HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro review: Titanium, ceramic, and compromises

The HUAWEI Watch GT 3 family now includes two new Pro models which bring extra features and even better build materials. There’s nothing too revolutionary but it’s easily one of the best smartwatches HUAWEI has released. Unfortunately, it comes with some asterisks. This is Android Authority’s HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro review.

What you need to know about the HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro

• HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro (46mm, titanium)
  • Black fluoroelastomer strap: €369 / £299
  • Gray leather strap: €369 / £299
  • Titanium bracelet: €499 / £429
• HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro (43mm, ceramic)
  • White leather strap: €499 / £429
  • White ceramic bracelet: €599 / £499

The HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro is a fairly basic smartwatch but a very good fitness tracker. It runs HUAWEI’s proprietary HarmonyOS. This means it doesn’t have the same expansive third-party app ecosystem of the best Wear OS watches. On the upside, the GT series is renowned for its up to two-week battery life.

HUAWEI watches work best when paired to a HUAWEI phone, but they also work with other Android phones and iPhones. Some settings can be controlled on-device, while others are handled via HUAWEI Health on the paired phone. Depending on your phone and where you live, you may lose access to some features — be sure to check the compatibility chart before you buy.

On any non-HUAWEI phones, you’ll have to be comfortable sideloading the HUAWEI App Gallery. This is essential to get the latest version of HUAWEI Health and HMS Core.

Fitness data is notoriously difficult to get off a HUAWEI wearable or sync with popular services like Strava (although it can be done). If you don’t plan to stay within the HUAWEI Health ecosystem, you’ll need a workaround. This can be done via an app like Health Sync or by creating a HUAWEI ID for a country with support for the feature you’re after. This is how native Strava support is possible, though it’s far from intuitive.

There are two versions of the HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro: a 46mm titanium model and a 43mm ceramic model. The titanium version has three strap options to choose from; the ceramic version, just two. You can pick up more from Huawei’s strap range or check out third-party offerings from Amazon. Both models use premium materials and cost significantly more than the similarly featured GT 3.

The internal components in each version are largely the same, barring display size and battery capacity. The HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro charges wirelessly with an included charger. While the GT 3 Pro includes an NFC chip, it may not work with contactless systems in your country. The headline new feature is ECG but it will not be available at launch, pending CE certification in select countries.

The HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro was announced on May 18, 2022. The titanium version was released in select European markets on May 30 via HUAWEI, Amazon, and major retailers including Currys. The ceramic version follows on June 8.

What’s good about the HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro?

The best parts of the Watch GT 3 Pro series are battery life, fitness tracking, and design. The first two have always been good on HUAWEI watches, but design is a new strong suit for the Chinese manufacturer’s wearables. Both GT 3 Pro models are strikingly unique.

The 46mm titanium version features bold angular lugs I really like. There’s a diamond-like chamfer along the edges to soften things a bit but the overall effect is still very bold and appealing. Paired with the titanium strap this is the perfect dress watch for me.

Related: The best smartwatches for women

The 43mm ceramic version takes a totally different approach. The entire watch is made of ceramic, including the audacious white bracelet. I love the gold accents on the (non-rotating) bezel, side button, rotating crown, and clasp. HUAWEI took a potentially risky punt with this design but I really think it works.

Regardless of which version you go for, the Watch GT 3 Pro looks and feels extremely premium. I’ve found some of HUAWEI’s previous watch designs to be quite forgettable. There’s no chance of that with the GT 3 Pro.

Battery life is, as always, fantastic on the HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro. HUAWEI claims 14 days on average use. I get around 10-11 days with the always-on display turned off but all other features enabled (SpO2, heart rate, sleep tracking, skin temperature, stress monitoring, etc). If you enable the always-on display, your battery life expectations will be roughly cut in half.

Battery life on the ceramic version is about half of what you can expect on the titanium model. The ceramic version has a smaller display and a smaller battery. HUAWEI rates it for seven days but in my experience five is more likely based on similar usage to the titanium model.

The Watch GT 3 Pro charges 30% faster than the GT 2 Pro, with the titanium version requiring less than an hour and a half for a full charge. This is right in line with the regular GT 3.

The HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro has dozens of activity tracking modes similar to those found on previous HUAWEI fitness trackers and watches. The two new activities for the GT 3 Pro models are golf (a Chinese market exclusive) and freediving (more on this in the What’s not so good section). There are plenty of other activities, both classic and novel, available on the GT 3 Pro including jump rope, skiing, triathlon, HIIT, and driving range.

GPS accuracy is comparable with the regular GT 3, that is, pretty good but not quite as good as an Apple Watch. Getting a GPS lock is thankfully much faster on the GT 3 series than it was on previous HUAWEI wearables. For a more in-depth analysis of GPS performance, you can read our full HUAWEI Watch GT 3 review (it has the same dual-band five-system GNSS as the GT 3 Pro).

Various running courses and training plans can help level up your fitness if you want a coach on your wrist. I like that you can set activity-specific goals and reminders. You can also customize the various screens displayed when tracking different activities. This lets you tailor your watch’s UI to your specific exercise preferences.

Also read: The best fitness apps

Huawei’s heart-rate tracking is great on the GT 3 series, producing figures very similar to the Polar H10 chest strap. The GT 3 Pro is a little less accurate, missing the extreme highs and lows the H10 records, but it’s pretty close. SpO2 monitoring is also good, closely matching the Apple Watch.

What’s not so good about the HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro?

The worst parts of the GT 3 Pro are missing or broken features, very limited app support, and a general lack of software polish. Several features included in HUAWEI’s advertising, like the ECG function, are not currently available. If that feature, in particular, was of interest to you, I’d advise holding off on buying a GT 3 Pro until you know if it will get certified in your country.

I encountered a bunch of software-related issues while setting up and using the Watch GT 3 Pro. I couldn’t initially enable Quick Replies in HUAWEI Health, nor could I access Wallet. Hand-washing alerts are still to be confirmed for the GT 3 Pro and arterial stiffness detection won’t be possible until after ECG certification.

Even simple things threw up bugs. While installing myTuner Radio via App Gallery the watch install kept freezing even though it appeared in my watch’s app list. When I then tried installing the full app on my paired phone via App Gallery, I kept getting error messages. While some of these issues can be troubleshot, they don’t make for a good first impression.

I also wish the company would improve its sleep-tracking analysis and add sleep cycle monitoring. You tend to see the same obvious recommendations all the time like “get more sleep” or “go to bed earlier.” Considering I wear a HUAWEI watch practically year-round I can’t say I’ve ever gotten much out of its sleep tracking beyond knowing how much sleep I got.

Only a handful of activities are auto-trackable: just walking, running, rowing, and elliptical. In my experience, HUAWEI’s auto-activity detection is unreliable and can safely stay turned off. As with previous HUAWEI watches, you’re far better off manually initiating activity tracking on the GT 3 Pro.

Related: The best sleep trackers you can buy

I also can’t say the addition of freediving makes much sense to me. For starters, it’s not an auto-trackable activity, which means you have to fiddle with your watch in the water to turn it on. The rotating crown makes navigating the list of activities possible but having water on the screen makes selecting anything a nightmare. This is especially difficult when you’re in open water and both hands are simultaneously occupied trying to activate a setting while keeping your head above water (I know because I tried).

My final gripe about the GT 3 Pro is a familiar one. HUAWEI’s App Gallery for phones has slowly expanded in recent years but it’s still woefully underpopulated for wearables. If you open the App Gallery for the GT 3 Pro via HUAWEI Health you’ll only see three dozen apps in total.

HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro specs

HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro review: The verdict

The HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro is a great smartwatch if you own a HUAWEI phone. But it’s only a decent watch if you own a different Android phone and barely worth paying attention to if you own an iPhone.

It’s really hard to objectively say if the GT 3 Pro is good or bad because so much depends on what phone you pair it to and where you live. If nothing else, I can confidently say the GT 3 Pro models are the best-looking HUAWEI watches I’ve seen.

At its core, the GT 3 Pro is just a premium version of the regular GT 3. HUAWEI has at least tried to differentiate the Pro model more this year with the addition of the ECG function in the base model Pro (there was a separate ECG version of the Watch GT 2 Pro last year). Unless you really want the ECG functionality — and are comfortable waiting for it to be approved in your country — the GT 3 is an easier recommendation.

It’s a shame that all buyers of the GT 3 Pro are paying for the ECG hardware despite only some countries getting access to it: according to HUAWEI’s documentation, it’s initially coming to China, Indonesia, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Salvador, Chile, Vietnam, Kuwait, Oman, Mauritius, and Qatar. Other unnamed markets are expected to follow.

If you own a non-HUAWEI Android phone, give the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic (€349) a look as a great all-rounder, or the Garmin Venu 2 (€399). And if you own an iPhone, just go for the Apple Watch Series 7 (€420).

Software is once again HUAWEI’s weakest link. Without an expansive list of supported apps and some problematic third-party integrations, the HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro feels a little isolated, like a jewel on a desert island. It’s an expensive, premium-looking smartwatch lacking premium software and support.

To be fair, HUAWEI typically updates its watches a lot after launch, patching bugs and rolling out additional features. As it stands right now though I’d suggest waiting a couple of months before buying a GT 3 Pro to see which features will come to your region and be supported on your phone.

Top HUAWEI Watch GT 3 Pro questions and answers