When I first got the Huawei Fit for review I didn't expect to fall in love with as much as I did. Since Pebble is now dead I can confidently say the Huawei Fit is a great if not better alternative to Pebble’s past offerings. Huawei first made it on to my radar when they released the Nexus 6P last year. The 6P was an all metal and very well built phone, and those same characteristics can be found on the Huawei Fit. You can pick up this Smart Watch on sale over at Amazon for $100, link is in the description below.
First off, Huawei really knocked it out of the park with the packaging. The watch it self is front and center. After removing the outer casing and the stand that holds the watch you'll find some documentation underneath. You will also find a charging cradle and a micro usb cable. And thats pretty much it, there are no extra wrist straps included. Lets talk about battery life, the Huawei Fit has an 80 milliamp battery that will get you 5 days of continuous use or 1 month of stand by time. Thats very impressive for such a small battery. in order to charge the smart watch you need to place it in its charging cradle. the watch and cradle will magnetically align itself and make sure the charging pins make proper contact. Its a fool proof system even i cant mess up.
Now lets talk about looks, the Huawei Fit is perhaps the best looking fitness tracker slash smart watch you can get on the market right now for just $100. The Silicon strap has a raised design which makes it look as if it were made out of cloth, but since its made out of silicon it stills wicks away sweat. the straps are also easily removable so that you can add different straps if you so chose.
The watch itself is made out of stainless steel and has a gorilla glass front which is scratch and finger print resistant. on the bottom of the watch you will find its hear rate sensor as well. over all the watch it self looks great. the outer casing of the watch features tapers and chamfered edges which helps it give the illusion of it being thinner than it actually is. The Huawei Fit does a great job of being a capable fitness tracker without actually looking like a fitness tracker like the pebble 2 or Samsung gear 2.
Ok so what can this watch do you might be asking, well it can do pretty much everything you'd expect from a fitness tracker. It can count your steps, track your distance, measure your heart rate, and track your sleep. all of this data can be displayed to its accompanying phone application which can be found both on apple or android devices. The application does leave something to be desired unfortunately and it is the weaker link when it comes to using the Huawei Fit. But you can still share the data it collects with other fitness tracking apps.
The Huawei Fit can also show you notifications like incoming texts, emails, phone calls and other 3rd part application notifications. The Fit also has a touch screen which you interact with by tapping and swiping, unfortunately it can mix up the two from time to time making it a little hard to navigate at times. The Huawei Fit is a fitness tracker that is more geared towards runners. if you want to manually start work out the options you will see are for Running, Walking, Cycling, Treadmill, or Swimming. Oh did i mention you can swim with this smart watch? Well you can swim with this smart watch.
Just like other smart watches, the Huawei Fit’s screen lights up when you raise your arm. But my favorite thing about this smart watch is the wrist gestures it has that allows you to navigate through its options with out having to touch the screen. It’s a feature straight out of android wear and i wish other fitness trackers on the market took advantage of it. Heres looking at you Fitbit Charge 2.
The Huawei Fit does what it needs to do in order to be considered a fitness tracker, it counts your steps, tracks your distance, tracks you runs and maps it out for you with help from your smart phone, counts your calories burned, measurers your heart rate, tracks your sleep, and bugs you when you've been inactive for too long. Like i said before, the Huawei Fit is geared towards more to runners and the app itself also helps coach you though your marathon training.
It also does just enough to be considered a smart watch like show you complete notifications when you get a text, email or phone call. but unlike a full smart watch you cant respond to those notifications from your smart watch. you also cant control your music playback from the Huawei fit. But to thats ok, smartwatches haven't caught on as much as manufactures want them too because no one has really figured out how to make a good smart watch.
The Huawei Fit strikes a perfect balance of usability, design, and price. It tells me just enough if I'm moving enough, how intense my workout was, and roughly how many calories I'm burning a day so i get a better gauge of how many calories to eat per day. It also helps me stay up to date at a glance with my incoming emails, texts, and phones calls when I'm out running errands. But it also looks amazing, and professional enough where i can even wear it to a meeting and still look presentable. The long battery life also means i don't have to put it to charge before bed like the Apple Watch or Gear Fit.
If you’re looking for a top notch fitness tracker then i would have to say go with the Fitbit Charge 2. The Fitbit Charge 2 is an all around better fitness tracker and has a better phone application than the Huawei, link to its review is in the description. But if you're looking for a sleek looking smart watch that can show you full notifications, and still track your fitness stats fairly well then I say pick up the Huawei Fit. For just $100 its a pretty solid deal.