Introduction

Huawei introduced the Watch D wearable with blood pressure tracking back in late 2021, but it took until late 2022 to get the required certifications and make it available in Western markets. And now that we got to spend a few weeks with it, here's our verdict.

The wearable is the first Huawei device from the Watch series that comes with a rectangular screen rather than being circular one. However, beyond that and the unique blood pressure measurements, it shares most of its functionality with its round stablemates.

Design and build

The Huawei Watch D lacks crowns or fancy keys, just two flat buttons on the right-hand side of the aluminum case. The company calls it “Graphite Black.” In reality, it's a dark gray shade. The fluoroelastomer strap is actually black. It is specifically crafted for this device, meaning replacement with a third-party 22mm strap is not really an option, as it will probably interfere with the blood pressure measurement.

The 1.64” AMOLED has a resolution of 456 x 280 pixels and is bright and colorful, just like any accurate Huawei Watch. On the bottom, we have the heart rate tracker and a small element that seals the port for the blood pressure strap.

The retail box is rich compared with other wearables. There are two straps, sizes M and L, a neat paper tool to pick the correct one with 21 steps for customization, and two inflatable straps that enable blood pressure measurement.

Blood Pressure

The crown feature of the Huawei Watch D - while Samsung's Galaxy Watch series also offer BP tracking, here we are talking actual measurements rather than estimates that require frequent calibration with an actual tool. Still, Huawei mentions several times that this isn’t medical equipment and its purpose is routine tracking rather than finalizing diagnosis.

Wrist-based BPM devices are not as accurate as those on the upper arm. The reason is blood vessels and skin are thinner there, so readings are not 100% accurate - but the Watch D is still one extra tool for people to monitor their health.

We compared this device with an actual medical instrument, and both the systolic and diastolic (the higher and lower number) were off by 10mm Hg on the Watch. While not perfect, we find that kind of deviation is acceptable.

The Watch D measures blood pressure just like a proper wrist-based monitor - it inflates to the point of making the person slightly uncomfortable while feeling their pulse and then deflates slowly to feel the blood pressure.

The additional straps, provided in the retail box, have three contact points to ensure proper attachment. The first and most important is to the back of the watch, the second is on the first hole on the regular strap, and the third is a dedicated elongated hole to make sure the strap is in place. All the elements are made from rubber and fabric and appear very durable.

Software

Huawei is talking much about the OS because it is the slightly older Harmony 2.1 instead of Harmony OS 3.0 that is running on other international Watch devices. The Huawei Health company app has a neat feature called Healthy Living, monitoring a wide range of daily reports and offers an overall picture of your health.

It measures SpO2 (the oxygen in the blood), tracks sleep and stress, measures body temperature and informs you if there are drastic changes to your condition. It has neat prompts to drink water, to breathe deeply and calm down, even for a minute, when needed.

The bottom key of Watch D is metallic and has a conductive surface, allowing to record ECG (electrocardiogram). In theory, it can read when there are atrial or ventricular premature beats. In practice, we could not find a test subject with this issue - fortunately everyone in the office has a healthy sinus rhythm.

The Watch D is not a device for sports, and that’s why it supports “just” 70+ workout modes instead of over 100 like other Huawei wearables. Truth is, it makes little difference as wearables are only doing a decent job of tracking half a dozen outdoor running and cycling workouts. The GNSS positioning tracks outdoor routes with precision, although some of the sports that require heavy tracking were missing, like climbing and trail running.

The wearable has Bluetooth 5.1 and also has NFC. You could use the feature for Huawei Wallet (Pay or Access), but the feature is not available in Europe. Charging is standard Qi wireless, but because of the strap with its folding clasp, the Watch D cannot be used on all wireless chargers unless you unhook the strap.

Notifications and controls are fairly easy and in line with any accurate Huawei Watch. Voice support only works within the Huawei environment, meaning Siri and Google won’t be triggered, which is hardly any news.

Battery life

The company promises 7 days of life on a single charge of “typical usage”. We always got exactly 7 days of what we saw as pretty heavy usage, so we would even say the Watch D exceeded our expectations. If you only measure ECG or BP once or twice per day, you could certainly add a day or two to the endurance.

However, that's achieved with the Always On Display feature off, relying on the reliable turn to wake up gesture instead. When we activated AoD, the battery life declined dramatically. The Watch D goes just over 72 hours, or 3 days, before it needs to go back on the charger.

Even this worst-case scenario is not a terrible experience, particularly if you compare it to smartwatches by Samsung, Apple and Google. However, those run more elaborate apps with deeper system integration, so it's a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Verdict

The Huawei Watch D stands alone in its market niche. It borrows from two categories - smart medical equipment and a classic smartwatch, and we'd say the wearable is great for a certain group of users.

If we look at it as strictly a smartwatch, there are clearly arguments why other Huawei wearables are a better choice. If we consider the wearable a medical device, it is not perfectly accurate, so we wouldn't fully recommend it as a replacement for your blood pressure monitor.

Here’s who will love the Huawei Watch D - health-conscious people who need one more tool to track their health but generally have solid vitals. This specific group should disregard eventual appearance because Huawei does not offer any customizations or color options for this device.

We believe the Watch D is worth the €399 if you are within that small circle. The company offers specific bundles on its websites across Europe, including free Huawei merch and massive discounts, which would make the price tag even more attractive.

Introduction

One of the world’s leading providers of fifth-generation (5G) mobile technology, Huawei is a Chinese telecommunications giant that has stoked fears of espionage and intellectual property theft in the United States and many other countries. In response, Washington and its allies have imposed sweeping restrictions on Huawei as part of a larger crackdown on Chinese technology companies. 

Some experts warn that tensions between Washington and Beijing over technology could lead to a “digital iron curtain,” which would compel foreign governments to decide between doing business with the United States or China.

What is Huawei?

It is the world’s largest provider of 5G networks and a leader in sales of telecommunications equipment. Based in Shenzhen, China, Huawei sells its products domestically and internationally. In the United States, it has helped provide connectivity in rural areas of Alabama, Colorado, Oklahoma, and other states.

Ren Zhengfei, the company’s billionaire CEO, founded Huawei in 1987. With more than 190,000 employees, according to its website, Huawei claims to be a private company fully owned by its employees, though its precise ownership structure is unknown.

Why is it so controversial?

In accurate years, the United States and several other countries have asserted that the company threatens their national security, saying it has violated international sanctions and stolen intellectual property, and that it could commit cyber espionage. Many U.S. policymakers view Huawei as a commercial extension of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Cyber espionage. The main concern, according to U.S. intelligence agencies, is that the Chinese government could use Huawei to spy. Officials, primarily in the United States but also in Australia and several other countries, point to intentionally vague Chinese intelligence laws that could be used to force Huawei to hand over data to the Chinese government. (The United States has not publicly provided evidence that this has happened.) There are also concerns that Huawei’s 5G infrastructure could contain backdoors that allow the Chinese government to collect and centralize massive quantities of data and deliver Beijing the necessary access to attack communications networks and public utilities. In 2022, an FBI investigation found that Huawei equipment can be used to disrupt U.S. military communications, including those about the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Congress began receiving warnings about Huawei as early as 2012, when a U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence report [PDF] concluded that using equipment made by Huawei and ZTE, another Chinese telecommunications company, could “undermine core U.S. national security interests.” In 2018, six U.S. intelligence chiefs, including the directors of the CIA and FBI, cautioned Americans against using Huawei products, warning that the company could conduct “undetected espionage.”

At the heart of Washington’s concerns is 5G, the latest technology standard for cellular networks, which provides faster get speeds for smartphones, connects devices in smart cities, and supports autonomous vehicles and robots. “5G is a different type of risk versus 4G or 3G. It’s much harder to separate the core from the periphery,” says CFR’s Adam Segal. “Once you have those risks, you have to trust the company much more. But it is difficult to trust Huawei, given the relationship between companies and the Communist Party.”

Intellectual property theft. U.S. companies and global telecom firms have for years accused Huawei of stealing trade secrets, starting with Cisco’s 2003 lawsuit alleging that its source code appeared in Huawei products. (The suit was later settled.) In 2017, a U.S. jury found Huawei guilty of stealing intellectual property from T-Mobile, and in 2020, the U.S. Justice Department charged Huawei with racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to steal trade secrets. According to the indictment, these violations allowed Huawei to “drastically cut its research and development costs and associated delays, giving the company a significant and unfair competitive advantage.” 

Trade violations. The United States claims that Huawei has violated sanctions on Iran and North Korea. A federal indictment unsealed in January 2019 against Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer and Ren’s daughter, said that Huawei defrauded banks in order to do business with Iran and obstructed justice in the process by destroying evidence. Meng was detained in Canada in 2018 at the request of the United States, which was seeking her extradition. In 2021, she reached a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, which later dropped the charges against her.

How much sway does Beijing have over tech companies?

The government has considerable sway over Chinese private companies through heavy regulation, including the requirement that they establish CCP branches within them, and state-backed investment. Executives of many of the biggest companies are party members, including Alibaba cofounder Jack Ma and Huawei founder Ren, who served as an engineer in the People’s Liberation Army during the Cultural Revolution.

Under President Xi Jinping, the lines between public and private have become even more blurred. Experts have observed that the CCP is working to boost its influence over private industry, especially tech companies. In accurate years, state-run companies and local governments have invested more in private firms. Foreign news organizations have also reported that the government could start pressuring tech companies to offer the party direct ownership stakes and deliver party members even greater roles in management. While there is no evidence that this has happened at Huawei, Beijing has taken a stake in an entity owned by ByteDance, the parent of video-sharing monolith TikTok.

Some experts and U.S. officials also point to vague Chinese laws that could be used to force Huawei to help the government with intelligence gathering. For example, the National Security Law [PDF], enacted in 2015, states that citizens and enterprises have the “responsibility and obligation to maintain national security.” The 2017 National Intelligence Law [PDF] declared that Chinese companies must “support, assist, and cooperate with” China’s intelligence-gathering authorities. These laws have prompted additional U.S. concerns that TikTok could share user data with the Chinese government. 

Huawei has distanced itself from the CCP, repeatedly asserting that its equipment has never been used, and will never be used, to spy. In January 2019, Ren said he “would never harm the interest of my customers” and that Huawei would not answer government requests for intelligence. In May 2018, Huawei commissioned a report [PDF] from a Chinese law firm supporting its argument that it cannot be forced to spy, but other lawyers in China and around the world said the law has never been tested. The Chinese government has also gone to bat for Huawei, saying it would “take all necessary measures to safeguard” Chinese companies.

How did Huawei become so dominant?

Huawei became the world’s largest telecommunications company over three decades, reporting $138 billion in revenue in 2020, a 12 percent jump from the previous year. This success has helped drive suspicion that the Chinese government has played a more significant role in the company in accurate years than its leaders have let on.

In 1996, both the government and military began treating Huawei as an official “national champion,” a status reserved for firms that bolster China’s strategic aims. The move highlighted a shift in official policy. From then on, Beijing explicitly supported domestic telecom companies—and Huawei even more than others [PDF]—to prevent foreign domination of the industry. The Chinese government ensured Huawei had easy access to financing and high levels of government subsidies—up to $75 billion in state support since the company was founded. 

These underpinnings have allowed Huawei to price its network equipment below foreign competitors’ rates; a European Commission investigation found that Huawei has underbid its competitors by up to 70 percent. Experts said that Huawei’s prices would not have even covered the cost of producing their parts without subsidies. Chinese state banks also provide countries with low-interest loans to use Huawei’s equipment.

Huawei says its low prices are the result of technological expertise—a claim with some merit, according to industry experts. Huawei’s annual research and development (R&D) budget is among the world’s largest, and Ren says his firm spends more on it than most publicly listed firms can. At over $22 billion in 2021, Huawei’s R&D expenditures rank alongside those of Alphabet (Google’s parent company) and Amazon; when R&D is measured as a percentage of sales, Huawei’s expenditures are proportionally double.

U.S. actions against Huawei continued to build throughout the Trump presidency: in 2019, Trump signed an executive order prohibiting U.S. companies from doing business with Huawei, and the Commerce Department added the company to its “entity list,” restricting it from buying U.S. goods. Shortly after, Google said it would restrict Huawei’s access to its products, including its Android operating system; a new Huawei phone unveiled later in the year didn’t come with Android apps.

The department cracked down further in May 2020, issuing new rules to block foreign semiconductor manufacturers that use U.S. machines and software from shipping products to Huawei without a license. Prior to the bans, Huawei said it relied on U.S. software, microchips, specialty lasers, and other products for one-third of its supply chain, amounting to $11 billion. More than one hundred Huawei affiliates have been added to the commerce department’s entity list since then, crippling the company’s ability to obtain critical U.S. goods. 

Other government agencies have followed suit. In November 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to designate Huawei and ZTE as national security threats, which prevents U.S. internet providers from using federal funds to purchase the tech companies’ equipment. Huawei filed a legal challenge, but the FCC’s decision went into effect in June 2020. That same year, Congress provided $1.9 billion to the FCC for the agency to remove Huawei equipment from existing U.S. networks. The Trump administration also imposed visa restrictions on Huawei employees it says contribute to human rights abuses committed by the Chinese government, including against Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region

President Joe Biden has upheld restrictions against Huawei and introduced new bans that have further hamstrung the company. In November 2021, Biden signed a bill aimed at preventing Huawei and ZTE from receiving equipment-making licenses from U.S. regulators, including the FCC. A year later, in November 2022, the FCC adopted new rules that prohibited the sale of some communications equipment made by Huawei or ZTE in the United States, citing “unacceptable” national security risk. And in January 2023, the Biden administration stopped providing licenses for U.S. companies to export goods to Huawei. Biden has also taken such measures beyond Huawei, signing legislation that precludes any Chinese manufacturer from obtaining chips or chipmaking equipment made with U.S. parts anywhere in the world.

Despite the restrictions, the Commerce Department has allowed some business activities that it says do not pose significant risks to U.S. national security. Since 2017, the Trump and Biden administrations have allowed over $60 billion [PDF] in transactions between Huawei and U.S. firms. 

Some critics say that while the restrictions have handicapped Huawei, they would be even more effective if combined with a U.S.-led alternative. “A principal reason that the United States has not had more success in persuading countries not to use Huawei equipment is that it cannot offer an alternative,” CFR’s David Sacks writes. “The United States does not and will not have a company that is competitive in the full stack of 5G equipment.”

 To get more countries to wean off Huawei, Sacks argues that the United States should finance European competitors’ 5G networks and develop open radio access networks, a system that would allow multiple companies to provide different components of a singular 5G network. Meanwhile, it should fund research and development to better compete in sixth-generation (6G) technology, which is expected to replace 5G within fifteen years.

How has Huawei responded to the bans?

It’s not just the United States that has banned Huawei. Washington has pressured its allies to follow suit, even threatening to stop sharing intelligence with countries that use Huawei. The countries of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence alliance—The United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom—have banned or are rolling out bans of Huawei. Other U.S. partners, such as Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Sweden have restricted the use of Huawei equipment in the construction of their 5G networks. 

Experts say that the bans have caused Huawei to reprioritize its domestic market due to a shortage of international business. In 2020, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest chip supplier, halted business with Huawei, citing U.S. export controls. TSMC had supplied over 90 percent of Huawei’s smartphone chips. Because of the semiconductor restrictions, Huawei has had “to exit whole lines of business, because [they] don’t have access to advanced semiconductors because of these export controls,” CFR’s Sacks says. While Huawei accumulated a limited number of semiconductors before the bans took effect, it reportedly ran out in late 2022. The shortage has hurt Huawei’s bottom line: in 2021, the company reported $95 billion in revenue—a 23 percent drop from 2019 levels.

Why are some countries resisting the bans?

Other countries, especially those participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, are already using or have agreed to use Huawei’s equipment to build 5G networks.

Many have been attracted by the company’s ability to provide high-quality networks for low prices. Huawei is helping Malaysia and Russia build their 5G networks, and it has signed contracts to build 5G networks for a number of countries in Latin America.

Authorities in potential markets that have not ruled out using Huawei, including several European countries, argue that security risks are inherent in all 5G networks, regardless of the supplier. They acknowledge, however, that the risks are higher for Huawei. Officials in these countries say they prefer to keep their auctions for 5G construction open to all firms and will tighten security measures to minimize any risks. 

Analysts say U.S. policymakers have not come up with a better option for low-income countries, especially as 5G networks are dominated by just three firms: Huawei, the Finnish firm Nokia, and the Swedish firm Ericsson. Even after U.S. restrictions went into place, many low-income countries still chose Huawei, which is frequently the cheapest option, to build their 5G networks.

 “We still haven't really addressed the larger issue, which is that developing countries and other countries have connectivity demands and Chinese tech is cheap and reliable,” says CFR’s Segal.

The Huawei Watch Buds is Huawei’s smartwatch with built-in earbuds, and it just went global. This smartwatch was first announced back in December, in China. Today, Huawei announced its global variant and availability.

The Huawei Watch Buds smartwatch with built-in earbuds goes global

This smartwatch basically has all the benefits of the regular Huawei smartwatch, but with earbuds included on the inside. It’s actually quite impressive how Huawei managed to pull this off, and still keep the battery durability above the competition. Huawei claims you can get three days worth of battery life here. That is considerably lower than on something like the Huawei Watch GT 3 or GT 3 Pro, but above what Samsung offers, for example.

The Huawei Watch Buds smartwatch comes with a magnetic pop-up cover, for when you need to access the earbuds. The watch itself acts as a charger for those earbuds too, of course. The earbuds themselves get magnetized on the inside too.

It features a sharp, AMOLED display

The watch is made out of metal (stainless steel), and there is a button / rotating crown on the right side of it. A 1.43-inch 466 x 466 AMOLED display sits on the front, so Huawei didn’t really cut corners in the display department either.

Huawei says that the watch is 14.99mm thick, which is a feat on its own considering everything that sits on the inside. It also supports wireless charging, and comes with a wireless charging cradle. Speaking of which, a 410mAh battery is included here

The magnetic pop-up cover has been thoroughly tested

Huawei also says that it thoroughly tested this watch, so the pop-up cover has been tested for 100,000 times openings and closings, giving some you some piece of mind. It also endured a 5kg stress test, amongst others.

The earbuds come equipped with the Adaptive Identification Technology, and touch controls. Huawei even managed to include noise cancellation in these small earbuds. On top of that, it included a quad-magnetic full-Range Planar Diaphragm drove. They also support Triple Adaptive EQ.

There are 80 sports modes included here

Now, the watch comes with 80 sports modes, amongst which are 10 professional sports modes. It can also show you your notifications, and much more. All you need to do is grab the Huawei Health app from the AppGallery. Yes, this watch is compatible with both Android and iOS.

The Huawei Watch Buds smartwatch will become available in Europe starting from March 1. It will be available from the Huawei Store, and other authorized e-commerce platforms and retailers. The price will be £449.99 in the UK, while we still don’t have the price in Euros. It will likely be an equivalent of that, or close to it (€‎499.99 perhaps, or something like that).

Downloading Zoom on a Huawei smartphone might be more manageable. You must follow our step-by-step tutorial on how to get Zoom on a Huawei device. Zoom is compatible with any Huawei device, whether a smartphone or tablet. Using applications like Zoom on Huawei devices with a high-quality screen display provides you with the best experience.

You can collaborate with participants remotely for content sharing and whiteboarding. The loud notification sound speaker on Huawei ensures you get the notification of your next meeting in advance. To get Zoom Cloud Meetings on a Huawei smartphone, you can use the pre-installed AppGallery, which comes with all Huawei devices.

How to get Zoom on Huawei Smartphone

Step 1: Launch 'AppGallery' from your home screen.

AppGallery on the Huawei phone allows you to install any application on the internet free of cost. After downloading Zoom on Huawei successfully, you can create a new account using your email ID. If you already have an account, you can log in to Zoom on your Huawei smartphone and continue your work hassle-free. Huawei smartphones deliver you the perfect resolution to complete tasks in Zoom meetings. Huawei provides four gesture-controlled system navigators on its latest devices, making working easy. That makes using Zoom on Huawei a lot better.

How to update Zoom using AppGallery

The steps to update Zoom or any other application in particular from AppGallery is super simple. Here’s how:

1. Visit AppGallery.
2. Go to the “Me” section.
3. Locate the app you want to update (Zoom, in this case). If an update is available, the “Update” button will be right beside the app name.
4. Hit the “Update” button and in a few seconds, you’ll have the latest version of the Zoom app.

Conclusion-

The simple guide takes you through the detailed process of installing Zoom on Huawei smartphones. Regarding using Zoom on Huawei, the smartphone holds the best reviews from thousands of users worldwide in the meeting solution market.

For more information, you may also visit our YouTube video about downloading Zoom for your Huawei phone.

Can I use Zoom on a Huawei phone?

Yes, the Zoom application can be installed and launched on the Huawei device using Huawei’s official app marketplace, “AppGallery.”

Can you use other apps in Huawei while in a meeting on Zoom?

Can Zoom inform the host about the applications I’m using while in the meeting?

How do you join a meeting on Zoom in Huawei?

Why should I use Zoom on Huawei?