HONOR Watch 6 review: A solid smartwatch, but it lacks the wow factor.

HONOR Watch 6: Design and workmanship

I tested the HONOR Watch 6 in Twilight Brown. Visually, the watch makes a good first impression. The design is simple, not too playful, and not overly focused on sports. This makes it suitable for various everyday situations. It looks neither like a pure fitness watch nor like an overloaded tech gadget. I particularly appreciate this understated design.

The Twilight Brown version features a 316L stainless steel case. The back is made of durable polymer. This gives the watch a more premium look at first glance than many simple plastic models. The Shadow Black variant is slightly lighter and combines an aluminum case frame with a stainless steel bezel. The higher-quality materials are definitely noticeable on the brown test unit. The watch weighs approximately 50 grams without the strap.

The HONOR Watch 6 is comfortable to wear on the wrist. While its 46,5 mm diameter initially sounds quite large, the watch doesn't appear overly bulky in everyday use. The thickness is also well-judged. HONOR specifies 10,8 mm, but this measurement is taken at the thinnest point and doesn't include the sensor area. This is important to note, as the sensor housing also rests on the wrist. Despite this, the watch doesn't feel uncomfortably thick and is comfortable to wear even at night during sleep tracking.

The buttons are neatly integrated into the casing. The top button also controls the crown's rotation, allowing you to scroll through menus and lists. I have no complaints about the overall build quality, but one thing does bother me: the leather strap. Even after two weeks on my wrist, it still feels quite stiff and doesn't conform to the wrist as smoothly as I would expect from a high-quality leather strap. You can practically feel that only the outer layer is leather, while the inside is made of a different material, probably cardboard.

It's also a shame that HONOR doesn't provide any information about the type of watch crystal used. Since sapphire crystal is usually actively advertised, it's safe to assume that it's not used here. However, no scratches appeared on the display during the two-week test. On the plus side, the watch is IP69 certified and water-resistant up to 5 ATM, meaning it can be worn while swimming.

HONOR Watch 6: Display

The HONOR Watch 6 uses a 1,46-inch AMOLED display with 464 x 464 pixels and 317 ppi. The display is sharp, colors are vibrant, and content is easy to read. Watch faces, workout data, notifications, and health metrics are displayed clearly. The size is well-chosen, providing ample space for information without making the watch appear excessively large on the wrist.

In everyday use, the display is one of the Watch 6's strengths. Touch operation is reliable. Swipe gestures up, down, left, and right are accurately recognized. Tapping and long presses also work flawlessly. The display can be activated with a classic wrist movement, or alternatively, an always-on display is available, keeping the time and other information permanently visible.

HONOR specifies a peak brightness of up to 3.000 nits. While such values ​​aren't consistently maintained in every situation, the display remains easily readable outdoors and in direct sunlight. However, the slightly reflective glass surface can somewhat impair readability depending on the viewing angle and ambient light.

Another useful feature is the water touch control. This allows the display to be easily operated even in rain, with sweat, or with wet hands.

HONOR Watch 6: Operation and OS

The HONOR Watch 6 is easy to use. The top crown provides access to the app menu and allows you to scroll through content. The second button can be used for quick access. In addition, there are the familiar swipe gestures on the display. Everything works smoothly and without much of a learning curve. The watch is quite responsive. Menus open quickly, health data is readily available, and workouts can be started without any hassle.

However, it's important to be aware that the Watch 6 has its own ecosystem and therefore functions differently than a Wear OS smartwatch. Essentially, it uses the features provided by HONOR. This is perfectly adequate for notifications, health data, and activity tracking.

However, anyone who likes to install additional apps or wants to get more out of their smartwatch will quickly notice the limitations. It's a shame that, despite the long gap since previous HONOR watches, the watch hardly feels new. After several years, I would have expected more development and new ideas.

HONOR Watch 6: Features

HONOR Health App

The HONOR Health app (Android and iOS) serves as the central hub for the Watch 6. Health data, training metrics, sleep analysis, device settings, and watch faces are easily accessible. Its user-friendly interface allows for quick and easy navigation without a lengthy learning curve.

The selection of watch faces is large, ranging from simple to more eye-catching designs. However, the presentation within the app is less successful. Free and paid watch faces are often displayed together, meaning you frequently only see whether a design requires payment after opening it.

Health functions

The Watch 6 offers the usual range of health features, including heart rate monitoring, SpO₂, sleep tracking, stress measurement, HRV, and other health metrics. However, an ECG is not included.

I find the body energy display particularly interesting, as it combines exertion and recovery into a single value. While the feature isn't new and is familiar from Garmin, Amazfit, and other manufacturers, HONOR has implemented it well. Since I closely monitor my health data due to pre-existing medical conditions, I pay close attention to such metrics. In my tests, the Watch 6's results were often close to those of other wearables I used concurrently and appeared plausible rather than embellished.

As with most smartwatches, the Watch 6 is not a medical device and does not replace medical examinations or diagnoses. However, it can still be a helpful tool for monitoring trends and changes; the data, particularly regarding sleep, recovery, and general stress, provides a good overview of one's daily condition.

Sleep tracking

The sleep tracking feature of the HONOR Watch 6 is clearly laid out and records sleep duration, sleep phases, and additional metrics. The app's presentation is easy to understand and not unnecessarily complicated. You quickly get an idea of ​​how restful your night was.

In the test, sleep times were reliably detected. The assessments of recovery also roughly matched my own perception. Of course, one must be cautious with sleep phases. No smartwatch detects deep sleep, REM sleep, or light sleep phases as precisely as a medical measurement system. Here, too, it's much more about trends and patterns.

Sports and training

The HONOR Watch 6 comes with over 120 sports modes, including classic activities like running, walking, cycling, and swimming, but also more specialized modes such as trail running, soccer, and badminton. In the more specialized modes like badminton, metrics such as smash speed and rally stats are recorded, while in soccer, heatmaps and running path analysis are the focus.

Additional features include an AI running coach, outdoor tracking, elevation and distance data, route deviation alerts, lactate threshold heart rate, posture analysis, and 3D distance measurement. However, specialized sports watches from Garmin, Polar, or COROS offer even more in-depth features.

For location tracking, HONOR relies on dual-band GPS (L1+L5) and support for multiple satellite systems. Positioning was quick in our tests, and route recording during outdoor activities was accurate without significant deviations. All collected training data can be synchronized with the Health app at the end of a workout or transferred externally to Strava and Google Health Connect.

Telephony and NFC

 Phone calls are possible via the integrated microphone and speaker, provided the watch is connected to the smartphone. This works quite well for short calls, especially when the smartphone isn't readily available.

 NFC is present, as is often the case with closed ecosystems, but Google Wallet is not supported. Instead, HONOR uses the payment service provider Fidesmo Pay, which in Germany only supports a few select banks, such as Sparda, Consors, and Volksbanken. At the time of testing, the payment function was not yet integrated but is expected to be added via an update in July.

HONOR Watch 6: Battery life

HONOR has installed a 980 mAh battery and claims a runtime of up to 35 days in long-term mode or up to 17 days with typical use. For my test, continuous heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, stress measurement, notifications, and other health features were permanently activated.

Under these conditions, the battery life was around 14 days, which is significantly higher than what most WearOS watches deliver.