Huawei has confirmed that its first Android Wear-based smartwatch is available to pre-order in the US from today – but more excitingly, the company has confirmed that the newest version of Android Wear is compatible with iOS devices, which is a huge step forward for Google’s wearable OS.
Huawei says the Watch will go on sale in Canada, Germany, France, Spain and Italy “this month” and will be available in the UK, Japan and UAE in October.
The device has a 1.4-inch AMOLED display (400 x 400 pixels) and comes with a choice of strap – leather, stainless steel link strap or stainless steel mesh strap – that will dictate the overall weight. The heaviest (the link strap) comes in at 131 grams, but the leather weighs less than half of that at 61 grams.
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Battery life is claimed to be around a day and a half (allowing for 32 ‘active’ hours and 8 sleeping hours) and will charge from flat in 75 minutes. We will, of course, have to wait until we can test a model out for ourselves before we can verify these claims.
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Pricing is variable and depends on which model you choose. Huawei says that all models cost between €399 (around $450) and €699 (around $785) though, which sounds like its aimed squarely at the ‘premium’ end of the market and will go up directly against the Apple Watch.
Most excitingly, it’s the first smartwatch we know of to ship with the version of Android Wear that allows connections with iPhones as well as Android devices. Presumably, it won’t be the last though. That might not be quite as good a thing as it first sounds, but it’s nice to have the option.
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