Huawei product fireworks: new smartwatch, headphones, tablets and monitors

All of the accessory products presented can of course be used not only with Huawei smartphones, but also with cell phones from other manufacturers. As usual with Huawei, there are also various goodies for the first orderers of the new products in the Huawei store. The manufacturer also reveals more details about HarmonyOS, its own operating system with which it wants to compete with Android and Google.

HUAWEI WATCH 3 AND WATCH 3 PRO PRESENTED

After a break of several years, Huawei is presenting a “real” smartwatch for the first time with the Watch 3 (Pro). For the first time, the operating system is not based on Android Wear, but on your own HarmonyOS . The Huawei AppGallery is also on board. The hardware of the watch makes a high-quality impression: 1.43 inch OLED screen with 1000 nits of brightness, waterproof stainless steel case and a back made of ceramic. There is also a 4G connection via eSIM on board. When operating it, you squinted a little in the direction of the Apple Watch and equipped the watch with a rotating crown on the side. The battery life in full operation should last 3 days. An excellent value for a smartwatch. In battery saving mode, 14 days are available.

On the software side, 17 professional workout modes can be tracked. There are also 85 other sports available. Health monitoring is also not neglected with the Huawei Watch 3. The smartwatch monitors your heart health, the SpO2 value and offers fall detection with an emergency call function. You can also track your sleep and stress level and do breathing exercises.

Hardware top – software flop?

The “app problem” of the Huawei smartphones is unfortunately also evident on the Huawei Watch 3. Only the Huawei AppGallery is available. In other words, you won’t find any popular apps like Telegram, Spotify or YouTube Music here. To enjoy music without a smartphone, you have to use Huawei Music. The Google Assistant is also not available. Huawei would like to equip the watch with its own voice assistant. Calling the software a flop in advance would not be fair, however. Especially if you already use a lot of Huawei services, these restrictions should be of little consequence. Our test has to show how the first product with HarmonyOS performs in everyday life.

The Huawei Watch 3 can be paired with smartphones with HarmonyOS, Android 6 and higher and iOS 9 and higher. Prices differ depending on the bracelet supplied and start at 369 euros. The Pro version starts at 499 euros and offers a titanium case instead of stainless steel. It is also equipped with sapphire crystal. In addition, the battery life is around a third better.

The Huawei Watch 3 will be available from June 18. All pre-orders between June 2nd and June 11th will receive the FreeBuds Pro for free. There is also a deposit bonus of 50 euros.

Also interesting: Huawei Mate 40 Pro – Top Smartphone that will have a Hard Time

FREEBUDS 4: OPEN-FIT HEADPHONES WITH ANC

With the FreeBuds 4, Huawei introduces the direct successor to the FreeBuds 3 from two years ago. The case has shrunk by 6 percent and is also 20 percent lighter. The ear studs themselves now only weigh 4.1 grams. In addition, they want to improve the fit for a better hold in the ear without silicone tips.

There are also plans to improve the sound quality. Huawei promises deeper and more powerful bass and improved active noise suppression. In addition, wind noise should be better filtered out when making calls with the help of a second microphone.

In addition to the usual control by typing, the FreeBuds 4 also support swiping to adjust the volume. The battery life should be 4 hours. Together with the case, there are up to 22 hours in it before the headphones have to be plugged in again.

The best open-fit headphones on the market?

It’s nice to see that Huawei is one of the few manufacturers on the market that still offers premium headphones without silicone tips. If you’re lucky enough to fit these types of headphones, they sit much more comfortably than in-ear solutions and almost make you forget the headphones in your ear.

On the other hand, you shouldn’t expect too much from the noise suppression. Huawei itself specifies a noise reduction of 25 decibels. This is great for an open design, but cannot be compared with the ANC from In-Ears.

Our test has to show how the headphones perform in everyday life. It remains to be hoped that Huawei will not artificially limit some functions to Huawei smartphones. For example, “pausing when removing” the FreeBuds 3 only works in conjunction with a Huawei cell phone.

The FreeBuds 4 will be available from July 6th for 149 euros. With a wireless charging case, the headphones cost 169 euros. For all pre-orders from June 2nd to July 5th there is the Huawei Band 6 and 6 months of Huawei Music free of charge. There is also a deposit bonus of 20 euros.

TWO NEW TABLETS FROM HUAWEI

The MatePad 11 comes with a 10.95 inch LCD screen with 2.5K resolution and 120 Hertz refresh rate. The housing is made of aluminum. The processor is the Snapdragon 865 from Qualcomm with 6 gigabytes of RAM. The larger MatePad 12.6 Pro offers a 12.6-inch OLED screen with the same resolution. This model uses Huawei’s own Kirin 9000E processor with 8 gigabytes of RAM. Both tablets use a top processor from the previous year and should therefore deliver a good performance.

The small model has 4 stereo speakers. The larger version offers 8 loudspeakers. The front camera is housed in the side edge of both models. It is in the right position for video conferencing in horizontal mode. Huawei states that the battery life is up to 12 hours for the small model and up to 14 hours for the large model.

Huawei’s HarmonyOS is used on both tablets. The home screen has been significantly revised and shows the most important apps in a kind of taskbar. Obviously, Apple’s iPadOS was the inspiration here. Practical functions such as “Sidecar” have also been adopted. So you can use the Huawei tablets as an external monitor for a notebook. The manufacturer does not reveal whether this only works with Huawei notebooks or with all Windows computers.

As with smartphones, Huawei tablets do not have any Google services or a Play Store. Apps have to be obtained from Huawei’s AppGallery or from other sources on the Internet. Google apps such as Youtube or Maps are not available. The availability of many other apps is also limited or not available.

Availability & prices

The MatePad 11 will be available from July 13th for 399 euros with 64 gigabytes of storage. The surcharge on the 128 gigabyte model costs a whopping 100 euros. Alternatively, you can also expand the memory using a microSD card. The MatePad Pro starts on the same day for a price of 799 euros with 256 gigabytes of storage space. For all buyers and pre-orders from June 14th to August 17th there is also the Huawei Magnetic Keyboard and the Huawei M-Pencil free of charge. Pre-orderers of the MatePad Pro 12.6 can also look forward to a 50 euro withdrawal bonus.

TWO NEW PREMIUM MONITORS FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES

A few months ago, Huawei entered the display business with a simple 24-inch computer monitor . Now there are two much better equipped models for different purposes.

MateView GT: gaming monitor with soundbar

The Huawei MateView GT is a 34-inch curved monitor with a wide 21: 9 aspect ratio. With a high resolution of 3440 x 1440 pixels (2K) and a fast refresh rate of 165 Hertz, the aim is to appeal to gamers in particular. In addition, a soundbar with two 5 watt speakers, microphones and LED lighting is integrated into the base.

Availability & prices

The MatePad 11 will be available from July 13th for 399 euros with 64 gigabytes of storage. The surcharge on the 128 gigabyte model costs a whopping 100 euros. Alternatively, you can also expand the memory using a microSD card. The MatePad Pro starts on the same day for a price of 799 euros with 256 gigabytes of storage space. For all buyers and pre-orders from June 14th to August 17th there is also the Huawei Magnetic Keyboard and the Huawei M-Pencil free of charge. Pre-orderers of the MatePad Pro 12.6 can also look forward to a 50 euro withdrawal bonus.

TWO NEW PREMIUM MONITORS FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES

A few months ago, Huawei entered the display business with a simple 24-inch computer monitor . Now there are two much better equipped models for different purposes.

MateView GT: gaming monitor with soundbar

The Huawei MateView GT is a 34-inch curved monitor with a wide 21: 9 aspect ratio. With a high resolution of 3440 x 1440 pixels (2K) and a fast refresh rate of 165 Hertz, the aim is to appeal to gamers in particular. In addition, a soundbar with two 5 watt speakers, microphones and LED lighting is integrated into the base.

The monitor is controlled by a small joystick. Special modes for gamers such as crosshairs or improved visibility of darker areas are also available in the interface. In addition to a jack plug and two HDMI ports, notebooks can also be connected via USB- C and supplied with power from the monitor.

Huawei MateView: For high demands

Huawei has a completely different target group in mind with the MateView. The high-quality looking monitor is equipped with a 28 inch panel with 4K resolution and offers very thin display bezels. Like many new Huawei notebooks or the Surface Studio, the MateView monitor comes with a 3: 2 aspect ratio. The IPS panel should cover the entire sRGB spectrum and 98 percent of the DCI-P3 color space. In addition, HDR400 and a 10-bit color depth are supported.

Loudspeakers and various connections are built into the aluminum stand. These include a USB-C port for connecting to a notebook, a mini display port, a headphone jack and two full USB 3 ports. A USB-C connector is also used for power supply.

Prices & availabilities

The Huawei MateView will be available from August 4th at a price of 699 euros. The MateView GT costs 549 euros and will be available from July 23rd. Anyone who purchases one of the two monitors by August 21st will receive Huawei’s FreeBuds Studio over-ear headphones free of charge. For pre-orderers, there is also a deposit bonus of 50 euros and one year of Office 356 free of charge.