Tito’s Best Friend: Huawei Watch D2

Huawei Watch D2 Review Philippines verdict: Huawei’s new smartwatch may not be the best-looking in its roster, but it should be on your wrist if you’re worried about your health or if you’re already taking maintenance meds. Hypertension is no joke, and the Watch D2 can give wearers accurate blood pressure information that’s almost as good as what your doctor provides.

Pros

• Blood pressure monitoring capability
• Surprisingly comfy to wear
• Accurate results

Cons

• Fairly thick and utilitarian-looking
• Expensive

Time, as they say, eventually catches up to all of us. And if you’re an ’80s or ’90s kid, you are feeling that already. Huawei wants to help out the elder millennials with its new Watch D2, which sports a unique blood pressure monitoring feature not found in the wearables of its competitors.

The new feature works very well, and Huawei claims it’s as accurate as the Sphygmomanometer that your doctor uses in his clinic (but reminds everyone that the Watch D2 isn’t a medical device). We found that mostly to be true in practice, but the wearable still has a few annoying bugs that need to be fixed before I fully trust the BP results that it produces.

Huawei Watch D2 Review Philippines: Design

If you’re expecting Watch GT 5 levels of design for the D2, you’re in for a disappointment. Because of the Watch D2’s more utilitarian nature, the design is more in line with a tech-focused wearable rather than a fashion piece.

That’s not to say it’s ugly or looks bad, it’s just that Huawei has raised the bar for the look of their wearables so high that the mundane-looking Watch D2 looks blegh in comparison.

On the positive side, the Watch D2 has a large 1.82-inch AMOLED display surrounded by a black case. Because of the features of the watch and the components that are required for the blood pressure monitor to work, the Watch D2 is a bit chunkier than we’re used to. You also can’t swap out the straps for more fashionable ones because the watch uses proprietary airbags that make blood pressure measurements possible.

There are two buttons on the side of the watch – one is a rotating crown that helps you navigate through the menus, and one is a shortcut to takes you directly to the blood pressure measurement function of the watch.

I initially thought that the Watch D2 would be uncomfortable to wear because of the silicone strap and the airbags, but it was the opposite. The airbags prevented the usual silicone rash I get when wearing watches with straps like these.

Huawei Watch D2 Review Philippines: software and tracking

The Watch D2 uses Huawei’s new TruSense system that combines new biometric sensors with upgraded detection protocols and big data models, which translates to incredibly accurate health tracking that’s virtually identical to dedicated medical devices. The big feature in the Watch D2 that you don’t get in Huawei’s other watches is blood pressure monitoring, which none of Huawei’s other wearables can do.

Aside from that the Watch D2 does a lot of the same things health-tracking-wise as the brand’s newly released watches. Things like ECG analysis, SPO2 tracking, sleep tracking, and so on. The watch runs on Harmony OS, the same software that’s been running on Huawei’s new batch of wearables. That means you’re getting roughly the same UI experience here as well.

If you’re getting along in age like I am, you’ll love the Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) or blood pressure monitoring feature of the watch. The way it works is that the watch inflates a small, narrow airbag that’s embedded in the strap, which helps in taking your blood pressure.

Like the Watch D1, you’ll have to assume a specific stance so the watch can take an accurate measurement. Ideally, you’d be relaxed, sitting down with whatever wrist you’re wearing the watch in close to the opposite chest. The test takes a few seconds to do, and you’ll feel the mechanical airbag inflate when the process starts.

Some things can throw off the measurement – you need the right size cuff to get the correct results, and sometimes just talking or shifting your weight during measurements will give you wildly wrong results. Not tightening it enough will also get results skewed. If you’re concerned about your BP I suggest you get your BP tested at the doctor’s office first using an actual Sphygmomanometer to get a baseline and then tailor the fit of the watch depending on the results you get.

Lest we forget, the Watch D2 is an actual smartwatch, so it can also receive notifications and calls from your phone. It has its GPS so you can take it along with you when you run or jog for health tracking.

Huawei Watch D2 Review Philippines: battery

Huawei’s famed battery life for its watches is well known by now, and the Watch D2 is no exception, though there are caveats. The watch will be able to run for around a week before it needs to be charged if you’re doing occasional BP checks. If you check your BP religiously (like twice or thrice a day depending on the advice of your doctor) you’re going to see that battery life drop to 5 or 4 days. The good thing is that the watch uses the same charger as Huawei’s other wearables, so if you’re upgrading from an older model that’s one less thing to worry about.

Huawei Watch D2 Review Philippines: wrap and verdict

Huawei’s positioning the Watch D2 as a companion for health-conscious users, and anyone who’s on maintenance meds might want to take one for a spin. The convenience of getting accurate measurements for BP might mean life or death for anyone who has hypertension and other health problems. The only problem here aside from the stuff I already mentioned is that the watch is expensive it has a price of Php 19,999 in the Philippines.