Australian Review: Huawei Watch – Watch first, smart second

The Huawei Watch is easily the one of the best looking smartwatches on the market, Android Wear-powered or otherwise. This mostly comes down to the fact it actually looks like a watch, and a nice one at that. I'm not a watch connoisseur – in fact, I've never really wore watches until smartwatches became a thing – but the Huawei Watch feels like a slick, polished product. It's a smartwatch I could see my dad wearing.

My review unit came in silver stainless steel with a stainless steel link band. Leather straps and a mesh loop are also available, but I feel like the stainless steel strap suits the Huawei Watch's masculine build. The Huawei Watch is a little chunkier than you'd expect a watch to be, especially when you account for the link band. While this isn't out of the ordinary for smartwatches, it occasionally felt a little too bulky for my puny nerd wrists. If you're interested in a Huawei Watch, I'd definitely recommend trying it on first.

Much like the non-Sport Apple Watches, the Huawei Watch features a sapphire glass display, which should offer a reasonable amount of protection against scratches. The watch-face itself is always on, and has surprisingly wide viewing angles. The display is reasonably bright, and even legible in direct sunlight for the most part. The lack of an ambient light sensor does however mean you'll need to adjust the brightness manually if you want to crank it a little higher.