Huawei launches cutting-edge smartwatch in Barcelona

BARCELONA - A series of cutting-edge devices of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, including a new smartwatch, made their world debut in Barcelona, Spain, on Thursday.

On the 10th anniversary of Huawei's entry into the wearable sector, the company unveiled its new "Wearable Strategy", saying it wants to introduce a new era of wearable devices focusing on the conjunction of style, health and sport under the slogan "Fashion Forward."

Attending the launch of the Watch GT 4 range were fitness and lifestyle influencer Pamela Reif and long-distance running legend Mo Farah, who will promote the new smartwatches as Huawei Wearable Product Ambassadors.

The multiple Olympic, world and European champion, Farah told Xinhua that he would have loved to have had all the information provided by the smartwatch when he was winning medals and breaking records as a long-distance runner.

"It links into Strava (a feature-rich platform for athletes) and all your databases, for your coach, for yourself, and you can improve on things," he said.

The Watch GT 4 is the latest generation of the company's flagship Watch GT series. It features a host of health and fitness functionalities, such as improved heart rate sensing technology to offer more accurate results, or a feature that helps predict menstrual cycles.

The Watch GT 4 also aims to break new ground in the smartwatch sector with a strong focus on style and design, offering a range of innovative designs for a variety of tastes in both men's and women's sizes.

"You can see the watch face that blossoms every step you make, so if you move fast, if you move more, the flower will blossom more and this is a unique feature of the Huawei watch," Cezar Codau, a Huawei training manager, told Xinhua while showing off a female version of one of the watches.

A new fitness feature of the GT 4 watch is the Activity Rings, Huawei's version of the Rings feature on the Apple Watch or Move Minutes on Android devices, which uses a circular ring functionality to track and display the wearer's exercise and movement goals.

Huawei says that in Europe and the United Kingdom, the watch will be available from major retailers from Oct 4, with the cheapest models starting at around 250 euros ($266.6) and increasing to around 400 euros for the most expensive versions.

Huawei also unveiled the Watch Ultimate Gold Edition, the firm's first-ever gold smartwatch; the high-fidelity FreeBuds Pro 3 TWS earbuds; the Eyewear 2 smart glasses; and a PaperMatte version of its MatePad tablet that provides a paper-like visual experience.