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Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro review: A stylish Apple Watch alternative for Android users

Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro review: A stylish Apple Watch alternative for Android users

Irish Examiner26-06-2025
The recently launched Watch Fit 4 Pro is the first Huawei device I've reviewed in several years. While the Chinese company remains on the US sanctions list and doesn't support Google or its services, its wearables continue to impress with stunning features and sleek design.
The Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro combines flagship smartwatch features with a slimmer, lighter design, making it perfect for all-day wear, including sleep tracking.
Design and build
The Watch Fit 4 Pro feels great on the wrist, thanks to its premium materials, slim profile, and lightweight design. Picture: Noel Campion.
The Watch Fit 4 Pro weighs only 30.4 grams (without the strap) and is just 9.3mm thick; it's even slimmer than the standard Fit 4 model. At a glance, you'd be forgiven for thinking this is an Apple Watch Ultra. However, when placed side by side, the differences become much more noticeable.
For someone like me, who has mostly worn the Apple Watch Ultra 2 for the past year, the Fit 4 Pro feels slimmer and lighter, especially at night. In everyday use, I hardly notice it on my wrist.
The rotating crown matches the band colour perfectly, a clever design detail. Picture: Noel Campion
Huawei offers the Pro model in black, blue, and green. I tested the green version with nylon strap, which not only stays secure during activities but also impressively resists sweat and moisture. This is a beautiful watch that both looks and feels premium. It's the small details that make a difference, like the matching green accent on the rotating crown, the lightweight metal body, and the sapphire glass screen, which I found to be impressively resistant to scratches.
Display
The 1.82-inch AMOLED display features a peak brightness of 3,000 nits, is protected by sapphire glass, and a titanium alloy bezel. Picture: Huawei.
The Watch Fit 4 Pro boasts a 1.82-inch AMOLED display with a peak brightness of 3,000 nits, which is 50% brighter than the non-Pro version. Visibility is flawless outdoors, even in direct sunlight. In the recent sunny weather, I keep brightness maxed out and always-on display enabled, and it still holds up well on battery.
The screen is sharp and vivid, and interacting with it feels smooth. Navigation is aided by a responsive rotating crown that lets you scroll without needing to swipe on the screen. The lower side button acts as a quick shortcut to apps like activities, and is customisable.
Features and battery life
Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro. Picture: Noel Campion.
Huawei's HarmonyOS 5.1 powers the watch and will feel familiar to anyone who's used a recent Huawei wearable. You can swipe to access widgets, scroll through apps in either list or grid view, and choose from hundreds of watch faces, including animated or custom photo options. Battery life is solid. Huawei claims up to 10 days of battery life with light use, and I've averaged 4–5 days with the always-on display and maximum brightness, plus around 30 minutes of daily activity. The 400mAh battery takes about 60 minutes to fully charge. The new magnetic dock is a significant improvement over the old pogo-pin system, offering greater security and user-friendliness. The wireless charging is Qi-compatible, although I found it a bit tricky to locate the sweet spot on a standard wireless charging pad.
Activity and smart features
The Watch Fit 4 Pro is EN 13319 certified, with 40-metre dive-grade water resistance and an IP6X dustproof rating. Picture: Noel Campion.
The watch offers a comprehensive suite of health and fitness tracking. It includes Huawei's new TruSeen 5.5+ system for heart rate and SpO2 monitoring, with added support for ECG and Heart Rate Variability (HRV). The latter offers insights into stress and cardiovascular health.
The Fit 4 Pro provided me with a detailed breakdown of light, deep, and REM sleep, along with practical recommendations for improving my sleep quality. Thanks to its lightweight design, I've worn it nightly without issue. Compared to the Apple Watch Ultra 2, Huawei's sleep analysis tends to report higher amounts of deep sleep, although both devices generally agree on the total time spent asleep.
The Watch Fit 4 Pro features a five-system GNSS setup, providing enhanced positioning accuracy that Huawei claims is 30% better than the Fit 3. It supports trail running with offline contour maps, diving mode up to 50m (5 ATM), and even golf tracking, with support for over 15,000 courses globally. I used the watch to track my cycling trips, and while it accurately recorded the route, I noticed it also counted steps while I was cycling. On a 10km ride, it logged around 3,500 steps, which suggests the step tracking isn't fully optimised for cycling activity.
Water sports mode tracks speed, heart rate, and route, making it suitable for swimmers or kayakers. And for everyday users, there's support for over 100 workout types. The bottom button quickly launches workouts, or you can use voice control to start one using AI voice.
The Watch Fit 4 Pro is equipped with a range of sensors, including an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, optical heart rate sensor, barometer, temperature sensor, ECG sensor, and depth sensor. Picture: Noel Campion.
Unfortunately, although the watch features NFC, the Wallet app isn't available under the Devices tab in the Huawei Health app, and it doesn't appear to support contactless payments in this region. I'm a huge fan of using my watch for payments and love the convenience it offers, so the lack of support for contactless payments is a noticeable drawback. I suspect this missing feature could be a deal-breaker for some users.
When paired with an Android device, you also get access to a full keyboard for quick replies. However, voice dictation is only available if you're using a Huawei smartphone.
The Watch Fit 4 Pro works great with Android and iOS. I was able to switch between Android and iOS phones, and the Health app syncs everything, including sleep and activity data, across platforms. There are a few minor feature gaps on iPhone (e.g. no full keyboard or Petal Maps), but nothing deal-breaking.
Verdict
The Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro combines flagship health and fitness features with a sleek, comfortable design that feels more like a fitness band than a bulky smartwatch. It's the perfect hybrid for serious tracking and everyday comfort.
€249 Currys
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Barry O'Sullivan: ChatGPT is not your friend
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Barry O'Sullivan: ChatGPT is not your friend

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