Today, Huawei unveiled their next smartwatch branded as the Honor S1. We previously reported on the possibility that this new wearable device would run Tizen. According to a report in the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper Huawei are currently working with Samsung to deploy the Tizen operating system in its next smartwatches. Well today the unveil happened and strangely enough there is no mention of Android Wear in any of the supporting documentation, but also there is no mention of Tizen either ! Looking at the User Interface (UI) it definitely isn’t an Android Wear device, as Google will not let OEMs alter its appearance, but more of a bespoke Operating System (OS).
Does this mean that this smartwatch runs Tizen ? No, this is most likely a Real Time Operating System (RTOS), which we haven’t heard of Huawei developing, or the slightest of chances that it is uses the Tizen smartwatch profile, shared between Samsung and Huawei. Digging deeper we find a mention of a “Huawei Terminal USB port communications software V1.0” being inside the smartwatch. This is a very strange name for anything in my opinion. We have reached out to Huawei about this matter but have not received reply as of yet.
The Honor S1 seems like a trendy circular smartwatch with a minimalistic design that seems to have a premium feel to it, all at an affordable price, which is something the honor brand is quite good at. The watch has swappable 18mm straps and is available in three colors: Navy Blue, Deep Gray, Vibrant Orange.
You can use the exercise features:
- Waterproof
- Heart Rate Monitor
- Real-time exercise intensity monitoring based on physical condition
- A personal real-time pedometer
The watch also has smartwatch functions like:
- Caller ID Support
- Message alerts
- Sedentary reminder
- Alarm clock
The manufacturer states that Huawei Honor S1 has a battery life of 6 days with average use and will be priced at 699 yuan ($104).
