Huawei’s Watch GT Cyber isn’t new as such – the smartwatch was launched in China a couple of months ago – but Mobile World Congress is the first time the device has been seen outside of China.
The Huawei Watch GT Cyber isn’t your average smartwatch though. This clever device gives you the option of plenty of different looks, and we aren’t just talking about straps. We got our hands on it during MWC 2023, here’s what we thought.
Interchangeable design
- 47.4mm×44.4mm×10.2mm
- Urban Edition: 78g
- Sport Edition: 58g
The Huawei Watch GT Cyber does something a little bit different. Most smartwatches offer the ability to change the straps for a different look, but Huawei has taken this one step further, allowing you to change the entire casing of the device.
The smartwatch element is round and there’s a single crown button on the right edge – which can also be changed if you want to, while a heart rate monitor is on the underside of the casing.
There are two options – Urban Edition (pictured) and Sport Edition. The Urban model is slightly heavier than the Sport Edition as it has a stainless steel casing, while the Sport Edition is fibre-reinforced composite. Both are comfortable to wear though, despite their size, which is on the larger side.
The Urban Edition is the slightly more premium offering, but both pop in and out of the various casing options available and they are both interchangeable with the various casing and strap options.
The casing and strap options are molded together, so you can’t change the straps on the casing for example. Instead, you change the entire casing, and the watch face will change accordingly depending on which casing you’ve opted for.
We saw both the Sport Edition and the Urban Edition during Mobile World Congress, but the Urban Edition is definitely the most striking with its black and gold color combo. The casing design that comes with it as standard very much resembles a G-Shock, with a tough and rugged build. It’s chunky too – which we love.
If you want to change up the casing and strap, the smartwatch element of the Watch GT Cyber simply snaps out with a push down of the thumb and snaps back into place in a similar fashion, with a ring around the screen turning blue when it’s correctly in place. It’s a reassuring snap both in and out and it feels secure and like any other smartwatch once it’s in.
Both the Urban Edition and the Sport Edition models are 5ATM waterproof and they have both been through 16 durability tests. They are also designed to work in environments between -20C and 45C.
Lovely display
- 1.3-inch AMOLED
- 466 x 466 pixels
- 352ppi
On top of the stainless steel or composite casings of the Watch GT Cyber is a 1.3-inch AMOLED color touchscreen and it’s an impressive display based on our experience so far.
Colors are vibrant and punchy, with plenty of pop and detail. Resolution sits at 466 x 466 pixels, which delivers a pixel density of 352ppi and all icons and text is crisp and sharp.
The display is responsive too with easy access to settings, apps and notifications. Pressing the crown gets you to the gallery of apps, and it supports long press and short press functionality. A swipe down from the top of the display takes you to settings, while a swipe up will show you notifications.
Meanwhile, swiping right to left will take you to heart rate tracking screen and you can of course swipe through the various screens on the display to take you through the different features offered. There was no lag when you swiped between the screens either with everything very quick and responsive.
hardware and features
- HR monitoring
- SpO2 monitoring
- 100+ workouts
When it comes to features, there are plenty on board the Watch GT Cyber. Both models run on HarmonyOS and they both have an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, optical heart rate sensor and barometer on board.
They also both have wireless charging on board, with a promise of up to seven days battery, and they offer Bluetooth calling and built-in GPS.
They also both have Huawei’s suite of health and fitness features, including the company’s TruSeen 5.0 tech that is designed to enhance the accuracy of heart rate readings during high intensity workouts, as well as measure metrics like SpO2.
The Watch GT Cyber will automatically provide a 24-hour SpO2 level detection and it has TruRelax technology for enabling breathing exercises to help you relax. There’s TruSleep on board too, which uses physiological indicators like movement, heart rate, and HRV, to detect your sleep status more accurately.
When it comes to workouts, the Watch GT Cyber has over 100 on board, which include running, cycling, swimming, hiking, trail running, rowing and even workouts like street dance, Frisbee, skateboarding, and Parkour so there’s plenty on offer.
We couldn’t test the performance of the Watch GT Cyber during our time with it but we were told it was similar to the Watch 3 GT in terms of specifications and features so we’d expect a similar performance and we loved the Watch 3 GT .
First impressions
The Huawei Watch GT Cyber is different. Rather than opting for the standard of switching out straps for a different look, Huawei takes it one step further and we love that about it.
It delivers a lovely premium build quality, both in terms of the smartwatch element itself, but also the casing and strap options to it and the rugged, chunky look is great.
There’s one big problem though…it’s not going to be available in Europe or North America for now. The Huawei Watch GT Cyber is currently only available in China and South East Asia, which is a real shame for us as we like this one.