Huawei Watch Fit 3 review
The Huawei Watch Fit 3, launched in early May, sports a design that"s new for the Chinese company. It"s got a white metal body with bright red rotating crown button, and leather strap, and after we spent a couple of weeks with one our our hands we are ready to share how it performs.
Huawei abandoned the rectangular design of the Watch Fit and Watch Fit 2 in favor of a look strongly reminiscent of the Apple Watch. We received a black strap unit, which is arguably the most subdued of the lineup.
When we asked the Huawei team developing the Watch Fit 3 about the resemblance to the Apple Watch we got a straightforward response: customer demand.
The company"s studies showed that people want larger screens with bigger numbers and symbols, making the rectangular design less practical.
The Watch Fit 3 features a 1.82" AMOLED display with a 480 x 408 px resolution and 347 ppi. Running on HarmonyOS 4, the interface has been redesigned to be bigger and brighter. The black model"s nearly invisible bezels make the watch face stand out, although lighter variants reveal a more prominent black line between the casing and screen.
In line with other Huawei wearables, the Watch Fit 3 has two buttons: a top rotating crown for scrolling and a configurable Down button, which we used for quick access to workouts.
The aluminum alloy case is extremely lightweight at just 26 grams, making it significantly lighter than any Apple wearable. Its slim profile is due to the absence of wireless charging coils.
The Watch Fit 3 has a 400 mAh battery, charged via two pogo pins and a proprietary USB-C charger that effortlessly snaps to the back of the watch.
Designed for everyday use rather than intense workouts, Huawei claims the Watch Fit 3 can last 7 days on a single charge with typical usage and 10 days with stress detection and Auto SpO2 turned off.
In our use we got nearly 8 days with active use and up to 11 days with less activity. Enabling the always-on display (AOD) reduces battery life to about 5 days of active use.
Huawei has also improved its Calorie Tracking, Dietary Diary, and Nutritional Analysis algorithms, though these features are market-dependent and may not be available to everyone. The watch provides automatic prompts to track sports and activities, and even displays weather warnings.
For fitness enthusiasts, the Watch Fit 3 includes built-in GPS, which performed impressively well, often surpassing the accuracy of semi-professional Garmin smartwatches and flagship smartphones. The square screen design"s optimized data visualization and easy navigation are clear benefits, though obviously the parameters tracked are well behind what Garmin offers.
Priced from £140/€160, with a slightly more expensive option featuring a white leather strap, the Watch Fit 3 also comes with attractive bundle deals in some regions, including free Freebuds SE 2 and discounted accessories.
Overall, the Huawei Watch Fit 3 is a fantastic wearable, offering lightness, durability, and a rich feature set. With its versatile design and attractive bundles, it"s one of our top recommendations in its class.
