The Huawei Watch 3 introduces Harmony OS, but are its new features enough?
The Huawei Watch 3 marks a break from the norm for Huawei, running neither Wear OS nor the company’s own Lite OS. The Huawei Watch and Huawei Watch 2 ran Android Wear, complete with the operating system’s typically terrible battery life, but it was switched out for Lite OS on the Watch GT and Watch GT 2 series. What made Lite OS different? It sacrificed smarts in favor of battery life. For its 2021 flagship wearable, Huawei is ditching both operating systems, as it introduces a solution that strives to deliver the best of both worlds: app support, as well as a battery saver option that helps the Watch 3 Pro last for up to 21 days. Meet HarmonyOS 2.0. The Huawei Watch 3’s price is yet to be confirmed. It is expected to launch in regions Huawei has traditionally launched its phones and wearables, including Asian markets, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand, and the UK. With no confirmation at the time of writing, check back for full pricing and availability. As with all Huawei products, no US availability is expected. Huawei’s gotten very good at making wearables that look like watches. Big, bold, round faces, modest bezels, and buttons on the right side. For the Huawei Watch 3, those buttons include a familiar rotating crown, giving you all the scroll-wheel familiarity of an Apple Watch, but none of the WatchOS rectangular vibes. The watch also ditches the rotating bezel of some of Samsung’s smartwatches for an amalgam experience that works well. Available in a range of flavors, the Watch 3 can be picked up with a silver or black body, and an active, soft-touch strap, a leather strap, or, if you pick up the Pro, a titanium body and a metal link strap.
