And Harmony OS gets new features
It looks like a mysterious new Huawei health smartwatch could be heading for Europe.
Eagle-eyed tech spotters at LetsGoDigital have seen a new listing at European regulators for the Huawei Watch D.
And more intriguingly the listing describes the Huawei Watch D as “medical analysis; heart rate monitoring apparatus; arterial blood pressure measuring apparatus; blood pressure monitors.”
There’s no other information, but it looks as if the Huawei Watch D could bring serious health tech to European shores.
Whether or not Huawei has the clearances from European health regulators to make those measurements it remains to be seen – but it’s clear that’s something it’s been working on in China.
As we reported, Huawei has got clearance from the Guangdong Provincial Food and Drug Administration has given approval for Huawei’s ‘ECG blood pressure recorder.’
But in that report, Huawei was still looking for testers. That makes it feel there’s a long way to go before European clearance. And just in case you were wondering, we’d say there was zero chance of FDA approval, given Huawei’s embargo in the US.
Blood pressure monitoring is something of a Holy Grail in wearables, and the only mainstream smartwatch player to bring it to market is Samsung. That solution also needs to be regularly validated with a cuff, so it’s not a truly smart technology yet.
It seems Huawei is onto something – but we’re not getting excited until it gets past regulators. It could be a long wait.
Huawei Watch 3 update
Huawei has launched an update for its Huawei Watch 3 smartwatch, adding a host of improvements to its flagship smartwatch.
The update to Harmony OS 2 – HARMONYOS 2.0.0.188 – is rolling out in China, and we’d expect to see it go worldwide after.
It means users will now be able to reply to SMS messages straight from the wrist, by offering more control.
The company has also added an automatic handwashing detection feature, which listens for running water and starts a timer to promote better hygiene.
And there are also more music formats added, and improvements to the raise-to-wake motion when you’re not using an always on display.
