Realme Watch 3 Review: A feature-rich affordable smartwatch
Realme Watch 3 The price of Realme Watch 3 in India is Rs 3,499. This is the latest affordable smartwatch from the company. Through this, the company is trying to compete with the products of Noise, Fire-Boltt and Boat in the same price range. With a big display, Bluetooth calling and fitness tracking features, is Realme Watch 3 the best affordable smartwatch you can buy right now? Let’s find out in this review.
Design and Specifications of Realme Watch 3
Priced at Rs 3,499, the Realme Watch 3 competes directly with the recently launched Noise ColorFit Pro 4 which offers similar features and specifications. Here, the Realme Watch 3 has a 1.8-inch TFT LCD display which is slightly larger than the Noise smartwatch. But it is not as sharp as the Noise one and gets a resolution of 240×286 pixels. It comes with a maximum brightness of 500 nits.
The Realme Watch 3 comes in two colour options, Black and Grey. The company sent me the Grey model. The strap is grey but the sides of the smartwatch are quite glossy and I think the shiny shade of silver looks quite nice. The front and back of the watch are in black and the 22mm strap can be replaced with aftermarket options.
There are thick borders around the watch’s screen, due to which its look seems a bit old. You can hide this flaw a bit by using a black background. A microphone is provided on the right side which is along with the primary button. The primary button comes with power control and some navigation options. Speakers are provided on the left side which are useful while receiving calls. Contact points for charging are provided at the bottom of the device and there are also optical sensors for heart rate and blood oxygen readings.
Realme Watch 3 is rated IP68 for dust and water resistance. It weighs 40 grams with its strap. It uses Bluetooth 5.3 for connectivity. You also get a magnetic charging cable in the sales package.
Realme Watch 3 software and apps
The user interface of Realme Watch 3 is quite simple in which some fixed apps are given. You can neither install any other app in it nor uninstall its apps. It uses Bluetooth for connectivity with the smartphone, through which it works to sync fitness data and show notifications.
Swiping the watch right or left cycles the main apps, including activity tracking, sleep tracking, heart rate tracking, weather, and music controls. Swiping up from the bottom shows notifications. Swiping from the top to the bottom shows toggles for brightness, power saving mode, settings, and other options. Pressing the side button shows the full app menu in a grid or list format.
It comes with apps for the main functions you would expect in a smartwatch including stopwatch, timer, alarm, camera shutter control, heart rate and blood oxygen tracking, workouts and workout records, settings and more. It is very easy to access and use.
With the help of Realme Link app, the watch and smartphone are connected to each other. This app is available for both Android and iOS. Fitness data can be viewed in a detailed and organized manner in the app. With its help, you can also customize settings and other functions in the watch.
You can choose a watchface from Realme’s growing list of watchfaces and quickly change to any of the four watchfaces saved on the watch. Here you can also choose which of its apps should send you notifications or not. Pressing the button and raising your wrist puts the watch in active mode. Tapping the screen in standby makes no difference.
If you have other Realme products like earphones or IoT devices, the app becomes quite convenient and acts as a common hub for all. The connection with the smartwatch remained stable and notification delivery was also reliable during the review period.
Realme Watch 3 performance and battery life
Affordable smartwatches offer a lot of features, but the actual experience is quite different. This is especially seen in this price segment. But, as far as showing time and notifications, changing watchfaces are concerned, this Realme watch does a good job here.
Bluetooth calling is useful and I used it for short calls in quiet places like my home and office. It was quite easy to receive calls and worked without any hassle. As for health and fitness tracking, I found it lacking. But there are not many options at this price that offer such accurate tracking. This watch counted 1072 out of 1000 steps I counted. The Noise ColorFit Pro 4 also showed the same figure. For longer distances, the difference turned out to be 85 extra steps per 1000 steps.
Compared to Apple Watch, it measured less distance. While it showed more calorie measurement. Heart rate reading was also not accurate when recorded while walking but it was showing fine when standing or sitting. Blood oxygen level was shown accurately. It also did sleep tracking well.
Its battery life matches the company’s claim and lasts up to 7 days. I did a fair amount of activity with it, did health tracking, used it for occasional calls and also checked notifications.
Our decision
At a price of Rs 3,499, the Realme Watch 3 offers a lot. It looks good, is reliable for connectivity, has good battery life and comes with Bluetooth calling. Its fitness and activity tracking does not impress. But for the price, it is not lacking in features. If your budget is quite low then you can consider buying it.
The Noise ColorFit Pro 4 is also not to be overlooked as it offers more watchfaces and a sharper display. Here it also comes down to brand and personal preference. But it can definitely be said that the Realme Watch 3 is offering a lot more than what you spend for it.
