Not so long ago, I reviewed the new Huawei Watch GT 2 smartwatch. But in addition to the basic 46 mm model, the manufacturer also has a smaller version of the device, which is on sale right now. Let’s look at Huawei Watch GT 2 42 mm. It’s certainly an interesting device that differs greatly from the «senior» model. Let’s get started!
Positioning
First of all, Huawei Watch GT 2 looks like a women’s watch. Although the manufacturer does not explicitly note this fact anywhere, only women appear on advertising photos. At least I have not seen promotional photos with men. And still, it’s possible that some (not very large) men will also like a compact watch.
Moreover, there is a version of the GT 2 42 mm with a black body (Sport), which may well suit men. That is why I mentioned in the headline that this watch is offered in unisex style.
But 2 other modifications – Classic (silver case and leather strap in beige color) and Elegant (gold case and metal bracelet of the same color) are hard to imagine on the man’s hand. Although, who am I to judge this? Perhaps I am hopelessly behind current trends.
The thing is, on my huge male hand this watch looks a little awkward. In addition, I have difficulty fastening the strap. That is why I am still inclined to consider this watch to be for females. But you may have a different opinion on this. And of course the size of the hands is also very different for others
But on the elegant female hand, Huawei Watch GT 2 42 mm looks organically. This is the optimal size for a large screen without it looking bulky. As you understand from the photo, we have the Classic version on the test.
Pricing
Huawei Watch GT 2 42 mm is one of the most affordable (female) smart watches from the A-brand on the market. The Sport and Classic versions cost approximately $200, and Elegant will set you back $240.
The main competitor here is Samsung Galaxy Watch Active, which costs the same. But the current Galaxy Active 2 40 mm is much more expensive. Apple Watch 5 – the most famous unisex watch – costs a lot, lot more.
What does this simple analysis say? Sales prospects in the «female» segment of smart watches are quite optimistic.
What’s in the box
The watch comes in a large white box with a picture of the device on the front with a description and characteristics below. The box is sturdy and looks expensive.
Inside is really good gift. The packaging is multi-layered, the watch is located in a niche on a special holder and is securely fixed. We open the top cover and we see another compartment with a separate cover, inside which there are three compartments – for magnetic charging, a USB-C cable and several paper instructions.
Design, materials, build quality
The main epithet that can be applied to Huawei Watch GT 2 42 mm is elegance. Yes, the watch is very similar to the 46 mm version, which in turn is similar to last year’s Huawei Watch GT. In addition, the watch is round – and this is the main criterion by which I personally evaluate the design.
But in addition to the fact that the watch has become smaller, the manufacturer decided to get rid of the bezel around the screen. That is, here we see just solid glass with a rounding around the perimeter. The watch has become more refined (in addition to being 0.7 mm thinner than the 46 mm model), but at the same time, I have serious concerns about its protection. Personally, the bezel saved my watch many times before.
Also an important element that determines the look of Watch GT 2 42 mm is the strap mount. It changed the design and became thinner. Because of all these changes the watch seems more feminine.
As for the materials, everything is great. Metal, glass, high-quality plastic. The strap made of genuine double leather with a steel buckle is chic. Watches look great and expensive. As for the build quality – everything is perfect.
By the way, the strap mount is standard, so you can easily pick up any third-party option for this watch.
For example, a leather strap absorbs moisture and darkens when water gets on it, I would not recommend using it in a shower or pool, and even more so in the sea. Therefore, it is better to have several straps or bracelets for different occasions.
Elements configuration
Everything is fine there. Touch screen with a protective glass in front, sensitive to pressing and gestures, two control buttons on the right side of the case.
At the back there are four sensors for measuring heart rate (2 infrared and 2 optical) and contacts for charging. Also, a small hole in the lid – this is a barometer sensor. The cover is attached to the body with four screws.
As in other models of Huawei GT series watches, the case is protected from dust and moisture at a level of 5 ATM (50 m), so the watch is not afraid of rain, you can take a shower with it or swim, but it is not recommended to dive deeply and for a long time.
Screen, hardware and performance
Huawei Watch GT 2 42 mm has a 1.2-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 390 x 390 pixels (326 ppi). Purely by feeling, I did not see the difference with the older model. The screen is high-quality, it is quite enough for all tasks. The maximum brightness is decent, on the street the clock can be used without problems. There is auto brightness feature which works correctly.
The watch is based on Huawei’s own new SoC – Kirin A1 with support for the latest Bluetooth 5.1 and BLE/BR/EDR extensions.
Internal memory is 4 GB, RAM is 32 MB. There’s a GPS module, altimeter, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, light brightness and atmospheric pressure sensor, compass and heart rate sensors.
In general, the watch is pretty fast. The shell is simple, there is no real multitasking. All bugs of the interface inherent in the watches of the first series at the start of sales have long been eliminated. The interface is fast and polished.
Functionality
I described in detail all the functions of the watch in a review of the older Huawei Watch GT 2 46 mm model. Actually, in the 42 mm version everything is almost the same, but there are some simplifications.
To start, the general features of the entire Huawei Watch GT series:
- Of course, the watch performs the main function – it shows the time. There is the Always On Display option, which currently includes two watchfaces options – analog and digital with the ability to change color accents (white, red, green).
- Stopwatch, timer, alarm – standard time-related functions.
- Tracking steps, distance traveled, calories burned – like any fitness tracker.
- It displays the current weather. Data is taken from the watch, of course.
- Heart rate measurement – on request, during training or continuous. The function is flexible in the smartphone application.
- Sleep tracking – time, quality of sleep, sleep phases.
- Barometer.
- Compass.
- Flashlight – simply turns on the white bright backlight of the screen.
- Phone search and anti-loss function – the clock will beep if you have gone far from your smartphone and the connection has been disconnected. You can also activate the signal on the smartphone from the watch, if you simply can not find it in the room. The smartphone will begin to play the melody and repeat the funny phrase “I’m here!” In a female voice.
- Display notifications – this function can be flexibly configured on the smartphone, it is enabled for all or each individual application.
- Sports functions and exercise records – they have a separate menu that can be called up from the main menu or by pressing the bottom button. There are almost all typical sports activities: running on the street and on the track, walking, climbing the mountain or on the stairs, a bicycle and an exercise bike, an ellipsoid, swimming in a pool, and a triathlon. During training, the GPS function is actively used and your track is recorded in the watch’s memory, then it is synchronized with a smartphone and sent to the cloud. You can analyze class records and view training details on your smartphone.
Now I will list the options that appeared in the current GT 2 line, which are present in both models:
- Controlling music playback on a smartphone – switching tracks and adjusting volume are available. All popular players and streaming services like Google Play Music are supported.
- Own built-in music player! You can upload tracks to the watch’s internal memory from your smartphone. For these tasks, 2.3 GB of internal storage memory is allocated. Next – connect any Bluetooth-earphones to the watch and you can listen to music right from the watch. For example, you can no longer take a smartphone for a run and go for hours.
- The function of determining the level of stress. Well, I don’t know, it seems to me that the smartphone just takes into account the heart rate and whether you are moving or not. In short, some kind of «smart» algorithms.
- Breathing exercises. You have a high level of stress, this should help you somehow. Just follow the instructions on the screen – the watch will tell you the rhythm of inhalation and exhalation.
- Option to assign actions to the bottom button. By default, pressing the button opens the training menu. In principle, it can be launched through the main menu. Therefore, if you want, you can assign a favorite function to this physical button. For example, the music player.
Let’s see what 46 mm version has, unlike Huawei Watch GT 2 42 mm version:
- Lack of microphone, speaker, and answering calls and phone calls. There’s no list of calls and contacts. Actually, this is the main simplification of this model.
Battery life
But that is not all. The battery life of the watch is also cut about 2 times. This is not surprising, because the watch has become smaller and thinner. The manufacturer claims a week of normal use of the watch with heart rate monitoring turned on, training 90 minutes a week and listening to music 30 minutes a week. And 15 hours of continuous use in training mode with GPS on and constant heart rate measurement.
In practice, we first activated all the available functions – Always On Display, constant measurement of heart rate and stress level, sleep monitoring and notifications. The watch worked in this mode for exactly 4 days. It is worth noting that displaying time on the screen reduces battery life by about 2 times. That is, the claimed battery life is accurate. A week of work without problems.
Of course, the result of inferior to 46 mm version. But on the while, it’s still a good result. At least it’s not Apple Watch, which needs to be charged almost every day.
Software
We wrote about Lite OS countless times. This is the standard interface for all modern Huawei and Honor wearables. Once again, I recommend reading the previous reviews of smart watches:
- Huawei Watch GT 2 (46 mm) review and comparison with Huawei Watch GT
- Honor Watch Magic smartwatch review – Emphasis on design, fitness and battery life
Lite OS
In short – the user is greeted by the main screen with a watchface. It can be changed from the available options. Just press and hold the screen, a choice of options will appear scrolling right or left. Select and set the watchface by pressing. You can also set the watchface from your smartphone.
Swipes on the main screen to the right and left provide access to the main widgets – activity, heart rate measurement, stress level, weather, music player. Swipe from the top of the screen down opens the panel to quickly switch settings. The same action from the bottom up to access to the latest notifications. The top physical button sends you to the main menu. The bottom one is in the exercise menu, but as I said above, this button can be reassigned to any action.
Huawei Health
The application for a smartphone is also well known to everyone. This is Huawei Health.
This program is a hub for recording your activity and setting up all parameters of wearable devices. The watch connection is simple, all settings are clear, there are tips. There is also synchronization with the Huawei cloud and uploading data to Google Fit and MyFitnessPal. In addition, this application is responsible for checking for new firmware versions and updating the watch by air.
Specifically for Huawei Watch GT 2 series (46 and 42 mm), the Health application is also used to upload music tracks.
Verdict
Huawei Watch GT 2 42 mm is a very cool women’s watch. Well, at least the Classic and Elegant versions look exactly like women’s, but of course you have the right to disagree. First of all, the watches are insanely stylish, I can’t deny that. At the same time, the Sport version can be safely recommended not only to women, but also to men, especially young people.
Yes, the functionality and battery life of this version of the watch are slightly reduced compared to the 46 mm model, but all the basic parameters remained in place, as did the very advanced sports component. In combination with a good level of dust and moisture protection and the ability to quickly change straps, Huawei Watch GT 2 42 mm can be considered a universal compact smartwatch for every day.
Subscribe to our accounts:
42mm same price but DO NOT HAVE SPEAKER & MIC (CAN’T ANSWER CALL) to me this is crazy, it only allows you to decline call from your watch.
As I said in the review:
“Let’s see what 46 mm version has, unlike Huawei Watch GT 2 42 mm version:
Lack of microphone, speaker, and answering calls and phone calls. There’s no list of calls and contacts. Actually, this is the main simplification of this model.”
But “same price”?
42 mm cheaper than 46 mm.
Do you maybe know If I put off all the funtions and notifications, and only keep on the GPS, will the battery last for 12 hours on the road, running with the Huawei GT 2 (42mm) elegance?
I really like this watch but need one that will last for 12 hours while running.