At the Honor Magic V2 and full-scene new product launch event on the evening of July 12, the Honor Watch 4 was officially released, priced at 999 yuan.
As a new product of the Honor Watch family, the Honor Watch 4 is different from the previous Honor Watches—the design adopts the popular "small square watch" shape, and at the same time supports eSIM communication capabilities. With the blessing, the industry has even launched the "one watch, two standby" solution. More importantly, the Honor Watch 4 also claims to be able to achieve a 10-day battery life, which is undoubtedly "revolutionary" for an eSIM watch.
So what is the experience of Honor Watch 4? Can it bring a different experience to the current seemingly cumbersome but somewhat "boring" smart watch market? Let's enter the evaluation experience together.
1. Design
Honor Watch 4 offers three color options, including Morning Glory Gold, Cloud Water Blue and Obsidian Black.
IT House got the cloud water blue color scheme. Frankly speaking, the overall design and color scheme of the Honor Watch 4 are very "younger". Compared with the previously released Honor Watch GS3, the latter is more business-like.
Honor Watch 4 does not have much "business sense of stability", but it is younger, especially the "cloud water blue" color scheme obtained by IT House, and the light blue silicone strap is printed with Honor and "GO BEYOND" The graffiti may be more suitable for the student party.
Therefore, students who are used to "putting on a suit and combing their hair to look like an adult" recommend the stable and versatile "Obsidian Black" color scheme.
Another point is that the strap buckle of Honor Watch 4 is still made of plastic material, which is a bit cheaper. I also hope that Honor will bring more styles and material strap options for Honor Watch 4 later.
From the perspective of product positioning, Honor Watch 4 itself is a younger product, so it must meet the design preferences of young people, such as the popular small square watch design.
Honor Watch 4 uses a 6-series aluminum alloy middle frame with a very delicate metal texture. There is a metal button in the upper right corner, and the edge of the button is cut with high gloss. The lower strip is the speaker opening.
On the left side of the middle frame is a microphone radio opening. The entire metal middle frame is round and simple in shape, and the rounded corner design makes the look very "soft".
Honor Watch 4 uses a 1.75" inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 390*450 and a PPI of 340. It supports automatic brightness. The brightness data is not clear yet, but as far as the author's experience is concerned, there is no pressure for outdoor use.
The display quality of this screen is also quite good, with bright colors, and the screen glass adopts a 2.5D design, which is perfectly connected to the same round middle frame.
The screen is like the water in the cup is full, and the edge of the fluid is full but not overflowing, forming a curved surface full of tension. The content on the screen is also "ready to come out", and the look and feel is very transparent.
In addition to giving a high score to this screen design, we should also give a high score to the overall weight and wearing comfort of the Honor Watch 4. Official data shows that the overall size of the Honor Watch 4 is 45.3 mm × 39.1 mm × 11.2mm, and the weight is only about 32g (excluding the weight of the strap), which is between most smart watches and bracelets.
There is no strong "foreign body feeling" when worn on the hand, and the strap is slightly relaxed, so there is no pressure to wear it at night.
The bottom of the Honor Watch 4 is black, and it is equipped with a self-developed optical microlens array, but unfortunately, wireless charging is not used, and it is still a magnetic thimble charging port.
However, as far as the author's recent experience is concerned, magnetic charging is not a problem, because the battery life of Honor Watch 4 is really strong, far from frequent charging, even for short-distance business trips, there is no need to bring a magnetic charger .
Of course, the author still hopes to have a wireless charging function. After all, the wireless charging board I bought only charges the mobile phone, which is a bit "wasteful".
2. "One watch, two standby" experience
As the first smart watch released by Honor in 2023, Honor Watch 4 introduces MagicOS into the smart watch ecosystem for the first time.
According to the official introduction, Honor Watch 4 can support calls, text messages and message notifications of two cards on the phone at the same time.
When encountering a call from the secondary card of the mobile phone, the Honor Watch 4 can pop up a notification message of the missed call, and you can use the eSIM call function of the Honor Watch 4 to call back the call from the secondary card in real time. According to the official, Honor Watch 4 is also the first Android mobile phone manufacturer to realize the function of simultaneously receiving dual-card incoming call notification information.
The watch supports "one watch, dual standby", which is definitely not a "gimmick" selling point, and the practicality is quite high.
To give one of the simplest scenarios, many Android users have dual cards all the year round, but eSIM watches currently only support activation of one number segment. ), the eSIM watch can only accept incoming calls from one number range, and the other number range can only be in the "disconnected" state.
As far as the author is concerned, I have a work account and a family account, but I have only activated eSIM for the work account. Sometimes I go fishing or playing ball, put my mobile phone in the car, and wear a watch that can only Answer incoming calls from your work account.
There is no solution to this problem, unless - willing to buy two eSIM watches and activate eSIM for both card numbers, but this is obviously unreasonable.
Therefore, "one watch, two treats" is by no means a false demand, or a niche demand, and its demand has always existed.
So how does Honor Watch 4 solve this demand?
First of all, you only need to activate eSIM for a number segment (primary card) (10 yuan per month, you can activate it on the App side). After activation, enable the "far-field message" function in the watch settings. When the mobile phone and the watch are disconnected, since the main card has activated eSIM, we can use the Honor Watch 4 to perform independent phone calls and text messages.
And the secondary card on the mobile phone, incoming calls or text messages, at this time Honor Watch 4 can also receive notification reminders.
It should be noted that this "reminder" exists in the form of a notification.
For example, if the secondary card of the mobile phone is calling, the Honor Watch 4 cannot answer the call at this time. When the call is hung up, the Honor Watch 4 will display a "missed call" reminder with a "mobile phone" logo.
At this point, we can call back calls through the eSIM function (main card) of Honor Watch 4.
SMS is the same. But the text messages are a bit different - the secondary card of the mobile phone receives the text message, the Honor Watch 4 receives the text message synchronously, and the watch end replies to the text message (quick reply phrase). At this time, the sender of the text message received by the other party is still the "secondary card".
It should be emphasized that the content mentioned above and the actual measurement are based on independent use without the mobile phone, that is, the watch and the mobile phone are disconnected from the Bluetooth connection.
After actual measurement, Honor Watch 4 can also receive phone calls and message notifications from the secondary card of the mobile phone. It has the same "dual card dual standby" experience as the mobile phone. Dual card users will also ensure that your dual card is online.
3. Comprehensive Experience
As an eSIM watch, the battery life of the Honor Watch 4 is also very satisfactory. According to official data, the Honor Watch 4 can last up to 10 days when connected to a Honor mobile phone in a typical eSIM scenario. In the 24-hour all-weather eSIM independent use scenario, the battery life of Honor Watch 4 can reach 3 days +.
Judging from the actual experience of IT Home, this data is not very watery. For example, when the health detection is fully turned on, the always-on screen is turned on, and the eSIM is turned on independently, it only consumes power for one night (about 10 hours). About 14%, this performance is much better than some eSIM watches that charge once a day.
It is understood that the Honor Watch 4 is equipped with a self-developed power management system, which adopts a three-core architecture design. When the Honor Watch 4 is connected to the mobile phone via Bluetooth, one of the coprocessors will stop working, and only one coprocessor will stop working when the screen is off. When the screen is working, the main processor will also go to sleep; when the screen is on, the main co-processor will work at the same time. When the Honor Watch 4 is used independently, only one coprocessor works when the screen is off, and the other two processors go to sleep; when the screen is on, one main coprocessor and one coprocessor work at the same time, and the other coprocessor goes to sleep. This ensures excellent battery life.
In terms of sports, Honor Watch 4 provides nearly 100 sports modes, including fitness, dance, ball games, water sports, ice and snow sports, and extreme sports. 12 professional sports modes include: outdoor running, indoor running, indoor cycling, Outdoor cycling, outdoor walking, indoor walking, pool swimming, open water, elliptical machine, rowing machine, skipping rope, free training.
For example, when doing outdoor running, indoor running, outdoor walking, indoor walking, rowing machine, elliptical machine exercise, Honor Watch 4 can actively monitor the user's exercise status.
In other aspects, Honor Watch 4 supports 5ATM waterproof level, supports five major satellite system positioning, built-in multi-GNSS system hybrid positioning of Beidou, GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO and QZSS.
In terms of health monitoring, the Honor Watch 4 is equipped with a self-developed optical microlens array, which supports heart rate, breathing training, stress detection, sleep, menstrual cycle (the gender in the APP profile is set to female), and blood oxygen saturation.
Taking heart health monitoring as an example, Honor Watch 4 supports "Honor Heart Health Research (need to download a separate app)", supports "Heart Health Research" and "Sleep Apnea Research".
Through the "Honor Heart Health Research", Honor Watch 4 brought screening reminders for suspected atrial fibrillation, suspected premature beats, and sleep apnea, and combined with the Palm Fuwai Hospital App to realize appointment services.
4. Smart Interaction
Honor Watch 4 introduces the MagicOS system ecology. The first thing to say is that the interaction of the system is very smooth, whether it is sliding the screen or switching functions.
In terms of functionality, Honor Watch 4 is equipped with NFC function, supports Alipay, WeChat payment code payment, supports online music, supports WeChat quick message reply, and supports YOYO voice assistant.
In terms of App ecology, Honor Watch 4 supports more than ten third-party Apps such as Air Travel, Kugou Music, Baidu Maps, Perpetual Calendar, Countdown Days, Lemon Water, UU Errands, Alipay, Water Time, Todo List, etc.
But unfortunately, I didn't find the app store option. Doesn't it support third-party app downloads? It's a bit unreasonable, after all, Honor GS3 supports it.
Of course, the application on the watch is more about realizing the extension of the large-screen content of the smartphone and increasing the functional experience of the whole scene of the smartphone. After all, the screen size of the smart watch determines the positioning and application scenarios of the product.
Take Baidu Maps as an example. On the watch side, AutoNavi Maps cannot run independently, but needs to be used with a smartphone, similar to "multi-screen application". For example, through Baidu in the mobile phone, when cycling and walking navigation are turned on, the watch will display the navigation information synchronously.
Another example is Hanglv Zongheng. After installing the Hanglv Zongheng app on the mobile phone, the watch can display the latest itinerary information synchronously.
Another example is WeChat. The current version of WeChat is not an "independent" version and needs to be used with a mobile phone, but it supports daily message replies.
In addition, the music of Honor Watch 4 is completely independent, and the device itself also supports wireless Bluetooth headsets. When running, there is no pressure to listen to music online.
Summarize:
Briefly summarize this new product. It can be said that Honor Watch 4 has brought surprises to the author in three aspects:
First, the "one watch dual standby" function solves the problem of "lost connection" of the secondary card in the scenario without a mobile phone. For Android users with strong needs, the Honor Watch 4 is the only choice (need to be paired with the Honor mobile phone). Once you die, you can't go back. I hope that friends and merchants will follow up quickly!
The second is the excellent battery life. Even if the eSIM is turned on, it can be "charged for a few days".
The third is the price of only 999 yuan. As an eSIM watch that supports one watch with dual standby for a long time, this price is just two words-really fragrant.
So who is Honor Watch 4 suitable for? First of all, young people, such as young white-collar workers and college students, can receive comprehensive news without a mobile phone during sports, which can be a good substitute for mobile phones.
Secondly, if you are a dual-card Honor mobile phone user, Honor Watch 4 is also strongly recommended. This watch allows you to keep in touch with the outside world with dual card numbers in some scenarios where you are separated from your mobile phone.
Third, users who have a strong demand for long-life eSIM watches can also choose Honor Watch 4.
Of course, the Honor Watch 4 is not without any shortcomings, such as a slightly "cheap" strap, and an app store that is not yet supported. But in the face of the price of 999 yuan and the core advantage of "one watch, two standbys", I think this is not a problem.