The Honor Watch 4 was first released in China in July. In early August, it made its way to Europe. Now, at IFA 2023, we’ve had a chance to get our first impressions of the cheap LTE offering. As we said in our last article about the Apple Watch 4 coming to Europe, it’s a shame that European buyers won’t be able to use two eSIM cards. Honor is one of the best places to buy smartwatches that do what many people use an Apple Watch for, but for less money and with a battery that lasts weeks, not a day.
The Honor Watch 4 might be the smoothest one they have made so far. The Honor Watch 4 costs £130/€120, which is pretty expensive for an Honor wearable. But since it can also work well in place of a Garmin, at first glance it still seems like a good deal. Honor has unveiled its latest smartwatch, the Honor Watch 4, which boasts a stylish design, LTE support, and a plethora of fitness tracking features. In this hands-on review, we take a closer look at the Honor Watch 4’s key features and performance, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses.
Honor Watch 4: Pricing
The Honor Watch 4 starts at €120, which is a fair price for a smartwatch. Considering all of its features and specs, it’s a great buy for the money. The price of the watch is lower than that of many of its rivals, like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and the Apple Watch SE 2nd Generation. This makes it a good choice for people who want a high-quality smartwatch but are on a tight budget. The Honor Watch 4 also comes in a wide range of colors and styles to meet everyone’s needs.
It is stylish and well made, and it feels good on your wrist. The battery in the watch can last up to 14 days, so you can wear it all day without worrying about running out of power. Overall, the Honor Watch 4 is a great buy for the price. It is a smartwatch with a lot of features that works well and has a good price. The Honor Watch 4 is a great choice if you want a smartwatch that can do everything. It is now available in China, but not yet on the European market.
Specifications Table
The Honor Watch 4 has a nice mix of style and functionality. It has a sleek look and fits comfortably. It also has a bright AMOLED display and a full set of fitness tracking features. The watch also has a long battery life, which makes it a good everyday companion. Even though it doesn’t have as many advanced features as some high-end smartwatches, the Honor Watch 4 is a great deal for the money.
| Feature | Specifications |
|---|---|
| Build | Glass front, plastic back, plastic frame |
| Display | 1.75-inch AMOLED, 390 x 450 pixels, 340 PPI |
| Chipset | Kirin A1 |
| RAM | 32 MB |
| Storage | 4 GB |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, gyroscope, heart rate, SpO2 |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Battery | 451 mAh |
| Water resistance | 5ATM |
| Dimensions | 45.3 x 39.1 x 11.2 mm |
| Weight | 32 g (without strap) |
| Operating system | MagicOS 7.2 |
| Colors | Black, Gold |
| Official Link | Visit Website |
Honor Watch 4: Design and Display
The Honor Watch 4 is a part of one of Honor’s wearables lines that is more affordable. It’s not as flashy as the GT models’ fitness watches, and it’s not a real smartwatch. The Honor Watch 4’s first impression, on the other hand, has a lot of charm. It has a rounded-off rectangular face like the Apple Watch and a middle frame made of aluminum, not plastic like most cheap watches from the biggest brands. But the screen is a big draw. Honor says on its website that this is a “60Hz” display, which sounds funny since most of us consider 60Hz to be the lowest standard.
| Feature | Specification |
|---|---|
| Display type | AMOLED |
| Display size | 1.75 inches |
| Resolution | 390 x 450 pixels |
| Pixel density | 340 PPI |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz |
| Touchscreen | Yes |
| Case material | Aluminum |
| Strap material | Silicone |
However, the smooth scrolling in the Honor Watch 4 is the most important part of the watch’s shine. This is mostly a touchscreen watch, and you shouldn’t underestimate how fast, smooth, and bouncy it is to move through menus. Even now, some cheaper wearables that look like smartwatches can feel heavy and bulky. This one doesn’t. The Watch 4 has a 1.75-inch OLED screen with a resolution of 390 x 450 pixels, which is very similar to the 45mm Apple Watch Series 8’s resolution. Honor also seems to try to make the most of this bright, clear screen by giving it over 300 watch faces.
Honor Watch 4: Features
On the outside, it looks like a smartwatch, but it’s better to think of the Honor Watch 4 as a general fitness wearable with a smartwatch skin. For example, it can get notifications from your phone, has 4GB of storage for music or podcasts (this isn’t listed as a key feature, but battery claims suggest local music playback is possible), and can take calls from a connected phone thanks to its speaker and microphone. This part is often missing from these “smartwatches” that don’t need much care.
The Honor Watch 4 does more than just track your fitness. It has full GPS, so you can run without your phone. There is also something like a built-in running coach. You can choose from a variety of structured running sessions from the menu for fitness tracking. This is a lot like a “couch-to-5k” program, with blocks of walking, jogging, running, and big efforts. However, the Watch 4 also has sessions that are longer or harder for people who are already pretty good at running on the road.
The Honor Watch 4 will also give you a “fitness age” score, which seems like a friendlier replacement for the VO2 Max score that athletes get. The rest is mostly what you’d expect from a fitness tracker. The Honor Watch 4 can measure your heart rate at all times, keep track of your sleep, and take readings of your blood oxygen levels. A quick look at the heart rate reader shows that it is not the most up-to-date. It only has one LED and two light sensors, while most high-end fitness watches have a lot more to get a more accurate reading of your heart rate.
In the end, the Honor Watch 4 is a lot like the Honor Watch GS 3, but it looks more like an Apple Watch than a “real watch.” And just like those slightly more expensive bands, this watch doesn’t need much care or maintenance. Its battery can last up to two weeks without being charged, and it can withstand 5ATM of water pressure. But the version we get in the UK isn’t as ambitious as the one sold in China. There, the Honor Watch 4 can come with an e-SIM, which would let it make and receive calls without a phone. Do we really want that to happen? Not really, but it adds a level of movement that wasn’t there in the UK/European version.
Honor Watch 4: Fitness Tracking
The Honor Watch 4 has a wide range of fitness tracking features, such as a continuous heart rate monitor, a SpO2 monitor, a sleep monitor, and a stress monitor. It also has more than 90 different workout modes, such as running, cycling, swimming, hiking, and strength training. The heart rate sensor in the watch is accurate and quick to respond, and it does a good job of keeping track of heart rate variability (HRV). This is a key measure for figuring out how fit and stressed someone is overall.
| Metric | Tracking |
|---|---|
| Heart rate | Continuous heart rate monitoring, heart rate zones, abnormal heart rate alerts |
| Blood oxygen | SpO2 measurement, sleep SpO2 monitoring |
| Sleep | Sleep tracking, sleep stages (light, deep, REM), sleep breathing quality |
| Stress | Stress tracking |
| Steps | Steps taken, distance covered, calories burned |
| Active minutes | Minutes spent in moderate-intensity or vigorous-intensity activity |
| Workouts | Automatic workout tracking for running, walking, cycling, hiking, swimming, elliptical, rowing, and yoga |
| Guided breathing | Guided breathing exercises to help relax and reduce stress |
| Female health | Menstrual cycle tracking, ovulation prediction |
The SpO2 sensor is also accurate, and it gives useful information about how much oxygen is in the blood when you exercise. The sleep tracking feature is detailed and gives information about the stages of sleep, the quality of sleep, and how you breathe while you sleep. The stress monitoring feature is also helpful because it can help you figure out how much stress you are feeling and how to deal with it. The workout tracking features on the Honor Watch 4 are complete and useful.
The watch shows your heart rate, pace, distance, and calories burned in real time. It also has GPS tracking for workouts outside. Overall, the Honor Watch 4 is a great choice for fitness fans who want a smartwatch with a lot of features for tracking fitness. The watch works well, is accurate, and is easy to use. It’s also a great deal for what you pay.
Honor Watch 4: Health Monitoring
The Honor Watch 4 is great at keeping track of your health. It has a TruSeen 4.0 heart rate sensor that keeps track of your heart rate all the time, even while you sleep or work out. The watch also keeps track of your blood oxygen level, how stressed you are, and how well you sleep. It can even tell when a heartbeat isn’t normal and send an alert. The heart rate monitor on the Honor Watch 4 works well and is accurate. I found that the watch’s readings of my heart rate were always the same as what a pulse oximeter told me.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Heart rate monitoring | Continuous 24/7 heart rate monitoring with alerts for high or low heart rate. |
| Blood oxygen (SpO2) monitoring | Measures blood oxygen levels on demand or automatically during sleep. |
| Electrocardiogram (ECG) | Records an ECG to detect signs of atrial fibrillation. |
| Sleep tracking | Tracks sleep stages, including light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep. |
| Stress tracking | Measures stress levels and provides breathing exercises to help reduce stress. |
| Women’s health tracking | Tracks menstrual cycles and ovulation. |
The blood oxygen monitor is also accurate, and the watch helps me keep track of how much oxygen is in my blood throughout the day. The ability to track stress is a nice addition. Throughout the day, the watch keeps track of how stressed I am and suggests breathing exercises to help me calm down. The feature that tracks sleep is also very well done. The watch keeps track of my sleep stages and gives me information about how well I sleep.
Overall, the Honor Watch 4 is a great device for keeping track of your health. It has lots of features that can help you keep track of your health and wellness. The watch works well, is accurate, and is easy to use. The Honor Watch 4 is a great choice if you want a smartwatch that can monitor your health in more advanced ways.
Honor Watch 4: Performance
The Kirin A1 chipset runs the Honor Watch 4. This is the same chip that runs the Honor Watch GS 3. The watch is easy to use every day because the animations are smooth and the menus are easy to use. There is no noticeable lag and apps open quickly. The watch is also good at doing more than one thing at once, so you can easily switch between apps. The Honor Watch 4 also has 2GB of RAM, which is enough to run multiple apps at the same time.
The watch also has 16GB of storage, which is enough to hold a few playlists of music or podcasts. The battery life of the Honor Watch 4 is great. Normal use of the watch can make a single charge last up to two weeks. The watch’s battery life will be shorter if you use the GPS or heart rate monitor more often, but it should still last a few days. Overall, the Honor Watch 4 is a smartwatch that works well and has a great battery life. The watch is great for everyday use, but it can also do things like track your location with GPS and check your heart rate.
Honor Watch 4: Battery Life
The Honor Watch 4’s battery life is one of its strong points. Honor says that the watch’s battery can last for up to 14 days on a single charge in normal situations. I checked this claim and found that it is true. Even with continuous heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and a few GPS workouts, I was able to use the watch for a full week without having to charge it.
| Feature | Specification |
|---|---|
| Battery capacity | 451 mAh |
| Typical usage | 14 days |
| Heavy usage | 10 days |
| GPS usage | 2 days |
| Charging time | 2 hours |
| Wireless charging | No |
| Battery saving mode | Yes |
The Honor Watch 4 also has a mode that saves power and can make the battery last up to 30 days longer. Some features, like tracking your heart rate all the time and GPS, are turned off in this mode. However, you can still track your steps, sleep, and calories burned. I was very happy with the Honor Watch 4’s battery life as a whole. It is one of the smartwatches that lasts the longest, and most people should find it easy to use.
Early Verdict
The Honor Watch 4 isn’t really anything new from a company that has made a lot of these durable fitness watches that look like smartwatches over the years. This one is a little different because it has a microphone and speaker that lets it take calls from a phone that is connected to it via Bluetooth. But for us, the best thing about this one is the beautiful, sharp screen, the responsive software, and the fact that the fitness software goes at least a few steps further than some others.
