Available in two distinctive flavours, the C-Bridge design earbuds comes in either an Iridescent Purple or minimalist-chic Black hue. The HUAWEI Freeclip earbuds form part of the brand’s latest Fashion Forward direction, embodying a combination of style and comfort for the style conscious and trendy users. Complex engineering has also been employed, with optimal design balancing size, weight and quality.

Global data from over 10,000 human ears helped in creating the C-Bridge design, ultimately ensuring a comfortable and secure fit regardless of the user’s ear size and shape. The design makes use of high-performance nickel-titanium (Ni-Ti) shape memory alloy which the comfort for different ear sizes and shapes. All day use is made possible thanks to the earbuds weighing just 5.6 grams.

The typical discomfort often caused by clip-on devices has been combatted thanks to the more effective distribution of pressure across the ear. This is a result of the ergonomic convex-concave structures of the Acoustic Ball and Comfort Bean working together.

The C-Bridge design of the HUAWEI Freeclip earbuds is said to ensure a high-quality audio experience thanks to optimising the distance and the angle between the Comfort Bean and Acoustic Ball. These are tilted at an angle of 11.4 degrees to fit snugly long the curvature of the ear. The Acoustic Ball aligns with the ear canal and comfortably covers the helix crus and antitragus without blocking the canal.

The audio quality of the HUWAEI Freeclip earbuds has also been bolstered further with two features, namely: the dual-magnetic high-sensitivity driver unit and Reverse Sound Waves System. The former increases the magnetic induction intensity, allowing for a better sound clarity and resonance, whereas the latter reduces sound leakage, making audio more immersive and private.

Despite using an open-ear design, the HUAWEI Freeclip earbuds feature triple call noise reduction to ensure crystal clear calls in loud environments. An AI-powered DNN algorithm matched with a sound compression duct built into the Acoustic Ball allow for effectively cancelling ambient noises and wind interference for the best distraction-free communication.

The C-Bridge design allows for touch gestures on its surface to control the audio playback with simple taps. Customers will be pleased to learn that 36 hours of battery life are on offer with the charging case, with each earbud lasting up to 8 hours of continuous use.

The HUAWEI Freeclip earbuds are available at the HUAWEI Online Store for R3,999 or alternatively, from Vodacom for R189 a month for 24 months, or R129 a month for 36 months.

Design and Build

The Huawei Watch GT exudes a classic and timeless aesthetic. Available in two sizes: the Huawei Watch GT 4 46mm with an Octagonal design and the Huawei Watch GT 4 41mm with a sleek Pendant design, these watches feature round faces with minimal bezels and two multifunctional buttons on the right side for navigation and activity control. While the buttons lack a tactile feel, they get the job done. Both the 46mm and 41 mm are available in three vibrant colour options with customisable Huawei Easyfit Straps, and watch faces.

Both variants boast a bright and easily readable display, even in direct sunlight. Additionally, Huawei has integrated a speaker and microphone into the watch, enabling calls and voice assistant access. Both models are water-resistant up to 5ATM, adding durability to their sleek designs.

Battery Life and Health Tracking

One standout feature of the Huawei Watch GT is its exceptional battery life. The GT 4 41mm claims up to 7 days of battery life, while the GT 4 46mm extends that to an impressive 14 days. Enabling the always-on display does reduce battery life, but even then, it remains commendable at around four days on a single charge. The extended battery life proves essential for continuous health tracking.

Health tracking is where the Huawei Watch GT truly shines. Equipped with a variety of sensors, including heart rate and PulseOx, it provides comprehensive health data. The watch monitors sleep patterns, restlessness, stress levels, and “body battery,” offering valuable insights into overall well-being. Extended battery life ensures uninterrupted data collection, which is crucial for a holistic understanding of one’s health.

Software and Notifications

While the Huawei Watch GT may not match the complexity and app variety of some competitors, its software interface excels in simplicity and efficiency. Notifications are reliably delivered, ensuring you stay connected with your smartphone. However, the notifications themselves lack advanced features like quick replies regardless of application or email archiving, a drawback compared to the Apple Watch and Wear OS devices.

The watch’s software truly shines in the morning report feature, providing a quick summary of your sleep quality, daily schedule, and weather forecast upon waking up. The watch’s large and vibrant AMOLED screen enhances the visual appeal of this feature. Additionally, the smartphone app offers in-depth health reports, enabling users to analyze their health metrics over various timeframes.

Software Challenges

Despite its strengths, the Huawei Watch GT does face some software challenges. Customizing watch faces can be frustrating due to a lack of developer support and clunky interfaces. Huawei needs to improve its developer kit to enhance the user experience.

Another area needing attention is the process of purchasing watch faces. Developers often employ creative solutions, such as inputting codes or “unlock keys,” making it feel like the Wild West of smartwatch software development. Streamlining this process would improve the overall usability of the watch.

Seamless Pairing

Huawei excels in the seamless pairing of the watch with a smartphone. The process is straightforward, with the watch connecting to the app within seconds. This simplicity benefits users who frequently switch between phones and provides an excellent user experience.

Workout and Activity Tracking

Starting and tracking workouts on the Huawei Watch GT 4 is effortless. The watch offers various activity modes, and with a press of a button, you can start recording your exercise. While the watch attempts to automatically detect walking or running activities, this feature may be inconsistent. Manual initiation is a reliable alternative.

During workouts, the watch displays vital data such as duration, pace, and heart rate. Notably, the watch features a wheelchair mode, expanding its functionality to a broader range of users. After completing an activity, users can review detailed statistics, including a map of their route.

An essential feature for any smartwatch is nap detection. The Huawei Watch GT automatically detects naps, eliminating the need for manual input. This data contributes to overall health insights and influences the watch’s sleep coaching function.

Charging the Huawei Watch GT 4 is straightforward but relies on a proprietary cable. A wireless charging option would be a welcome addition. Additionally, the watch supports contactless payments through Huawei Pay, although the service is not available in South Africa yet.

The Huawei Watch GT impresses with its focus on health tracking, extended battery life, and user-friendly pairing. Its classic design and comfortable strap contribute to its appeal. While some software aspects require refinement, such as watch face customization and payment methods, the watch excels in delivering essential health data.

For those seeking a smartwatch that balances health tracking and longevity, the Huawei Watch GT 4 is a compelling choice. Its ability to last over a week on a single charge sets it apart, making it a formidable competitor in the smartwatch market. Whether you prioritize sleep monitoring or overall wellness, this watch can help you achieve your health goals. Priced at R6999.99, it offers a competitive alternative to iOS and Wear OS watches.

Given how Google Play Store, apps, and services have become part and parcel of the Android experience, some might find it strange that Honor is making a big fuss over its availability on the Honor 50. Those might not be familiar with the company’s history with Huawei, as there was a time when it was forced to offer that unusual, Google-less experience. Now that it has been sold off to a different owner, Honor is losing no time to advertise that it’s back in the game.

The Honor 50 isn’t your high-end premium smartphone, however, running on a Snapdragon 778G. That’s still good enough for most users’ needs, including 5G support and gaming. The 4,300 mAh battery and 66W SuperCharge technology support those use cases, minimizing downtime to 20 minutes for a 70% charge and about 38 minutes for 100%.

It brings a bit of the Huawei P50 design with two large circular camera islands on its back, housing a 108MP main camera, an 8MP wide-angle shooter, a 2MP macro camera, and a 2MP depth sensor. Honor, however, is marketing the Honor 50 as a vlogging device with its 32MP front camera with a 90-degree field of view. If you really want to throw a spanner in the works, have a look at the Huawei Nova 9.

The Honor 50 is going on sale in Mzansi from today for R13 999 with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage in either Frost Crystal and Midnight Black. Honor is also launching the Honor 50 Lite with even more meager specs and a matching R5499 price tag.

That’s more than impressive especially for the Y60. The Nova Y60 uses a Mediatek MT6765 chipset with an octa-core processor. All that power is able to bring things like Bluetooth 5.1 and 2.4GHz support, for maximum compatibility with carrier’s 4G networks.

While the Nova 8 won’t have 5G, you get features like quad rear cameras; 64 MP Main Camera (f/1.9 aperture), 8 MP Ultra-Wide Angle Camera (f/2.4 aperture), 2 MP Depth Camera (f/2.4 aperture) and 2 MP Macro Camera (f/2.4 aperture). There’s also a fancy 90Hz curved OLED screen technology, 66W super fast charging with a stylish design to match. It is powered by the Huawei Kirin 820E processor.

The aesthetics continue on the back. The Nova 8 has a shimmering colour scheme dubbed Blush Gold.

Both the Huawei Nova 8 and Y60 are available for pre-order and will start shipping from 30 August and 31st August respectively. The Huawei Nova 8 is priced at R10 999 while the Huawei Nova Y60 is set at R3099. Still, its worth mentioning that these devices do not come packed with Google Mobile Services.

Granted, the line that separates smartwatches from smart bands can be arbitrary, especially for brands that use their own custom OS and not something like Wear OS which is specifically for smartwatches only, at least for now. The Huawei Band 6 may not have access to the same apps as Huawei’s dedicated smartwatches but it does allow users to switch to different watch faces with different themes.

That ability comes in handy with the Huawei Band 6’s 1.47-inch AMOLED screen, which it claims to be 148% bigger than its previous fitness band. Unlike many fitness bands, it is also wider and its overall design gives off a stretched Apple Watch vibe. Those keeping tabs on the international wearable market, however, will most likely also see traces of the Honor Band 6’s DNA in its design.

Despite the smartwatch-like appearance, the Huawei Band 6 is a smart fitness tracker through and through. It has also the staples of such devices, from 24/7 heart rate monitoring to all-day SpO2 tracking. The larger size also has the benefit of fitting in a battery that, along with more restricted OS functions, promises to yield two weeks of uptime.

Coming in two colour options of Graphite Black, and Sakura Pink, the Huawei Band 6 will be launching for R1699 on the 18th of June. Pre orders open on Friday, 11 June 2021.

On their own, Huawei’s MateBook X seemed poised to take on the bigger players, particularly Apple’s MacBook line, with its mix of design, performance, and features that tie in with Huawei smartphones. Its 2021 iteration of the MateBook X may prove to be one of its best yet but might, unfortunately, be dead on arrival in markets where it will even be available.

The Huawei MateBook X 2021’s defining feature will probably be its 13.8-inch 3k touch screen which boasts of a 90% screen-to-body ratio, thanks to the removal of metal frames and some bezels. It is also no bigger than a piece of A4 paper and its sub 1kg weight and 13.6 mm thickness makes it one of the slimmest laptops in the market.

It’s no slouch in the performance department either, powered by a 11th-gen Intel Core i5 or i7 CPU with up to 16GB of RAM. The highlight in the specs department, however, is Wi-Fi 6. There’s a 56Wh battery that Huawei advertises should last 10 hours of video playback but that sounds like a very generous estimate.

This combination of power and beauty doesn’t come without its price though. For one, there is no room for anything else on that 3K screen, which means that the webcam has been relocated to one of those hidden popup keys in the keyboard, as with last year’s model. There are no other ports other than two USB-C ports and a headphone jack either and there are no fans to ensure the CPU doesn’t throttle from heat.

All of this will set you back R34 999 which includes Huawei’s legendary VIP Service offering, which includes 3 years of full warranty, 24/7 online technical support, a VIP Cleaning and Maintenance Service, and a Free home pick-up and delivery service.

The Mate 40 Pro is available in black and white locally, while other countries get an additional Mystic Silver finish that shimmers according to the angle of the light.

Design only takes you so far, of course, so the Mate 40 Series taps Huawei’s latest silicon inside. That’s the Kirin 9000 Series, a 5nm 5G SoC that the company says uses the most powerful GPU in any of its phones to-date. Alongside the CPU, which runs at up to 3.13 GHz, there’s a 24-core Mali-G78 GPU. A 3-core NPU – with two big cores and a more frugal tiny core – is also included.

Altogether they power the 6.76-inch display on the phone. Huawei isn’t using a 120Hz panel, topping out at 90Hz instead, though there’s a 240Hz touch sampling rate.

As for the cameras, that’s arguably the topic Huawei fans have been most excited about. There’s a whole host of sensors on the back, with the Mate 40 Pro having a 50-megapixel wide camera (f/1.9 with OIS), a 20-megapixel ultra-wide (f/2.4), an 8-megapixel 10x periscope lens (f/4.4 with OIS), a 12-megapixel 3x telephoto (f/2.4 with OIS), and a ToF camera for depth sensing. Altogether, Huawei says, you’ll get a maximum 17x optical zoom range.

For power, meanwhile, there’s the latest version of Huawei SuperCharge. That supports up to 66W of power, and can handle extreme low-temperatures too.

Cut out of the official Google Android apps – and the Play store – you’ll find that Huawei is still pushing its own EMUI platform. EMUI 11 delivers things like hand gestures – such as swiping up or down in front of the phone to scroll, left or right to flip through galleries, or pressing inward to answer calls or play/pause music – and split-screen views with floating windows for multitasking. There’s that 1080p MeeTime video calling app, its own Petal Search and Petal Maps app, and a virtual assistant called Celia that, according to Huawei’s Akhram Mohamed, is now supported in 15 countries.

The Mate 40 Pro will set you back R19 999 at launch which includes the Huawei Freebuds 4i and Huawei Wireless charger.

When thinking of value, we generally look at a high price tag or high end products and brands. Huawei has been defying that notion for quite a while now and its latest offering is a strong witness to the fact that value can come at a lower price.

The Huawei Y8p is such a pleasure, a true underdog that delivers on so many levels. As soon as we unpack it, we are welcomed by its smooth display and the phone itself is very light, weighing in at 163g with a well sized  6.3 inch OLED display and above grade 1080 x 2400 pixel resolution.

We have the crystal coloured version of the phone, which is a trippy crystal blue that has a slight reflection in the light. Although this has a glossy feel, it can come across quite cheap when compared to other phones in the market. This is something we can overlook considering the price range of this great performer.

Inserting the sim is quite simple and the Y8p has up to 4G capabilities, which isn’t a train smash given that 5G is progressively being rolled out in Mzansi and is not an urgent need. We also notice that the phone has a non-removable 4000 mAh lithium battery, which is a positive  feature from a durability and performance perspective. The Y8p also charges quite quickly, taking just over 50mins to fully charge, lasting us an impressive 28-32 hours of full usage on a single charge.

With a standard storage of 128g, there is a lot of room for all our apps, videos and images, which have superb clarity thanks to the 48MP back camera with  8000 x 6000 pixel autofocus optical image stabilization. The 16MP front camera also makes sure our selfies are as clear as day. It’s important to note that this (the 16MP) is a higher MP level than that of the iPhone 11 which comes in at 14MP.

The phone’s performance is higher than the standard for its price range and we can swiftly move through and within apps which is as a result of the Octa-core, Quad-core 2.2 GHz Cortex-A53 processor. Yes, we know that’s quite a mouthful, it just means that the phone really fast in geek-talk, and you don’t experience lag when taking videos, switching through apps or scrolling through your Instagram whilst speaking to your mate on a phone call.

There are a lot more impressive specs that we can share, but from a practical perspective, the phone feels great, has all the standard features that come with a high end smartphone and also performs great. It’s so light that it has a forget-me-risk (yes, we just made that up), it also fits snuggly in your pocket or handbag.

Summary:

The High-wei:

• Well priced at R4999;
• Lightweight – 163g;
• Great Camera –  48MP back camera and 16MP front camera;
• FM Radio

The Low-wei: 

• Limited colour options – only comes in black and crystal;
• No wireless charging;
• Plastic elements may make the phone age faster than higher value models.

It’s fair to say you’d be hard pressed to find a worthy contender for the Huawei Y8p from a price and performance perspective. A great buy for anyone really, the Y8p is a value champ!

But in South Africa, Huawei Pay is launching completely different. It won’t be working on its own standalone structure, instead it will integrate with the Zapper platform.

According to Huawei, with Huawei Pay, users add their bank cards to the app and then pay in stores simply by scanning the Zapper QR Payment Code on the bill when they check out. All local debit and credit cards from all local banks are supported.

When it comes to security, every transaction has to be authenticated by your passcode or fingerprint and Huawei Pay receives the same fraud protection as you get on your bank cards. In addition, Huawei Pay doesn’t use your bank card number to handle transactions, it isn’t stored on your device or on Huawei Pay servers, and is not shared with merchants. Your information is also kept private, as Huawei does not keep the transaction details.

To access Huawei Pay, users have to download the Huawei Wallet.

Huawei will probably find no shortage of users for these apps and services, at least in China where Google doesn’t have a foothold. Elsewhere, however, not only will these Huawei products pale in comparison, they won’t really address the root cause of its problems with the US government, the accusations of state-sponsored espionage which could be made even easier by using Huawei’s own Google and Microsoft alternatives.

The MateBook D has been leaked before and it is as everyone expected it to be. Both the 15-inch model as well as the smaller 14-inch are available in Mzansi. Unlike the previous generation, this year’s models swaps out the conventional Intel processor for an AMD Ryzen 5 3500U with a Radeon Vega 8 graphics. It also comes with a hybrid SSD+HDD configuration that Huawei says you can upgrade as needed.

This Windows laptop has a special feature, dubbed Huawei Share, that allows owners of Huawei phones to mirror their mobile device to the screen. And, yes, the MateBook D 15 and 14 do run Windows but there is also a Linux option for those that have no care for Microsoft’s OS. Good luck finding this version in SA, though.

The Huawei MateBook D has a price tag of R13 499, regardless of whether you go for the 14 or 15-inch variant, with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD.

Most of that has been due to the Huawei Watch GT’s battery life, a trait that the newly launched Huawei Watch GT 2e continues.

As the name might suggest, the Huawei Watch GT 2e is a rather small incremental update to the company’s Watch GT 2. The latter was launched in the second half of 2019 so there might not have been much time to make significant changes in time for the Huawei P40. Fortunately, it still has the same features that made the older smartwatch a hit.

Inside, the Watch GT 2e smartwatch is powered by Huawei’s first self-developed wearable chipset, the Kirin A1. The chip provides for low-power computing and long-lasting battery life for workout tracking, heart rate detection, sleep monitoring and other features.

Similar to its bigger sibling, the Watch GT 2e smartwatch supports smart tracking for more than 100 sports, including 15 professional sport modes, eight of which are outdoor sports (running, walking, climbing, hiking, cross-country running, cycling, open water swimming and triathlon), while the other seven are indoor sports (walking, running, cycling, swimming in a pool, free training, elliptical machine and rowing machine).

While the battery life is advertised to last for 14 days. That’s thanks to a combination of a large 455 mAh battery, an energy-saving HiSilicon Hi1132 chip, and Huawei’s custom smartwatch OS.

In terms of other specs, it still has a large 1.39-inch 454×454 screen in an equally large 46mm body. There’s 4 GB of storage inside for your songs which you can play on paired headsets via Bluetooth 5.1. It seems to have just the basics and a bit more when it comes to tracking, including GPS, step, sleep, heart rhythm and blood oxygen levels. The latter can help users improve their health by learning more about their SpO2 status.

The Huawei GT 2e will set you back R3 499.