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Home / News / The Huawei Watch 2 is less of a smartwatch, more of a wrist-worn phone

The Huawei Watch 2 is less of a smartwatch, more of a wrist-worn phone

Huawei sees your Apple Watch's GPS and raises you built-in 4G

Hang on – didn’t you promise we’d all be hooked on VR by now? That went well.

OK, so we’re not all living Matrix-like digital lives just yet, but Rift, Vive and Google Daydream View all did a great job at getting VR out to the masses in 2016.

Samsung played its part too, even if Gear VR was a little limited compared to those big bucks headsets. It worked with your phone, but not being able to interact inside virtual reality would break your immersion. 

This latest model aims to change that, thanks to a little help from Oculus.

So it’s a remote control? Big whoop.

A remote control with a trigger, you mean. It’s essentially a smaller, simpler, one-handed version of the Oculus Touch controller, that’ll play nicely with Gear VR.

There’s a built-in clickpad, which works like a virtual mouse, and the controller itself gets detected in 3D space like a Wii U remote – that’s a whole lot more interaction than a basic Gear VR.

Home, volume and back keys should help you jump between apps and games in VR, too – no need to use your head like a mouse pointer.

So I’ll be waving my arms like a lunatic?

Yeah, pretty much. But at least the wrist strap will stop you from flinging the controller across the room while you’re at it. Probably means this isn’t one to take on your next train journey, though.

It’s a bundle deal, too. Got a Gear VR already? Sorry, you’ll need the new one to use it with the controller.

Guessing it’s time for a new phone if I want to get involved, then?

Slow down, big spender. No need to splash out if you’ve got a recent Samsung phone – the new Gear VR will play nicely with the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, S6, S6 Edge and S6 Edge+, and Galaxy Note 5.

Don’t stick a Note 7 in there if you’ve still got one, though – that’s just asking for trouble.

There’s no word on prices or availability just yet, but you can bet it’ll arrive soon – just in time for anyone that’s planning to buy a Galaxy S8 when it shows up in March.

Profile image of Tom Parsons Tom Parsons Contributor, Stuff.tv

About

Tom is a nerd. A gaming nerd, a home cinema nerd, a hi-fi nerd and a car nerd. And a bit of a bike nerd, and phone nerd, and computer nerd. Let's call the whole thing off and just go with all-round nerd. In the past he's been an audio book actor, a games tester, a chocolate salesman and a teacher in Japan. Then he joined What Hi-Fi? as a reviewer back in 2007 and moved to Stuff as Reviews Editor in 2011. After a five-year stint on Stuff he rejoined the What Hi-Fi? team where he currently rules the reviews team with a candy floss fist.

Areas of expertise

All things AV and hi-fi, gaming, cars, craft beer, wine, loading a dishwasher