This watch looks a lot like most smartwatches released over the past several years, with a few watch faces built-in, a few sensors under its hood, and a decent display. But here’s the kicker: It’s got the battery life of your average tablet.

The Watch GT arrived in exciting premium packaging, and inside was a charger base, a USB charger cable, an instruction pamphlet and most importantly the watch! As we put the watch on, we notice that the battery is at 92%, let’s see how long that lasts.

Pairing the watch with an iPhone was seamless and took about 45 seconds to sync. Immediately, we noticed heart rate and steps on the face of the watch (in “clear” mode) this thing is gonna keep us in check, every time we look at the time we see our levels of productivity and “health”.

The watch comes with 14 watch face displays to suit your personality and activity. The “Clear” display mode shows all vital information, being: your heart rate, number of steps taken, calories burnt, the weather, stress levels, battery life as well as time and date. With our general preference being analogue watches over digital, we change the display to a “Classic”, which is a formal Rolex-like display – it looks elegant and still shows time date, steps, heart rate and weather. Through the Huawei Health app, you can unlock and download additional open source faces for your GT. Be warned, there are tons to choose from. 

You have a few options with the display settings for brightness and when the watch displays or goes dark, amongst others. 

Wearing and Activities

The watch strap is a durable rubber strap that is comfortable and soft against the skin. It’s also adjustable to the size of your wrist for the best fit. It feels light and is easy to get used to in no time. The straps are interchangeable, for instance, if Stainless Steel metal is your thing or you prefer genuine leather band strap you can flavour as you like. 

One of the best things about the watch is that it has multiple display options that fits the occasion you are dressed for, without compromising on the vital information that you seek from a fitness/personal assistant watch.

The GT2 is also waterproof so you can keep it on whilst you shower. The more functional use of the waterproof feature would definitely be to track your distance, speed and breathing while swimming.

With storage of up to 500 songs, you can connect your wireless earphones to the watch and listen to music without your phone. It’s suggested that there’s 4GB storage inside, but a quick check in the “Music” section of the Huawei Health app (for watch management on the phone), it’s shown that the watch has an available 2464MB (just over 2.4GB available).

You can also receive calls and texts through the watch, which notifies you when you have an incoming call.

Gym

Our favourite use of the watch is definitely in the gym. You have 16 exercise options to choose from so that you get the best and most accurate stats for your workout, from outdoor runs to the elliptical and rowing.

We tried the watch on the treadmill, it took less than 15 seconds to select the exercise and we’re off. When in exercise mode, the dial changes to an easy to view display showing your heart rate, calories burnt and distance clearly for you to see with a quick glance at the watch.

The watch gives voice notifications at specific milestone times, such as the one kilometre milestone and the 10 minute report, that lets you know that you’ve been exercising for 10 minutes. You don’t have to stop running to hear it as the watch vibrates so you can take a quick look and carry on on your run.

Our favourite part of the workout modes is the “workout records”, which stores each workout you’ve completed for your reference later. This is awesome because it effectively files all your workouts for you so you can track your fitness levels and progress whether you have a specific goal or not. The records include the duration of your workout, the calories burnt during the workout, distance, fastest pace, total steps, average stride and heart rate. There are multiple other features that can be explored depending on how deeply you’d like to analyse your records. 

Did we mention that the watch syncs to an app on your phone? Well, it syncs to the Huawei Health App which stores all the information on your watch for easier viewing and greater detail. 

Through the App you can sync your daily performance to other health Apps such as the Discovery Vitality App, allowing you to seamlessly gain Vitality points, amongst other things.

The GT 2 has all the same sensors as its predecessor PLUS a couple new sensors for good measure. There’s a new Geomagnetic sensor and a new Air pressure sensor. There’s an Air Pressure app built-in to the watch – so that’s pretty neat to have in play at a moment’s notice. There’s also a built-in compass app – both of these, and the rest, are available via a press on the upper button, while the bottom button allows you to “start a workout” that’ll be recorded in the Huawei Health app.

Sleeping

The app also gives a sleep quality report, which does require you to sleep with the watch on your wrist. We tried this, and upon waking up, we had access to the report on the app which showed the number of hours we had slept as well as the sleep quality shown as a total score out of 100.

There is further detail such as the amount of hours spent on “falling asleep”, “Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep”, “deep sleep” and “light sleep”. Don’t worry, these reports are explained in individual reports and recommended ranges for your sleep score. For example, deep sleep is the deepest sleep stage and the hardest to wake from, and is referenced between 20-60%. Deep sleep continuity statistics also assist in being aware of how well you sleep and what you may need to change to improve the quality of your sleep and inadvertently, the quality of your life and happiness.

Battery Life

In the two weeks we’ve had the watch, we’ve only had to charge it twice, with full use of all the functions. The GT2 takes about 45 minutes to fully charge and one charge lasts approximately 7-8 days, which is quite amazing.

Because the Huawei Watch GT 2 runs with Huawei’s own Kirin A1 processor, it doesn’t seem capable of drawing a particularly large amount of energy from the battery at any sort of speed. The processor is the same as Huawei uses in their earbuds (FreeBuds 3) – so it’s definitely not a powerhouse – and as such, does not require a whole lot of power.

The good and the bad:

Great Battery Life. Device Agnostic, it can pair to any smartphone make. It’s light and Comfortable. It has Multiple Display options. It has a Scratch resistant screen, allowing you to be fully engaged in any activity without worrying about damaging the watch. It has a “Find My Phone” feature which allows you to locate your cell phone when you’ve misplaced it.

Conclusion:

This awesome companion, medical and life assistant and personal trainer is sleek, light, informative and fashionable. There is little to fault on this device, I would buy one for everyone I know if I could. You should definitely experience it for yourself. You’ll find the 46mm Huawei Watch GT 2 available at several retailers for approximately R4999.

Words & Photography by Manqoba Khubeka

But since that still hasn’t come out, it’s basically a moot point. All of this is to say: There’s a wide-open market for fitness trackers that can also do the core job of smartwatches. Enter Garmin. The company just announced the availablitly of the R2849 Vivosmart band, a fitness tracker that shows texts, emails, calls, calendar appointments, game notifications and music playback controls. For the time being, at least, it might be the most versatile fitness device you’re going to find.

That about covers the intro. Now let’s get to the interesting stuff. For starters, the device is waterproof up to 50 meters — a nice bonus, considering other models (including the FuelBand) are merely water-resistant. Additionally, the Vivosmart carries over some of the features we liked best on Garmin’s other fitness trackers, including the flagship Vivofit and the Forerunner 15 running watch. First, there’s the “move bar,” a line that appears on the screen — and that you have to work off — whenever you’ve been inactive for an hour. It’s a clever feature if only because it’s less intrusive than a vibration or a beep. You can ignore either of those if you happen to be in a meeting, but the move bar — that won’t go away until you get up and walk. Like other Garmin devices, too, it’s compatible with heart rate monitors and bike speed sensors, though you’ll of course have to buy those separately.

The Vivosmart is available for from today. You’ll be able to find it at any other fitness and camping stores as well. There’s also a version that comes with a heart rate monitor. That costs R3349. Hopefully, we’ll get one in to review soon. Until there’s a device that can do everything a fitness tracker and smartwatch can, we’ll be curious to see if the Vivosmart does a better job as a smartwatch than smartwatches have as fitness trackers

The higher-end Cogito (Classic) which retails at a recommended R2499 differs from its counterpart (Pop) – at a lesser R1299 – by offering Caller ID and giving you the option to mute incoming calls, as well as the ability to tap the watch to light it up so you can see your alerts and a phone finder option. Gammatek’s presser boasted that both watches will easily last up to a year before you need to replace the battery, a remarkable length of time that’s likely the result of Bluetooth 4.0+LE support. The watches are compatible with iOS 7 and Android 4.3+, have camera and music controls and watch (pun not intended, but welcome) for both these wearables at Incredible Connection, Dion Wired, select Vodacom stores and your usual consumer electronic stores.

Can the Note 3, armed with its stylus and armoured with Samsung’s big bag of Android tricks fend off and conquer its fierce competitors? It’s time to find out.

It turns out the back of the Note 3 is still plastic, but it’s disguised to look like leather, complete with fake stitches.

Soft and rubbery to the touch, the new backside means we finally have a Galaxy device that doesn’t leap out of the hands like a greased up water wiggler. Given the Note 3’s large dimensions and our attempts at tricky one-handed use (more on which later), this extra grip is a godsend and should save many people from accidental gravity-influenced screen wipeouts.

The actual style of the Note 3’s new not-quite-leather wardrobe, as with any aesthetic debate, is subjective. Chomee’s (ANC) supporters will definitely gag at its skeuomorphism and label it tacky, but before close inspection it does look relatively classy.

Ergonomically, the Note 3 sits comfortably in the hands with well-balanced weight, but the usual phablet caveats apply – you’ll need to engage in some finger balancing acts to use it one-handed. While not on the same insane scale as the Xperia Z Ultra (which requires Hagrid-sized mits), the Note 3 is still a device you’ll be using with two hands most of the time.

A Note wouldn’t be a Note without an S Pen, and on the Note 3 it’s tucked in the familiar bottom-right corner of the device. We found it pretty tricky to remove from its slot, though, even after a whole two days of practice – that means it’s unlikely to drop out unaided, but does make quick note-taking a bit less, well, quick.

Your first glimpse of the Note 3’s charging port will fill you with dread, revealing what appears to be a proprietary connector. But fear not: what you’re actually looking at is a shiny new but soon-to-be-standard microUSB 3.0 port.The newer port also offers faster data rates for media transfer, but that won’t stop the Jony Ive brigade from shielding their eyes from the rather ugly connector while holding their minimalist Lightning cables close for comfort. Don’t set alight to your tangle of microUSB 2.0 cables just yet, though, because they can still plug into the right-hand section of the Note 3’s port. Backwards compatibility for the win.

Our eyes have no complaints whatsoever when staring at the Galaxy Note 3’s pixel-packed Full HD Super AMOLED Plus 5.7in screen. It’s crystal clear, bright, and serves up bold colours and crisp, easy-to-read text. In short, it’s everything you’d want to see from a flagship device.

Camera

The Note 3’s 13MP rear snapper is impressive, and it trades blow-for-blow with the LG G2’s superb 13MP camera – currently the benchmark for Android snappers.

In most regular shots in good light the Note 3 produces photos that are a little more saturated, but with slightly greater contrast. Some of the G2’s shots look pale by comparison, with a little less in the way of finer textures and details picked up.

The Note 3’s HDR mode is very good, with greater emphasis on detail thanks to the higher range of contrast. As with most HDR modes there’s a slight processing delay, and many serious snappers avoid their over-emphasising ways, but if you like your photos extra sharp there’s little to argue about here.

The Note 3’s S Pen stylus is one of the main things that separates it from the competition, but we approached it with a little trepidation as we’ve never found its ancestors very easy to use.

Once we eventually slid it out from deep within the Note 3’s innards (pro tip: nails are invaluable), we were pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to doodle and make notes on the Note’s generous screen. It’s a million miles away from the slippery, hard tip of the original Note’s stylus and offers even more grip than that found on the Note 2’s. And it also works with the capacitive back and menu buttons, a feature we’ve been crying out for since the very first Note.

Our usual video rundown test is processing as we speak and we’ll update the review with the results forthwith, but in everyday use the 3,200mAh battery does a fine job of powering the massive screen and mass of software extras for more than a day of moderate use. It’ll certainly outlast an iPhone 5, although won’t keep going for as long as the battery freak that is the G2.

In Conclusion

Put simply, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is the best phablet in the world right now. Its glorious 5.7-inch screen pumps out crisp detail and punchy colours while still remaining pretty portable, at least compared to the gargantuan 6.4-inch Sony Xperia Z Ultra.

It has a superb camera that more than holds its own against the LG G2 in all but dim conditions, and it eats Android, 3D games and multitasking for breakfast.

The S Pen is a doodler’s dream and feels far more natural than any other stylus we’ve used, and if you throw in the Samsung software extras that are useful to you, the Note 3 should be the number one choice if you’re keen to follow the phablet path.

Not everyone will be, and for those people there are more fantastic flagship phones available than ever before. But for those who want to replace the phone and tablet with one do-it-all device there is a new champion – the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Our 32GB review model Galaxy Note 3 Retails at R8 999.

Thankfully the Gear isn’t actually as big or chunky as the pictures suggest, and we’re pleased to report that its metal construction is solid. Only one button (for power) graces the clutter-free chassis, and we’re rather taken by the four corner screws that have been left visible.

Its 1.63in 320×320 Super AMOLED display won’t win any resolution contests with its 278ppi figure, but it’s more than sharp enough for a watch. You might notice that text and icons aren’t quite as sharp as you’re used to (especially if you’re lucky enough to have been spoiled by the multitude of superb 1080p smartphones now available), but given that the Gear is meant to act as a secondary screen, we don’t think that’s a problem.

The strap is rubber with a metal clasp, and it’s easily adjustable before clicking securely into place. It also houses the 1.9MP camera that’s present as a fairly inconspicuous bump on our review model, with the black circular lens blending in with the black strap.

After passing the build quality muster, we turn our attention to pairing the Gear with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

Before we carry on, there are two things you need to know. First off, as with most smartwatches, the Gear needs to be connected to a smartphone if you want it to be, well, smart.
Once you fire the Gear up for the first time you’re met with very basic on-screen instructions that tell you to encase it in a very unattractive, bulky plastic case that clips around the watch face.

The plastic case/cradle (or the Gear’s ugly sister, Big Bertha as we’ve taken to calling it) houses an NFC module, and is required if you want to automate the Bluetooth pairing of the Gear to your smartphone via NFC, making for a speedier first connection – at least in theory.

In reality, it’s a very clunky method, and doesn’t exactly form the first impression expected from a supposedly cutting edge piece of 2013 tech. By the time you clip the case on and faff around with the Gear’s strap to ensure a decent back-to-back connection with your smartphone, you’ll realise that it’s a lot easier just to pair up with Bluetooth devices the old fashioned way, with a quick passcode confirmation.

Once it’s connected your phone will automatically download and install the Gear app, which can be accessed at any time from the phone’s notification menu. The app let’s you easily manage your Gear by changing its theme, installing apps and managing notifications.

Once you’ve done all that then you can put Big Bertha to rest and never have to worry about seeing her ugly plastic mug again.

Oh wait, no you can’t.

If you’re assuming there’s a microUSB ingeniously hidden underneath a flap on the Gear’s body, you’re sadly mistaken. It turns out Big Bertha has a secondary function, and that is to clip onto the Gear and charge it via the metal charging pins. Without the ugly and fiddly plastic cradle, there is no power

So the Gear is charged and wrapped comfortably around your wrist. But what does it actually do?

Well for one thing, it tells the time, and there’s a good selection of pre-loaded clock faces ranging from simple black and white numbers with temperature and weather icons to an old fashioned roman numeral analogue watch. You can also download more designs from Samsung’s Gear section of the app store, but there’s not much of a selection available at the moment.

A flick of the wrist automatically turns the Gear’s screen on for a moment so you can glance at the time, but while the accelerometer does a decent job of turning the display on most of the time, it’s not perfect – a number of times we found ourselves shaking our wrists to awaken the Gear’s screen but achieving nothing more than looking as though we were swatting away hordes of invisible hornets.

You can read messages in their entirety and choose to open them up on your phone so that you can respond instantly, craft a reply via S Voice, or ignore them if they’re not important.

It’s not all perfect, though. On some occasions there are delays of up to 20 seconds between the Note 3 receiving a message and the Gear notification pushing through. We’d also like to have the option to delete messages directly from the Gear itself.

The Galaxy Gear is a well-made, comfortable smartwatch that offers decent (if not perfect) functionality as a secondary device to compliment the smartphone resting in your pocket. But it’s not without flaws.

Its limited compatibility to Samsung products, coupled with its usability niggles and ghost town of an app store makes it very hard to justify the massive R4599 price.

We’ll be the first in line to try out the Gear 2, assuming it’s more affordable, has an integrated charging port, more polished software and greater app support, but this first-generation smartwatch just isn’t smart enough for any but the most dedicated followers of gadget fashion to seriously contemplate.

The Cookoo SmartWatch and Life App (which enables you to control the alerts and notifications you receive on the watch) offer great features such as:

• Incoming and missed calls alerts
• Calendar reminders
• Social media posts and messages
• Out of range notification and low battery alert
• Photo/Video camera remote control
• Find My Phone feature
• One-button music control
• One-button Facebook check-in

The Cookoo might already be a few (2) years old but that hasn’t stopped it from reaching us. Thanks to the team at Gammatek, one of the leading distributors of Branded Tech accessories in Southern Africa, you can now purchase the Cookoo SmartWatch for R1699 from Musica and Incredible Connection nationwide.