[ UPDATE 6/10/2020 11:53 ] Pricing and availability for Malaysia have been revealed. Full details here.
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The Honor Watch GS Pro should be launched in Malaysia any day now, and we got a chance to have a quick hands-on with the company’s latest wearable. Building upon the success of the Honor Magic Watch 2, the Honor Watch GS Pro improves upon the 14-day battery life of its predecessor, while sporting some other significant upgrades, too.
Honor says that this is a smartwatch that’s designed for “urban adventurers” who enjoy outdoor activities, which is why the Watch GS Pro uses a rugged-looking design, along with a stainless steel bezel ring and dial. At 45.5g (without the strap), the watch is pretty hefty, and it’s worth noting that its body is significantly thicker than the Magic Watch 3.
Perhaps this increase in size is a worthwhile trade-off for some pretty impressive battery life figures. Honor promises up to 25 days of battery life on a single charge, while you should get up to 48 hours of battery life with GPS enabled. With outdoor workout mode enabled, this goes up to 100 hours on a single charge. This is a marked improvement over the Magic Watch 2’s already-impressive 14-day battery life, and is a major, major plus in my book.
There’s also a new skiing mode that covers skiing (of course), snowboarding, and cross-country skiing, and an altitude barometer that should come in handy for users who enjoy hiking, or even mountaineering. There’s support for over 100 workout modes—-including triathlons—so you should be covered for most activities.
Swim tracking is also supported, with the Honor Watch GS Pro coming with 5ATM water resistance. This means that the wearable should be able to withstand submersion in water for up to 50m, although you should note that water damage is something that isn’t covered by most international warranties.
Like most of Honor’s other smartwatches, this appears to be designed to be a standalone companion for your adventures. This means that you have GPS and GLONASS functionality, along with a new “Route Back” function. The latter is basically a breadcrumb navigation feature, which will lead you back on the same path that got you there.
You also get onboard storage for songs, with Honor promising up to 500 tracks worth of capacity. Do note that you’ll need to somehow find MP3s to load into the watch, as streaming services such as Spotify are not supported on Honor/Huawei’s LiteOS operating system. If you do have an MP3 collection, you’ll be able to connect a pair of Bluetooth headphones to the Watch GS Pro, and essentially leave your phone at home during workouts.
The ruggedness promised by Honor extends beyond its design, too. With 14 categories of MIL-STD-810G U.S. military-grade certification, the Watch GS Pro has been tested in conditions such a high altitude, fluid contamination, shock, different temperatures, humidity, and more. Meanwhile, the reinforced polycarbonate body feels, from first impressions, well-built, and it should be solid enough to take a bump or two.
The rest of the specs are pretty similar to the Magic Watch 2. You’re getting a Kirin A1 chip under the hood, along with a 1.39″ AMOLED display that pushes a resolution of 454×454 pixels. Additionally, an SpO2 monitor will help keep track of your blood oxygen levels throughout a day, and Huawei TruSleep 2.0 will also monitor your sleep quality.
From first impressions, the Honor Watch GS Pro is certainly one to consider. Instead of radically changing the way they’ve done things, Honor has built upon the strengths of the Magic Watch 2, improved the battery life to a crazy 25 days, and added some ruggedness and durability to the Watch GS Pro.
It does come at a cost, however. The size of the watch is probably a little too big for certain users, and there isn’t a smaller version available—unlike the Magic Watch 2. Even if it fits on your wrist, I personally know a lot of people who would find the chunkiness of the Watch GS Pro to be a little too much. In fact, I’d say that the size and heft of the smartwatch feels a lot like Casio’s G-Shock models, so perhaps that should give you an idea.
What do you think? Do you like what Honor has done with their latest smartwatch? Let us know in the comment section below. Unfortunately, Honor has not revealed pricing details or a launch date just yet, although you can be sure that SoyaCincau.com will have the full coverage on updates when they happen.
