By Jack Cumming
Not long ago, I bought the Apple Watch Ultra 3. It was pricey, and it’s bulky. It was the potential of the Ultra 3 to warn of impending high blood pressure that motivated my purchase. No sooner did the watch arrive than I tried to activate the blood pressure warning feature. The first question Apple asked was, “Have you ever been diagnosed with hypertension?” Hmmm.
Blood Pressure Tracking
Of course, the answer is “yes.” I’m 89 years old. The Apple response shocked me, though. The hypertension alert is not available for anyone who has ever been diagnosed with high blood pressure. Since I had traded in my prior Apple Watch, I was stuck with that clunky weight on my wrist.
But wait. There’s more. As a technology junkie, I soon became aware of a watch that does track blood pressure. The only problem. It’s banned in the United States, presumably for national security reasons. I don’t think that I have any security secrets unless it’s an open secret that America’s freedom for individuals to innovate gives it a national edge over other cultures.
Banned in the United States
The watch that caught my attention is the Huawei Watch D2. It’s banned in the United States, as explained in this link. What makes it distinctive is the blood pressure cuff built into the wristband. The result is that at any time, you can press a button, hold your arm in a certain optimal position, and take your blood pressure without further fuss. Comparing the watch reading with an Allyn-Welch conventional BP device shows the Huawei to be surprisingly accurate.
One of the benefits that I didn’t consider before I had the watch on my wrist is a very compelling feature. You can set the Huawei D2 to automatically take a blood pressure reading at designated intervals over, say, a 24-hour period. That means that it can act like a Holter monitor for blood pressure. It may also be able to monitor a simple EKG (Electrocardiogram) over a similar period, though I haven’t yet tried that. The watch does have an EKG feature, as does the Apple Watch.
How to Get One
Aside from this outstanding health feature, the Huawei Watch D2 includes all of the expected fitness capabilities. Huawei is giving Apple a run for its money in most parts of the world. Of course, in the United States, Apple is shielded from competition by Huawei due to the government’s blockade. I ordered my watch from a vendor in Canada, and apparently importing it from Canada is permissible despite national security concerns.
I don’t have a Samsung or other brand of smartwatch to compare the Huawei Watch D2 with. Let us know below if you know of another smartwatch or similar wearable that is able to do what the Huawei D2 does. In the meantime, if blood pressure is central to your health concerns, I recommend finding a Canadian shop willing to ship you the watch. Beyond that, the aesthetics, too, are, to my taste, more attractive than the big Apple Watch Ultra 3, but that’s a matter of personal preference that you’ll have to judge for yourself.
