Huawei GT6 Pro, a marathon runner on the wrist, elegant and robust with record-breaking battery life

Some devices induce certain behaviors, or at least justify them to you first and foremost. For example, the obsession with social media, the addiction to exercise, the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) from work notifications. Smartwatches were also designed to be the subject of unhealthy relationships. The Huawei Watch GT6 Pro, which we tested for a few weeks, is an elegant and robust watch, with record-breaking battery life and top-notch fitness and health tracking. Let's just say that compared to its competitors, it's a bit like carrying a small power plant on your wrist. Not so much in terms of processing power but in terms of battery life: Huawei claims 21 days of battery life, which is a lot. During my tests, I managed about ten days, activating GPS and all the notifications (there are many) I use, but without spending time fiddling with the display. For an athlete, this means you can train every day with GPS turned on, leave the screen constantly lit, and get to the fifth or sixth day with half the charge remaining. This is a figure that, when compared to the two days of an Apple Watch, tells the difference between a marathon runner and a sprinter.

The construction is that of a heavy watchmaker: TC4 titanium for the case, a ceramic back, and sapphire crystal protecting a 1.47-inch AMOLED display that produces up to 3,000 nits. In practice, even under the midday sun, the dial remains legible. It's not a discreet watch: 46 millimeters in diameter and 50 grams of weight make themselves felt, especially on smaller wrists. But those who choose it aren't choosing it for minimalist elegance.

The real kick is in the sensors. The GT6 Pro measures heart rate, oxygen saturation, heart rate variability, arterial stiffness, and body temperature. It monitors sleep and, when you use it for running, gives you lab-quality data: VO2 max, vertical oscillation, stride length, and ground contact time. It doesn't just tell you how many kilometers you've run, but how you ran them. The dual-band GPS works with all possible constellations—Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou—and offline maps let you navigate even without a phone.

The ecosystem is the limit. HarmonyOS 6.0 handles notifications, health, workouts, and Bluetooth calls well, but it doesn't offer the same variety of apps you find on Apple or Wear OS. There's no built-in LTE, no Wi-Fi, and NFC payments work patchily depending on the country. Here, the comparison with the Apple Watch is reversed: Cupertino wins for software integration and number of apps, while Huawei wins for battery life and durability.

Ultimately, the GT6 Pro isn't a showcase gadget but a field tool, designed for those who treat their bodies like data to be analyzed. It's the travel companion for those who run, cycle, and train and want solid numbers rather than shiny icons. A watch that doesn't require you to remember to recharge every night, but that demands wrists ready to withstand its presence. But it's not the best choice for those seeking a 360-degree smartwatch experience with a vast ecosystem of apps and advanced smartphone integrations. The price? It starts at €379 for the fabric and fluoroelastomer straps and goes up to €499 for the titanium one.