Introduction, Unboxing
Huawei’s Watch Fit series is so popular because it combines a small form factor with a useful rectangular display, colorful bands, a robust suite of health and fitness tracking, and great battery life for not a lot of money. Many people are attracted to the series (and others prefer it) because they cover most of the functionality of an Apple Watch or Wear OS Watch, but with far better battery life.
And as the series has evolved, it’s gotten nicer and more premium, think less fitness band and more premium smartwatch. This move into premium happened last year with the introduction of the Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro, which was the first Pro model in the Watch Fit lineup and people loved it. It looked like the Apple Watch Ultra but cost much less and could last for about a week of use. Well, the Watch Fit 5 Pro gets much better at all of them.
The new wearable has a slightly larger display (1.92″ vs. 1.82″), and the sapphire glass on top has a 2.5D curved edge (it’s flat on the Fit 4 Pro). The subtle curves and extra screen make the watch more beautiful and premium. The screen is just as bright at 3,000 nits, but it’s now a 1Hz-60Hz LTPO panel, which means it can reduce its refresh rate to save battery.
The second improvement is arguably more important. That battery is bigger – 15% bigger, which makes a noticeable difference in endurance.
The new watch also offers NFC payments through the Curve app.
Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro (left) vs Watch Fit 5 Pro
What hasn’t changed is the overall design, with all models featuring interchangeable bands, which is a healthy incentive to upgrade.
Table of Contents:
- design, performance
- Health and fitness tracking
- battery life, charging
- decision
The Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro launches this month and costs €300/£250, although Huawei is known for offering nice bundles and discounts from time to time. In Malaysia, you get 1 year extra warranty, 3 months free trial of Huawei Health+, 1 month Huawei watch face subscription and a pair of Huawei Freebuds SE 2 as a gift.
The Watch Fit 5 Pro comes with the same 20W wireless charging puck as the previous model – it’s universal, meaning there’s no pin to match, but ends up in a USB-A connection, which is unfortunate in these wonderful USB-C mandated times.
design, performance
Huawei did not change the overall design of the Watch Fit 5 Pro compared to its predecessor, but made the watch more elegant and classy. The subtle curve at the edges of the front glass element adds a level of refinement and takes away some of the utilitarian and sporty look of the older model.
Our model is orange in color and has an orange skirt on the front. It’s a nice touch that works well with the light gold matte finish.
The orange unit comes with a matching orange fabric band, which Huawei claims is made more breathable, and is also water and oil resistant due to the silicone coating.
The white model comes with a white fluoroelastomer strap. The casing of the white model has a micro-arc oxide-treated surface, which increases wear resistance. It also has a color-matched white accent line around the display. The black model has less noticeable black accents around the screen and comes with a black fluoroelastomer strap.
The Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro’s screen is lovely. It’s just as bright as before, at an impressive 3,000 nits, and it also tops out at the same 60Hz. But the panel is now larger at 1.92″ (vs. 1.82″), and is LTPO for better efficiency.
It has a display that is easily readable in bright sunlight. It also works as a flashlight in a completely dark room.
The case is quality and has a matte finish. Surrounding the sapphire crystal display is a titanium bezel that is embedded in an aluminum case. Button placement is unchanged from the previous model – there’s a rotating crown that’s also a button, and a quick button below that takes you to the workout menu.
Covering
The Watch Fit 5 Pro also has a microphone and speaker and it is not bad to use for calls.
Health and fitness tracking
Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro runs on Huawei’s proprietary HarmonyOS 6.1.0. It’s easy to get about, and it’s beautiful with high-resolution UI elements and a healthy choice of watch faces.
The rectangular screen offers enough space for a lot of information like time, date, steps, sleep data, weather, and even some bonus features like altitude and pressure. There are plenty of free and paid faces available through Huawei’s Health Companion app. Speaking of, Huawei Health is not on the Play Store; You need to get the latest version from Huawei’s App Market app or website.
Swiping down from the top of the screen (or scrolling down on the crown) opens the quick toggle panel. Pressing the crown button opens a “hex grid” of your apps. You can also keep it as a list, which this reviewer finds more convenient, although you can’t sort them by name, and accessing the bottom apps is slow. Bonus tip – When in grid mode, scroll to the top and scroll down once to enable app names in grid.
You can customize the “down button” to some extent. You can change it with a single press, and you can choose any app or function you like, which is great. But you can’t change what double-pressing the button does — it opens the Wallet app.
Speaking of, you can use the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro for NFC payments, which is a big plus. It works through the well-rated digital wallet Curve app. The app accepts MasterCard and works throughout the European Economic Area and the UK. You’ll need to download the app to your phone and watch, add a card, and set a PIN on the watch.
HarmonyOS 6.1.0
This year, Huawei added a remote shutter app that works with your phone! I wish this came to the Watch Fit 4 Pro too.
You can install third-party apps from the App Gallery inside Huawei Health (in the Device tab), but the implementation is quite basic – you get a list of apps you can install, and there’s no search function here either.
Huawei’s HarmonyOS isn’t as customizable and capable as a full-blown smart OS like Wear OS 6 or Apple’s watchOS 26, but it has the advantage of giving you most of the functionality (all the basic functions you’ll actually use daily), and a major battery life advantage.
Let’s talk about health tracking. Huawei has upgraded the TruSense system on the back of the Watch Fit 5 Pro, although the LEDs appear to be the same as the Watch Fit 4 Pro. To quote the press brief, expect more accurate heart rate and SpO2 monitoring.
Atrial fibrillation analysis joins the ECG and arterial stiffness capabilities of older models.
Sleep tracking now uses a more advanced algorithm, which can better detect your sleep “architecture” – light sleep (N1 and N2), and deep sleep (N3). There’s also a new Nap Recap feature if you’re taking a nap. As before, you can enable sleep breathing awareness.
I’m a long-time user of the Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro and I use it to track my sleep. I’ve been using the Watch Fit 5 Pro for about a month. I won’t give you science-based notions about sleep tracking – there are special websites that keep the entire sleep track in your head with strings attached.
What I can say is that while I’m getting an average of 1.5 to 2 hours of deep sleep with the Watch Fit 4 Pro, I’m getting a little over 1 hour of sleep with the Watch Fit 5 Pro. Subjectively, this seems more realistic. I’ve used a number of smart wearables over the past few years (also as part of my job at GSMArena) – Galaxy Watch, Huawei Watch, Xiaomi Watch – and most don’t credit me with more than 1.5 hours of deep sleep per night.
The Watch Fit 5 Pro is also better at recognizing when I’m awake but still in bed.
sleep tracking
The Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro can perform an electrocardiogram to measure if there is any arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) or sinus rhythm (regular heartbeat).
The watch can also check how flexible (good) or stiff (bad) your arteries are. In theory, both have advanced therapy capabilities well beyond the scope of mere fitness trackers. In practice, these features are consumer-grade and should only be used as a first line of defense against serious illness, and you should consult a doctor if there is a real problem.
Checking sinus rhythm and detecting A-fib
In terms of fitness tracking, there are a few ways in which the Watch Fit 5 Pro is better than its predecessor. It brings new animated full-body mini-workouts. There are 30 of them, and you get a cute baby panda who instructs you on what to do.
Both running and cycling have improved metrics. It has fall detection, which can work with cycling. Interestingly, there has been a major improvement in golf. You already had a large collection of courses, but Huawei has now upgraded the maps to over 17,000 courses with vector maps for stepless zooming and custom distance measurements.
The watch will analyze your drives with detailed analysis of your downswing time, your backswing time, your swing tempo and speed. Finally, there are the animated swing demos, neat.
For running, the Watch Fit 5 Pro supports dual-band L1 + L5 GPS with faster lock and better urban accuracy.
Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro can sync data with third-party apps like Strava, FIIT, Racepace, Komoot.
sports tracking
battery life, charging
The Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro comes with a 471mAh battery, which is an improvement of 71mAh over its predecessor. A full charge is quoted at 75 minutes, but I was getting a faster turnaround – about 1 hour.
I would say that battery life is the biggest strength and improvement of the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro. As a long-term user of its predecessor, I’m getting about 5 days of usage. This includes all-day usage, notifications, 4 to 5 training sessions, and sleep tracking.
Watch Fit 5 Pro I find easily 8 days of use With the same routine, which is very strange. This is the true improvement in quality of life that I felt when I adopted new wearable devices.
What’s impressive is that Huawei promises about 7 days of endurance with “normal use.”
decision
Huawei had the tough task of improving what was already great in the Fit 4 Pro, a popular and capable watch. And they did a great job – the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro has exceptional battery life, and an even nicer build that’s no longer a copycat of the Apple Watch. The new display is nice, big and curved, which we like.
Make some improvements to health and fitness tracking, add NFC payments and you’ve got a winner. Well, Huawei does.
The starting price of €399 isn’t exactly low, but it’s fair and affordable, and it stacks up well in Huawei’s favor when you compare the Watch Fit 5 Pro to the Apple Watch Ultra 3. And other than running some apps on your wrist (why), and a somewhat debatable gain in premiumness, there’s really nothing that makes the Apple Watch Ultra (or any Wear OS equivalent) better than the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro.
Finally, a word on potential upgraders. If you’re coming from the Watch Fit 4 Pro, the upgrade to the 5 Pro is a worthwhile one – the much better battery life and slightly larger (but much nicer with curved edges) display is worth it.
Pros
- Premium look and feel
- It is practically impossible to scratch a sapphire crystal display.
- Excellent display quality – bright and legible
- Excellent battery life – 8 days of continuous use.
- Extensive health and fitness tracking capabilities.
- There appears to be more accurate health tracking than its predecessor.
- Huawei doesn’t discriminate – the watch works with all phones.
Shortcoming
- Not cheap.
- Non-standard watch bands.
- The USB-A charging cable in the 2026 is annoying.