Honor Watch 6 Review: Smartwatch Staying Power

Finest Costs As we speak: Honor Watch 6

The Honor Watch 6 is the agency’s newest flagship smartwatch, providing you with one of the best it has to supply in wrist-based smarts. That features as much as 35-day battery life, NFC funds and extra well being and sports activities options packed right into a design comprised of premium supplies.

Honor’s smartwatches have typically been let down by the software program that knits all the things collectively. Working example, the Honor Watch 5 Extremely. Whereas the Watch 6 has a formidable specs sheet and is out there at a value to compete with the likes of the Apple Watch SE and Huawei’s GT and Watch Match sequence, does it ship to be thought-about probably the greatest mid-range smartwatches to purchase?

I’ve been testing it out on my wrist for the final couple of weeks to seek out out.

Design & Construct

• Two color choices
• Makes use of aluminium and chrome steel
• IP69 and 5ATM waterproof rankings

Like Honor’s different wearables, the Watch 6 is out there in only one measurement. That’s a 46.5mm case, making it larger than the biggest out there Google Pixel Watch 4. It’s not a smartwatch that screams unisex, measuring in at 10.8mm thick and weighing wherever from 41g to 50g based mostly on which mannequin you go for.

As you’ll be able to see, it seems huge on my small wrist.

Mike Sawh

There are simply two color choices. The twilight brown model I examined or shadow black. In case you choose a extra understated, conventional watch-style look, then that’s what the Watch 6 offers you. In case you’re hoping for one thing a bit completely different, there’s different smartwatches that gives you that.

Relying on which mannequin you go for, you’re getting a predominantly metal design or a mixture of aluminium and chrome steel. It ensures that you just’ve bought one thing that feels strong and may deal with a bump or two. 

Honor locations two bodily buttons on the aspect of the case. It’s just about the button setup you discover on most smartwatches. That’s a rotating crown on the high that may scroll via menu screens with a flatter button down under that provides fast entry to exercise monitoring out of the field.

You’ll be able to choose it up with both a fluoroelastomer or brown leather-based strap, which is detachable. I’d say that whereas the leather-based strap was comfy to put on and stayed securely in place, it’s not a leather-based strap that screams top quality, both. It prices extra, so have a assume earlier than you order.

Whereas it seems like a watch that doesn’t belong within the water, Honor ensures it may be submerged for a time period. 5ATM and IP69 waterproof rankings imply you’ll be able to go for a dip within the sea or the pool. Simply be sure you eject the water when prompted when monitoring swims.

Display screen & Audio 

• 1.46-inch AMOLED show
• As much as 3000 nits brightness
• Speaker included for Bluetooth calls

The display you’ll be staring down at is a good-sized 1.46-inch, matching the big measurement of the watch case. It’s an AMOLED panel with a crisp 464 x 464 decision.

The Honor Watch 6 affords wealthy colors and with a peak brightness of 3000 nits, it will probably go as vivid as among the brightest smartwatches. There’s some black bezel across the display to cope with, which fortunately doesn’t eat an excessive amount of into the show. 

Mike Sawh

You could have the power to make telephone calls over Bluetooth with the onboard speaker, additionally letting you play loaded music out loud. In each eventualities, the Watch 6 affords loads of quantity to assist in louder environments. The decision high quality and readability are sturdy, guaranteeing these on the opposite finish don’t sound like a muffled mess.

Software program & Options

• Works with Android and iOS
• Contactless funds by way of Mastercard
• Can pair two telephones without delay

The Watch 6 works with each Android telephones and iPhones and runs on Honor’s MagicOS working system.

You might want to obtain the Honor Well being app to set issues up, which unsurprisingly shares lots of the identical consumer interface traits as Huawei’s Well being app. That’s as a result of Honor was a part of Huawei.

Mike Sawh

That extends to the watch software program, which is simple to get round and has the texture of Huawei’s LiteOS working system. You’ve bought good huge widgets that fill the watch display, a spot to view telephone notifications and assist for animations if you’ve hit an exercise monitoring milestone or use one of many animated watch faces.

My watch has been a bit buggy in testing, with the display turning itself off randomly or disconnecting from the app, however normally, it’s been a stress-free watch to make use of.

The watch faces out there aren’t probably the most memorable bunch to select from. There’s a mixture of analogue and digital-style ones, with every indicating how energy hungry they’ll be in the event you select to make use of them. I simply want there have been a number of that basically stood out.

Exterior of the smartwatch options norm, the Watch 6 options NFC to allow contactless funds by way of Mastercard particularly. Nonetheless, this characteristic wasn’t turned on or out there throughout my testing.

There are some extras like a voice recorder that may generate summaries utilizing AI, plus the power to pair two telephones on the identical time to obtain notifications from each smartphones.

Health & Monitoring 

• 122 sports activities modes
• Physique power and health age insights
• Dynamic blood strain monitoring not out there in Europe

Honor throws quite a bit in right here so far as well being and health options are involved. On the well being entrance, there isn’t something that carries any form of regulatory-level approval. In case you’re in Europe, you miss out on the brand new dynamic blood strain monitoring.

What you are able to do is observe your coronary heart fee, SpO2 ranges and carry out a 60-second measurement to measure a number of well being information factors on the identical time. Honor can provide suggestions based mostly on that information, like suggesting going for a stroll based mostly if metrics counsel you’ve not been very energetic.

Mike Sawh

You’re having access to 122 sports activities modes and that now contains richer assist for soccer and badminton, with an AI-powered working coach now at your disposal.

Although I’d say this AI coach was a bit extra primary than others I’ve come throughout on different smartwatches. Out of doors monitoring is boosted by the inclusion of dual-band GPS, providing you with the newest in superior GPS positioning expertise – in concept, anyway, extra on this under.

As an exercise tracker, I discovered each day step rely totals fairly far off from two dependable trackers I wore alongside it. It might be as many as 1,000-2,000 steps extra. It carried out significantly better as a sleep tracker, the place it recorded related core stats like time slept and sleep levels in comparison with two different sleep trackers.

Mike Sawh

In case you care about coronary heart fee monitoring, the each day coronary heart fee ranges recorded felt somewhat off. Particularly with the wildly excessive most readings recorded in the course of the day. I noticed extra dependable information for on-the-spot measurements and through steady-paced train classes.

I used the Watch 6 for a spread of exercises, together with runs, indoor rides, rows and pool swims and normally, I discovered the monitoring to be high-quality. I didn’t get the superb dual-band GPS efficiency I’ve skilled on different dual-band watches. Particularly ones from Apple and Garmin.

There are extra workout-related options to faucet into right here, like the power to carry out lactate threshold assessments to evaluate health ranges. You’ll be able to see how your health age modifications (or doesn’t) based mostly on logged exercises and test your newest VO2 Max estimate. Given the blended accuracy proven by the onboard sensors, I noticed these insights extra as prompts versus being definitive steerage on how and when you must practice.

Battery Life & Charging

• As much as 35 days battery life
• As much as 17 days battery life in smartwatch mode 
• Can take as much as 2 hours to completely cost

The Honor Watch 6 options a formidable 980 mAh capability battery that Honor says can max out at as much as 35 days. That’s the most battery life in the event you’re keen to forgo utilizing lots of its options like steady well being monitoring, holding the display good and vivid or streaming music frequently.

A extra correct quantity is that it will probably get to round 17 days when utilizing its smartwatch options extra often, however that’s nonetheless probably the greatest of any smartwatch, particularly when so many nonetheless solely provide one or two days.

I discovered the Watch 6 may comfortably final per week and had the potential to go for an additional. I did need to finally put the facility saving mode into play and that did push issues additional with out having to ditch options like viewing notifications or nonetheless monitoring exercises.

If you do must cost it, there’s a proprietary charging cradle to try this. I discovered it may take couple of hours to cost it. I’ve undoubtedly seen snappier charging smartwatches in and across the identical value because the Watch 6.

Value & Availability

The Honor Watch 6 formally went on sale on 18 June 2026 and you may choose it up for £229 if the rubber strap is okay, in any other case the leather-based choice is £249.

Nonetheless, Honor is providing the Watch 6 for £149.99 or £169.99, respectively, till 17 July and also you additionally get a free pair of Honor Selection Earbuds Clip.

That does imply the Watch 6 is roughly about £100 greater than the Honor Watch 5. It additionally means it’s competing with watches just like the Apple Watch SE 3 (£219), the Huawei Watch GT 6 (£229) and the Xiaomi Watch 5 (£269).

Take a look at our checklist of one of the best smartwatches to see our present high 10 suggestions.

Must you purchase the Honor Watch 6?

The Honor Watch 6 does a superbly cheap job as a smartwatch, whether or not you’re an iPhone or Android consumer. It feels well-made, the software program runs fairly nicely and there are many options to make use of.

It’s simply not a smartwatch that I placed on and really feel Honor had made one thing particular. I believe you do get that feeling with smartwatches just like the Huawei Watch Match 5 Professional or the Apple Watch SE 3.

If you examine the Watch 6 to watches like these, it reveals you what’s succesful. Sure, there are some traits that make the Watch 6 a greater watch to dwell with, particularly battery life.

Nonetheless, if you have a look at your complete expertise, these rival watches and others in the identical value bracket simply provide a extra full package deal.

Specs

• 46.5mm case
• 10.8mm thick 
• 1.46-inch AMOLED display
• IP69 water and dirt resistance
• 980mAh battery
• 4GB RAM
• Bluetooth 5.4
• NFC
• Appropriate with Android (9.0 or above), iOS (15.1 or above)