Gadgetory

everyone Jimmy with Jim's review room if you've been following me you know it just finished up the Moto 360 second generation review but it wouldn't have gotten a good idea on how that performed without testing one of its main competitors I'm pleased to show you guys the Huawei SmartWatch that I personally paid for at the retail price of 349 dollars now this is the base model that comes with a leather strap there's other variations with metal bands in different colors straight from the Huawei website now when comparing to the competition the base model is slightly higher in price but after watching this video we'll see if it's worth the extra expense I'll also play some Amazon links in the video description below so that way you can check and what the updated prices are today so without further adieu my channel is here to help you make a purchase decision welcome everyone to gems review before starving and I never do this I have to briefly mention this has to be the most exquisite unboxing of any product I've personally done the experience of opening a beautiful box the ivory color and the unveiling of a shiny new timepiece really provides a unique experience it's far different from the unboxing Bluetooth speakers on my channel here and if you're buying this have fun and enjoy opening this because they really did put a lot of effort into this aspect but going over the SmartWatch now while we went with a recessed in display it looks a bit more modern I think a bit more high-end in general but you can be the judge on that the body is made of stainless steel which surprisingly has shown some minor fine scratches more so than a moto 360 despite wearing both watches for the same amount of time fine scratches were also evident on the polished chrome parts which makes me question a little bit on how the finish will hold up wearing this long-term but overall from far away and not scrutinizing the watch style still looks amazing regarding the leather band supplied although this is the base model the quality on this is one of the best soft and supple leather les were than I've seen on other smartwatches with leather bands and the little details of the stitching on the sides brings this all together but more importantly this has been very comfortable to wear although in photos and in videos the watch does look huge but the watch itself surprisingly light it's not heavy at all and the Huawei doesn't look big where it looks unnatural when you see this in person as you can see in the video I have small wrist but the watch isn't obnoxious in size of course I would recommend you trying one on yourself just to be sure but going around the Huawei like most smartwatches the action button is located at the natural feeling 2 o'clock position this button manually activates the screen or puts it back into ambient mode holding it down brings up all the apps to use which I'll get into details shortly and one more press here with the same button usually brings you back to your clock display rotating to the back more smartwatches are now including a heart rate sensor which I'll test and demonstrate later in the fitness portion of this video but while on the back the Huawei features quick release pins allowing you to use first and third party bands that are 18 millimeters in width and for those who are curious the factor bandwidth is the same as the Moto 360 second generation at 20 millimeters however you can see where the pins are located here they're shortened just a bit so just a heads up on that but taking the band often putting it back out has been very simple in addition keep in mind that leather straps are not meant to get wet from sweating while running or being caught in the rain but they watchface itself is ip67 water and dust resistant and for those who don't know that means that this can sit in one meter or basically three point three feet of water up to a half an hour I wouldn't swim with this but washing your hands and showering with this would be fine last regarding its physical bill the front has a 1.4 inch sapphire crystal glass display featuring a resolution of 400 by 400 resulting in a 286 pixel density the screen is technically visibly sharper than the Moto 360 second-generation but being honest in having them literally side by side it's not easy to tell comparing to other competitors on a spec basis the Apple watch the Samsung gear s2 both feature pixel densities a little over 300 but in the end the Huawei is still a pleasure to look at the differences are minut now while wait like most other smartwatches features an AMOLED display providing deeper blacks and more contrasting colors to the eyes than those without an AMOLED screen there's only one drawback at least with the watch that I bought here I noticed the display isn't as white as the Moto 360 now sometimes you have this effect with emiliya displays as evidence in smartphones I bring this outdoors in bright sunlight and I know my camera isn't doing any justice here but the screen is still visible in person now one thing to be aware there isn't an ambient light sensor so the screen can't adjust brightness automatically in different environments for me I left brightness at four out of five so walking outdoors the screen wouldn't need to be adjusted does this affect battery life I'll discuss that towards the end of the review now moving on to the user experience Android wear is the operating system standard on all Android smartwatches starting with the main screen holding the screen down offers an impressive 42 dials from the factory however I did notice unlike these Samsung gear s2 or the new moto 360 there's maybe two from the factory that you can actually customize the watch face where you basically select your favorite templates change the background colors and the clock hands now although limited in that aspect one the biggest benefits Android wear does offer a very good amount of paid and better yet free watch face dials to download and use now if you're into the more complicated sleek and modern looks or looking for something simple and clean too even something funky you'll most likely find it still in the display more smartwatches are now offering an always-on display when the smartwatches tilt it away from your face or the watch hasn't been in use the Huawei displays a black and white toned down version of the clock to conserve battery gently moving the wrist as if you're intending on looking down at your watch does automatically turn the display on and for my testing this works very well and at times when it doesn't the always-on display or sometimes I call it the ambient display simply helps but besides the customization of different dials and watch faces these smart features are one of the biggest reasons why anyone would even consider buying this over a traditional watch you do receive push notifications from your third-party apps and you receive notifications from your everyday services like Gmail hangouts text notifications Facebook Instagram etc whenever one of these things pops up they do take about a quarter of your screen here and you swipe up and read your message or swipe right for the message to expand or sometimes the watch may review additional options such as opening this on your phone or deleting a message for example so I think from the left to the right side gets rid of that notification altogether now one of the unique features is voice recognition only when the screen is on not in ambient mode saying the phrase ok Google Earth allows the options to verbally open up an app or better yet respond to a text message the voice recognition from saying okay Google has worked very well and it time to use these speech-to-text option whether the language partner compared to other voice recognition watches the huawei from my experiences is considered as very good moving on to the main screen swiping right just like holding that physical side button your most recent apps are up top and scrolling down reveals all the apps you have installed besides having the benefits of notifications you have media controls when you use apps like I Heart Radio or Pandora allow you to pause play and skip your music there's also four gigs of internal storage to sync some of your music from your phone to your watch and if you have Bluetooth earphones you can listen to music right from the Huawei now going back to the apps screen swiping right one more time allows you to select your most recent contacts to send a text or initiate the phone call from your phone swiping right one less time allows you to manually use ok Google or moving down there's other random shortcuts that you can initiate from there getting into the health aspect while wait does tracker steps through your entire day google fit is pre-installed and you can utilize that to track your daily progress and wow it does have pre-installed again their own fitness apps simply labeled as daily tracking or fitness tracking in which you can set up your step goals and see your general daily progress or if you're going for a run initiating the fitness tracking portion here we'll segment that activity now if Google fit or the Huawei apps are just ok for you there's always RunKeeper Strava and other similar apps where you can see your time elapsed step counts and some other apps includes your pace distance and calories burned but those familiar with those apps on their phone will find the app experience isn't as robust or as detailed when viewed on the watch one major example although RunKeeper does have the ability to use heart rate sensors RunKeeper doesn't utilize the heart rate sensor on the huawei Ban same with google fit you can initiate a running activity google fit on the watch will tell your phone to acquire gps since there's no GPS on the watch itself but once you start there's no heart rate data being displayed in real time the only time you have heart rate readings is when you manually ask the band for it it's not continuous there's no heart rate zone training there's just not much being done with that HR sensor on the back at least for my testing here the accuracy of the HR sensor is very similar to my chest strap and my pulse oximeter indicating that the accuracy is really darn good now less than the health or personal features there is a silent vibrating alarm that you can set up to go off once or you can set up individual days when you need help waking up without disturbing others testing this the vibration is on the light side and deep sleepers will most likely not feel this waking them up so stack from the factory and this really goes for Android wear in general this will work fine as an all-day activity tracker counting your steps there is a stopwatch if you need that if you do intend on carrying your phone the pace and distance can be displayed which is highly beneficial during your runs but features we see on dedicated activity bands like flexi stairs climbed again the heart rate tracking in real time sleeping analysis they're just not here a 10-day it's still predominantly a SmartWatch and the fitness side of things still has a ways to go if you're more fitness focused last regarding battery life I'm aware several website states the battery life isn't as good as some of the other bands on the market but for my personal experience again leaving that ambient display on and brightness at four out of five it wasn't bad at all take this off the charger at 7:43 in the morning then ending the day right at 10 o'clock at night I still had 37% battery remaining now if I'll have to watch uncharged overnight the following morning I'm surprised I found that the watch still had 25% better left then eventually the watch died later that afternoon at 1:00 p.m. and of course all this video is proof of what I experienced of course the better life does vary from time to time but I usually got an entire day and a half worth of life and worst case scenario I needed to recharge the watch that very night but regarding recharging in general I was shocked at why we came with this pin type docking station here rather than inductive charging like some of the other cheaper watches out there putting on undock although magnetized once in a while it would not 100% connect or 100% align I would have to wiggle it at just a bit now second other watches allows for it to face you while charging as it displays the time a perfect nightstand clock replacement but the while we obviously sit on the table facing the ceiling instead and recharging from a dead battery to full takes about an hour and a half so overall is this watch worth the extra $50 over the other $300 smart watches and my answer for that is yes the watch performs ever so slightly smoother and faster than some of the other smart watches out there and definitely a little bit faster than the Moto 360 second generation the screen is sharp enough for my taste and the styling I do personally prefer so far the huawei I feel is the best overall SmartWatch experience despite its own shortcomings that's until the new LG urbane second generation gets rereleased those specs are ridiculous so that's it remember to view my other SmartWatch videos here on Jim's review room subscribe like the video and be sure to add me on to Facebook Twitter or Instagram as always my channel is here to help you make a purchase decision I'm Jimmy with jims review room I'll see you guys on the next one you guys take care bye