CRISP. Tech: Honor Magicwatch 2 Review

For those of you who are keen to know more about how this minimal, and (surprisingly) sleekly designed Honor Magicwatch 2 performs, I put it to the test for the last few weeks and am here to share my thoughts.

As far as tracking my fitness goes, I’ve resorted to apps on my iPhone up until now to count steps or kilometres, and improve my timings.

So when I got the chance to give this little gadget a go, I couldn’t pass up the offer!

First Impressions

Mostly into cycling, running, and hiking, I spent a week with my new companion putting it through the test. Come rain, sun, and more sun, this really was a 24/7 kind of thing.

What first struck me (being used to working incredibly easy software like Sonos), was how simple the setup was. 

Once the watch was turned on, it’s just a case of downloading the Huawei Health app and following barely any steps towards completing the setup. I’m not a technophobe, but I dread the thought of battling with technology before things have even gotten started, so this setup was warmly welcomed. 

Connectivity

The only thing to note here is that if you have an iPhone, the setup is restricted as this really is a piece of Android kit (and on goes the battle between them both).

With an iPhone, you can’t set up your Bluetooth music to the watch or connect more than 3 top contacts for calls.

Despite that, the premise behind the watch is less about connectivity, but much more fitness-focused. Some of its most useful features include; 24/7 heart rate monitoring across 15 different sports (even swimming), sleep monitoring, regular fitness tracking (i.e. calories, distance, time), and third party pairing with key apps like MyFitnessPal and HealthKit Share. 

It depends what you’re into, but I really enjoy being separated from the hounding of texts and notifications whilst exercising so I’m all about HONOR not supporting this function.

If you’re looking for an all-rounder smartwatch then you’ve come to the wrong place. 

Exercise

During exercise, the touch screen is easy to navigate. Simply select your sport of choice from the menu, let GPS do its thing and be on your way. I was impressed at how accurate the results were (after having measured my own pulse to make sure it synced up with my heart rate on the monitor), and the level of detail you get back once you’ve finished and linked it to the app. 

I also used it for my morning alarm which was a much less shrill wakeup call compared to the iPhone (although nothing will beat waking up to a radio station playing – does anyone still do this or is that just me?) 

The battery life was also great – it’s supposed to last up to two weeks and I’d say that was very accurate even when wearing and using it every day. 

Charging is also straight forward, I found myself charging it from my laptop whilst #WFH. It uses a magnetic platform connected to a USB-C cable. 

Verdict

Overall, I did have a great experience with the watch, but as far as smartwatches go, it’s a fairly limited product. 

I enjoyed the disconnectivity but it did pose the question; do I really need another piece of tech in my life purely for tracking fitness? 

There’s nothing wrong with being wellness specific, but most people seek more from their smartwatch than just fitness tracking.

Therefore, I wouldn’t recommend this as a smartwatch purchase, but would highly recommend it for those of you who want a way more upgraded version of your iPhone health app – it’s much more effective as part of an Android ecosystem.

 

---