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Apps
- A growing number of apps are available
- Several useful fitness apps come pre-installed
Google Play is pretty well populated with Android Wear apps now, there are big names like WhatsApp, Endomondo, Tinder, and IFTTT to name a few. Let's put it this way, if you need to do something on your Android Wear smartwatch, there's probably an app for it.
Having said that, Android Wear still lags behind the Apple Watch in terms of top quality, big name apps.
The preinstalled Google apps are fairly standard, Calendar, Hangouts, Maps, and Google Fit.
Huawei has also pre-installed three fitness focused apps named 'Heart Rate', 'Fitness Tracking' and 'Daily Tracking'. They're nicely designed applications, and I could see myself using them in the long term, but fitness enthusiasts may want to look elsewhere.
Compatibility
- Works with both Android and iOS
- iOS compatibility isn't perfect
Just like all of the most recent Android Wear smartwatches, the Huawei Watch is compatible with Android smartphones and iOS devices running iOS 9 or higher.
iOS compatibility is more limited than Android, but you can still do a lot, including downloading apps, getting notifications on your wrist, and you can even use Google Assistant.
There are some limitations though, for example you won't be able to reply to iMessages on your wrist.
As such, using an Android Wear smartwatch with an iPhone is no substitute for an Apple Watch yet. Eventually, Apple might open its APIs further to allow deeper integration with iPhone apps, but considering they want to sell as many Apple Watches as possible, you shouldn't hold your breath.
