March 1, 2015 5:43 AM PST
Huawei on Sunday announced a new premium Android Wear watch at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The Huawei Watch is the first Android Wear watch that features a scratch-proof sapphire crystal display. The company's first smartwatch is one of the best looking we have seen, with its stainless steel body and mesh (or leather) strap. The watch has a 1.4-inch circular display with a 400x400-pixel resolution, which measures to around 286 pixels per inch, and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. Underneath there is a heart-rate sensor that appears to be continuous for all-day tracking.
As is the case with other Android Wear watches, the Huawei Watch can display personalized Google Now cards and notifications such as text messages, emails and calls from your smartphone right on your wrist. Huawei has include over 40 customizable watch faces, including a dial that shows lunar phases, the weather and notifications in a traditional watch design.
Along with the heart-rate monitor, the watch uses a 6-axis motion sensor and barometer to track your steps, distance and calories burned. It can also automatically detect and track when a user is walking, running, biking, hiking or sleeping. Huawei has partnered with Jawbone to let users sync their data with the company's Up health app. This is in addition to being able to sync with the Google Fit app.
We didn't hear anything about battery life, although the company noted that the watch will use a "magnetic charging station" for convenient charging. Huawei has made a great feeling watch, and a new level of premium Android Wear watch. But we're judging on style, not function.
Questions remain, however. Who knows how much this will cost, and that could factor into our opinion. Also, since Android Wear has hit a wall on new hardware features being allowed, this doesn't do anything different than other Wear watches. But the 40 customizable watch faces, which look beautiful in the mockups Huawei showed, could be a difference maker. For now, this might be king of the hill. It feels like a Moto 360 meets LG Watch Urbane, but maybe even better.
The Huawei Watch will be available in more than 20 countries including the US, UK and Australia. Pricing and release information wasn't announced, although we expect a high price tag to match the premium features and design.
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