Huawei launched a range of smartphones, smart watches, and tablets powered by its new HarmonyOS 2 operating system earlier today, including the HUAWEI WATCH 3 Series. HUAWEI WATCH 3 Series features a curved glass screen and 316L stainless steel case, complete with a brand-new 3D rotating crown that senses different levels of pressure and provides haptic feedback in response to user input, making the watch both comfortable to wear and easy to operate. The HUAWEI WATCH 3 Series also allows you to make and receive phone calls and listen to music using the same phone number and data plan as your smartphone.
The HUAWEI WATCH 3 Series runs on HarmonyOS 2, which allows it to integrate seamlessly with Huawei smartphones to serve as a multifunctional travel assistant. Functionality flows directly from your smartphone to your wrist, making all ride-hailing and flight information available at a glance.
The HUAWEI WATCH 3 Series also serves as a professional fitness & health manager that supports more than 100 workout modes. In addition to a broad range of healthcare support options, the watch can now monitor skin temperature with a new, high-precision temperature sensor. It also supports fall detection and SOS functions so users can monitor and manage their health in real time.
There’s a temperature sensor onboard, in addition to the Huawei TruSeen 4.5 heart rate monitor that’s also got SpO2 abilities. It also has GPS – and if you opt for the Watch 3 Pro edition, this will be two-channel GPS which will massively boost accuracy.
There are 17 “professional” sport tracking modes that offer extra insights including running, cycling and HIIT. And there are 85 standard workout profiles that just offer standard heart rate and calorie burn information. It also features automatic workout detection, which will kick in when it detects walking, running, elliptical or rower activities.
The HUAWEI WATCH 3 Pro features an ultra-long battery life, which lasts five days in smart mode and 21 days in ultra-long battery life mode. The HUAWEI WATCH 3, in turn, has a battery life of three days in smart mode and 14 days in ultra-long battery life mode.
There are four editions, the Active (rubber strap), Classic (leather strap) and Elite (metal link bracelet) versions and then there’s the Huawei Watch 3 Pro that boasts a titanium and ceramic case and sapphire glass.
The Huawei Watch 3 will launch on 18 June in the UK and Europe. It will cost £349.99 for the standard models, while the Watch 3 Pro in titanium will cost £499.
HarmonyOS 2
Multi-device interaction with HarmonyOS makes working across multiple devices as simple as controlling one. The new Control Panel supports simple and intuitive connections through a drag-and-integrate feature that allows users to freely connect the devices they want based on specific scenarios.
For example, if you want to watch a movie at home late at night, all you have to do is open up the Control Panel and drag the smart screen icon to your phone icon, and the movie jumps directly from your phone to the TV. If you’re wearing your HUAWEI FreeBuds 4, you can then drag the earphone icon to the phone icon, at which point the movie will play on your smart screen while rerouting its sound through your FreeBuds. This is just one example of the Super Device experience.
HarmonyOS 2’s new Task Center allows apps to travel between different devices at will without installing them on each and every one, so that all functions and services are available whenever and wherever they’re needed. On any device that’s part of a Super Device system, you can see the tasks running on all other devices. If you want a bigger display for mobile gaming, you can simply swipe up and hover to bring up the Overview Screen, and then transfer the game to your HUAWEI MatePad Pro to continue.
The new HarmonyOS Home Screen is more streamlined and organized than ever. You can swipe up on apps to generate Service Widgets that display real-time, easy-to-access information or services without having to open the app itself. You can customize the size of the Service Widgets, tap apps and swipe up to display their widgets, and tap any vacant location on the home screen to hide them.
Service Widgets can also be used to access Atomic Services, which can be easily called on and shared in the Service Center without the need to download or install anything, making it easier and more convenient to access functions like news aggregation.
In terms of look-and-feel, the beauty of innovative interaction lies in the aesthetic details: The specially designed HarmonyOS Sans font and natural Gravitational Animations offer a consistent user experience across all HarmonyOS devices.
HUAWEI HiLink has been upgraded to HarmonyOS Connect to equip more non-Huawei devices with smart features. Smart home devices can be connected to your mobile phone with a single tap: Tap your phone against a Midea oven that supports HarmonyOS Connect and select a recipe to start preparing your meal instantly. Keep your leftovers safe for longer with Haier refrigerators that automatically adjust their temperature based on the type of food you’re storing. And get the perfect soymilk for your body with Joyoung soymilk machines that can recommend recipes based on the data in your Health app. When working together, these connections can turn your kitchen into a personal health coach.
Privacy and security
Huawei says that HarmonyOS 2 runs even more smoothly than the last generation of EMUI. A HarmonyOS 2 phone can maintain read/write speeds similar to those of a new phone after 36 months of use, even with very little storage still available on the device.
HarmonyOS 2 keeps opened apps running in the background so that your tasks are always available where you left off. You can return to the last action or page on a given app even if you have dozens of other apps open. For example, if you were on a shopping app looking at a product, then you switched to another app to send your friend a message, and then opened up your browser to search for something else, you can now return to the last page you were browsing on your shopping app without a hitch. What’s more, you can enjoy a longer battery life with a HarmonyOS 2-based device.
Huawei says it is is committed to protecting user privacy and security. HarmonyOS inherits and further builds on the leading privacy and security technologies found in EMUI. The core design principle is to ensure that only the right person can access the right data with the right device, ensuring the security of each access to each device, as well as the security of each act of storing, transmitting, and using data across all scenarios.
When multi-device collaborative identity authentication is activated, users can only unlock their phones with a combination of facial recognition on their smartphone and a special check that ensures that the user’s watch is the one that’s connected to the phone.
In addition, HarmonyOS manages user data by category and protects devices by level, setting specific security thresholds for Super Devices. Only devices that meet strict security requirements can access data corresponding to their security level, making sure that users can make use of Multi-device Collaboration features with true peace of mind. HarmonyOS apps go through rigorous testing throughout development, release, installation, and use to ensure they deliver a secure experience in a clean ecosystem.
