Honor continues to be willing to be one of the best technology manufacturers in Spain, and for this they are not only betting heavily on smartphones, but also on computers and wearables. In its catalog of smart watches, the Honor Watch GS Pro is the most extreme and advanced, and after spending several weeks testing it we bring you our impressions, with its strengths, weaknesses and for whom it is recommended.
Honor Watch GS Pro: Technical characteristics
- Screen:
- Diagonal: 1.39 inches.
- Form factor: Circular.
- Technology: AMOLED.
- Resolution: 454 x454 pixels.
- Specific spheres for exteriors.
- Health monitoring:
- Heart monitoring all day.
- VO2 Max estimate.
- Sleep tracking.
- Stress estimation.
- More than 100 training modes.
- Smart features:
- Remote trigger for the camera.
- Music playback with storage for up to 500 songs.
- Bluetooth call control.
- Weather warnings on the watch.
- Battery:
- Up to 25 days on a full charge.
- 48 hours with GPS activated.
- 100 hours in outdoor training mode.
- Charging time: 2 hours.
- Resistance:
- Rugged design.
- Stainless steel bezel.
- Water resistance up to 5 atmospheres.
- Weight:45 grams.
“Extreme” is the best way to define the Honor Watch GS Pro
In the market for smart watches there are devices for all tastes. There are round, square, rectangular, more focused on achieving an elegant or sporty-looking design. The Honor Watch GS 2 would enter this last strip, fitting perfectly with both a casual and sporty look, but clashing a bit with more formal clothes.
Without being a gigantic watch, it is a large device and not suitable for small wrists. Its 45 grams, although considerable, are lighter than the Galaxy Watch 3 and are a similar weight to the Ticwatch Pro 3.
Among the large watches it is comfortable to wear on a daily basis, especially if you choose to choose straps. On a personal level, the rubber strap that Honor includes is not very comfortable, but since it is compatible with standard 22-millimeter straps, you have a gigantic catalog both in watch stores, Amazon or even Aliexpress. My recommended option is always the Nylon strap that imitates the Sport Loop of the Apple Watch, with a perfect fit and with a lot of breathability, the same one that I use on my Galaxy Watch and that I have been able to put on this watch without problems.
The quality of the materials conveys a feeling of robustness, and the only element that feels fragile is the display glass, which unless it hits the peak of a rock seems highly unlikely that you will end up breaking it.
The charging base is signed by Huawei, and it connects through a USB C port.
Not only is the appearance extreme, but the battery is too. Honor promises up to 25 days of autonomy in mixed use, and in our day to day with sporadic sports practices and continuous health monitoring we have ended up spending it in 20 days. Not bad at all, considering the amount of health parameters it can record.
The battery is capable of lasting 48 hours of continuous GPS mode, without the need to carry your mobile, so it is a watch that you can take on the road for the weekend with the confidence that even with geolocation it activates most of the time, you’re coming home with a load. In our experience, a one-hour training session with GPS active has drained about 3% battery life.
Smart features and apps
The Honor Watch GS is a smartwatch with Huawei’s Kirin A1 processor and the same operating system that we have seen in the Honor Magic Watch, Huawei Watch GT and on a smaller scale in the Huawei Watch Fit and Honor Watch ES. The system itselfis limited in functionsto which Huawei and Honor decide for each model, and this means that each model has its own applications.
One of the less frequent added values is that this model has the possibility of storing local music from your own mobile, being able to carry up to 2 GB of music with you. The transfer is done pro bluetooth and is slow, taking around a minute for each track sent, so transferring a list of 60 songs can take an hour. As the watch includes a speaker, you can play the music on the watch itself with its speaker, with a quality that is not too good, but acceptable considering that it is a watch. It is recommended that you connect your Bluetooth headphones to the watch.
In addition to this, we have home screens to directly check the heart rate, stress, control music or have weather information. And a wide variety of spheres that are managed in Huawei’s own Health application, an essential application to be able to link and configure your watch.
Regarding the applications installed on the watch, this is the complete list that you will have from the factory and almost in their life cycle, since there is no application store:
- Exercise.
- Exercise record.
- State of exercise.
- Heart rate
- Oxygen in blood.
- Activity logs.
- Dream.
- Stress.
- Breathing exercises.
- Call log.
- Contacts
- Music.
- Barometer.
- Compass
- Notifications.
- Time.
- Chronometer.
- Timer
- Alarm.
- Lantern.
- Find my phone.
An interesting aspect that we find in the settings is the possibility of customizing the lower button of the clock to be able to immediately open the function that we want.
Sports and health monitoring, its great strength
The great strength of the Honor Watch GS is the ability to measure our physical activity and health. Thanks to its gigantic battery we can have a heart rate control, stress levels throughout the day and blood oxygen measurement, in addition to having a very precise sleep monitoring, which offers not only figures, but data of interest on each one of the sleep parameters it records.
Within the workouts, these will measure our heart rate and distance traveled, in addition to including voice guides in workouts such as skiing. The GPS measurement will not only record the route, but it also allows us the option of tracking the way back on the watch itself, without having to carry the mobile with you.
Among the training functions, we have a virtual coach for races, which includes 13 race routines distributed in four levels. The most basic includes the basic routines for someone who has never run before, and then we have basic, intermediate and advanced levels.
- Basic levels:
- Walking and running, basic.
- Walk and run, advanced.
- Soft level
- Smooth running.
- Running to burn fat, basic.
- MAF180, basic.
- Aerobic endurance race.
- Sport level:
- Running to burn fat, advanced.
- Running to burn fat, MIIT.
- MAF180, advanced.
- Long distance slow running.
- Running at intervals of speed.
- Advanced:
- Continuous run.
- HIIT race.
A watch defined for sport, adventure and health
When we tested the more affordable Huawei and Honor wristbands, we defined them as exceptional health products, and while this watch is much more advanced than these, in the end by the system itself the software experience is exactly the same, with improvements such as storage local music and a more advanced GPS system, but without the guided visual training and the same limitations in notifications or extra applications.
Watches like the Galaxy Watch Active or Ticwatch Pro 3 are optionsmuch more complete as smart watches by including voice assistants, mobile payments or the possibility of downloading new applications, but being much more complex systems have a much more limited battery. It is not that Honor and Huawei have done magic in this regard, having such a limited system is what allows autonomy to be so good.
In the end it is positive, because you have the option to choose if you want a super sophisticated watch or your only interest is in sports and health monitoring and what you value the most is a good battery. If this is your case, the Honor Watch GS Pro is an extremely recommended option.
Honor Watch GS Pro in the Official Honor Store.
The Honor Watch GS Pro entry, analysis: Honor’s most extreme watch appears first in The Free Android.
