Skinomi TechSkin for the Huawei Watch Review

The Good:

• Looks great on black model
• Great texture
• Easy to reapply

The Bad:

• Pieces could be cut more precisely
• Corners sometimes peel
• Screen protector and crown pieces are terrible

Skinomi offers many skins for all different types of devices – Android-powered devices, laptops, iPhones, cameras, and even down to wearables. I was quite intrigued by the carbon fiber skin for the Huawei Watch, and was excited when I was able to get a sample for review.

The packaging that the skin comes in is quite simple. It is packaged in a octagonal box, and inside is the skin/screen protector, a cleaning cloth, and the liquid solution for applying the screen protector.

As this is the first skin I’ve applied to any device, I have no experience to compare to, but for how small the device/skin is, the experience seemed pretty normal. It is difficult to apply the skin because of how small the skin pieces are, and because of the lack of alignment points. But, once it is all on, the use of a blow dryer works great to finalize the adhesive.

I have had this skin on my Huawei Watch for a few weeks now, and have been enjoying it quite a bit. The quality of the skin is what I would expect – it sticks to the watch decently, and it seemed durable while I was applying the skin. However, where the quality really will shine is how the corners hold up in daily usage. I use my watch all the time, it is always on me. Most of the time I am just at my desk, but there will be circumstances where it might bang against a wall, door frame, chair, etc. This is one of the reasons I really enjoy the skin, it protects the black coating on the Huawei Watch from getting damaged. However, I was disappointed in how it stood up to my use. I found that on the top pieces (the ones most easily seen!), a few of the corners unstuck and eventually chipped off. While this isn’t a huge deal to me, it certainly is not good either. The other problem I found was with the skin piece for the crown. It didn’t completely apply, even with heat applied to the area, leaving an appearance of always peeling off (I hate this look!). Most likely, this is due to the rounded shape of the crown on the Huawei Watch, but regardless, this is an obvious detail that should have been paid more attention in product development. Now, these issues that I experienced may not hold true for everyone, and the issue I experienced with the corners peeling off may be due to to a sloppy application process.

Moving on to how it actually feels and looks, one of the things I was excited for was how the back of the watch, with the carbon fiber skin, would feel on my wrist. And, my expectations were met! I never liked how the watch would stick to my skin, and the Skinomi skin fixed my issue. The carbon fiber provides a nice backing for the watch. Considering I had gotten a scratch on my Huawei Watch about a week before I got this skin, the other thing I was excited about was having protection on the sides in case it hit anything potentially damaging. And, like the backing, my expectations have been met. The skin provides a great layer of protection while still looking great.

Now what about the screen protector? For my use, I wasn’t concerned about the screen for a few reasons. One, it is a sapphire display, and is quite resistant to scratching. Two, there is a metal bezel around the display and it even rises above the display, protecting it from most other hazards. However, I did apply the screen protector to see how smooth the application process is. I did find a few annoyances with the screen protector. The first being that it didn’t go completely to the edge, leaving an awkward gap which can be both seen as well as felt when swiping from the edges of the screen, a very regular gesture with Android Wear. The second is that it took *way* too long to set in, due to the help of a liquid solution. Once it was on, the screen just didn’t feel nice anymore, as my finger wasn’t in direct contact with the sapphire display, there was a plastic screen protector in the way. The experience, I found, wasn’t that enjoyable.

Overall, my impressions are somewhat mixed. I love the Huawei Watch without a skin, and I still love it with a skin. I wasn’t happy to see the corners peeling a little, but I can live with that because it provides comfort and protection. Would I recommend this product? Yes! There are no other skins available for the Huawei Watch (that I could find), so if you are looking for a skin, you are limited. Extremely limited. In that case, Skinomi has some great options for you, though you may want to find a nicer, tempered glass screen protector for the screen rather than the tacky film included with this kit.