When it comes to wearables, the focus has evolved beyond just style. It’s become more about measuring accurate and comprehensive health and fitness insights in sleek form factors. HUAWEI continues to strike a balance between both, further improving its wearables with every release, while adding a couple of new features to make it enticing for fitness enthusiasts or even just those who want to start out in their health journey.
Beyond the usual heart rate, sleep, stress, and ECG monitoring features, the new HUAWEI WATCH FIT 5 Series introduces diabetic risk assessment for the Pro version, offering a more holistic approach to health tracking. We have with us the base variant, but what does this new wearable bring to the table? Read on to find out.
Design and build
In terms of the build, the HUAWEI WATCH FIT 5 dons a slim 9.5mm profile and a lightweight 27g design, making it look stylish on your wrist without feeling bulky. In my experience, it never felt intrusive while working, exercising, or even sleeping.
It comes in Black, White, Green, Silver, and Purple, with the Purple variant being the one I’m reviewing. The subtle shades make it easy to pair with any outfit, be it casual wear or athleisure.
Display
The HUAWEI WATCH FIT 5 features a 1.82-inch AMOLED screen, offering a vivid and smooth experience for everyday use. It delivers a peak brightness of 2500nits, which makes the display easily readable even under direct sunlight. Since I spend a lot of time outdoors, I can attest to the ease of readability of my stats and messages.
There are numerous watch faces to choose from, all of which are highly customizable. And of course, I’ll never stop choosing the one with the panda animation.
Health features
Sometimes, we tend to fixate on certain aspects of our health, but that alone isn’t enough when looking at the big picture, which we should be doing. That’s why it pays off to have a reminder on your wrist to be able to keep things in check. I’ve always been a fan of HUAWEI wearables because of the wide range of health monitoring features they offer. In many ways, it becomes my conscience to do better for myself.
Carried over from the previous generation, you can measure your heart rate, SpO2, and pulse wave arrhythmia analysis.
When it comes to health, awareness is always key. Since the Emotional Wellbeing feature was introduced to HUAWEI wearables, I’ve become more aware of my emotional state, allowing me to better identify both positive and negative triggers. With the 2.0 version, emotional tracking is upgraded from three to 12 emotional states.
I find the breathing exercises led by the cute interactive panda very soothing as well. It’s a reminder to take it easy when things get way too stressful or you’re feeling overwhelmed. It helps clear one’s mind, so you can work more efficiently afterwards.
For women — and as a woman myself — cycle awareness is one of the most important ways to better understand our bodies too. With Cycle Intelligence, users also get support for smarter ovulation predictions.
Personally, I don’t actively monitor both my calorie intake and calories burned, but for those who are strict with their diet, the Stay Fit app is a good way to achieve their goal weight for whatever reason — whether for aesthetic purposes or just simply to maintain their ideal BMI.
The sleep metric is what I consistently monitor in order to perform at 100% the following day. This feature alone offers a highly comprehensive picture of your sleep quality. Factors like fall-asleep time and sleep stages all influence recovery and mental alertness. Maintaining a consistent and early bedtime can significantly improve rest and recovery.
As for the sleep stages, getting enough deep sleep is especially important for feeling truly well-rested. The device gives you useful insights, analysis, and recommendations.
It even flags patterns like when you wake up repeatedly or take longer naps than usual, because these negatively affect your sleep quality. One useful tip it gave me was to take a hot shower before bed to help me relax, and it genuinely did.
For the Pro version, it receives a Diabetes Risk Study feature backed by medical institutions to provide early awareness of potential risks. This comes at a crucial time where awareness is limited where the cases are prevalent. This non-invasive feature uses PPG-based vascular signal analysis to identify potential diabetes risk. The user just needs to wear the watch for 3 to 14 days to get proper assessment and results.
Fitness features
As a multi-sport person, the smartwatch earns points in my book because of its 150+ sports modes. I get to check out my metrics afterward, so I can track my progress and see whether I’m pushing myself too much or need a little extra push. The heart rate zones are also available so you know much effort you exerted and what phase you’re in while working out.
And if time constraints have become your perpetual excuse for skipping workouts, the watch leaves little room for excuses with its mini workout feature designed to encourage users to keep moving. It’s a new feature that introduces a fragmented fitness experience for people with sedentary lifestyles. There are 30 mini-workouts for 10 body areas, all of which require no equipment and can be done anywhere. The panda animation that reminds you to do this adds a fun touch to the whole experience.
In the app, there’s a Smart AI Coach that provides users with personalized training plans. This is very important because fitness isn’t a one-size-fits-all journey, and having a workout plan tailored to your needs is also a huge plus.
If you’re in your runner era, you’ll be glad to know that there are more metrics even for the base variant. It now supports reading of running power and running ability. You can also sync your Strava data since the smartwatch is compatible with this popular app.
The smartwatch takes it up a notch with cycling too, featuring multiple modes for city, road, and long-distance cycling. You can pair your phone as a bike computer, as well as access your real-time cycling performance without an external meter since it supports virtual cycling power.
At the end of the day, users can review their Activity Records, making it rewarding to see their physical progress throughout the day.
Compatibility
Equally important is its compatibility across different operating systems. Thankfully, it works seamlessly with both Android and iOS, so users on either platform can enjoy the smartwatch’s full features benefits.
For convenience, the HUAWEI WATCH FIT 5 also supports GCash WatchPay and Angkas.
Battery
As for battery life, the device can stretch itself up to 10 days depending on usage. With my frequent sports activities and continuous use of features like heart rate tracking, emotional wellbeing monitoring, and calls, I managed to get up to nine days out of it — just a day shy of maximizing the smartwatch’s full potential.
Verdict
For the price of PHP8,999, the HUAWEI WATCH FIT 5 brings a lot to the table without compromising on style. It covers several aspects of one’s health and fitness that make it a compelling wearable for health buffs and those embracing their sporty era. With how seamlessly it integrates into routines regardless of operating system, it becomes an essential partner for anyone who wants to start or elevate their fitness journey. At the same time, there’s no need to stress about charging every single day with its battery life that can last up to 10 days.
Purchases made during the first sale period from May 22 to June 21, 2026, will come with a bundle of freebies and discount including: PHP 1,000 discount, (1) FreeBuds SE 2 worth PHP 1,999, Free 3-Month HUAWEI Health+ Membership worth PHP 387, Free 1-Month subscription to HUAWEI WATCH Face VIP worth PHP 289, 2 years warranty (1 year standard + 1 year extended).
