The Huawei Watch 6 positions itself as a premium smartwatch, emphasizing health and fitness tracking alongside a stylish design and multi-day battery life. Priced at £399, the device features a classic circular watch face and returns Huawei’s X-Tap sensor system.
The watch is available in two sizes: 46mm and 43mm. While the larger 46mm model offers a high-end titanium finish, both variants utilize a comfortable fluoroelastomer band supporting 22mm straps. Despite the premium materials, the matte-finish frame on the 46mm size scratched easily during testing.
A standout feature is the 1.5-inch LTPO AMOLED screen. Running at up to 3500 nits, the display remains easily legible even on bright, sunny days, also enhancing built-in torch functionality. The screen is described as sharp, vibrant, and detailed. The device carries full IP69 and 5ATM ratings, confirming durability suitable for use down to 50 metres.
Operating on Huawei’s proprietary HarmonyOS, the watch utilizes swipe gestures for notifications, widgets, and quick settings, with the digital crown activating the app menu. It connects to both iOS and Android and supports connecting to two devices simultaneously. Users can interact with gestures such as pinching two fingers to select and swiping to scroll, though the reviewer suggested the watch needed to be more responsive at times. Payments in the UK are supported via Curve Pay integration, and it displays notifications, weather, and calendar events.
However, the smartwatch’s smart functionality shows limitations compared to competing devices. Third-party app support is described as nearly non-existent, restricting users to limited Huawei-designed health and fitness apps, alongside niche options like Trainpal and MyBotPal. Popular apps such as Spotify, Google Maps, and MyFitnessPal are unavailable.
The health and fitness features are the watch’s main strength. The updated X-Tap system combines ECG, PPG, and a pressure-sensitive touch sensor into a compact side module. This system works alongside optical heart rate, temperature, motion, and atmospheric sensors, tracking everything from SpO2 and heart rate to arterial stiffness and pulse wave arrhythmia.
A quick, detailed report is generated by the Health Glance feature, which compiles several checks, even requesting the user to cough into the microphone for a respiratory assessment, all delivered within 60 seconds. Dual-band GPS performs well during a 45-minute walk, although it struggled in the dense environment of Canary Wharf. The watch tracks over 100 forms of exercise, including new modes for indoor skiing and improved metrics for cycling. The device also offers support for over 3000 global ski results for outdoor navigation without a phone.
Beyond these advanced metrics, general monitoring covers movement, heart rate, HRV, blood oxygen, and a set of rings for daily calorie burn, exercise time, and standing time. A readiness score combines recovery, sleep quality, and skin temperature to offer insight into daily exertion. Battery life offers approximately five days with the always-on screen turned off, dropping to around three days when active. GPS workouts shorten this duration, and the watch charges fully in about an hour and a half.
A major area of weakness was observed in sleep tracking. The Watch 6 failed to detect when the user went to sleep, ignored awake time in bed, and missed instances of waking during the night. This raises questions about the reliability of the detailed sleep-based data offered by the Huawei Health app. The overall experience is summarized as a stylish, well-built device with extensive health monitoring, though limited third-party apps and issues with core sleep tracking prevent it from being the market’s most well-rounded option.
