Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro review: Apple's final boss?

With the Watch Fit 5 Pro, Huawei has built a seriously impressive all-round package of smartwatch, sports watch and health companion. It comes with sapphire glass, a titanium bezel, ECG and a 25-hour GPS battery. The only thing that annoys me is that it looks like an Apple Watch Ultra. Huawei can design such great devices and sells itself short with an Apple clone.

What is better than on the Watch Fit 4 Pro?

• Larger and brighter display: from 1.82 to 1.92 inches, with symmetrical bezels
• 18% more battery with high-silicon technology
• New sports features: mini workouts, virtual power measurement, Running Power and fall detection
• 17,000 instead of 15,000 courses for golf
• NFC payments via Curve Pay, now actually usable. On the Fit 4 Pro, this never worked in Germany.

Sapphire glass, the titanium bezel, free diving down to 40 m and compatibility with iOS and Android stay the same. The Fit 4 Pro had a €279 recommended retail price (RRP), and the Fit 5 Pro has a €299 RRP. For the much better overall package, I think the extra €20 is justified.

Design

The Pro comes in white, black and orange. My favorite this year is the white version. It has a micro-arc oxidation coating, basically a ceramic coating on the metal. It feels surprisingly soft, almost velvety, and is extremely scratch-resistant. Huawei speaks of 130% more surface hardness, a first in a smartwatch. That gives the watch a nice premium look.

The watch weighs only 30.4 g and is 9.5 mm thin. It is very comfortable to wear, even at night. The orange version comes with a new breathable, water-repellent and antibacterial fabric strap with a hook-and-loop fastener that looks like Apple’s Fabric Band. The white one has a soft plastic strap.

Display

The 1.92-inch AMOLED display with 60 Hz and 347 PPI is one of the highlights. It is the largest in the Fit series, and the bezels are only 1.8 mm thin. In always-on mode, the refresh rate is turned way down, which saves battery. Peak brightness is 3,000 nits. Even in blazing midday sun, you don’t have to shade the display with your hand, which is a big advantage when jogging or cycling. It responds quickly to touch, with no lag.

Sports features

• Mini workouts: Huawei’s first on-wrist workout feature, with 30 guided exercises for ten areas of the body, such as face, neck, shoulders, arms, stomach and legs. An animated panda coaches you. Instead of just “get moving,” you get small exercises of about 30 seconds. It helps me break out of my desk rigidity.
• Running: Pro features from the GT series and the Runner 2 are carried over, such as Running Power in watts and the balance between the left and right leg. On the wrist, it is not as precise as a sensor on the foot, but for comparing your form over weeks, it is unique in this price class.
• Intelligent training plan: For 3 km, 5 km or a marathon. You enter your data and your goal, and the plan includes runs and strength training. That is basically a free coach on your wrist.
• Trail running: Route guidance with checkpoints, an off-course warning and an elevation profile.
• Cycling: Real-time gradient, virtual power measurement and cadence without an external sensor. The smartphone becomes a bike computer with maps and navigation.
• Also: Golf mode, free diving down to 40 m and, new in the Fit series, fall detection with an automatic SOS emergency call. For everyone who spends a lot of time outdoors on their own, I find this very useful.

Health

Huawei calls the whole thing the True Sense System:

• ECG on the wrist: put your finger on the sensor for 30 seconds, then you get a report with indications of sinus rhythm, atrial fibrillation or ventricular premature beats.
• Pulse wave analysis, CE-certified in Europe, which can also detect atrial fibrillation.
• For the first time in the Fit series, an arterial stiffness measurement as a screening for hardening of the arteries.
• Blood oxygen, stress level and HRV.
• Improved sleep tracking with a new scoring model for deep, light and REM sleep, a Nap Recap for power naps and a sleep apnea screening.
• Women’s health: the skin temperature sensor tracks body temperature and provides predictions for your period, ovulation and fertile days. The data can be synced with Clue, a leading cycle app in Europe. That matters to me because the cycle has a big influence on how we feel, and I often missed this in earlier videos.
• Emotional well-being: the watch recognizes twelve emotional states. If your stress level rises, it suggests a breathing exercise, guided by a panda animation. That sounds corny, but it helps.

ECG, pulse wave analysis and stiffness measurement were previously only available in the Watch GT series or from the competition for significantly more money. Here they are in a watch for just under €300.

Battery

The battery lasts seven days and manages up to 25 hours of continuous GPS tracking in trail running. With the always-on display enabled, it is still around four days. For comparison: an Apple Watch Series 11 lasts just 18 hours, and that is with a lot of luck.

What is missing: the Play Store

There is no Play Store for Huawei smartwatches. So no Google Maps, no Spotify and nothing else you might need on your wrist. I don’t need that. For me, it is enough to read and answer WhatsApp messages and take voice calls on the watch. For athletes, it matters that sports apps like Komoot are available.

Verdict

At a €299 RRP, the Watch Fit 5 Pro plays in a price league of its own: sapphire glass, titanium, 3,000 nits, ECG, stiffness measurement, 25 hours of GPS, free diving down to 40 m, fall detection, mini workouts and a new focus on women’s health. That is a serious sports, outdoor, everyday and health watch. If the Apple look and the lack of app variety don’t bother you, you shouldn’t think about it much longer.