2024-07-21 08:01:15
Seen design
Some say that the design of the Huawei Watch Fit 3 resembles the Apple Watch. I can also agree with this statement – it is no longer a rectangle, but a clock shape closer to a square and the design with rounded corners really creates such an image.
It’s also worth noting that a few people have asked me if it’s an Apple Watch when they saw it on my wrist – some of whom, by the way, own a watch from the brand themselves – so it would be hard to deny the similarity in designs.
It is true that Huawei added a unique element to the design of the white watch – a rotating crown, which is not something new in the watch market (yes, the Apple Watch has it too), but its bright red color gives the watch a certain uniqueness.
It is also worth mentioning the abundance of “dials” options (Huawei claims that there are more than 10,000 of them), which allow you to adapt the watch to the style you like and personalize your device more.
Comfortable and light
Perhaps before I talk about the comfort of the device, I should mention that I don’t like wearing wrist accessories, including watches – they usually make me feel uncomfortable. However, I quickly got used to the Huawei Watch Fit 3 to a satisfactory level, which I think says a lot about the device’s usability.
I think that the comfort of this watch is mainly determined by two factors – the soft and comfortable nylon strap and the light weight of the watch. The latter, according to the manufacturers, is 26 g (without strap). And with the strap it weighs 34g based on my kitchen scale.
Features not for everyone?
Huawei Watch Fit 3 is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. Huawei says the watch lets you track your health and fitness data, check the weather, receive notifications, and even play music from your watch or phone, but not all features work the same on Android and iOS devices.
For example, Android users can listen to the music they want on the watch by synchronizing the music files on the phone through the Huawei Health app (at least that’s what the manufacturers say – I couldn’t check it, because I don’t have an Android device myself), and here on the watch connected to iOS ” device does not support music synchronization and control at all. It’s true that there is already one song on the watch – but you’d probably get bored listening to it alone.
Also, with Android, you can reply to messages with predefined responses or emoticons, while with an iOS device, you can only view messages – you have to reply on your mobile device.
Another drawback is that the watch does not support the NFC (near field communication) payment function in Lithuania (and in general in many countries of the world), so contactless payments with the watch are not possible.
Physical activity tracking
What the Watch fit 3 really does have is a lot of features for sportsmen. First, the watch has 12 main workout modes: outdoor, indoor and treadmill running, outdoor and indoor walking, outdoor and indoor cycling, pool and open water swimming, skipping, elliptical and rowing. However, it can also be used to measure a bunch (reportedly over 100) of other sports. By the way, some of the training modes have been newly installed – for example, padel, esports, football and Lithuanian favorite basketball (finally!).
I’m not the biggest athlete, so many training regimens have remained untested. However, I can share that during outdoor walks and runs, the watch recorded my pace and distance fairly accurately (the numbers roughly matched the Strava app data). Unfortunately, I can’t say anything about serious heart disease, because I had nothing to compare the data with.
I would like to mention that the design of the training app is pleasing to the eye, with backgrounds that change color according to the intensity level of the workout. There are five of these levels in total and they are represented by blue, green yellow, orange and red respectively from lowest to highest.
Only one function got stuck – when during sports every 10 minutes loudly (and for me personally annoying) announces the achievements of training. Fortunately, this feature can be turned off, although some may find it useful.
Health monitoring
The watch’s health monitoring features include heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, blood pressure and blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) measurement and stress level monitoring.
Sleep tracking is quite detailed, providing insights into sleep duration, phases and quality – and is usually quite accurate, capturing the exact times you go to bed and wake up, and the number of times you wake up. However, there have also been cases where the watch counted browsing on the phone as sleep time when lying down, and when it seemed like I fell asleep quickly (within about 10 minutes) – but the watch said I hadn’t fallen asleep for almost an hour, and finally when I woke up at night and when standing up, the watch did not register the awakening – but such cases were very rare.
When it comes to the health-related functions of the Huawei Watch Fit 3, breathing exercises are also worth mentioning. I used this function almost every night before bed – although I don’t have a problem sleeping, the exercises helped me to slow down my heart rate and fall asleep even faster.
It is important to mention that the watch also has a calorie tracking function that estimates calories burned both during activity and at rest.
Battery life
Battery life is one of the Watch Fit 3’s strongest points in my opinion.
The manufacturer claims that the watch has a 400 mAh battery that can last up to 10 days on a single charge, 7 days with normal use, and 4 days with the screen always on. I really don’t have much to add here – all these numbers correspond to reality.
Also, the battery charges quickly – I didn’t count minute by minute, but it took about an hour to fully charge.
More specs and observations
According to the manufacturers, Watch Fit 3 has an aluminum alloy body and a glass 1.82-inch AMOLED screen with up to 1500 nits automatic brightness adjustment. The overall dimensions of the watch case are 43.2 × 36.3 × 9.9 mm.
The watch is equipped with GPS modules, a built-in speaker and a microphone that supports Bluetooth calls. As far as I have been able to test, this function works smoothly, the sound sounds high-quality on both sides of the calls.
Accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer are also installed in the device. The watch features 5ATM water resistance.
In addition to the functions already mentioned, the watch also has a weather app, calendar, alarm clock, stopwatch, timer, call history directory, phone contact book, remote control of the phone camera, flashlight (or rather a bright screen) and a phone finder function (which I really it has worked more than once. True, it only works when the phone is in the range of Bluetooth).
Summary
In conclusion, the Huawei Watch Fit 3 is a comfortable and functional smart watch, with a design very reminiscent of the Apple Watch (and whether this is a disadvantage or an advantage – decide for yourself).
Although the Watch Fit 3 has some shortcomings – for example, the lack of NFC payment functionality in Lithuania and limited (or no) ability to reply to messages – the convenience of the watch, long battery life and abundance of functions, in my opinion, make it attractive enough candidate in the market. Especially considering the relatively low price (about 160 euros).
Thanks to its versatile design and the abundance and variety of functions, the Huawei Watch Fit 3 is suitable for sports and everyday wear.
Different training regimens can provide useful insights for active athletes. And functions such as display of phone messages, weather forecasts, call support and alarm clock can also be useful in everyday activities.
2024-07-21 08:01:15