Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro tested — Almost an Apple Watch killer
I have been using the recently launched Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro smartwatch for a week and have been thoroughly impressed with its performance, health features, and battery life.
Before getting my latest smartwatch, I used a 44mm Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, which I bought about three years ago.
The watch appealed to me as an Android smartphone user, as it was one of the first devices to run Google’s Wear OS.
The operating system offers an extensive app library and the best syncing integration with Android smartphones.
While I was mostly happy with the Galaxy Watch 4, its worsening battery life and sometimes laggy software became a bit of an irritation.
What has undoubtedly impressed me most with the switch to the Google-less Huawei Fit 4 Pro is its exceptional battery life.
At the time of writing, I had been wearing the watch for more than six days after charging, and its battery was at 20%.
That compares well with Huawei’s claims of up to seven days of use with typical usage. With the always-on display, Huawei claims that the watch will be good to run for up to four days.
While I wasn’t particularly active during this time, I played around with its apps more regularly than I did on my old watch and also wore it while sleeping.
The latter was something I could not do with the Galaxy Watch 4 as its battery would typically only last around a day and a half with standard use between charges.
The 1.82-inch AMOLED rounded rectangular display was another highlight — literally. The screen’s 480 by 408 resolution gives it a pixel density of 347 pixels per inch, with striking text, images, and designs.
Not only is the pixel density better than the Apple Watch Series 9 45 mm’s 326 PPI, its peak brightness is also 33% higher than the much more expensive watch.
Keeping you healthy
A display is nice to look at, but is of little value if it doesn’t have much to show.
Fortunately, the Huawei Fit 4 Pro’s HarmonyOS software offers many useful apps and features. Its interface can perhaps best be described as capable but uncluttered.
In addition to Huawei smartphones, the watch supports linking with Android and iOS smartphones.
It also boasts an extensive assortment of advanced health monitoring capabilities supported by Huawei’s TruSense system, which can measure over 60 health variables, including:
- Blood oxygen measurement
- Electrocardiogram (ECG) testing
- Pulse wave arrhythmia analysis
- Arterial stiffness detection
- Skin temperature measure
For fitness fanatics, the watch also boasts extensive workout-tracking capabilities.
The watch supports 23 workout presets, including more niche sports like diving and snowboarding.
The Huawei Health app that keeps track of your physical activities also supports integration with Strava and the Discovery Vitality programme, which are must-haves for many active people and athletes.
The table below summarises the specifications of the Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro.
| Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro | |
|---|---|
| Operating system | HarmonyOS |
| Supported phone operating systems | Android 8.0 or later OS 13.0 or later |
| Display | 1.82-inch 480 x 408 AMOLED 347 PPI 3,000 nits peak brightness |
| Sensors | Accelerometer Ambient light sensor Barometer Depth sensor ECG sensor Gyroscope Magnetometer Optical heart rate sensor Temperature sensor |
| Wireless connectivity | NFC, Bluetooth 5.2 and Bluetooth Low Energy |
| Speaker | Yes |
| Battery life | Up to 10 days maximum Up to 7 days with regular use Up top 4 days with always-on display |
| Charging | Wireless (included magnetic puck, but works with universal Qi charging) |
| Environmental protection | IP6X Water resistance up to 50 metres Diving up to 40 metres |
| Dimensions and weight | 44.5 × 40.0 × 9.3 mm (30.4g) |
| Price | From R4,999 |
A few trade-offs
Making the switch to Huawei came with some sacrifices. The biggest is that Huawei does not yet support NFC tap payments on its smartwatches in South Africa, although it is gradually being rolled out.
While I do not regularly use my smartwatch for payments, it was useful to have Google Wallet or Samsung Wallet set up on my previous watch for when I forgot my phone or wallet while out and about.
The second big downside is that Huawei has a much smaller selection of smartwatch apps than the Google Play Store, and syncing between the watch and non-Huawei smartphones is a bit limited.
For example, on the Galaxy Watch, I could use either Samsung or Google’s alarm, calendar, or email apps, and whatever actions I took on my watch would be reflected on my phone.
Apart from sending texts via WhatsApp and making Bluetooth calls, most communication between the Watch Fit 4 Pro and my smartphone was one-way.
While you can view all the notifications from your watch, they remain unread until opened on your phone.
Lastly, the Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro also has onboard storage for music that it can play back over Bluetooth earphones. These songs must be stored on your phone and transferred to the watch.
There is no way to play back downloaded audio from a music streaming app on the smartwatch while connected to your phone.
Overall, however, I believe the Watch Fit 4 Pro could be a great alternative for those Apple or Samsung smartwatch users demanding longer battery life — if the features above are not that important to you.
The table below summarises the benefits and drawbacks I’ve experienced with using the Watch Fit 4 Pro for a week.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| – Long-lasting battery – Extensive health features – Lots of workout modes – Bright and responsive screen with a high resolution – Premium aluminium alloy frame and titanium alloy bezel – Comfortable silicone band for long-term wear – Extensive health features – Wide range of watch faces with extensive customizability – Universal wireless charging support | – No tap payment support – Limited interactions and syncing between watch – apps and phone apps – Lack of support for music streaming apps with offline downloads – No WhatsApp voice note playback or sending |
Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro
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