Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro review: week-long battery and premium design (aff)

Huawei’s latest smartwatch feels like a bit of a return to form. The new Huawei Watch Fit 5 and its more premium Pro sibling don’t appear to be trying to reinvent the smartwatch – instead, they focus on doing the basics really well, while throwing in a few genuinely useful extras.

I've been living with the Watch Fit 5 Pro for a few weeks now, and the first thing that struck me is just how good the hardware is. Not that that comes as any surprise from Huawei.

Looking spookily like an Apple Watch, but arguably more attractive, there's a rotating crown and a single button, and a gorgeous sapphire glass screen, aerospace-grade materials and a display capable of hitting 3,000 nits brightness.

The crown does catch hairs a little bit, but not enough to be uncomfortable, and the fabric strap makes it easy to wear - although not great to get wet.

This being part of Huawei's "FIT" range, the new 5 series leans heavily into health tracking, and you get the usual suite of fitness and sleep tracking, along with more complex ECG functionality, arterial stiffness detection and atrial fibrillation monitoring.

One slightly quirky addition is the “Mini-Workout” mode, which uses a panda animation to encourage quick bursts of exercise throughout the day. It sounds childish, and it is, but it's actually rather fun.

Most people aren’t training for marathons, they just want nudges to move more while working from home or sitting at a desk all day.

This cutesy, gentle encouragement is at odds with Huawei's standard sleep reports, which are carried over to the Fit 5. Woe betide you if you get a poor night's kip, because the prophecies of doom that follow will give you another sleepless night. During a particularly bad patch, I've been warned that irregular sleep patterns will cause anything from allergies and obesity, to full-on diabetes. Even a good sleep results in a dire warning. It's time to tone it down a bit please, Huawei.

There are plenty of aspects, however, of owning a modern Huawei watch that are more pleasant to live with. And key strengths have always included battery life. It's still a big selling point with the Watch 5.

Tone down the settings a bit and you can expect up to 10 days. Even with a regular schedule of workouts, you could potentially get a week between charges, and this is seriously impressive.

Huawei’s ecosystem remains a little more awkward than Apple or Samsung’s, and some people will still be put off by the lack of Wear OS.

App support is usually more limited, and while Huawei Health has improved massively over the years, it can still feel slightly detached from the wider Android ecosystem. Pitch this against a Fitbit or Garmin and you'll find some limitations, but the overall package is where it counts.

And in some ways, the more lightweight operating system is a big part of its appeal.

You don't get bombarded with notifications, there's no cumbersome menu system, it's just a great fitness and health companion with exceptional battery life, and a stylish design.

I also love the price. Go to Huawei direct and the by-no-means limited standard Watch Fit 5 costs £159.99, while the Pro version is £249.99.

We've found a deal on Amazon, though, which offers a voucher, and that means the standard watch is £129.99 and the Pro is £219.99.

Compare this to an Apple Watch or a Garmin and it becomes a very appealing prospect indeed.

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And that's before you remind yourself that Curve Pay has been added for contactless payments, the Huawei Health app is a joy to use, and it's arguably one of the more comfortable smartwatches to wear, thanks to its light frame.

If you can catch the Amazon deal, £220 for a top-spec smartwatch with genuine week-long battery life and all the fitness tech you need is a bargain.

Huawei has had a bumpy ride in the Western world in recent times, but this is another indication, if it were ever needed, that it's still serious about making an impact.