It was about time; I wanted to get a Wear OS smartwatch for quite a long time now. I’ve skipped many offers and discounts on interesting models, tried to wait as long as I could before I invested in one but I recently gave up – due to an offer on Amazon.co.uk.
My Huawei Watch GT is now almost 3,5 years old, it has been through quite a lot and still works like a charm. It was serviced once, within the warranty period, to have its top button click restored. Fully waterproof, even for sea swimming, with a lovely screen and a battery that still lasts more than 10 days (depending on the usage). I had no reason to retire it but I felt like I needed to go a bit further and make use of the advanced features of a Wear OS smartwatch, that promises to bring Android to your wrist.
To make a long story short, I purchased a Mobvoi Ticwatch Pro 3 LTE for something less than €115, during an Amazon offer (applying a GBP 130 coupon). Ticwatches have been in my radar for the past year and more, as they promised an improved battery life compared to other Wear OS smartwatches, plus an impressive set of features. My experience with my son’s Ticwatch GTH were mixed (the battery failed after a couple of charges but we promptly received a GTH Pro from Mobvoi as a replacement). On top of that, many reviews raised flags about the Pro 3 series on aspects like the lack of water proofness, battery and charging issues (especially with fast chargers) and the lack of support in the form of updates.
The specific model was launched back in 2020 or 2021 with Wear OS 2; however, thanks to its innovative and capable chipset, an upgrade to Wear OS 3 was promised by the company. This has not happened yet.
First impressions and setup
I knew that I couldn’t use the watche’s LTE functionality in Greece, as it is limited to a few countries only, but hey – I could not miss an offer like this anyway. There seem to be some workarounds that might work, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
It looks very similar to my Huawei Watch GT, which it aims to replace; two side buttons, full black color, digits on the crown, but the Ticwatch’s silicon band with its orange stiches looks more premium. It is light and fits perfectly on my rather thick wrist.
The package included the watch, its proprietary charging cable, a brief quick guide and a leaflet about the product’s registration.
My smartwatch came fully discharged so it took some time to start charging (using a laptop’s USB port, as suggested by Mobvoi). It must have taken a couple of hours to show the fully charged battery icon.
Setup was easy, as I had already downloaded the Wear OS app on my Android smartphone (Motorola g9 plus). It paired promptly and I started getting to learn its functionalities to the extend possible. I installed a few apps, updated the system (there were two major updates I think) and the installed apps.
One of the things I like is the second, monochrome LCD screen that is always on and provides basic information like time and date, number of steps and battery level (not percentage though) without having to switch on the power-hungry main display.
I am still exploring my watch so there’s not much more to say but it seems like a good investment 🙂
I have been using my Huawei Watch GT since May 2020 and the more I use it, the more useful I find it.
The background
I was in search of a practical and budget smartwatch for quite some time now. I am used in wearing analogue watches and in the past I had the opportunity to wear some pretty good ones, like a couple of chronographs from Timex.
Having started working out a bit, I found the idea of a smartwatch that would count my steps and heart rate – along with sleep tracking – appealing. Unfortunately, my experience with a Lenovo Watch 9 was way too far from satisfying, so I was cautious for next move.
Why the Watch GT?
After realizing that I had to increase my budget for a decent smartwatch, I came up with several options such as
Mi Band 4 (too small for my wrist and its screen looked tiny for my eyes),
Amazfit Bit (great value for money, looking a bit like the Apple Watch but with low screen resolution),
Amazfit Verge (at the top limit of my budget, with great screen & features but its grey plastic body would look too sporty at work or during a business meeting).
In the end I found myself between the Huawei Watch GT and Honor Watch Magic (essentially the same watch with different tag and size). They both had most of the features I needed, and on top of that, they looked pretty formal compared to the rest. I just had to wait for the price to drop, and after the announcement of the Watch GT 2, it was only a matter of weeks before their price went below the €100 threshold.
So I went for the Watch GT, due to its largest screen size and lower price (surprisingly, the Honor Watch Magic was constantly more expensive in the Greek market).
Is the Watch GT really a smartwatch?
It depends. If you define smartwatches as watches that you can add apps and feature a fully-featured OS like Wear OS then the answer is no.
On the other side, compared to typical digital watches, the Watch GT is definitely smart; not only it performs pretty well as a basic activity tracker (with functions like the Mi band series) but it also has advanced features like Altimeter/Barometer, digital compass and even a flashlight.
I could describe it as an activity tracker on steroids, with its with its larger screen and ability to clearly read notifications and activity stats.
The good:
Battery: Amazing battery life. It can hold up to 2 full weeks with the proper settings. I could stand another gadget that needs charging every day, so this is quite important. You can just leave its charger at home when going on short trips, saving precious space in your packed bag.
Charging: Quick charging with its magnetic charger. It is compact and comes with a USB-C cable.
Construction: Sturdy construction, haven’t seen a single scratch during these months. Nothing loose, nothing to worry about.
Looks: The Watch GT looks really beautiful on the wrist, even with formal outfit, as it is not sporty. Ok, the black/grey silicon strap it comes with is not the most formal-looking around, but you can easily swap it with a better-looking strap just by uncliping it.
Size: Despite its large screen size, it is quite light and comfortable; you will hardly notice wearing it.
Screen: Screen is pretty good, clear and responsive. One of its biggest selling points, IMHO.
GPS: Position locking is blazing fast; it takes a few seconds to lock your position, thanks to the combination of GPS & Galileo (US and EU satellite systems respectively).
Fitness tracking: There are numerous fitness tracking options – more than a typical user will ever use.
Accuracy: Its measurements are quite precise, compared to other activity trackers and smartphones (e.g. my Samsung Galaxy A3 and its Health app)
Features: It has some pretty useful features like a flashlight (it just turns the screen bright white but does the work!), a compass etc.
Looking good even with formal outfit
The bad:
Sync: It takes ages to sync sleep data, even when the watch is right next to the smartphone (Samsung Galaxy A3 2016). In some cases I even have to force sync twice (I get a message like “No sleep data“. My son’s Mi Band 4 syncs all data (including sleep) in less than 1 minute.
App: The Huawei health App serves its purposes to sync data, but it seems too many options and not well-organized. I ended up sticking with some of them and I keep looking the less frequently used ones when I need them.
Weather 1: You can’t see the weather forecast for the next period (days, or even hours); the watch only shows the current status. As such data have insignificant size, requiring only a few KBs, I believe that a firmware upgrade could resolve this issue.
Weather 2: For the weather data to be updated, you need to enable the smartphone’s GPS., so if you have it off you won’t see updated weather info on your watch. I would prefer to be able to set the location through the Health app (static one) or have the watch to use its own GPS / Galileo positioning feature to sync. I also find this easy to be addressed.
Watch faces: There are only a few available through the app and you can only install custom ones through a workaround (which looks like a pain in the ass). Due to the limited storage of the Watch GT you can only install 2-3 custom watch faces. You cannot delete the pre-installed ones, some of which are pretty awful and out of context (e.g. showing VO2 Max that the Watch GT doesn’t support!) or are aimed at the Chinese market.
Button: You cannot set the lower button to perform specific tasks, so it has only limited functionality (taking you to the Workout options). A firmware upgrade could definitely fix that.
Notifications: The notifications received on the watch are limited in terms of functionality. I would love to be able to delete some of them and even respond with a simple Yes/No/Will get back to you soon. Not a major issue for me though.
Strap: During the first days, the strap caused irritation to my wrist, despite the fact that I kept it clean by wiping sweat and dirt frequently. At first I started taking it off when I didn’t need any measurements and later I just switched it to my right hand when sleeping. It may be normal to see irritation if you wear a silicon strap all the time I guess.
Conclusions
When I went for the Watch GT, I knew what to expect (at least more or less): A decent fitness tracker with nice looks. If I wanted to have the option to respond to calls, listening to music etc., I would have shelled out about €100 more to get the Watch GT2.
However, I personally would never pay more than €100 for a smartwatch. If I wanted to have the option of a full Android experience on my smartwatch (i.e. Wear OS) I would have spent even more – but I didn’t want either.
After using the Watch GT for more than 5 months now, I am really pleased with my selection. However, I still feel that the current firmware and options (not the OS itself) do not do justice to the watch. With some minor revisions / additions it could have been much more useful and functional. I would personally love to see the following revisions in a future firmware upgrade:
1. Removal of all pre-installed watch faces (except for 1-2 ones), to free up space for more custom ones and extended weather data.
2. Extended weather forecast, so that I can quickly check the weather for the next 2-3 days without using my smartphone, and fixing the annoying way that the app uses GPS for defining the location.
I still miss the NFC functionality, which would allow me to make contactless payments with my watch. I think that this wouldn’t be expensive to implement in the specific watch, despite its low price. It is the only feature that I miss (and even the GT2 lacks this simple functionality outside China).
In any case, at its current sub-€100 price tag, the Huawei Watch GT is a very decent option and I would definitely go for the same watch again in the future, based on the current status of competition.
Yes, my Lenovo Watch 9 become almost useless after upgrading its firmware to the official v0.4.0. What happened was that everyone with this firmware version received a “Low Battery” message on their new smartwatches, so Bluetooth could not be enabled and thus connection with the smartphone could not be established – so the smartwatch turned into a traditional wristwatch.
The strange thing is that I tested the watch’s battery and it was full. No matter how many times I reset the damn watch (by removing its back panel and pressing the tiny reset button), it would still show the “Low Battery” message. There was also no way of reverting back to a functioning firmware (i.e. downgrading).
I was disappointed by the total lack of support by Lenovo: Several users reported the issue on the official Lenovo Community Forums but there was no response. The same went for efforts contacting Lenovo support through Twitter and Facebook. Total lack of support.
The solution was tricky but it worked for me: There was a Lenovo Forum member who had seen a post on a Russian forum about a customized version of the Lenovo Watch app. This version would trick the Watch 9 into “upgrading” to firmware v.0.2.0 (in fact downgrading). I only had to do the following:
remove the latest version of the Lenovo Watch app from my Android smartphone,
install the modified version of the Lenovo Watch app from the Russian forum
change the battery of my Watch 9 with a fresh one so that it Bluetooth will be functional again
connect the Watch 9 with the app via Bluetooth
Install firmware version v.0.2.0 as prompted by the app (make sure your phone has internet access)
Remove the modified app version and install the latest one from Google Play
For the last couple of weeks the Watch 9 worked like almost flawlessly after this process, almost three months after being crippled by the latest firmware version. I’ve only witnessed a couple of accidental stops of the watch (mostly when it vibrates, e.g. when reaching the target number of steps or when turning on and off the Bluetooth). This requires when another reset (when I notice it) and leads to loss of the data so far (e.g. the number of steps for the day). It sucks.
Another issue I faced was that the latest version of the app prompted my to upgrade the watch to firmware version 0.4.0 (the bad one!). The workaround I found myself was to pair the Watch with the app only with WiFi turned off. Then, after data syncing is complete, I disconnect the Watch and turn WiFi back on.
In fact, the only issue I faced was that the latest version of the app prompted my to upgrade the watch to firmware version 0.4.0 (the bad one!). The workaround I found myself was to pair the Watch with the app only with WiFi turned off. Then, after data syncing is complete, I disconnect the Watch and turn WiFi back on.
In fact, the only issue I faced was that the latest version of the app prompted my to upgrade the watch to firmware version 0.4.0 (the bad one!). The workaround I found myself was to pair the Watch with the app only with WiFi turned off. Then, after data syncing is complete, I disconnect the Watch and turn WiFi back on.
Video on how to access the back pane’s reset button; a knife will also work
It was that simple but still the solution was not provided by the official Lenovo support but from some experienced users. I was informed that the Watches are not manufactured by Lenovo but by another supplier and then are branded as Lenovo. I could not care less about that; a Lenovo-branded product should have a Lenovo-quality support.
On top of that, another forum member stated that the Watch 9 may be targeted to Chinese market only, and this is why e.g. instructions are only available in English, ads in app are in Chinese, the watch is not available through Lenovo sites other than the Chinese one etc. Even if this is the case, what about the Chinese owners of Lenovo’s Watch 9 with firmware 0.4.0? Don’t they have the same issue as we do? Don’t they expect a solution to this issue?
A nice review of the Watch 9
In any case, Lenovo or their partner put the Lenovo Watch 9 users into trouble, almost crippling their smartwatches. Lenovo did not take ownership of the issue and have not provided any help after many months; they should at least push their vendor to fix the issue.
As a result, my trust in Lenovo as a customer has been disrupted and given the hard competition, it will be hard to restore. Would I upgrade to the more fancy Lenovo Watch X or even X Plus, shelling out even more money for another unsupported device by Lenovo? No way!
I was never especially attracted to fitness trackers; after all, I was not into fitness. But I am into collecting data related to my activities. And I recently started going to the gym.
I found the Lenovo Watch 9 on a sale for something about 20 euros (after applying a discount coupon), including shipping from China, and it was a deal I could not resist: A nice looking traditional watch with smart features.
When I first got it in my hands, I admit I got a bit disappointed…the app, without which the watch is not smart at all, looked crippled and incomplete. Lousy translations from Chinese, mixed bag of data etc. On top of that, coming from a Timex chronograph, which was my daily companion for the last years, the Lenovo watch looked pretty small, with a really hard to read scale and a lousy manual that left a lot to be imagined.
Since then, I have been using it daily and I admit I tend to like it more and more every day.
What I like
The unique combination of a traditional watch with several smart capabilities – at this price level.
It is pretty discreet: Its all-black color, with the brushed black body looks serious and I like the contrast with the white hands and bars.
It is light and feels comfortable even when wearing it all day – a significant difference compared to my larger Timex Expedition Chronograph.
It actually has a lot of features: I mostly use its pedometer and I realized that I can have an indication of the step count by pressing the crown button once (so without connecting to the app). In addition, when I reach my daily goal, the phone starts vibrating! It supports reminders, alarms, remote shutter (but all through the app)
I started using it for monitoring my sleep (and it does a surprisingly good work with that!), I play around with the heart rate functionality of the app (which I find rather inaccurate) and I have set a couple of reminders which make my watch vibrate.
The hands are (supposed to be) illuminous so they look rather bright at night.
I would like it to be a bit larger. It’s not a deal breaker, but I am used to larger wrist watches.
The pretty thin strap; I believe it could be a bit wider, to look more masculine.
The lack of light, so to be able to check the time in the dark; the Indiglo feature of my Timex is a really handy feature and a simple led would do the work anyway..
The lack of date indicator; I tend to look at my watch for keeping up with the current date. It is a feature I look for in all my watches and I miss this one.
I cannot share my progress through social media, as I do with the similar Samsung Health app.
The app is lousy, with bad translations from Chinese to English and weird organization of options. On top of that, the weather forecast never worked for me in Greece. I admit that a received a couple of updates over the past few days, which slightly improved various aspects of the app.
There is no Windows app, which could aggregate data from the watch, allow export in a standard file format and provide various visualization options.
Data about sleep monitoring seem to take ages to sync;
There is no clear info on how long / how much data can the watch hold before it syncs with the app.
The battery is not rechargeable; while it lasts longer (about 1 year, based on some reviews), it would be nice to have the option to recharge it via USB.
From one hand, it is a nice hybrid watch bout on the other hand, it is hard for anyone to imagine how a high-tech and acknowledged company like Lenovo produced something so incomplete (see the app and the Chinese-only manual).
In this context, while I was attracted to Lenovo’s Watch X and Watch X Plus (especially the latter, I am reluctant to pay for something that looks buggy and under development while on the market. I plan to keep the Watch 9 for as long as it lasts and then I will look around for alternatives, even at higher prices.
For the time being, I am happy with my selection and strongly believe that the Watch 9 is a great value for money – as long as one is happy with what it offers.
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