Honor’s S1 watch can’t rival the Huawei Watch, but it has plenty of fitness tracking smarts

By Andy Boxall Updated October 19, 2016

theres a good reason to be excited about the rumored s1 smartwatch from honor watch water

Honor, the smartphone brand that shares technology with Huawei, has launched a smartwatch, after recently posting a teaser image of such a device on its official Weibo account. It’s called the Honor S1, and it was joined at the launch event on October 18 by the Honor 6X, and an Honor tablet called the Honor Pad 2.

honor-s1-watch

Honor already has a couple of wearable devices on its books, the Honor Z1 and the Honor A1, but both are fitness trackers more than smartwatches, a trend that continues with the S1.

The Honor S1 doesn’t run Android Wear, but a proprietary system that doesn’t appear to run apps, which is displayed on a circular watch face. The focus is on fitness tracking, and the S1 has a heart rate monitor on the rear, along with the usual movement, and sleep tracking features.

There are specific modes for different activities, including walking, running, and cycling. Take the Honor S1 for a swim and it will survive the experience, and it’s water resistant to a depth of 50 meters, plus the silicone straps are removable and come in different colors. The battery has an expected usage time of six days.

It’s a shame the S1 isn’t a full Android Wear watch. Huawei makes the Huawei Watch, easily one of the best looking Android Wear smartwatches available, so we had high hopes of the S1 being similar in specification to it, with a great design, and a lower price. We’ve seen it before. The most recent smartphone from Honor, the Honor 8, is similar to the Huawei P9 with its dual-camera setup. Despite lower prices, Honor produces good-looking, high quality hardware to go along with the tech smarts, which bodes well for any kind of smartwatch.

For now, Honor it doesn’t look like Honor will sell the S1 watch internationally, but has given it an October 25 launch date in China, where it will cost the equivalent of about $100.

Topics

Senior Mobile Writer

Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…

Mobile

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 vs. Fitbit Sense

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 smartwatch, worn on a person's wrist.

The Galaxy Watch 4 is Samsung's take on a modern, hi-tech wearable that doesn't imitate an old-school analog wristwatch. It eschews the classic design of its predecessors for a sleeker, more streamlined look, while also providing some excellent hardware and features. These include a Super AMOLED touchscreen, 16GB of internal storage, generous battery life, and some great health-tracking software.

It's certainly one of the best smartwatches out there, but in a market saturated by Apple Watches and various Android equivalents, it certainly isn't without competitors. One of these is the Fitbit Sense, which in 2020 emerged to offer a premium version of the core Fitbit experience, replete with an ECG sensor, a choice of virtual assistants, and a wealth of fitness features.

Mobile

This $4,000 titanium beauty is the ultimate square G-Shock

The G-Shock MRG-B5000B.

Do you want the very best Casio offers in manufacturing, design, and technology from your new G-Shock, all wrapped up in that highly recognizable square case? In other words, the ultimate version of a truly classic G-Shock watch? If so, the new MRG-B5000B is exactly the model you will want, provided cost is no object. We’ve been wearing it.
What makes MR-G so special?
Although Casio is best known for tough watches that won’t break the bank, Casio also has decades of watchmaking experience, and it showcases its talents most effectively in its highly exclusive MR-G family of watches. These models, its most luxurious, are assembled by hand on Casio’s Premium Production Line located in the Yamagata factory in Japan, where only the company’s most experienced, specially certified technicians work on the top MT-G and MR-G models.

The square G-Shock is one of the most popular models, having been around since the G-Shock brand first started in the early 1980s, and bringing it to the luxury MR-G range is going to see a lot of people reaching for their wallets. What makes it so special? It’s the first time the classic, beloved square G-Shock has been given the MR-G treatment, with most other MR-G models over the past few years featuring an analog dial. There's a huge section of an already large fan base waiting for this.

Mobile

Fitbit recalls Ionic smartwatch after several burn reports

best walmart deals on apple watch garmin and fitbit ionic smartwatch adidas edition ice gray silver

Fitbit Ionic smartwatch users need to stop using their devices right now. The company has recalled its Ionic wearable after over 150 reports of the watch’s lithium-ion battery overheating, and 78 reports of burn injuries to the users. It will offer a refund of $299 to the Fitbit Ionic smartwatch users who return the device.

Fitbit has received at least 115 reports in the United States and over 50 reports internationally about the Ionic smartwatch's battery overheating. It is recalling the device as there are two reports of third-degree burns and four reports of second-degree burns out of the 78 total burn injuries report.