Huawei has announced its new Huawei Watch 3 and 3 Pro at its product launch event today. It"s been over four years since Huawei launched a true smartwatch with the Huawei Watch 2, and that ran Google"s Android Wear, but for obvious reasons, that"s not the case anymore. Huawei has been working on its own HarmonyOS - which is still largely based on Android - for some time, and now it"s making its debut on a smartwatch.
HarmonyOS is a true smartwatch operating system, unlike the LiteOS watches Huawei has usually put out recently. It includes Huawei"s AppGallery so you can install apps on the watch without having to use your phone, and it comes with some built-in apps like Huawei Music, so you can stream music from the internet or download it to listen offline. It also features a much more animated interface, including support for animated and interactive watch faces. Of course, thanks to the cross-device functionality of HarmonyOS, features like smart home controls are also available, as is the ability to transfer calls to a Vision TV.
In terms of the actual hardware, both models of the Huawei Watch 3 comes with a 1.43-inch round display with a 466x466 resolution, for a pixel density of 326PPI. They have 16GB of internal storage and 2GB of RAM, and in addition to Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi and LTE are all supported. Cellular connectivity is available with an eSIM, so there"s no SIM card slot here.
While Huawei didn"t specify the battery capacity, the Watch 3 should last three days on battery power, while the 3 Pro touts seven days of battery life. If that"s not enough, you can turn on the ultra-long battery life mode, which disables some of the apps, Wi-Fi, and LTE to offer up to 14 days of battery life on Huawei Watch 3 and up to 21 days on the Pro. This makes the watch work similarly to the more fitness-oriented Huawei watches, like the GT 2 Pro.
The watches include all the body sensors you"d expect from a high-end smartwatch, including an accelerometer, gyroscope, geomagnetic sensor, heart rate monitor, ambient light sensor, and a barometer. There"s also a temperature sensor this time, which can help you monitor potential fevers, and Huawei mentioned blood glucose monitoring during its event.
The Huawei Watch 3 is made of stainless steel, while the Pro model uses titanium instead. Both feature a ceramic backplate that houses the body sensors, and they both support wireless charging, so there are no charging pins on the back. Both watches have two buttons, one of them being a rotating crown meant to help navigate the interface without having to touch the screen. The Pro model also includes clock numbers on the bezel to help with analog watch faces.
The Huawei Watch 3 weighs in at 54 grams and measures 46.2mm diagonally and it"s 12.15mm thick, excluding the sensor area. The 3 Pro is slightly larger, weighing 63 grams and coming in at 14mm of thickness. It"s also taller and wider, measuring 48mm by 49.6mm.
The Huawei Watch 3 is available to pre-order today in China, with the standard model starting at ¥2,599 (roughly $407), while the Pro variant starts at ¥3,299 ($516.62). The standard model comes in four different variants depending on what style you prefer, from rubber sports bands, to leather straps, or an all-metal clasp. The Pro comes in Elite and Classic variants, with a metal clasp and a leather strap, respectively.