Huawei has a pair of new smartwatches

Huawei bringing two new smartwatches to Australia shortly: the Huawei Watch GT Active and Huawei Watch GT Elegant. The pair are based on last year's Huawei Watch GT, but rock a new look.

The GT Active is the larger of the pair, packing a 46mm watch face an a sporty aesthetic. It will last for up to two weeks per charge. The GT Elegant is a tad smaller with a 42mm face, and a slightly subtler design. The smaller size does however mean the battery life is shorter too; the GT Elegant will last up to a week per charge, which still isn't bad at all.

Both smartwatches run Huawei's own operating system, rather than Android Wear. While the pair of wearables will mirror notifications from your phone, Huawei is pitching them more as fitness trackers. There's a real-time heart rate monitor, support for GPS, GLONASS, and GALILEO, integrated coaching for workouts, sleep tracking, and more. The pair are rated 5 ATM for water-resistance, which means they can be used at depths of up to 50m. You can use them with both Android and iOS devices.

Both the Watch GT Active and Watch GT Elegant will retail for $399, and be available through Mobileciti in late August. Additional retail partners are set to be announced shortly.

The Watch GT Active is available in grey, with a choice of a green or orange strap. The Watch GT Elegant is available in a choice of white or black, with a matched strap.

If you want to get a Huawei Watch GT Active now, you can score a free one if you pick up a P30 or P30 Pro on a Telstra or Vodafone plan before August 15. Here’s a selection of Huawei P30 Pro plans from Telstra and Vodafone:

Of course, it's worth noting that Huawei is currently involved in a dispute with the US government, which effectively cuts it off from Android. The P30 Pro and P30 will still be able to run Google apps and services, but may receive security updates at a slower pace. If the ban isn't resolved, it's possible Huawei smartphones will not receive major Android operating system updates. Recent statements made by the US government suggest that it is considering relaxing some of these restrictions.

If you do buy a P30 Pro or P30, you won't lose any out-of-the-box functionality, but we still don't quite know exactly what will happen going forward.

However, since the Huawei Watch GT Active and Elegant run a custom operating system, they won't be affected by the US dispute.

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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