 30-minute charge, which is more than enough to net you a few days’ worth of use.

Should you buy it?

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