It’s not easy to stand out as a smartwatch, but the Honor Magic Watch 2 – which has just been announced – might have a shot at it, at least for health and fitness fans. Because while this thing is certainly ‘smart’, it’s clear that fitness was the focus.
The Honor Magic Watch 2 has GPS, a heart rate monitor, water resistance to depths of 50 meters, and 15 goal-based fitness modes, covering things like running, cycling, triathlons, indoor pool swimming, hiking and more.
It looks set to be especially good for runners, as it also has 13 running courses suited to a range of levels, from beginner to advanced. These include a virtual pace-setter and real-time voice guidance, so you’ll essentially have a virtual coach on your wrist.
- Check out all the best Black Friday smartwatch deals
- These are the best smartwatches
- Take a look at the best fitness trackers
The Honor Magic Watch 2 can also monitor your stress, offer breathing exercises, and track your sleep, including offering over 200 suggestions to improve your sleep quality.
Two sizes with very different battery lives
Your window onto all this is either a 1.39-inch 454 x 454 screen (if you opt for the 46mm model), or a 1.2-inch 390 x 390 screen (if you choose the 42mm model). In both cases the screen is AMOLED and 326 pixels per inch.
The Magic Watch 2 also has up to 14 days of life in the large size and up to 7 days with the smaller model, and it comes with a range of strap options, storage space for up to 500 songs, and the ability to show notifications from your phone.
There are a bunch of built-in apps too, such as a weather forecast and a timer, but notably you can’t download other apps, as this uses Huawei’s (of which Honor is a sub brand) own operating system rather than Wear OS.
As such the Honor Magic Watch 2 might feel a bit lacking on the general lifestyle and smart features side, but if the fitness side is as good as it sounds then this could be a strong alternative to a fitness tracker.
That, however, will depend on what it costs and whether you can even buy it in many places outside China, two things we don’t yet know the answer to, but we’ll be sure to update you as soon as we find out.
- See what we thought of the original Honor Watch Magic