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Thursday, October 4, 2018

Huawei Watch 3 Release Date, Price, News, and Leaks

Hopefully, it will be a watch worth waiting for


Update: The latest leak suggests the watch will be called the Huawei Watch GT and we've had our first look at the smartwatch in a leaked image.

Huawei is one of the biggest names in Wear OS, thanks to its impressive Huawei Watch and feature-packed but flawed Huawei Watch 2.

Huawei CEO Richard Yu spoke to TechRadar at MWC 2018 and revealed the company is working on the third iteration of its smartwatch, but he doesn't know yet when it will be ready for release.

While we wait, we've put together a wish-list for what we want to see. Before that though, here’s everything we’ve heard or suspect about when the Huawei Watch 3 might launch, and what it might feature.

Cut to the chase

What is it? The next smartwatch from Huawei
When is it out? Possibly late 2018, maybe 2019
What will it cost? Likely upwards of £330 ($300, AU$450)

Huawei Watch 3 release date and price

The Huawei Watch 2 was announced at MWC 2017 and went on sale in April 2017 so at one stage we thought we may see the Huawei Watch 3 at MWC 2018 or alongside the P20, but it didn't show up.

That was always unlikely though considering Huawei's CEO Richard Yu told TechRadar he doesn't think the company should rush to make a new watch.

Yu told TechRadar, "It will come later - there’s no hurry because Huawei Watch 2 sells well. We’re not in a hurry, so we’re launching the new watch later."

We've also now seen the Huawei Watch 2 2018 - a new version of the Huawei Watch 2 which adds an eSIM, a capacitance sensor, and a geomagnetic sensor but is otherwise the same. Given that this only arrived recently the Huawei Watch 3 may be a long way off.



Huawei Watch 2 (2018 edition)

All of that said, we've now started seeing consistent leaks of a device called the Huawei Watch GT that may be the successor to the Huawei Watch 2. We'll talk you through the strange naming issue just down below...

Whenever the Huawei Watch 3 does launch it will probably be a high-end, expensive device. There aren’t any price rumors yet, but the Huawei Watch 2 started at £329 ($299, AU$450) when it first arrived, so the Watch 3 might have a similar price tag.

Huawei Watch GT or Huawei Watch 3?

There's confusion about the name of the next smartwatch from Huawei. It may well be the company will rename its series of devices and instead of the Watch 3, we'll be hearing about the Huawei Watch GT.

We've referred to it as both names in this article, but as we hear more about the watch we've seen more suggestions it'll be called the GT rather than the next numbered smartwatch. Exactly what GT refers to is a little unclear the moment too.

Huawei Watch GT design and display

The first news comes from one of the sources that have suggested the watch will come with a new name. It's a leak from Israeli website Wisebuy recently claiming the device will be called the Huawei Watch GT.

It revealed a spec list that suggests the watch will have a 1.4-inch AMOLED display with a 454 x 454 resolution. That's alongside built-in GPS features, a continuous heart rate tracker, the ability to monitor sweep and swim tracking too with a 5 ATM rating.

It's also worth noting there might be more than one version. The trademarks Huawei has filed for the new watch that suggests the company is working on three different variants of its next-gen watch. The documents called the new watches Unlimited, Voyage and Anchor.

Exactly how these products differ is unclear, but we wouldn't expect these to be the names used when it's actually released on shop shelves.

In fact, one source - the same that provided the picture you can see below - has claimed the device will only come in two versions and they'll be referred to as the Huawei Watch GT Classic and Huawei Watch GT Sport. The Classic may also sometimes be called the Watch GT Fashion, according to this rumor.


The Huawei Watch GT Classic or Fashion. Credit: WinFuture

WinFuture provided that image above that looks similar to other Huawei Watch devices we've seen before, but it has some notable changes including a brown leather band and more pronounced buttons on the right-hand side of the watch.

The writer claims the watch will come with the same screen and waterproofing tech we've seen leak above, but it'll also come with a GPS tracker, a compass, pressure sensors and an accelerometer.

Those features have been available on other Huawei watches but it's currently unclear if this watch will come with a heart-rate monitor, which is now a statement piece of tech on Wear OS watches.

Huawei Watch GT battery life

Huawei has given some hints as to what we might get from the Huawei Watch 3 too. Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's Consumer Division has said that he wants to adapt AI for wearables and hopes one day to produce a watch with week-long battery life.

Up until now, we'd say that we wouldn't expect the Huawei Watch 3 to last that long as it would be a big jump. However, according to the same leak from Wisebuy, the battery could actually be longer and boast a whole two (yes, TWO) weeks worth of power.

That'll be all done by a 420mAh battery inside the watch. If that's the case, there will have to be some impressive optimization here, and it may be the company has opted for the newer Qualcomm Snapdragon 3100 chipset to achieve this.

Yu also said: "we want to make bigger improvements and make the experience much better than today. That’s my target. We want to make the smartwatch more useful, more intimate, more functional, and with much longer battery life." So it sounds like the Huawei Watch GT could be a big upgrade in various ways.

Huawei Watch GT other features

Elsewhere in rumor land, one report describes a watch with a space for Bluetooth earphones either in containers between the body and the strap or built into the bottom of the strap. These would make it easier to take calls and listen to music on the watch, as you'd always have them with you.


Earphones could be housed in these capsules. Credit: WIPO/LetsGoDigital

Another patent shows a watch with sensors that can recognize gestures made on the back of your hand, so you could, for example, make the shape of a letter and have it appear on the screen, allowing you to more easily write things using your smartwatch.

v Additional gestures could include a double tap or a long press, so you could potentially fully interact with the watch without touching it.

The Huawei Watch 3 might let you write on your hand instead of the screen. Credit: WIPO/LetsGoDigital

We've also seen a patent which describes a smartwatch with touch-sensitive bezels. The patent shows a bezel divided into eight sections, each of which could be tapped to do something on the watch.

But you could also touch multiple sections at the same time to perform an even wider variety of actions, and these actions could go beyond just launching apps, allowing you to also zoom in or out and scroll through menus for example.

Could this be the headline feature of the Huawei Watch 3? Credit: WIPO

It’s a potentially more useful – if also more complicated – alternative to the rotating bezel the likes of the Samsung Gear S3 has.

It would be a handy addition, given that the Huawei Watch 2 is notably light on control methods, but this being a patent there’s no guarantee anything will ever happen with it, let alone that it will be used for the Huawei Watch 3 specifically.

One other thing we'd expect the Huawei Watch 3 to feature is Wear OS software, and it'll be the first smartwatch from the company to launch sporting the renamed version of Android Wear.

You can upgrade the Huawei Watch 2 to the software now, but it will surely come straight out of the box for the next-gen smartwatch - unless the OS has been renamed again by then.

What we want to see

Huawei has been quiet about the Watch 3 so far, but we’re not going to be quiet about what we want from it. The following seven things could make it a big improvement from the Huawei Watch 2.

1. A stylish design


The Huawei Watch looks far more stylish than the Huawei Watch 2

The original Huawei Watch had an attractive design, the Huawei Watch 2… not so much. It traded a smart metal finish for a sportier, chunkier one, with big bezels and a plastic build.

It’s not actively ugly, and the sporty design suits its sportier innards, plus there’s also a Huawei Watch 2 Classic with a look that is more stylish, but that comes with a higher price tag and isn’t available with LTE.

For the Huawei Watch 3, we want the standard version of the watch to have a slim, stylish look, without sacrificing features in the process. We wouldn’t complain if a plastic version is offered too at a lower price, but it should have the same specs.

2. Powerful performance

Despite being a top-end watch when it launched and still being up there with the more powerful smartwatches on paper, the Huawei Watch 2 proved a little sluggish in practice, which is not what we want when we’re dropping hundreds on a wearable.

So for the Huawei Watch 3, we want a performance boost, whether through more RAM, a faster chipset or just software optimizations. Apps should open instantly and interact with the watch should be smooth.

3. A rotating crown

The Huawei Watch 2 has two buttons as well as a touchscreen, but it doesn’t have a rotating bezel or crown. This isn’t overly surprising, as few Wear OS devices do, but these are handy ways to add an additional input method to the watch without really taking up any more space.

They let you scroll through menus without obscuring the tiny screen, which is a nice feature to have, and one that some major rivals – such as the Apple Watch 3 – sport.

4. A larger screen

The Huawei Watch 2's screen feels slightly more cramped than we'd like

Despite having a chunkier build than the original Huawei Watch, the Huawei Watch 2 actually has a smaller screen of just 1.2 inches.

It’s fairly sharp and bright but it feels cramped, especially when trying to use an on-screen keyboard, so we’d like to see a larger screen of around 1.4 inches on the Huawei Watch 3.

5. A slicker charger

The Huawei Watch 2 employs a fiddly, inelegant charging solution, requiring you to line up a cradle with pogo pins on the back of the watch.

It’s not a huge issue but it could be so much simpler, and we want it to be for the Huawei Watch 3. A simple wireless charger that you plop the watch straight onto would do just fine.

6. Support for standard straps

More strap choice would definitely be a good thing

While the Huawei Watch 2 uses the standard 20mm strap size, its design means you can still only attach straps designed specifically for it.

This seems like a real missed opportunity to give buyers a nearly endless selection of strap options, so for the Huawei Watch 3, we want a design that allows for any and all standard straps (in whatever size Huawei chooses) to be used with it.

7. Longer life

The Huawei Watch 2 actually lasts a reasonably long time by smartwatch standards, with up to around two days of life if you’re not using a SIM card, but that plummets to only just over a day if you do use a SIM and even at two days you’ll be charging it at least a few times a week.

Space for a larger battery is understandably limited, but if Huawei can do anything to stretch the Watch 3’s life further we’d appreciate it.

After some new smart wrist wear? These are the best smartwatches available.



SOURCE TechRadar:

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