[Update] Added new information from the press release
Last week, Honor introduced their latest Honor Watch GS Pro, a rugged outdoors focussed sports watch for urban adventurers.
Today, Huawei announced their latest watch, based on the same underlying hardware and software but with a more style-focused appearance.
As critical as I may sometimes seem with the Huawei / Honor strategy of launching the same hardware, I quite like what they have done here. Offering very similar features but two very different aesthetics
So what’s different about the Huawei Watch GT 2 Pro Honor Watch GS Pro and last years Huawei Watch GT2?
Build
Both watches look very different, Huawei has massively upgraded the materials and looks of the Huawei Watch GT 2 Pro, retaining the same stylish design of the standard GT2 but improving the build quality with sapphire glass, a titanium case and ceramic back.
The Honor Watch GS Pro looks good in its own right, but this is very much an outdoor rugged.
Personally, I though the GT2 was the best looking smartwatch I have used so I am excited to see what the Pro model looks like.
Battery
There is a big difference between the two when it comes to battery, the new GT 2 Pro has the same 14-day battery as the GT2, GT2e and older Honor watches. Whereas the Honor Watch GS Pro has a massive 30-day battery life.
However, the Huawei now uses wireless charging, meaning you no longer need a charging cradle and can instead use any standard QI charger including the reverse charge on your phone.
New Heart Rate Sensor
It looks like Huawei have made some hardware upgrades I wasn’t previously aware of. The HRM has been upgraded to TruSeen 4.0+ heart rate monitoring technology combines with a 6-in-1 LED lens and a sapphire glass back to provide more accurate readings.
Software Features
All the watches use the Kirin A1 chipset which launched last year, they also all use same base hardware from what I can tell, including the heart rate monitor and GPS chip. They also have the same underlying OS giving the same fundamental software features.
They also all have the same 1.39 inch AMOLED 454 x 454 display. Though some of the other Huawei/Honor device have different displays.
So all of them offer phone notification, 24/7 heart rate monitoring, sports tracking with GPS, Bluetooth calling, in-device music, sleep tracking.
Over time, Huawei has rolled out updates for some of the watches. This has included SPO2 monitoring for most of the watches and more workouts.
The Huawei Watch GT2 launched with 85 custom workout modes, but the two new watches have over 100 workout modes.
From what I can tell, both the Huawei Watch GT 2 Pro and Honor Watch GS Pro have identical software features. This includes:
- A new route back features giving you offline navigation back to your starting location.
- Outdoor assistant to let you know sunrise, sunset, tide time, moon phase and bad weather alerts
- New ski mode
- New gold mode including swing analysis
Price and Availability
Those premium materials come with a premium price. The Huawei Watch GT 2 Pro (RRP: £299.99) comes in two variations: Night Black (Sport Edition) and Nebula Grey (Classic Edition), available to purchase from Huawei Store and selected retailers from the 5th October. Customers purchasing on or before 20th Oct can also claim a free pair of Huawei FreeBuds 3 (via redemption).
The Honor watch is just £249.99 so quite a bit cheaper
