Huawei pips iPhone with Force Touch launch

Huawei has brought out a smartphone with the ‘Force Touch’ feature a week before we’ll see it on Apple’s iPhone 6S.

Huawei has illustrated its version of Force Touch on its new, up-market Mate S smartphone

Huawei has brought out a smartphone with the ‘Force Touch’ feature a week before we’re likely to see it on Apple’s iPhone 6S.

It’s also finally announced the availability of its Huawei Watch flagged early this year, and a marketing campaign featuring international models Karlie Kloss and Sean O’Pry.

Apple’s version of Force Touch lets a user access different functions on a device if you press harder than normal. We’ve seen it already on 2015 Apple MacBooks and Apple Watch and we’re expecting it when the iPhone 6S is launched in California on September 9.

Huawei used its event at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin to illustrate its version of Force Touch on its new, up-market Mate S smartphone. The demonstration involved weighing an orange on the display to show off the Mate S’s ability to sense pressure.

Instead of competing with the likes of fellow Chinese manufacturers Oppo and OnePlus, Huawei is pitching the Mate S against the more expensive iPhone pricewise. It has a 5.5-inch AMOLED display, 13 and 8 megapixel back and front facing cameras with a built-in flash, and wireless charging. It will cost at least $US670 in the US market.

Not all versions will feature Force Touch.

Huawei also flagged the availability of its Swiss-styled Huawei Watch which it had showcased early this year without giving details of capabilities, price and availability.

To promote it as a luxury item, Huawei announced that it was partnering with fashion photographer Mario Testino to produce an advertising campaign featuring American supermodel Karlie Kloss and international male model Sean O’Pry.

While it is powered by Google’s Android Wear operating system, Huawei says the watch will pair with Apple iPhones running iOS 8.2 or higher. It has 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, Bluetooth 4.1, and a 300 milliampere hour battery that Huawei says will last about 1.5 days. Charging time is 75 minutes.

It has a stainless steel frame, a built-in heart rate monitor and 6-Axis motion sensors. The display has a 400 x 400 pixel resolution at 286 pixels per inch with a 10,000:1 high contrast ratio.

Huawei says the watch’s 6-Axis motion sensor, with a gyroscope and accelerometer, will help track activities and the watch can distinguish between different physical activities, including walking, running and climbing.

The watch lets users store music on the device and you can invoke voice commands to start songs. There are a range of rose gold, stainless steel and black frames to choose from, and a variety of bespoke 40 watch face designs.

The choice of straps includes stainless steel mesh, stainless steel links, rose gold, and black-plated stainless steel links, and brown and black leather.

Huawei Watch can use third party watch apps available through the Google Play store.

Australia is not among initial countries where the watch will be sold, but Huawei says it will get it eventually. At €399 and €699 depending on the design, the 42mm watch is as expensive if not more expensive than two of the three Apple Watch models.

Chris Griffith travel to Berlin courtesy of Samsung.