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Honor’s New MagicWatch 2 Is Stiff Competition to Fitbit Versa

The Honor MagicWatch 2 borrows similar design elements from the Huawei Watch GT 2.

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Tech Reviews
4 min read
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Huawei might not be having the best time right now but its sub-brand Honor is making sure the company stays in prominence in the market. Which is why it has focused on making affordable phones and smartwatches.

The company recently launched the Honor MagicWatch 2 which offers the benefit of a fitness device, with the elegance of a smartwatch. We’ve been intrigued by the fact Honor has launched this product at competitive price of Rs 12,999, allowing the brand take on the bigger players like FitBit and even Fossil.

So what makes the Honor WatchMagic 2 a worthy competitor in the fitness accessories market? Let’s take a look.

Snapshot

Pros

  • Good battery life
  • Multiple fitness tracking modes
  • Waterproof

Cons

  • Attracts smudges
  • No support for third-party apps
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What’s Good?

The standout feature of MagicWatch 2 is the battery life which is mightily impressive. The company claims it can last 14 days on a single charge and it almost got me to the finish line by lasting for 12 days.

The Honor MagicWatch 2 borrows similar design elements from the Huawei Watch GT 2.
The Honor MagicWatch 2 is waterproof.
(Photo: The Quint)

What saved the extra battery is the fact that I had switched off the always-on display feature. Because if you enable it, the battery dropped drastically and lasting me for just 7 days which still isn’t bad.

It packs a bevy of fitness tracking applications bundled with 13 different ‘running courses’ which are perfect for people who are into marathon running. Apart from that, it offers different types of running programs and also recommends post-workout recovery exercises.

The Honor MagicWatch 2 borrows similar design elements from the Huawei Watch GT 2.
The Honor MagicWatch 2 offers 13 different fitness tracking modes.
(Photo: The Quint)
The watch’s fitness tracking capabilities are intricate and granular which means you’ll get specific details of each workout and even extensive data on how you sleep. It also notifies you when you have been sitting idle at a spot for too long.

On top of that, it also monitors your stress and heart rate levels which is a good feature to have in this price segment.

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The watch comes with in-built GPS which is fairly accurate, making sure you don’t have to carry your phone around for an evening jog.

It comes with a built-in microphone and speaker which lets you attend and make calls from the watch, not that I used the feature a lot. Having said that, you need to connect the watch to the phone via Bluetooth for this feature to work.

The MagicWatch 2 sports a 1. 39-inch AMOLED display which is vibrant and texts are clearly visible even under direct sunlight. That’s 800 NITs of brightness for you.

The Honor MagicWatch 2 borrows similar design elements from the Huawei Watch GT 2.
It also a offers stress level meter.
(Photo: The Quint)

Though there aren’t many watch faces available with the MagicWatch 2, Honor does give you an option to download more from its native app and you can also set one of your gallery images as the MagicWatch 2 home screen wallpaper. This was one of my most favourite feature of the watch.

The interface has been kept clean and navigating the watch UI is a breeze.

The MagicWatch 2 sits comfortably on the wrists however it has a big body and might not look good on smaller hands. The silicone straps stay put on the wrist which is great for workouts but the watch tends to slip a lot because of the sweat.

It is also waterproof for up to 50m which means you can use it while swimming and it also covers open-water swimming as well.

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What’s Bad?

The metallic body attracts a lot of smudges and dust which sticks to the crevices and enters gaps, making it tough to clean the watch.

I felt the audio workout companion was a bit loud and it’s something I can do without. There are times it activates automatically but you can always turn that off.

Connectivity to the GPS to track activities takes some time which can delay your workout routine. I had a hard time shuffling songs on the watch as there was a delay every time I tried shuffling between tracks.

The Honor MagicWatch 2 borrows similar design elements from the Huawei Watch GT 2.
The watch comes with a magnetic charger. 
(Photo: The Quint)

I am not a big fan of the magnetic charging dock. It tends to slip from the connectors at times, which tends become annoying after a while.

Also, worth nothing that it doesn’t support any third-party applications which becomes a restriction to explore beyond what’s already on offer.

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Verdict

The Honor MagicWatch 2 is a complete smartwatch with the extra ingredients that make it a good fitness companion which can be worn as a regular smartwatch as well.

At Rs 12,999, it presents stiff competition to the Fitbit Versa 2 and even the Fossil Gen 5 that runs of the WearOS.

If you’re serious about fitness, are into a lot of running activities and want a smartwatch bundled in the package then the Honor MagicWatch 2 is an ideal option.

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

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