Huawei’s Watch GT was announced alongside the Mate 20 Pro in London last year, and while the phone was a hit with customers and reviewers alike, the watch kind of wasn’t. Not only was it not immediately available, but even the assembled press couldn’t really get a look at it, because most of the demo units weren’t actually live (just plastic mock-ups) and the small number of live ones were squirreled away over in a corner.
Though we were given pricing, and some open statements about them coming to Australia eventually, things weren’t all that concrete.
Fast forward to January 2019, and it seems the Huawei Watch GT is finally in Australia, but you can’t exactly buy one.
Rather, the Huawei Watch GT is now being offered as a bonus for Huawei Mate 20 Pro customers, via redemption. For those who buy a Mate 20 Pro between 24 January and 28 February 2019, the Huawei Watch GT is available as a free gift by online redemption.
There are no specific retail partners, so it doesn’t matter if you get your Mate 20 Pro from JB HiFi, Optus, Vodafone, Mobileciti or Kogan.
What is the Huawei Watch GT, though?
It’s probably easier to explain what the Watch GT isn’t. For starters, it’s not Wear OS. It’s not LTE, and though it has NFC hardware, there’s no word on whether it will support any of the main contactless payment platforms in use in Australia.
Visually, at least, it offers many of the same looks as the more powerful Huawei Watch 2 (which does run Wear OS), but it’s quite a bit different under the hood.
At just 11.8mm thick, the Huawei Watch GT is one slender smartwatch – it’s 1.3mm thinner than the Apple Watch 4, for example. Don’t let that fool you, though, with 14-day battery life on offer, or a full 22 hours using GPS.
What does it offer?
There’s a range of other features including real-time heart-rate monitoring with 1-second sampling with 94% claimed accuracy, a built-in smart running coach, the ability to recognise four different swimming strokes and even open-water GPS mode to track your ocean swims. For those that never grew out of climbing, there’s four sensors on board for the climbers, including barometer and compass with software features for trail runners too.
With TruSleep 2.0 mode, Huawei Watch GT users will be able to monitor their sleep length, quality and more, and it does so using infrared to avoid light disturbing the user e.g. from an active heart rate monitor. Featuring personalised straps, a sports model and a classic-design model too, Huawei is making a big new pitch in smart wearables, and making a break away from Wear OS and alternative wearable platforms.
Can I buy one, though?
At the moment, so far as we’re aware, the answer is not officially.
The answer is no, you can’t buy one from Huawei or an official retail partner. A Huawei spokesperson confirmed to Ausdroid that the company has no plans to sell the Huawei Watch GT in Australia as a stand-alone product.
However, some online retailers will sell you the watch locally, and below the price value of $399 stated by Huawei.
Buy Mobile Australia is selling the watch for $339.90 delivered, and Catch.com.au is offering it for $293.50 with free delivery.
