Huawei Watch 2 review: looks good, dust and water-resistant, but feels cheap, and priced too high, making it a poor successor to original
Huawei built up a lot of good will over the past two years, only to let it slide in 2017. — The original Huawei Watch was a go-to choice …
Context & Ripple Effects
Huawei earned its smartwatch reputation the hard way: the minimalist original was a surprise hit at MWC 2015, launched that September at $350 to $800, and even a review that flagged Android Wear's limits praised its design and battery life. In February 2017 the company followed up with a three-model €329–€399 Watch 2 lineup adding Android Wear 2, NFC, GPS, and IP68 water resistance.
This review is the verdict on that bet, and it cuts against the brand's own history: the hardware that made the first Watch a go-to choice — build quality at a defensible price — is exactly what the sequel is dinged for, with a cheap feel and pricing the reviewer calls too high.
First-order effects
- Buyers weighing the €329, €379, and €399 models are being asked to pay a premium over the original's $350 entry point for a watch the reviewer says feels cheaper than its predecessor.
- Huawei's design-led goodwill from the first Watch is spent on this generation: the review explicitly frames the Watch 2 as letting two years of accumulated trust slide.
Second-order effects
- With Android Wear 2 shipping across brands, software stops being a differentiator — so build quality and price become the battleground, handing Huawei's Wear OS rivals an opening to win the value-conscious buyer this review just talked out of the purchase.
Third-order effects
- The feature-stack-versus-value trade-off this review captures keeps recurring in the corpus: the later OnePlus Watch 2 and Samsung Galaxy Watch FE reviews show Wear OS makers still shipping compromised hardware at full prices, meaning the brand that finally pairs flagship specs with honest pricing stands to inherit the buyers everyone else keeps disappointing.
The trend: Smartwatch generations keep adding sensors and connectivity while perceived build value slips, turning Wear OS purchasing decisions into a recurring referendum on which brand offers honest value.