Huawei Watch GT review: 7 Day battery, the best free smartwatch you can get

Bloody hell Huawei, I wanted to write this review on the weekend – had to wait until today because the battery on the Huawei Watch GT is so bloody good.

7 Days, in fact, 8 days and a bit – I took it out of the box last Thursday, charged it for a bit, started wearing it at 95% battery. 8 Days later I’m at the office on 4% battery. Now that’s good. Real good.

I’m more of a classic analogue watch guy, in part because I hate charging them every day or two, and also because I prefer the look of a classic watch.

Perhaps that’s why I like this watch so much.

Oh, and did I mention it’s free? Well – you’ve gotta buy a Huawei Mate 20 Pro, but that’s not a bad deal given that’s the best smartphone on the market today.

Mate 20 Pro’s are selling for $1399 at JB HiFi ($200 off the RRP) and for that you get the phone AND watch GT.

It’s also available on promotion if you get the Mate 20 Pro from Vodafone or Optus – so worth thinking about.

Chatting with Bowen in the office – a new convert to the smartwatch, I think the key things you miss out on in the Watch GT are Tap and Go Payments (Apple Pay or Google Pay/Samsung Pay), Cellular connectivity when separated from your phone, a voice assistant, and things like music on the go without your phone.

Those may be dealbreakers for you – but for me, not so much.

It’s a classic look with a striking round face and leather strap, if you choose a traditional watch face you could hardly notice it’s a smartwatch.

Notifications come through thick and fast as per your phone, but there’s no obvious way to customise what I do and don’t see on the watch, and there’s little extra info on the watch showing other than the “headline”.

It is though constantly tracking your heart-rate. A great graph is just a couple of swipes of the face away – showing peak, low and resting heart rates.

Activity wise, I actually think this may be most suited to the active lifestyle. Running, Cycling and Swimming programs all pre set, as well as loads of activity based information – untested by me of course, but with three levels of GPS on board – it’s going to be accurate when paired with the time and your heart-rate.

Honestly, I love it – mainly for its simplicity. Up against the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch its third in class, but because it’s not a separate sale, it’s hard to compare – those watches (particularly Apple) may be priced out of this market so bang for your buck it might shape up well.

Certainly now, given it’s free if you buy a Huawei Mate 20 Pro and that’s the ONLY way to buy it – it’s the best bang for your buck you can imagine!