HONOR MagicWatch 2 Review – A Step Away From Being Great

So, as you've probably realized from the curt sentence at the beginning, this watch is extremely like to the Huawei Watch GT ii. I reviewed the Huawei Lookout man GT 2 back in December, and used it for a bit later on the review. Therefore, I do accept a really good point of comparing between the two.

When I say "extremely similar", I mean "almost identical". That does non become simply for its hardware, just software also. Not just do these two watches share excellent hardware, amazing bombardment life, and os on… just they also share the same software-related issues. Don't get me wrong, the software is pretty proficient, but in that location are some annoyances. That'south what we're here to talk nigh, of course. And so, if you're interested in the device, read on.

The HONOR MagicWatch 2 is sturdy, smashing-looking, and perfect in terms of size

The HONOR MagicWatch 2 is made out of stainless steel, only similar its sibling. It comes with two physical buttons (which are bully, by the way, very clicky) on the correct side, and it's not too heavy, simply it does have a flake of heft in it. That's a good affair, for me personally, as I similar the middle footing when it comes to watches. Do note that I've reviewed the 46mm variant of the sentry, while in that location is a 42mm variant as well. The 42mm model is more than suitable for women due to its size, simply it's meant to be worn by everyone. If you prefer smaller watches, the 42mm variant is a adept call.

The 46mm variant of this lookout man is not too large, at all, at least for me. My wrists are average in size, and this watch fits perfectly. It comes in two variants, a silver-colored model comes with a brown leather band. The blackness variant, which I reviewed, includes a black silicone band. This watch tin can be worn in both sporty, and not so sporty occasions. It really is a great blend in terms of its design. For sporty folk, though, that silicone band would exist a far ameliorate choice than the leather 1.

Speaking of which, information technology's a 22mm band, and it comes with a quick-release machinery. You can swap it for whatever 22mm watch band, basically, without a problem. The design of the connection points is perfect for pretty much whatsoever watch strap, as it's far enough from the chief portion of the sentinel body. I did slap a leather band on this watch for the part of my review, and enjoyed using it with both silicone and leather bands. The watch feels really sturdy, and I'm really glad HONOR opted for 316L stainless steel here, instead of aluminum.

It's near identical to the Huawei Lookout GT ii

Now, if you lot put the Award MagicWatch ii side-by-side with the Huawei Watch GT two, you'll notice a ton of similarities. In fact, information technology'southward easier to observe things that are not the aforementioned, as there are only a couple of them. The top button does come with a carved in circumvolve, which is ruby-red-colored, on the HONOR MagicWatch ii. That is not the example on the Huawei Scout GT 2. The glass on top of the display is besides less curved on HONOR's smartwatch. Those are basically all the differences here, other than that, they look the aforementioned. You tin can check them out side-by-side in the gallery below

The display is bright, vivid, and has adept viewing angles

The HONOR MagicWatch two has the exact aforementioned display equally its Huawei sibling. We're looking at a 1.39-inch 454 10 454 AMOLED display with 326 PPI. This is one of the best displays on a smartwatch that I've seen. It'south quite vibrant, the resolution is more than plenty for its size, and it's quite visible outdoors. I literally practice non have a single complaint when it comes to the image output on this display.

Even the digitizer is tuned a scrap differently on this watch. It seems like it's a petty bit more than responsive to the affect than the Huawei Lookout GT 2 was when I used it. It tracks my finger a bit better, but I still don't similar information technology all that much. When scrolling through notifications, information technology tends to scroll mode too far, and I sometimes accidentally tap on a notification. It needs further tweaking. The slopes on the edges of this display are a bit less pronounced than on the Huawei Sentinel GT 2, and that's a good thing. Rolling your finger over those edges and interact with the display feels not bad… it'southward a really smooth transition.

The display is circular, obviously, and that is my preference when information technology comes to watches… though it may non be yours. All in all, the brandish on the Award MagicWatch 2 is great in terms of colors, sharpness, and effulgence. The interaction with information technology could be better, but that'southward something that tin hands exist stock-still with an update.

The performance is non an issue thanks to the Kirin A1

The performance on the HONOR MagicWatch 2 is pretty much the same as on its sibling. That's not a bad thing at all. The spotter handled every interaction without a problem, it remained fast throughout the whole usage span for me. The watch did skip a frame hither and at that place, but that'southward not something that will upset anyone, basically. It did not lag or anything of the sort, and that's cheers to the Kirin A1 that is included on the inside.

That chip is neat for wearables. It not just offers great performance, merely it's also very power efficient, which is something we'll talk about soon. I didn't really go a game installed on this sentinel to exist quite honest, I don't even think information technology'due south possible right out of the box, just for everyone you'd usually exercise on a smartwatch, the operation is spot on. Software is a scrap of a different story, though, and that's something we'll talk nigh next.

Software is its sore indicate, and yet a couple of updates could drastically improve things

Let's start with the bad, shall we. Software is kind of a sore indicate on the Honor MagicWatch ii, though not all of it. Hear me out, though, it's not equally bleak as information technology sounds. Practise not expect an app store from which you can download apps, or anything of the sort. What y'all run across is what you get here. That would exist perfectly fine for the vast majority of users, if non for bugs, and lack of functionality in some parts of the HONOR MagicWatch two's software. Well, to be quite honest, it'south the notifications role of the software, the rest of it is pretty good.

Let me give you lot a couple of examples. When I flip the switch, and activate a podcasting app, the beginning two notifications on the sentinel are of that podcast app. Information technology'due south probably considering it'southward playing in the background, and there is an active notification in the notification shade. Still, that should not exist the example, especially not a double notification. If I receive a bulletin while I'1000 listening to a podcast and walking, raising my wrist won't bear witness me that message, but the podcast notification in the form of a notification. At that bespeak, I accept to hit the dwelling house key, and swipe up twice to encounter the newest notification. That is just non something that should be happening, at all.

You cannot use this watch to respond to notifications, in any style

Besides, there's no way to reply to a notification. If yous receive any sort of message, from anyone, you won't exist able to respond to it. This software does non support that just notwithstanding. Notification icons for some apps are miss-represented. For example, if you receive a bulletin from Viber, a Viber icon will not appear on the watch, simply a default message icon. That happened for several apps, actually.

You lot cannot swipe away a notification before you tap on information technology. And so if you enter a list of your notification past swiping upwardly, you won't exist able to swipe away a message before you directly tap on it. Likewise, information technology would exist nice to see those bulletin cards to be separated, this mode they just blend in with the background. That'due south not a direct issue, though, just a preference on my role. Another annoyance when it comes to notifications is the fact that you need to curlicue all the fashion to the down of the list to dismiss them all. Granted, that is the way WearOS works as well, but it shouldn't.

If y'all dismiss a notification on your phone it won't disappear on your watch & vice versa

The last notification-related badgerer that I've experienced has to do with syncing. If you dismiss a notification from your watch, it will non exist dismissed from your telephone, and the other way around. That is not platonic, at all. I would really adopt for that to be possible, or at to the lowest degree for Huawei / Accolade to give u.s. an selection in the settings. On top of everything, you have to make certain the Huawei Wellness app is not bogged down by your phone, otherwise your watch won't recognize if you're playing music on your phone. That way, you won't be able to control your music via the watch. Make sure that your phone is not optimizing (battery) the Huawei Wellness app in any way.

At present, I've talked about the bad parts quite a flake, but there's a lot of expert things here equally well. The raise your wrist characteristic is tweaked perfectly on the spotter. It works in an instant. Yes, it will activate when you don't want information technology to from time to fourth dimension, just that's the case on every watch. It is extremely reliable, though, and it will power on the brandish every time yous want it to.

Notifications arrive immediately to your watch, no issues with Bluetooth

Notifications are delivered in an orderly fashion. You will not have any issues in that regard, everything will get in to your scout equally information technology does to your phone. In that location are also some really nice watchfaces included on the picket, and you do have an pick to customize one of the telephone's concrete buttons. The menus on the lookout man are too well thought-out. Unfortunately, yous do non have a lot of options when it comes to customization. Yous cannot tweak the UI that much, and that's a shame.

All in all, the software is kind of a mixed handbag on the Laurels MagicWatch ii. If merely some of those bugs got squashed, and Huawei / HONOR got some more functionality into the affair, it would be great. Honestly, I tin can see this software become truly great with merely a couple of corrections for the things mentioned on this list. I do promise such fixes / features will come in future updates.

2-week bombardment life is possible with the HONOR MagicWatch 2

Battery life is the high point of the Award MagicWatch 2, as information technology was for the Huawei Watch GT 2. The company claims this watch can offer you 2-week battery life, and that is most definitely doable. If you don't employ the heart rate sensor at all times, and sleep tracking, you can go two weeks out of this watch, for sure. Using those two features all the fourth dimension will shorten that a bit, just the battery life is great no matter what way y'all spin things.

WearOS watches tin provide you 1-2 days of battery life, maximum. The vast majority of them are good for a solar day, or a solar day and a one-half, so if you lot're annoyed by that, the HONOR MagicWatch 2 volition surprise y'all. I'm actually so spoiled by this bombardment life, that I have a difficult time switching to other smartwatches.

The watch comes with the same charging dock the Huawei Sentry GT ii does. In fact, it even has the Huawei logo on it. That dock will magnetize with your lookout man when it'due south shut, and information technology will recharge information technology via the included pogo pins. The watch will non take long to recharge at all, though that's not exactly an issue considering you'll have to accuse information technology every ten-fourteen days.

Fettle, sensors, speaker, microphone & more than

The HONOR MagicWatch 2 comes with fifteen goal-based fitness modes. Those modes include various things, from indoor and outdoor cycling, to indoor and outdoor swimming. At that place's plenty to cull from. I only got a chance to effort a couple of them, but the outdoor cycling and running work really well. The interface is nice besides, and the spotter volition allow you know of your progress from time to time (it has an included speaker).

When it comes to step tracking, information technology seems like it needs further tweaking. The sensor seems to be a bit too sensitive when it comes to this attribute. It tracked a bit more steps than it was supposed to, as it registered regular hand movements every bit steps sometimes. This is not perfect on whatever regular smartwatch, though, and then… I didn't expect miracles here. For casual step tracking, though, information technology's more than than adequate.

The SpO2 monitor is also included, by the way. It measures oxygen saturation levels in the bloodstream, if that is something you need. The Dual Satellite Positioning Systems are too included in the package, as is a heart-rate sensor. The heart charge per unit sensor works actually well, by the fashion. And yes, yous tin take this watch pond, as it has a 5ATM water resistance rating. The female bike tracker is also included, which is substantially a period-tracking agenda.

You lot can even play music directly from the watch. It comes with 4GB of included storage, and you can connect your wireless headphones directly to it. This may be a neat solution if you're working out without your telephone. A microphone comes built into the lookout man every bit well, and the speaker is a chip tiny, but plenty loud. Nosotros don't think you'll have issues with it at all, just proceed in heed it'due south a smartwatch speaker.

Information technology is a great spotter, with an adequate toll tag

So, is the HONOR MagicWatch 2 worth the asking price? Well, yes, in my personal opinion. This smartwatch has been priced at €159 at the time of writing this review, and it offers a lot for the asking cost. If only HONOR would fix some of the software-related annoyances, the scout would have been fifty-fifty more compelling. We practise hope that volition happen in the near future. Some watches toll nearly twice this much, and are no ameliorate than the Honour MagicWatch 2. All in all, the Award MagicWatch ii is a actually compelling lookout, and considering its similarity to the Huawei Sentry GT 2, it's an fifty-fifty improve choice than Huawei'south pick.