About a month ago, I tested the Redmi Watch 4, and I was a little disappointed with it, because its functions are pretty much the same as the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro fitness bracelet. You know, I expected something more from a smartwatch.
Now, I have another watch, but from the Honor company. It looks very similar to the Redmi Watch 4, including the name, design, price, and even most functions.
However, the Honor Watch 4 has some features that are not available on the Redmi Watch 4, for example, built-in memory for storing music and the ability to connect earphones to the watch.
The other features of the Honor Watch 4 are 1.75” AMOLED display, Bluetooth Calling, built-in GPS and 14 days of battery life.
Next week I am going to do a side-by-side comparison of Honor and Redmi smartwatches, but for now let’s do a full review of the Honor Watch 4.
HONOR Watch 4 Global Version Original - Aliexpress
$93.79
Unboxing
Before unboxing, you should know that I have the global version of the Honor Watch 4. The Chinese version has a big advantage over the global one, namely e-SIM support. However, it only works in China. The global version supports Bluetooth calling, and we will test it out a little later in this article.
Inside the box, we have a smartwatch. I can already see that it has a smaller display than the Redmi Watch 4. We will come back to this later.
There is also a user manual, warranty and magnetic charging cable in the box.
Design
You know I don’t want to compare Honor Watch 4 and Redmi Watch 4 in this article. I will leave that for next time. Now, I just want to say that the Honor watch is more compact than the Redmi watch, and I really like that.
The size of the dial is 45 x 39 mm. The thickness is 11.2 mm. It is also a pretty lightweight watch – only 48 grams.
I think the Honor Watch 4 is great for people with thin wrists like mine.
We will come back to the screen a little later, but for now let’s take a look at the body and strap.
The new Honor smartwatch has a 6 series aluminum alloy middle-frame. There is a physical button and a big speaker on one side of the watch, and microphone hole on the other.
The back panel is coated with glass. Magnetic charging contacts and health tracking sensors are located here.
As you can see, the strap is removable. However, it has a unique attachment, so you cannot use any straps for this watch, only the original ones.
This strap is made of silicone rubber, and it reminds me a lot of the Apple Watch strap.
I didn’t want to compare Honor Watch 4 and Redmi Watch 4 in this article, but I should say that I like this strap better than the Redmi watch. It is soft, smooth and pleasant to the touch. It is very comfortable to wear.
In addition, the Honor Watch 4 has 5ATM Water Resistance level. It is suitable for swimming pools, seaside swimming and other shallow-water activities. However, you should take the watch off during underwater diving, hot showers, saunas, etc.
By the way, I forgot to tell you about the color. As you can see, I have the watch in black, but it is also available in gold, which looks very nice, doesn’t it?
Display
OK, now let’s go back to the display.
The Honor Watch 4 has a compact screen size of 1.75 inches, which is a big advantage for me. I don’t like big dials.
The screen resolution is 450 x 390 pixels. You know, the display is very high quality. I don’t see any problems with text or colors on it.
Since it is an AMOLED panel, the smartwatch has Always-On display mode. You can activate the Watch-face style option, and then the Always-On Display style will repeat the main watch face or set another default style.
There is also a Schedule available for the Always-on Display Mode.
Another feature of the Honor Watch 4 display is an ambient light sensor. You can go to screen brightness settings and select Auto. I believe this is a must-have feature for all smartwatches and fitness bracelets in 2024.
Functions
I think you have already noticed the smooth and fast interface of the Honor Watch 4. That’s because of the MagicOS 7.2 version.
You know, Honor smartphones also run on MagicOS, but I am not sure if it is the same system as on the watches. Anyway, I like how this operating system looks and works on the Honor Watch 4.
As usual, you can change the watch face by pressing and holding on the screen. There are 11 watch faces available out of the box, but you will find hundreds of other dials in the mobile app.
By the way, the watch faces support widgets, for example, you can tap on the phone to quickly jump to Bluetooth calling.
Then, you can swipe up to read new notifications.
Swiping down opens a menu with some functions such as settings, silent mode, do not disturb mode, volume, flashlight, alarms, battery saver mode, screen on, and clearing water. You can even change the order of these functions in the menu.
By swiping left and right, you can measure heart rate and stress level, check weather, control music, and see your daily activity. I think these widgets and their order can also be changed in the mobile app. We will check this later.
Finally, you can press the physical button on the side of the watch to open the menu with all functions. Here we have workout, workout records, workout status, fitness age, activity records, phone, music, heart rate, sleep, spO2, stress, breathing exercise, weather, alarm, stopwatch, timer, compass, flashlight, find phone and settings.
I have already shown some of the options in the settings menu, but let’s take a closer look at them.
Settings
First, we can connect the earphones to the smartwatch in the settings. This is one of the main features of the Honor Watch 4, but we will check it out a bit later.
Then, we have Watch face and Home menu. Here we can change the watch face, turn on Always-On Display mode and change the Home Style.
Remember I said, these widgets can be customized in the mobile app? They are actually customizable in the watch settings. You can change their order, as well as remove or add some of the functions.
Display and brightness settings include brightness, sleep time, screen on time, and raise to wake.
You can also change the volume and enable silent mode in the settings.
If you want to change the vibration power, then go to Haptics and choose Strong, Soft or Off.
There is also Do not disturb mode, Notifications, Battery, PIN, Workout Settings, System and About in the settings menu of the Honor Watch 4.
Honor Health App
You know, the Honor Watch 4 is a smartwatch, but you still need to connect it to the smartphone to use Bluetooth calling and other functions.
The app is called Honor Health.
Here you can track your sports achievements, such as steps, calories, sleep, heart rate, etc.
Workout modes and programs are also available in the app.
Finally, we can see the connected Honor Watch 4. There is the battery level of the smartwatch, as well as steps, calories and distance.
I have already told you that the Honor watch has many watch faces in the app.
The other functions in the Honor Health app are weather, alarm clock, notifications, health alert, find device, device settings, firmware update, restore factory settings and remove current device.
Bluetooth Calling
By the way, there is no Bluetooth calling in the app, because it automatically turns on when you connect the watch to your smartphone.
All contacts from your mobile device are automatically synchronized to the watch, so you can quickly select a contact and call them.
There is also a keypad available on the watch, so you can manually enter a phone number.
Finally, there is a Call log on the smartwatch with all incoming and outgoing calls.
During a phone call, you can see the contact’s name, phone number, mute the microphone, as well change the volume and use the keypad.
Built-in Memory and Music
One of the main features of the Honor Watch 4 is 4GB of built-in memory for storing and listening to music.
You can upload music from the Honor Health app, and then listen to it on the watch without connecting to your smartphone. This is very convenient during running or other sports activities.
However, please note that you can only upload music from your Android smartphone. I tried to do this on my iPhone and there is no Music management in the app.
Earphones
You know, I told you the earphones could be connected to the smartwatch to listen to music. But I have a problem with that. The earbuds are really connected to the watch, but music doesn’t play from them. You can even use gestures on the earbuds to stop and start music, but there is just no sound.
I tried with Android and iOS devices connected, and still no music played from the earphones.
What is the use of connected earphones if you cannot listen to music? You cannot answer phones calls with earbuds as well.
If you have the Honor Watch 4, and you can listen to music through the earphones, please, write in the comments below.
Heart rate and SpO2
Now let’s talk about the sports functions of the Honor Watch 4.
First, I want to measure my heart rate.
I have noticed one thing here. When my hand is on the table, my heart rate is around 80-85 beats per minute, but if I raise my arm, it goes up to 105 bpm. In general, when I stand and measure my heart rate, it is higher than when I sit, but I am in the same relaxed state.
As for the spO2, it is 99%.
Unfortunately, the smartwatch doesn’t have a blood pressure monitor.
Workout Modes
The Honor Watch 4 also has 12 workout modes, such as running, walking, cycling, swimming and others, as well as 13 running courses and 12 fitness courses.
The smartwatch has a built-in GPS, so you don’t need a smartphone when you are working out.
When the sport mode is started, you can see the duration of the workout, your heart rate, pace, distance, steps, cadence, calories, and training stress.
You can also control the music, track your movement on the map, and check the weather.
By the way, I am shooting article in my studio right now, and I don’t go anywhere. However, the watch shows that I have walked 210 meters. How is that possible?
When we finish the workout, we see a route map. What is the map if I haven’t moved beyond my desk? It is very strange.
The Honor Watch 4 reports that I walked 370 meters, but the watch was just lying on the table. The average speed was 1.06 km per hour. However, I only took 2 steps. How is that possible?
In the next article, we will compare the walking modes on the Honor Watch 4 and Redmi Watch 4, but I highly doubt the Honor smartwatch can be trusted.
Battery
Finally, the battery of the Honor Watch 4 has a capacity of 451mAh. The battery life is about 14 days with normal usage.
With more active use, such as frequent GPS use, Always-on Display enabled, etc., the smartwatch will last from 7 to 10 days.
Conclusion
So, I had very high hopes for the Honor Watch 4 because it has some features that are not available on Redmi Watch 4 and other fitness watches such as built-in memory for storing music, earphones connection, and built-in GPS.
Yes, you can upload music to the watch, but only using an Android smartphone, not iPhone.
The earphones are connected to the smartwatch, but music is not playing. Thus, I can listen to music on the watch only through the built-in speaker, which is not very convenient.
In addition, I don’t really trust the heart rate monitor because it shows different results when I am sitting and standing.
As for the GPS, that is the weirdest thing about the Honor Watch 4 because the watch counts distance even when it is just lying on the table. This is probably the most inaccurate GPS on the watch I have ever seen.
However, the Honor Watch 4 does have some pros, such as a nice compact design with a metal frame, high-quality AMOLED display with ambient light sensor and Always-On mode support, fast and smooth MagicOS interface, Bluetooth calling, and long battery life.
In the next article, we will compare the Honor Watch 4 and Redmi Watch 4, so subscribe to our channel Tech Brothers.
HONOR Watch 4 Global Version Original - Aliexpress
$93.79
You can also watch our video about Honor Watch 4 on YouTube:
Discussion about this post