The Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro is best suited for folks who frequent golf courses and the ocean. Outside of those cases, only a few nice-to-have features separate the GT 5 Pro and non-pro models. While all the small nice-to-haves add up to a durable, premium smartwatch that's mostly a breeze to use, you've not getting them for free.
-
Design
-
Features
-
Battery
-
Tracking
-
Value
After spending the last few months with the Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro strapped to our wrist, it’s clear that Huawei’s wearable division isn’t resting on its laurels following the impressive Watch GT 4 series. The Watch GT 5 Pro continues the legacy of functional and stylish smartwatches from the Chinese tech company in most areas but misses out in a few others.
Is it the right watch for your wrist? Only you can know that but we’re here to help you figure it out.
Catches the eye
The Watch GT 5 Pro is available in two sizes with two distinct styles each. The 42mm version is aimed at those with smaller wrists (120-190mm) and comes with either a white ceramic or fluoroelastomer strap while the 46mm version for the larger-wristed (140-210mm) ships with a sporty black fluoroelastomer strap or silver Titanium strap.
We tested the 46mm Titanium version and although our wrists are probably towards the smaller end of the scale, it didn’t take long to get used to what looks like a bulky smartwatch. That’s one upside to using Titanium for the body, it’s lighter than you’d think. What we couldn’t really get used to was the strap relieving us of our wrist hairs. Thankfully, Huawei has designed the GT 5 Pro to support its new quick-release straps alongside traditional quick-release spring bar straps.
When it comes to setting up and customising your GT 5 Pro, Huawei offers the usual plethora of watch faces inside the Huawei Health app. There’s bound to be one that works for you. Speaking of apps, as with previous generations, the Watch GT 5 series is compatible with both iOS and Android devices. You’ll need a Huawei device to access a few features, like voice commands or Huawei’s personal assistant but without one, we didn’t feel like we were missing much.
While you won’t find the Huawei Health app on the Google Play Store, it does appear in Apple’s App Store and in a few other manufacturers’ app catalogues, like Samsung’s Galaxy Store or Honor’s App Market. Pairing the device is fairly straightforward if you know how to read and follow instructions.
Packing the goods
Official info on the internal hardware is hard to come by but we do know the GT 5 Pro uses a similar display to the GT 4. The 46mm model features a 1.43in AMOLED screen with a 466 x 466px resolution and is protected by sapphire glass. The watch also boasts an IP69K protection rating which would be impressive although that’s dampened somewhat by Huawei’s lengthy disclaimer about all the places you shouldn’t take your GT 5 Pro.
Similarities continue with the GT 5 Pro’s battery runtime. It carries the same ‘up to 14-day’ battery life claim as the Watch GT 4 if you conform to Huawei’s usage scenarios. In reality, our unit couldn’t quite reach the full fourteen days, even with a few features switched off. Luckily, the GT 5 Pro won’t take as long to return to 100% on the included wireless charging puck as the GT 4 did, taking an hour on average to charge to full. If you’re smart about a little charging here and there when you take it off, battery life shouldn’t be an issue for most.
Huawei is constantly improving its TruSense suite of sensors and algorithms so all of the fitness and sport tracking features you’d expect to find in a premium smartwatch are present and have apparently been improved. Huawei says there are over 100 supported workout modes and the GT 5 Pro also features a dedicated golf mode. Elsewhere, improvements have been made to Huawei’s Sunflower positioning system so you should have even less chance of getting lost during your outdoor run/hike/cycle.
Reading human feelings
It’s a little tough to say exactly how much improvement Huawei managed over the last generation or how precise the sensors are outside of a lab. We didn’t notice anything weird across our health, sleep, and sports tracking and are willing to give Huawei the benefit of the doubt given the next bit.
When Huawei announced the new Watch GT 5 series, one of the things that stood out to us was the new emotional well-being feature. Considering a smartwatch only has access to a few metrics measured off the back of your wrist, we were sceptical. It reminded us of those mood rings you’d find at the ticket counter of an arcade that supposedly changed colour based on your mood. The back of the wrist is far from the best place to measure anything accurately and surely there’s more to a person’s emotional state than what a smartwatch can measure.
A dip in the bath revealed those mood rings to be nothing more than temperature sensitive but the longer the GT 5 Pro lived on our wrist, the more impressed we were. There have been more than a few times when the GT 5 Pro chimed in with a notification telling us how we were feeling before we came to that realisation ourselves. Sure, there were also times when it missed the mark and thought a jog down some stairs sent us into a spiral, but they were outnumbered by the former.
Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro verdict
If you’re a hardcore adventurer or dedicated athlete then you might be satisfied with what the Huawei Watch GT 5 Pro has to offer. You’re even more likely to love it if your hobbies include free diving and playing golf. It’s a bit on the pricey side at R7,000 and you’ll need to cough up R3,000 more if you like the Titanium look.
However, most folks don’t play golf or free dive. If you’re one of them and you’re looking for a premium smartwatch without the plain, circular smartwatch look, you might be better suited with the base Watch GT 5. You’ll have to do with slower charging and a slightly different design but you’ll save yourself R2,000. How much is fast charging and Titanium worth to you?
