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The best of fitness bracelets and smartwatches. Huawei Watch Fit 2 review

Outside the window is the beginning of summer, which means that the presentations of large Chinese companies have died down and global versions of the announced fitness bracelets are rushing to our store shelves. In this review, I will talk about Huawei Watch Fit 2 – a real find for those who are looking for an alternative to the ubiquitous Mi Band 7. Why should you pay attention to Watch Fit 2? In comparison with competitors, in addition to the built-in GPS, Novica has a wide display diagonal and allows you to receive and make calls. But first things first.

Screen

The presence of the number “2” in the model name indicates that the novelty is based on the progenitor represented by Huawei Watch Fit, a review of which we already had on our website. A distinctive feature of the successor is a rather large screen size of 1.74 inches. Thanks to a resolution of 336×480 and a pixel density of 336 ppi, the display gives a very detailed picture. Icons in the main menu and fonts do not suffer from ladders, which is undoubtedly pleasing to the eye.

I want to note the same thickness of the frames around the display – a rare occurrence among fitness bracelets, typical for premium products

Overall impressions of the screen are extremely positive. Color reproduction pleases with a rich and contrasting picture. High brightness makes the display readable in the sun, and the light sensor will change it correctly and smoothly. Smooth animations with a frequency of 60 Hz give a pleasant experience of interacting with the interface.

Ergonomics

The wide diagonal of the display has influenced the overall dimensions of the watch, which are 46 mm high, 33.5 mm wide and 10.8 mm thick. On a thin female wrist, the bracelet looks quite massive and may not fit snugly against the skin, which will lead to inaccuracies in measurements. In my case, the bracelet sat perfectly, and after a couple of hours after trying it on, I completely stopped noticing it.

Frame Active Edition – matte polymer plastic, very similar to metal both visually and tactilely

As an alternative color, Huawei also offers beige and silver options. However, there are versions that differ in a complete strap, case material and, accordingly, in price.

The first image shows the Active Edition, the second – the Classic Edition, the third – the Elegant Edition (will not be sold in Russia)

The silicone strap is elastic and pleasant to the touch, has a large number of holes for a hand of any size. To fix the tongue on the trench coat there is a latch.

The only physical control of the watch is the side button on the right side. She is responsible for activating the screen, switching to the main menu or returning to the initial dial. It is not possible to program additional actions for long holding or double quick pressing.

Under the button, there are slots for the speaker and microphone for talking during calls. On the back side there is a round area of ​​sensors, two magnetic contacts for the charging cradle (there is compatibility with Watch Fit, Band 6, Band 7) and two oval strap fixation buttons.

Interface

Navigating the watch interface is done using swipes. On the left and right side of the main watch face are widgets with quick access to important functions of the bracelet, such as heart rate measurement and music control. At the top is a status bar with alternative functionality. At the bottom, all notifications are accumulated and marked with a uniform blue cloud icon. The exception is perhaps Instagram and Telegram.

The menu is called by pressing the side button and has two display options: a fine grid or a long vertical list

There are 11 watch faces preinstalled out of the box, more than half of which are customizable. However, for some, you can change either the color scheme, or display the most important information with the quick activation of a particular function. The exceptions for pinning icons in quick access are the timer, stopwatch and alarm clock, which is rather strange, because things are quite necessary.

As for the capabilities of the bracelet, there are no surprises. Huawei Watch Fit 2 has the basic functionality of a fitness tracker. As a wrist sports assistant, the watch has 12 types of workouts on board with step and heart rate tracking. Of course, there is a measurement of blood oxygen saturation, stress levels and sleep monitoring. All data is analyzed and displayed in visual graphs right on the watch, but for more detailed information, such as short and deep sleep phases, it is best to refer to the Huawei Health app.

On the positive side, the novelty can run a stopwatch and a timer in the background. Of the unpleasant – the inability to control music on a smartphone with iOS.

The main promotional feature of all fitness trackers in 2022 is support for Always on Display (continuous display of information). Watch Fit 2 was no exception and Huawei has implemented this moment in a rather interesting way. When the permanent time display is enabled, it will not be possible to wake up the bracelet by turning the wrist. To do this, lightly press the screen. In the case when the permanent display is turned off, the activation by turning the wrist happened in 1 out of 2 cases. Another method for awakening required a strong pressure on the screen. Sometimes it was easier for me to press the side button. Probably, a similar nuance is connected with my pre-sale sample and in the future it will be corrected by the firmware.

Working with notifications

Due to the wide diagonal of the screen, incoming messages fit a large amount of text with large and well-read text. However, despite the fact that the watch has a microphone, it is still impossible to answer by voice or at least prepared templates. Some system notifications are marked with a standard blue icon, and emoji look like an empty message.

On iOS, in the settings of the Huawei Health app, you can only check two applications (WhatsApp and Twitter) and SMS messages, notifications from which will be sent to the watch. Everything else falls into the “Other” category without customization. On Android, more selective per-app customization is available. In my case, this led to frequent vibration of the bracelet, even when the smartphone screen is on.

As for the vibration, it is a little noisy and rattling, but tangible.

Everything for autonomous sports

Perhaps the presence of GPS on board makes Huawei Watch Fit 2 an excellent companion for sports. You don’t even need to take your smartphone with you. Satellite navigation accurately determines the distance traveled and even provides a return route for outdoor walking or running workouts.

The bracelet can determine four types of training: walking, running, ellipse and rowing machine. So, in case you forgot to start the workout in advance, the watch will automatically remind you to do it. In my use case, walking was determined after about 1 kilometer or 10 minutes of continuous movement.

autonomy

Battery capacity Watch Fit 2 is 160 mAh and in moderate use, according to the manufacturer, it should be enough for 10 days of work. In practice, when all measurements were activated and one training session was performed per day using the built-in GPS, the charge was enough for 5 days. With a constant time display, this figure is reduced to 3 days.

Charging time from a standard 18W power supply was exactly 1 hour

Review

The second version of the sports bracelet from Huawei turned out to be very good, with the exception of a couple of reservations. I really liked the implementation of the display with a wide diagonal, clarity and brightness of the picture and smooth animations of the interface. The increased diagonal affected the overall dimensions of the device, and the bracelet seems massive on thin wrists. The filling has the minimum necessary functionality with quick work and high responsiveness. The fly in the ointment is the rather limited functionality for smartphones that do not belong to the Huawei brand. For example, on iOS, the watch can’t control music playback and can’t be used to remotely control the camera. Despite the fact that notifications come in stably, without gaps or duplication, there are complaints in the form of a poor designation of messenger icons, the lack of emoji inside messages, and the still unimplemented replies function.

The estimated cost of the watch is 9,000 rubles

The flawless aspect of the Huawei Watch Fit 2 is the accuracy of the sensors. I did a comparison with the Apple Watch 7, and there were almost no discrepancies in the distance of the route, the number of steps and heart rate. The bracelet is ideal for those who need correct data about their activity during sports. Moreover, the battery life, taking into account the brightness with a large diagonal display and built-in GPS, I was quite satisfied.

pros

  • Pleasant laconic appearance and a wide variety of straps for every taste.
  • Bright screen with a clear and bright picture.
  • The presence of Always-On.
  • High accuracy sensors.
  • Built-in GPS.
  • Good autonomy.

Minuses

  • Poor designation of messenger icons without emoji in messages and lack of feedback.
  • Unavailability of many watch features on non-Huawei smartphones.

Source: Trash Box

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