Watches that check 11 health things for you in a minute: Just press your finger to the side of the Huawei Watch 6 Pro

On the right side of the case, next to the crown, there’s an elongated panel next to the Huawei Watch 6 Pro—something you could easily mistake at first glance for another button. In reality, it’s an X-Tap sensor that measures health data from the pad of your finger. The Notebookcheck editorial team has now taken it apart in detail while testing the titanium Space Edition. The watches are already available in Slovak stores, and you can compare their current offers on Heureka.

Huawei introduced its watches in early September together with a lineup of the Watch GT 7, which we covered in an article about the entire new series. They’re on sale from 23. September, so it’s worth knowing what that discreet sensor really can do—and what it can’t.

Why Huawei measures health from your finger, not just from the wrist

The side sensor isn’t a fully new thing, since the first generation was already released with last year’s Huawei Watch 5. In the “6”, we’re talking about the second generation, dubbed X-Tap 2.0, which combines a PPG optical sensor with a pressure-sensitive surface. The optical part now has 12 channels instead of the original four, and the pressure sensor—according to Notebookcheck—can detect 20 levels of pressure. Huawei claims the sensor will respond twice as fast as on the Watch 5.

Huawei bet on the finger because its pad is very well supplied with blood, and optical measurement from it produces a cleaner signal than the wrist, where the watch can shift when you move. On the Watch 6 Pro, from the finger they measure blood oxygen saturation (SpO₂), and the same sensor is also used to record EKG—where you just place your finger on it and hold it for a moment.

Health Glance: Hold your finger for three seconds and in a minute you get an overview

The most interesting feature is what Huawei calls Health Glance. When you hold your finger on the sensor for three seconds, the watches start an approximately one-minute check, during which they combine data from your finger with measurements from sensors on the bottom of the case. Then they show you up to 11 indicators from four areas of the body, for example heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), saturation, an EKG evaluation, stress level, or skin temperature. You’ll see the results directly on the watch and in the Huawei Health app.

However, the number of indicators depends on the country, since both the Slovak and the German Huawei sites list 11, while the global one lists up to 14. In some markets, additional research measurements related to the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, and ischemic heart disease are added—about which the portal GSMArena wrote. So if somewhere you read about fourteen indicators, in Europe count on eleven.

It doesn’t replace a doctor and it doesn’t work in power-saving mode

Huawei itself openly states that Health Glance isn’t intended for diagnosis or treatment, and that the results are only approximate. Notebookcheck adds that without comparing it to a reference measuring device, you can’t say whether higher sensitivity also means more accurate numbers. For a quick check whether everything is in the normal range, it can be useful, but it doesn’t replace an examination by a doctor.

Another catch is hidden in the footnotes. In battery-saving mode, the watches disable X-Tap interaction and Health Glance, so if you want to squeeze 46 days out of the 11 mm version instead of 4,5 day with normal use, you’ll miss the quick finger check. The other health data is processed by the Health Insights app, which in the morning right after you wake up evaluates your recovery and readiness for the day.

Wrist gestures, eSIM, and payments without a phone

Alongside the sensor, Huawei also added gestures that are not related to it. You silence an incoming call during a meeting by quickly rotating your wrist, while double clenching or a double finger swipe lets you control the watch with one hand. However, Huawei promises wrist rotation only in a future update, and according to the manufacturer it may not work during intense workouts or with tattoos on your wrist.

The Pro version has eSIM, so you can call without your phone, and you can pay at checkout with them via NFC. The display is protected by sapphire glass, and with brightness up to 3 500 nits you can read it even in direct sunlight. The watches pair with both Android and iPhone, and according to Huawei they can be connected to two phones at the same time—the second one, however, supports only calls via Bluetooth.

How much do Huawei Watch 6 Pro cost in Slovakia

Watch 6 Pro comes in two versions. The larger 46 mm Space Edition has a titanium alloy case, while the smaller 43 mm Ceramic Edition is made of nanoceramics. According to the website TouchIT, in Slovakia they’re sold starting from €611 in Huawei’s official e-shop as well as at authorized retailers. The X-Tap sensor with the same 12 channels is also found in the base Watch 6 for €404 (42 mm) or €440 (46 mm), which—instead of titanium or ceramic—got aluminum or steel.

An EKG from the finger is nothing new, something the competition already knows—Apple Watch measures it via the crown and Samsung Galaxy Watch via the side button. Huawei is different in that it has dedicated a separate optical sensor for health, with a pressure surface, and from a single touch of your finger it extracts an entire data set at once. If you mainly want the watch for health tracking and you’re fine with battery life of around four days, you’ll get a one-minute finger check that Apple Watch doesn’t offer.

Follow the China Planet website, subscribe to our monthly newsletter, and be sure to check out our Facebook page, the China Planet group, and join our Telegram, where we add the best offers and coupons from China every single day.