Huawei GT 2 Pro Review

The Huawei GT 2 Pro may not have been our most capable smartwatch, but it did prove to be an exceptional fitness tracker, with a battery life that was far better than all the rest. While it could be a bit smarter and easier to use, its performance overall was above average. This is an easy watch to recommend, especially for users seeking great battery life.

Performance Comparison

Ease of Use

For this metric, we assessed all the smartwatches in regards to user-friendliness. Our testing involved the ease of taking screenshots, water resistance, charging setup, crown or bezel scrolling, screen responsiveness, and the ease of swapping wrist bands. The performance of the GT 2 Pro was only a little above average in this category.

The GT 2 Pro lacks a functional bezel or crown, instead opting for a physical power button and a function button. While the buttons and touch screen are adequate, this watch lacks the usability of the best-performing watches that include either a crown or bezel. The wake-up time for a wrist turning motion is just as fast as the best watches we tested, and the touch screen responsiveness is also very snappy. However, during our tests, the scrolling couldn't keep up with fast finger scrolling movements.

Capturing screenshots isn't impossible with the GT 2 Pro, but it is certainly not practical. The cumbersome nature in which the watch forces you to take a screenshot is far from quick or convenient. Lastly, wrist bands aren't as easily replaced on this watch as on Apple watches but they are still fairly easy to swap. The GT 2 Pro uses a lever-type of release that is fairly standard across many smartwatch models.

Smart Functions

For a watch to be more than just a watch, it needs smart features and functions to enhance everyday life and make it more convenient to set and track your daily routine. Our smart functions tests dove into the smart features and functions of each smartwatch and evaluated the availability and performance of popular apps, the ability to take calls and control music, wireless payment support, and whether or not each device has standalone GPS or cellular capabilities.

While the Huawei GT 2 Pro earned better than median scores for the test group by doing well with phone calls and having standalone GPS, it performed poorly in the rest of our smart functions tests. In our experience, we could not respond to Facebook messages or text messages, only view them. There are hardly any apps available for this watch, and contactless payment is only optimized for China. Storage is low, and the “find my phone” button did not work for us with either an Apple or a Samsung phone. Music control is also limited to Androids.

Display

Our third test metric evaluated everything related to the smartwatch display. We tested each watch for screen quality, usability and legibility of the user interface in both bright and dark light, auto-brightness settings, and whether or not each device offers an always-on setting. Overall, the GT 2 Pro did well fairly well but fell a little short when compared to some of the other watches we tested.

The screen quality of the GT 2 Pro is great, though still not as good as top-tier offerings from Samsung and Apple, which both produce wearables with some really exceptional screens. Still, the screen quality, auto-brightness, and the ability to easily read text on the interface in dark lighting situations made the GT 2 Pro stand out amongst others. It also has an 'always-on' setting with different selections of watch faces. Unfortunately, it was a little more difficult to read screen text in bright light on this watch than on other models.

Fitness Impact

Testing for this metric involved measuring the accuracy of the step counter and heart rate monitor, workout tracking, and stair tracking. The GT 2 Pro proved itself to be a pretty good fitness tracker thanks to a large number of exercises and workouts you can add to the watch. Most of these are for tracking fairly standard workouts, but there are also some obscure and interesting ones like laser tag!

The GT Pro 2 did very well with accurate step counting, producing one of the smallest margins of error compared to other devices. Its accuracy extended to heart rate monitoring, where it again stayed within a small margin of error, maintaining beats per minute with only a little variance from our control equipment during interval exercise. In addition to specific workout tracking apps, the GT Pro 2 lets you do goal setting like distance and calories and set reminders for specific workouts about heart rate, intervals, and training effects.

All fitness tracking features and test results considered, the GT Pro 2 is a very competent and helpful fitness tracking device, on par with some of the best fitness trackers we've tested. It only misses out on an even better overall score due to the lack of a stair counting feature.

Battery

For our final test metric, we evaluated the battery performance of each device. This involved testing battery life under normal use and comparing charging times. Battery life is where this watch really shines.

It's really no surprise that the GT 2 Pro did well in our battery life test because with a lack of smart features and functions to consume power, this watch is essentially only used for working out and viewing smartphone notifications. You should have no problem getting 1.5 - 2 weeks on one charge unless you're heavily into the workouts and using the GPS a ton. This watch clearly stood out from the rest in this regard.

Interestingly, the GT 2 Pro was one of the slowest devices to recharge. Fortunately, with the extra-long battery life, it doesn't have to be charged as frequently as other devices, so a slower recharging time shouldn't be too much of an inconvenience to the user.

Value

The GT 2 Pro is a good value for somebody looking for reasonable performance and an easy-to-use wearable with impressive battery life.

Conclusion