"Insane Battery Life": Thinner and Lighter Than Apple Watch, Lasts 10 Days... At Half the Price [Tried It Out]

Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro
Highly accurate workout monitoring
Tracks workout status in five zones including warm?up and fat?burning
Manages post?workout health as well
Up to ten days of use from a one?hour charge

Huawei has launched a new smartwatch lineup, the Watch Fit 4 series, in Korea as it moves to expand its wearable product portfolio. In the Korean market, Huawei has not entered the smartphone segment and has instead focused on selling wearables such as smartwatches and wireless earphones. The domestic smartphone market is dominated by Samsung and Apple, and Huawei's own HarmonyOS (Hongmeng OS), which has limited access to Google services, feels unfamiliar to Korean users. Instead, Huawei is targeting a niche market by positioning its devices as secondary gadgets that can be paired with Android and iOS. Among the Watch Fit lineup, the Watch Fit 4 Pro model, which has been released for the first time, was tested over the course of a month.

Hands-on: Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro. By Lee Eunseo.

The first thing that stood out was the sporty-looking light green strap wrapping around the wrist. Made of water-repellent nylon, the strap was light, breathable, and resistant to water and sweat. The watch screen, which measures 9.3 mm in thickness and weighs 30.4 g, felt substantial on the wrist due to its large size. The sapphire glass display is surrounded by a titanium bezel that feels light yet sturdy. The appearance is reminiscent of the Apple Watch 11. However, it is 0.4 mm thinner than the Apple Watch 11 and nearly 10 g lighter. Even under indoor lighting, the 1.82-inch display with 3,000 nits of brightness was vivid enough that there was no need to twist the wrist around to see the screen.

Pairing it with the reporter's Apple iPhone was not difficult. After turning on the watch and setting the language, scanning the QR code displayed on the screen took the user directly to the App Store. The Huawei Health app required for pairing the watch could be downloaded without going through Huawei's AppGallery platform. However, for Android, since the app is not available on Google Play Store, it must be downloaded via the Galaxy Store.

Accurate health monitoring without battery anxiety

The biggest advantage was the lack of battery anxiety. There was no need to plug it into the charger every day or to feel nervous watching the battery drain. Charging it once a week for about an hour was enough to use it for up to ten days. Fast charging is also supported, allowing the battery to reach 80% in 30 to 40 minutes. Sleep and wellness data were measured every day, and even with two to three workout sessions a week, the battery was more than sufficient. The Watch Fit 4 Pro battery lasts up to 10 days, up to 4 days with the power-hungry Always On Display (AOD) mode enabled, and an average of 7 days in typical use. Compared with the Apple Watch 11, which lasts up to 24 hours in normal use and up to 38 hours in low power mode, this is a significant advantage.

On the watch screen, the cat character 'Felix' is shown in a relaxed pose. Reporter Lee Eunseo.

The most eye-catching everyday feature was emotion monitoring. Animal characters whose expressions and behavior change depending on your mood helped put the mind at ease. In the "Joy" state, the cat character "Felix" would stomp its feet energetically after waking up or come up close to the front of the screen and rub its face.

Swiping left to open the Emotion Wellbeing app revealed yellow, purple, and blue flowers spinning around depending on the mood state. The blue flower, which represents "Neutral," occupied most of the day, while the yellow flower, which stands for "Joy," appeared occasionally during meals or rest breaks. This type of emotion monitoring is logged by day, week, month, and year, and based on this data, the watch provides customized sleep tips and breathing exercises.

Another everyday feature, sleep monitoring, also analyzed sleep quality with precision. Metrics such as sleep duration, heart rate, and respiratory rate were recorded every night. Sleep states were categorized and measured as deep sleep, light sleep, REM sleep, and awake time, and a graph showed the sleep cycle throughout the night. The analysis indicated that the amount of deep sleep, which determines sleep quality, was low, while the amount of light sleep, which leads to fatigue, was high, and it assigned a score of 74 points. Even the brief period of waking up in the early morning appeared clearly on the graph, which increased the sense of reliability.

With the outdoor walking feature, you can check workout routes, pace, and other records in the Huawei Health app on your smartphone. Reporter Lee Eunseo.

The Watch Fit 4 Pro also demonstrated high accuracy in workout monitoring, the primary function of a smartwatch. When walking mode was activated during a stroll, location tracking began. The map displayed on the screen showed the current position, and below it, workout distance and average pace started to be recorded. A barometric sensor measured changes in altitude, logging ascents and descents. In particular, Huawei's patented "Sunflower Positioning System," applied in this series, improved location tracking accuracy compared with the previous generation.

Scrolling down revealed workout status divided into five zones such as warm-up, fat burning, and aerobic exercise, and the watch vibrated on the wrist every time the distance exceeded 1 km. It analyzed aerobic and anaerobic training stress to show the required recovery time, and at the end of a session, it measured heart rate changes over two minutes to help manage post-workout health, which felt like a thoughtful touch.

Unlike the standard Watch Fit 4, the Watch Fit 4 Pro model can be used for 100 types of outdoor sports. In golf in particular, users can check 3D fairway views and green and bunker information right on their wrist via course maps registered in the app. Thanks to its water resistance, it also supports diving down to 40 meters.

For users concerned about personal data, the watch provides permissions that allow them to manage their own information. Within the Health app on the smartphone, users can choose whether to sync personal and fitness data, and they can permanently delete all personal data.

Limited accessibility for some features such as message replies and NFC payments

However, the limited accessibility of certain features is a key drawback of using a third-party device. For iPhone users in particular, quick replies to text messages or KakaoTalk messages were not available. Only text content could be viewed, and for images, only a notification saying "A photo has been sent" appeared. Unlike competing models, it was not possible to send emojis or voice messages. The voice-to-text input feature was only available when paired with a Huawei smartphone running EMUI 10.1 or later.

In Korea, NFC-based payments for public transportation or offline easy payment services are not supported, making it difficult to use one of the biggest strengths of a smartwatch: NFC payments. It was also disappointing that Korean language support was missing in some settings and help menus. When opening the menu to change local watch faces, most detailed descriptions were provided in English. Pop-up guides for setting workout goals and similar functions were also a mix of Korean and English.

Overall verdict: A hidden, value-for-money mid-range pick

This model can be described as a "hidden value-for-money pick" in the smartwatch market. Its specifications and accurate workout features are on par with competing models. Its relatively low price compared with its practical feature set also enhances its competitiveness. While the Apple Watch 11 is priced at 599,000 won and the Galaxy Watch 8 at 389,000 won, this product has a list price of 329,000 won and has recently been selling at a discounted price of 299,000 won. The flawless workout monitoring features and affordable price are more than enough reasons to strap a Huawei watch on your wrist.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.