When you're looking for the best smartwatch, you're likely to come across more than one Apple Watch. Cupertino's finest have tech-driven timepieces on lockdown, from the budget friendly Apple Watch SE, through the standard Apple Watch Series 8 and up to the extreme Apple Watch Ultra.
But popularity isn't everything. Even Apple's budget friendly options carry a hefty price tag, leaving a gulf of truly affordable smartwatches beneath it. Lately, I've found a couple of these budget models raise serious questions about the Apple Watch.
The Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro, for example, boasts more features than an Apple Watch SE, has a battery which will last for more than a week and costs less than half of what the SE would set you back.
Now, another smartwatch has been released which offers a more robust feature set than Apple's offering. The Huawei Watch GT Cyber is the latest release from Huawei's hugely impressive wearables range – the Huawei Watch GT 3 maintains a spot in T3's best smartwatch category to this day.
The main feature here is the strap changing system. Rather than just changing the strap, Huawei has opted to make the entire casing modular. Simply pop the dial out of one case and into another to completely change the style. We recently covered the Certina DS Plus which uses a similar idea, though I'd argue that it makes more sense on a £200 smartwatch than an £800 timepiece.
There's nothing especially noteworthy on the spec sheet – a 1.32" AMOLED display acts as your gateway to over 100 sports activities, sleep tracking, and health monitoring. What's most impressive is the inclusion of a blood oxygen sensor, tallying up a big win over the Apple Watch SE.
Currently, the Huawei Watch GT Cyber is only available in China, though. Keep an eye out for releases in other markets down the line, as this could be a fantastic alternative to pieces like the Google Pixel Watch and the Apple Watch.
