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Fast Charge: Honor usually makes tasteful tech, so what’s up with the Watch 5?
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OPINION: Honor must have anabsolutelymassive R&D budget judging by recent tech releases like the Magic V3, the thinnest and lightest foldable around – so what’s up with the Honor Watch 5?
Honor’s latest smartwatch lookssosimilar to theApple Watch 9that it might as well be called the Honor Apple Watch, and it stands out like a sore thumb in Honor’s product range at large – a collection of tech that largely looks premium, even those focused on the cheaper end of the smartphone market.
Aside from the astonishingly thinMagic V3, Honor has delivered some pretty good-looking tech this year. The flagshipHonor Magic 6 Pro, complete with its textured back, stylish camera bump and quad-curved screen looks absolutely stunning, and although it’s not quite flagship-level, I really like the look of theHonor 200 Pro. Again, it has a unique look with its Casa Mila-inspired camera housing and the two-tone effect of the rear cover that shimmered in the light.
It’s not just Honor’s smartphone tech that looks good; also announced atIFA 2024was the MagicBook Art 14, an ultralight laptop that measures 10mm thick and weighs just over 1kg despite offering a pixel-packed 3K 14.6-inch OLED touchscreen and powerful internals.
There’s also the cool modular webcam that’s removed and placed within the chassis of the laptop when not in active use. These are all examples of Honor tech done right. They look great, they perform well and they tend to stand out from the crowd.
Standing out from the crowd
Then, we come to the Honor Watch 5, launched this week alongside the aforementioned Magic V3 and MagicBook Art 14. To say that the Honor Watch 5 looks like an Apple Watch is an understatement; it is an Apple Watch for all intents and purposes.
It has the same squared-off design, complete with a rotating button on the right-hand side – in the same place as Apple’s digital crown – and even small elements like the way the relatively thin strap tapers out to meet the edges of the watch. And, at 1.85 inches, it’s just 0.5 inches smaller than the Apple Watch Series 9.
It’ssosimilar that looks like it has been purposely designed to trick those around you into thinking you’re wearing a premium bit of Apple kit, and that’s a bit odd to me.
Yes, Apple has somewhat of a chokehold on the smartwatch market – for iPhone users, anyway – but there are plenty of other manufacturers that have carved out their own unique takes on wearable design.
TheOnePlus Watch 2Rlooks like a premium leather-strapped wristwatch, theGalaxy Watch 7has that handy haptic bezel. Withings has a classic watch design with minimal digital smarts and then there are companies like Whoop that have foregone a screen altogether.
What I’m trying to say is that there’s so much that Honor could’ve done with its wearable to help it stand out from the crowd, especially with an R&D department that’s churning out such impressive hardware in the phone, tablet and laptop spaces.
Don’t get me wrong, the hardware looks promising, even beating the Apple Watch by offering two weeks of battery life, a peak brightness of 1000 nits and one-click health scan tech. It’sjustthe look that I’m confused about.
Of course, there are plenty of people who love the look of the Apple Watch but, due to being on Android, can’t actually use it. This watch could be for those people, and that’s absolutely fine. I just wish Honor had its own unique, signature design for its smartwatches, and possibly offer this Apple Watch dupe as a cheaper alternative.
Maybe that’s coming with next year’s Honor Watch 6? Who knows, but I’ve certainly got my fingers crossed.
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Lewis is the Mobile Editor of Trusted Reviews with plenty of phone experience, from the Nokia 3210 to the iPhone 14 Pro Max. He has been in the tech industry writing about phones, headphones, tablets,…
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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
