Honor Watch 6 Pro can call for help if it detects cardiac arrest

Honor has launched the Watch 6 Pro in China with an innovative cardiac arrest feature. The timepiece does not just raise an alert, it can escalate its response and try to get other people involved.

The watch can escalate the response

Honor describes a four-level response system rather than a simple low-heart-rate warning. The Watch 6 Pro continuously assesses signals in the background, with Honor saying the initial dynamic assessment takes around 1.5 to 3 seconds. If the suspected cardiac arrest condition continues beyond three seconds, the watch moves to a strong vibration warning. 

Things become more interesting at the highest risk level. Honor says the watch can start calling emergency contacts, show AED resuscitation instructions across the display and send a request for help to people nearby. The idea is that the watch keeps trying to attract assistance even if the wearer cannot respond or call for help themselves.

That is a different approach from the usual abnormal heart-rate notification. Honor had already explored cardiac risk features on devices such as the Honor Watch GS 5, but the Watch 6 Pro pushes the concept further.

There are some important caveats. Honor says users need to join its cardiac arrest warning research programme to use the feature. And for now, this is only a China launch, so there is no reason to assume the same cardiac functions would be available internationally.

Blood pressure is another big part of the watch

The Watch 6 Pro also introduces what Honor calls Blood Pressure 2.0. The system uses its optical sensing hardware to estimate readings, so this is not a watch with an inflatable cuff.

Honor says the software can now provide AI-based interpretation and look at blood pressure alongside activity, sleep patterns and emotional state. But, this feature is tied to Honor’s health research programme and should not be confused with a conventional medical blood pressure monitor.

This is a sizeable step up from the standard Honor Watch 6 we reviewed earlier this year. That watch handled everyday heart rate, blood oxygen, sleep and fitness tracking well, but lacked ECG and the more ambitious cardiovascular features Honor is now putting into the Pro model.

Honor has changed the display as well

Health tracking is getting most of the attention, but Honor has made some unusual hardware choices too. The Watch 6 Pro has a 1.5-inch dual-layer OLED display, which Honor claims is a first for a wearable, with global excitation brightness reaching a whopping 4,500 nits, and up to 5,500 nits of local peak brightness!

Battery life is rated at up to 18 days under lighter use, around 10 days with typical use and seven days with the always-on display enabled. Turning on the full health-monitoring mode cuts that figure to around four days. 

Pricing starts at CNY 1,699 (around 250 USD) in China. The company is offering steel and nano-microcrystalline ceramic versions. Honor has not announced an international release, so there is no European or US price yet. 

Source: HONOR