Honor Watch Magic review: Fancy smart wearable that excels as fitness band

Honor Watch Magic is a basic smart wearable that's more of a fitness band than a smartwatch. If you want a fancy fitness band that can double up as a watch, this is a good option

After launching the Honor Band 4 fitness band, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei’s sub-brand Honor introduced in India the Honor Watch Magic – a smart wearable that functions both as a watch and a fitness band. The watch is made of steel and comes in black and silver colour options, priced at Rs 13,999 and Rs 14,999, respectively.

Design

The Watch Magic has a solid build with a CNC-processed bezel on the top, and laser-engraved markings on the lower side. These engraved markings, along with an accentuated red colour marking on the bezel and menu button, go well with the dual colour textured strap that the watch comes with. However, the sweat-proof strap has a silicone rubber on the bottom that might not suite suit everyone, especially those with skin sensitive to allergies. Thankfully, the watch is water resistant (5ATM/50 meters) and is designed so that it does not accumulate water for a long time.

Display

The watch has a 1.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen, which is big enough to show relevant information available on various watch faces, but not so large as to reflect smartphone notifications properly. Being an AMOLED unit, the screen has good contrast and vivid colours, which makes the icons on screen pop out. The display has ample brightness to stay legible in bright outdoor conditions. Though the screen is set to show information when the arm is raised, it can be set to remain on from display settings in app. However, turning the display on permanently depletes the on-battery time.

Features and performance

Apart from functioning as a standalone device, the Honor Watch Magic also works with smartphones via Huawei Health app – available on both iOS and Android platforms. The app allows the phone and watch to sync data and shows the data readings in interactive graphic form within the app home screen. The app also helps update the watch’s firmware, which sometimes comes bundled with new watch faces.

Being a smart wearable, the watch is capable of monitoring various activities, fitness, heart rate and sleep. The watch’s built-in GPS module helps it track movement, though not precisely. It is also capable of monitoring sleep patterns using the bottom-mounted heart rate sensor. Unfortunately, the watch has no storage for songs, something you would expect from a lifestyle product.

Overall

The Honor Watch Magic is a basic smart wearable that is more of a fitness band and less than a smartwatch. Though it has a good on-battery time of 3-4 days and a capable AMOLED screen that does justice to the 13 dial faces it comes loaded with, it lacks on-board storage for songs and third-party app support, and there is no way you can add more dial faces by yourself.  As a fitness band, however, it excels for its ability to track more than basic fitness activities. The built-in GPS module also adds to the overall package. If you are for a fancy fitness band that can also double up as a watch, this one could be an option.