TESTCENTRE
The Ultimate 2 in black and blue editions
Read it and bleep
Huawei Watch Ultimate 2
COMPANY: HUAWEI PRICE: £ 699 FOR THE BLACK EDITION; £ 799 FOR THE ULTIMATE BLUE 2 WITH TITANIUM STRAP WEB: WWW. HUAWEI. COM / EN
The evolution of the diving computer takes another step forward with this refined and durable smartwatch from tech giants Huawei. With this launch, we have the tantalising prospect of underwater texting – as long as your buddy has the same watch.
While this smartwatch supports myriad features – and some impressive health monitoring capability – the underwater text facility is the standout innovation, so let’ s address that right away before we get down to the nuts and bolts.
Readers may recall that Garmin have already succeeded in offering underwater texting with the latest iterations of their Descent range, but that’ s through the use of tank-mounted accessories. Huawei have managed to incorporate the tech into the watches themselves, a tiny sonar device that allows divers to send and receive messages up to 30 metres away.
Will this herald in a new age of divers hunched over their computers jabbing away at tiny screens? Happily, no. The
messages are pre-set, from a list of 50 customisable options. So, having selected‘ dolphin comms’ by pressing the top left button, you scroll down the options until you find something appropriate, then send. Your Huawei buddy receives a vibration and a( fiercely blippy) notification sound as the message pops up on their screen.
The set messages are what you’ d expect, along the lines of‘ running low on gas’‘ approaching no deco limits’‘ let’ s ascend to safety stop’ and so on. There’ s also an SOS function; you trigger it by pressing and holding for 10 seconds. Your watch then automatically transmits a distress signal every 25 seconds, effective over a distance of 60 metres.
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A demo of the messaging system