Last year’s Huawei Watch Fit (Review) was easily one of our favorite fitness tracker which not only looks stylish on the outside, but was also blessed with a host of advanced health tracking features and smart functionalities that go beyond what traditional tracker typically does.
The new Huawei Watch Fit 2 continues to adopt a similar approach of offering users a hybrid fitness tracker cum smartwatch experience which makes the device more integrated into our daily life with smart features such as Bluetooth calling and quick message replies.
As S$168, the Huawei Watch Fit 2 is no doubt one of the most feature-rich fitness tracker in the market. However, does it actually provides you with the best wearable experience in the segment? Let’s find out in our Huawei Watch Fit 2 review!
A Simple & Yet Stylish Design
If you still recall, I avowed that the Huawei Watch Fit was among the best-looking fitness tracker in my previous review. Therefore, it’s not surprising for the new Watch Fit 2 to impress once again in the design department with a tall and stylish rectangular dial which offers a breath of fresh air over the more mainstream models with a circular or square-shaped dials.
The review unit I received comes in an Isle Blue colorway which features a silver-colored watch frame with a Matte-like finish that does an excellent job in repelling those unsightly smudges which often builds up when you interact with the watch during a workout.
This will be delightfully matched with a light blue-colored silicon watch strap which felt smooth and gentle on the skin. Speaking of watch strap, the Watch Fit 2 features an innovative, press-to-release “Link” design which allows you to remove the watch strap easily and swap with any other official or third-party strap to match your daily outfit.
After wearing the Watch Fit 2 almost everyday for the past one month, it’s safe to say that the Watch Fit 2 is one of the most comfortable smartwatch to wear for long hours or even overnight if you intend to take advantage of it’s advanced sleep monitoring feature. Also, the Watch Fit 2’s featherlight weight of just 26 grams (excluding the strap) means you’ll hardly notice it’s presence throughout the day.
Durability-wise, the Huawei Watch Fit 2 itself also carries a 5 ATM rating for water resistance. What that means is that the watch is capable of withstanding light drizzle and could be brought along for certain water activities like pool swim.
Possibly The Best Display in It’s Class!
Last year’s Huawei Watch Fit measures approximately 1.64” in terms of diagonal length. The new Watch Fit 2 ups the size to 1.74” which certainly offers a more comfortable viewing experience since numbers and letters are now more legible at arms’ length.
Just like it’s predecessor, the Watch Fit 2 continues to adopt a high-end AMOLED display which outputs color that looks more punchy than competing models with LCD display. What’s different actually lies in the improved resolution from 280 x 456 pixels to 336 x 480 pixels in order to compensate for the larger display.
As with any other Huawei’s wearables, the Watch Fit 2 is backed by a reliable ambient light sensor which automatically adjusts the screen’s brightness according to the level of ambient light. Along with a generous amount of peak brightness, the Watch Fit 2 has absolutely no issue getting sufficiently bright on a sunny afternoon.
To spice things up, the Watch Fit 2 is also preloaded with a good selection of watch faces for users to customize according to their mood or outfit. Just in case those weren’t enough, there are still plenty other watch faces that are readily available for download via the Huawei Health app.
As usual, AOD display is available on the Watch Fit 2 to make it easier for users to check time or battery status of the watch. This however, comes at the expense of it’s battery life and is therefore not recommended for those who intend to get the best out of it’s battery life.
Otherwise, you might also consider turning on the raise-to-wake option if you’re one of those who tend to check time frequently. This feature did worked like a charm and consumes comparatively less battery than having AOD display tuned on.
All The Health & Fitness Features You Need!
Huawei’s wearables have never failed to impress when it comes to health and fitness tracking, and the Watch Fit 2 is certainly not be an exception despite costing just a fraction of other high-end models would otherwise command.
In terms of health and fitness tracking, you get all the staple ones such as SpO2, heart rate, sleep quality, stress level, daily steps count, active hours, as well as the amount of calories burned.
However, one important upgrade which sets the Watch Fit 2 apart from the previous model is the adoption of the new TruSeen 5.0 optical sensor which supposedly improves the accuracy in the measurement of health indices such as heart rate and Sp02 measurements.
To test this out, I compared the reading of my heart rate and SpO2 measurements on the Watch Fit 2 with the higher-end Watch GT3 (Review) which features an even more advanced TruSeen 5.0+ optical sensor.
Glad to say, the readings I gotten on the Watch Fit 2 are mostly in sync with those recorded on the Watch GT3. That’s no doubt an impressive feat considering that the Watch Fit 2 cost merely a third of it’s price.
Just like any other Huawei wearables, readings and measurements from the Watch Fit 2 can be easily synced them over to the Huawei Health app for a more detailed and thorough breakdown of the data to better keep track of your health status.
As for workout modes, the Huawei Watch Fit 2 comes with a total of 97 different workout modes which cover all the most commonly used ones such as outdoor run, indoor run, outdoor walk, indoor walk, outdoor cycle, indoor cycle, pool swim, open water swim, jump rope, elliptical, rower and free workout.
This time round, the Watch Fit 2 also introduced a new animated, voice-guided warm up stretches for 7 common workout modes to ensure you’re able to get the best out of your workout.
Smart Features That Make Your Life Easier Than Before!
As mentioned earlier, the Watch Fit 2 wasn’t designed solely for fitness tracking and is in fact designed to do much more than that. For instance, the Watch Fit 2 allows you to control music playback with a single click or view the latest notifications to ensure you don’t out a thing even with your phone in the pocket.
What’s new with the Watch Fit 2 however, is the introduction of a new feature known as Bluetooth calling which allows you to answer calls directly through the watch itself so long it remains paired with your smartphone. This is made possible with the addition of a speaker and microphone which were absent last year’s model.
Likewise, you’re now also able to reply messages directly through the watch without touching smartphone. However, do take note that these are quick replies so don’t expect yourself to be typing long messages to your family or friends.
Enduring Battery Life That Lasts For Days
Although there are plenty of upgrades across the broad, but battery life is one thing that remained unchanged. According to Huawei, the Watch Fit 3 is able to support up to 10 days battery life under typical usage condition and up to 7 days under heavy usage.
Interestingly, those numbers turn out to be pretty accurate as I generally get around 8 to 9 days’ worth of battery life (on a single charge) ever since I started using the watch last month. However, don’t be alarmed if you find the battery life drops significantly when you turn on features like AOD display or engage in long hours of Bluetooth calling on the watch.
In the event that the battery runs out, the Watch Fit 2 recharges rapidly through the usual magnetic charging thimble that’s capable of delivering a full charge in around an hour. Not to worry if you doesn’t have an hour to spare recharging the battery – a 5 minutes charge is good enough to provide you with a day’s worth of battery life.
Verdict
Priced at S$168, the Huawei Watch Fit 2 has proven itself to be the most capable fitness tracker in the market which not only excels in the health and fitness tracking aspects, but also makes our day-to-day life easier with standout features like quick message replies and Bluetooth calling.
Hardware-aside, it’s also worth heaping praise on the Watch Fit 2’s design which is among the best-looking wearable in the market that goes well with pretty much any outfit be it former or smart casual.
For those who’re interested, the Huawei Watch Fit 2 can be purchased via both Shopee and Lazada.
