HUAWEI Ultimate Series

HUAWEI surprisingly updated their Watch Ultimate Series with the latest model – HUAWEI Watch Ultimate 2. The Ultimate series is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious and radical smartwatches currently available on the market. As it added professional golfing modes, diving modes and outdoor adventures, and sports tracking to the first Ultimate watch, it was destined to be one of the most versatile smart watches for both health tracking and sports assisting.

Over the past year, I’ve completed several outdoor adventures and sports activities wearing various Huawei watches, including the HUAWEI Watch Ultimate, HUAWEI Watch 5 series, and even the HUAWEI Watch Fit 4 Pro. This is likely all thanks to the Ultimate’s spirit of exploration and ambition. It has democratized professional outdoor activity tracking and route navigation across more affordable series (even given to the Fit 4 series), demonstrating far greater generosity than we’ve witnessed from the Apple Watch.

HUAWEI’s commitment to developing outdoor sports features is a boon for outdoor enthusiasts like mountaineers and hikers. The wearable market used to offer limited options with limited brands. Most of them with professional-grade features were really expensive models.

Now, HUAWEI’s integration of hardware and software capabilities across its various series has provided users with more options. In this review, I’ll share my real-world experience with the Ultimate 2, highlighting the pros and cons that might serve as reasons for your purchase.     

Structure & Design

Let us turn to the new Ultimate 2. It remains outstanding in sports tracking and health monitoring. Even by merely inheriting the predecessor’s core features, it’s more than capable of maintaining its unique competitiveness.

However, what continues to captivate me most about the new Ultimate is its design and build quality. The watch is available in Blue and Black editions. Especially the Black model, featuring rock and mountain elements, perfectly suits all kinds of outfits, though it might not be as eye-catching as the Blue one. The Ultimate 2 has an ultra-tough metal frame with a nanocrystal ceramic bezel and Sapphire-glass cover on the front face, shielding a 1.5” OLED display. I’ve tried to scratch the surface with a knife as a simple test for simulating everyday abrasion (though I know this is a bit much). Unsurprisingly, it left no visible scratches or damage.

X-TAP Sensor

The greatest upgrade is the X-TAP sensor on the side. We tried the great sensor on the HUAWEI Watch 5 Pro months ago. The X-TAP sensor houses three major sensors: ECG, PPG, and pressure sensors, which then provide faster, more accurate, and wider health measurement with fingertip touch and press. By pressing and touching the sensor for a few seconds, I can quickly start ‘Health Glance’ for a comprehensive check. And accordingly, the watch will generate a health report with up to 11 indicators. The detailed report will be accessed on the phone app, HUAWEI Health.

For outdoor activities, particularly those at high altitudes, SpO² is a particularly vital indicator. After comparing it with professional monitoring equipment, it is evident that the data measured by X-TAP from the fingertip is remarkably accurate.

Other details

Another notable design change is its more pronounced hollow-out design, lending the watch a greater sense of visual “lightness”. One more unseen design change lies in the strap, where a new release mechanism makes changing straps considerably easier.

150M Diving Mode: Water Resistance & Sonar-based Communication

In addition, to make it the most pro-smartwatch for deep diving, the designer gives it an insane water resistance structure for use down to 150 meters. I didn’t have time & testing device to put it through professional water pressure testing. And I believe most users will likely never reach its water resistance limits. However, as I have not personally tested it, I remain cautious about its ability to operate stably in deep water, and hope to update my experience in the future.

So, one of their key upgrades focuses on more professional diving capabilities, including support for diving operations at depths of 150 meters and independent underwater sonar-based communication. Regrettably, I was unable to complete a dive within the limited time available that would have sufficiently tested its new features. But I can explain in detail how it will help you complete your dive logs more safely with efficient & quick communication.

The constraints on underwater communication are markedly greater than those on land or in the air. Electromagnetic waves, on which above-water communication relies, attenuate rapidly in water, while sound waves are more sustainable for underwater but now carry less information. So the WATCH Ultimate 2 with a small sonar component can have quick and preset communication through delivering sound waves.  work better than electromagnetic or light waves, allowing for independent underwater communication.

I believe most underwater divers still rely on very primitive communication with their dive buddies, such as gestures, lights, and tapping objects. Now you can just add your dive buddies to the watch (both with the Watch Ultimate 2) and start standalone communication without any accessories. As HUAWEI claims, the watch supports over 50 predefined messages and one-touch SOS. And for the SOS function, the maximum transmission range is about 60m.

Currently, the only smartwatch I know of with similar functionality is the Garmin DESCENT series, but they place greater emphasis on pairing with the professional accessory DESCENT T2 Transceiver to accomplish a limited amount of critical communication, which is way less than the WATCH Ultimate 2 can do.

One-Touch SOS: Press and hold for 10 seconds to activate SOS mode. The Watch will automatically transmit distress signals every 25 seconds. This feature enables nearby divers to relay distress alerts, effectively expanding the transmission range of emergency signals.

More accurate positioning and navigation for Outdoors

Thanks to the Ultimate 2’s precise positioning and accurate altitude monitoring, I’ve made it an essential piece of gear for my hiking and mountaineering. I’ve worn it on numerous hikes through the Lake District in England, along the MacLehose Trail in Hong Kong, and up Mount Wutong (Elevation: 943 meters), the highest peak in Shenzhen, China. All were done alone.

Before each climb or walk, the route KML file would be imported into ‘My Route’ of the HUAWEI Health app, and sync it to my WATCH Ultimate 2 as well.

Instead of gripping my phone and constantly tapping the screen to check directions, I simply raised my wrist to display the route on the Ultimate 2. When you veer off course, the watch will also alert you with a voice prompt that you’re heading in the wrong direction.

Compared to its predecessor, the most noticeable improvement is its upgraded Sunflower positioning system. The watch supports dual-band five system positioning, including GPS, Glonass, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou. The mature system and updated positioning algorithm significantly reduced GPS Drift in environments with weak signals. The consistent performance of GPS has also benefited other outdoor sports that track trails and distance, such as Running and cycling. I know exactly that it takes 1.55km to run from my home to the nearest park track, and that one lap around the track is 545m. So I ran this complete route for a simple test (2.095km). Even accounting for the margin of error from pacing while waiting at two traffic lights, the distance recorded by this watch was also very satisfying: 2.15km.

As for the elevation tracking, it’s also accurate. For example, the elevation of Wutong Mountain, Shenzhen’s highest peak, is 943.7 meters, while the watch recorded my peak elevation of 940.1 meters—an error margin of less than 5 meters.

Another rather intriguing mode, particularly for outdoor users, is the expedition mode. It is functionally quite similar to hiking: adding route, positioning and navigation, and so on. But in this mode, you can mark the waypoints of important landmarks along the path to ensure a safe journey and guide a smooth return. Like the Glofing mode, the expedition mode is exclusive to the WATCH Ultimate series.

As for its performance in health tracking and sleep tracking, my conclusion remains unchanged: it absolutely stands head and shoulders above the rest. Whether introducing the new X-TAP sensor paired with the TruSense system to deliver more comprehensive and accurate monitoring, or integrating Health Glance feature to generate an instant report covering 11 indicators, these are features that other smartwatches struggle to replicate.

Cons: Software Experience

Over the past few years, I’ve reviewed various Huawei Watch series, and the distinct improvements and pleasant surprises can be sensed in each series and model. Unfortunately, even a powerhouse like the Ultimate 2 isn’t a perfect model. There is still room for improvement in its software and user experience. For example, when I import multiple routes to the watch, there’s no way to overlay multiple routes onto the map without navigation, and it’s also impossible to switch the routes during my outdoor tracking. Once I quit the navigation, the only way I can add another route to the map is to end the trip and restart it with another route navigation.

Huawei watches cannot directly connect and sync exercise data with certain fitness applications, such as AllTrails, a popular hiking tool. Whilst you may be able to sync data from the Huawei Health app to the target application via third-party solutions (such as Health Sync) – for instance, to Strava, which is used by most runners – this process is not particularly user-friendly.

Other features

There are a few ‘bonus’ features that I couldn’t go into in detail in the article, such as eSIM support (including eSIM with a standalone number), sleep breathing awareness, NFC support, and offline maps covering most countries and regions.  

Battery

As for the battery life, the fully charged Ultimate 2 can hold for about 5 days for regular use. But if you exercise daily for over 1 hour, it requires charging in about 4 days. But if you only wear it with expedition mode on, the battery life will extend to over 30 hours. Under diving mode and Golf mode, the watch lasts significantly longer, too (12-24 hours). And the watch might drain a bit faster with iOS system pairing.

Verdict

I believe you can find more specialized competitors in specific sports categories, but you’d be hard-pressed to discover a smart wearable as versatile as the Ultimate 2. Even though I still have my grievances with Ultimate 2, it remains my personal favorite at present.

I believe the best reason is that I always find myself excitedly strapping on my Ultimate 2 for outdoor activities, whether it’s running, hiking, cycling, or camping.

Yet the fact is that a smartwatch doesn’t directly grant you a healthier lifestyle or better athletic performance through its features alone. More likely, it becomes your safeguard and source of courage: by harnessing its various health and fitness features, users gain the confidence to challenge themselves and push their limits. In this regard, the Huawei Watch Ultimate 2 does a splendid job.