Realme Watch 3 review

introduction

Realme entered the smartwatch market more than two years ago under its aptly named Realme Watch, and the manufacturer has steadily expanded its portfolio of wearable devices ever since. The new Realme Watch 3 is its latest offering and is positioned as a direct successor to last year’s Realme Watch 2, a watch that brought great battery life and a decent feature set for INR 4,125 ($ 55 / € 45).

This year’s model gets a revamped design with a larger screen, square edges, and Bluetooth calling, while still providing the usual sports and activity tracking for INR 3,500 ($ 44 / € 44). How does the Realme Watch 3 compare to the competition and do the new features make it a worthy upgrade?

Realme Watch 3 specifications

• Screen: 1.8 “color screen, 240 x 286 pixels, 323ppi pixel density, 500 nit peak brightness, Gorilla Glass 3 2.5D
• Straps: Detachable silicone straps, 22mm width, 130-220mm adjustable length
• Features: IP68 rated, Bluetooth calling, speakerphone, real-time heart rate monitor, 24/7 SpO2 monitoring, sleep monitoring, stress monitoring, sports monitoring, VO2 Max, pedometer, meditation, smart notifications, alert idle, drink reminder, phone search, weather forecast, music and camera control
• Sports modes: Outdoor run, indoor run, outdoor walk, indoor walk, outdoor bike, indoor bike, strength training, soccer, yoga and cricket (100 more in the Realme Link app)
• Sensors: PPG optical heart rate sensor, SpO2 sensor, 3-axis accelerometer, rotor vibration motor
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, compatible with Android 5.1+ and iOS 11+
• Battery: 340 mAh
• Colors: Black, gray
• Dimensions: 45 x 37 x 11.5 mm
• Weight: 40 grams

Drawing

Realme Watch 3 looks more premium than its predecessor even though the body is still entirely made of plastic. The sides are now flat and feature a glossy finish that looks like a metal alloy from afar. We have the black color variant here for our review which has an interesting gunmetal look.

Realme also sells a gray variant that offers a lighter shade on the case and a lighter colored watch strap. Speaking of the watch band, it is made of a durable silicone material and is of the standard 22mm variety, so you can replace it with any other watch band you may have lying around.

The watch weighs only 40 grams, which makes it comfortable to carry all day. There is a single button on the right side that can wake the clock and also act as a back button. You also get a microphone on the same side while the speaker is on the left.

The Watch 3’s LCD panel has grown to 1.8 inches from the Realme Watch 2’s 1.4-inch diagonal, although the resolution count was a hit at 240 x 286 px while last year’s watch it had a sharper output of 320 x 320 px. To be fair, the difference isn’t noticeable in everyday use, but it’s still odd that the newer model’s watch has a lower resolution screen.

Unlike the OLED screens on some competing smartwatches, there is no Always on Display (AoD) feature on the Watch 3 since it is an LCD panel. The screen also lacks automatic brightness, so you’ll have to manually select the brightness you want to display. There are four brightness options ranging from 20% and I found the 40% option perfectly usable in most cases even outdoors and in direct August sunlight. The peak brightness on the Watch 3 is 500 nits, which is pretty good even though last year’s Realme Watch 2 got brighter with its 600 nits of peak brightness.

Although Realme Watch 3 is IP68 water and dust resistant, the device is not suitable for showers and swimming, so keep that in mind. The retail package consists of the watch, a proprietary two-pin magnetic charger that ends with a USB-A cable.

Features

Like most of the newer smartwatches, Realme Watch 3 offers 24/7 heart rate monitoring, as well as continuous SpO2, stress and sleep monitoring. The watch also tracks over 110 sports and activities. You can have 16 sports modes on the watch at a time while swapping one mode for another requires access to the Realme Link app on your phone.

Realme also offers over 100 watch faces via the Link app that sync with the watch in seconds. You can only have four faces on your watch at a time, and you’ll need to delete existing ones if you want to add more. The watch also has a number of useful features like alarm clock, weather widget, reminder app, music controls, and the ability to act as a Bluetooth camera shutter.

Aerobic workouts like running and cycling achieve specialized training results that determine the intensity level of the exercise and help you reach new goals. Watch 3 also provides recovery time advice based on your most recent workout and VO2 max measurements to give you a better feel of your workout efficiency. There is no GPS receiver built into the watch, although the phone’s antenna should still provide more accurate results.

Bluetooth calling is one of the new Watch 3 features that was not available on previous Realme Watch models. You set it up right after the initial pairing process in the Realme Link app on your phone, and you can sync your favorite contacts to your watch for easier dialing. There is no user-accessible storage space on the watch to store music or other files, which would have been a nice feature given the onboard speaker.

The vibration motor does the job even though the haptics seem a less convincing step than some of the more premium watches we’ve tested. There’s a larger 340mAh battery pack here than the Realme Watch 2’s 315mAh cell, and you can go to the battery segment to see how it fared.

Performance

Navigating the interface is smooth and responsive with UI animations running without lag. Like the rest of Realme’s watch portfolio, Watch 3 runs a basic proprietary operating system with several pre-installed apps. Scroll the clock by swipe with the side key that acts as a back button. One thing missing is a double tap gesture to wake the screen.

24/7 heart rate monitoring, as well as continuous SpO2 and stress monitoring work just like on more expensive watches. Instant heart rate and SpO2 readings are quick and easy to record. Training data is beautifully displayed with large scrollable metrics.

Cardio workouts get useful information such as average pace, calories burned, average cadence (steps per minute), average pace, total steps, and average speed. I have encountered some instances where the watch rebooted by itself during several training sessions which resulted in lost workouts, so hopefully this will be fixed with future software updates. There is no GPS receiver built into the watch, although the one on the paired phone should still provide more accurate results.

The sleep tracking results showed accurate times for bedtime and waking up. Like most other watches on the market, Realme Watch 3 also offers a breakdown of sleep by category with rapid eye movement (REM) included.

All health and activity data are accessible on the watch, which does not allow you to compare values ​​for longer periods of time. The Health tab within the Realme Link phone app offers detailed analysis of health and activity metrics allowing you to compare up to a month of data. You can also export your training session results as images to share with friends or keep track of your training regimen.

Bluetooth calling on the Watch 3 is quite useful and worked flawlessly during my tests. You can dial numbers directly on the watch via a miniature keypad or even transfer some of your favorite contacts to the watch. You can also initiate a call on your phone and transfer it to your watch. The signal is strong enough thanks to the dual-mode Bluetooth chip so that you can leave your phone in a room and walk around during a call without any drop in call quality.

The Watch 3’s speaker is loud enough during calls even outdoors, and microphone capture is good enough for most use cases, although you still need to raise your wrist closer to your mouth, which is embarrassing. During the calls, people on the other side reported that my voice was clear even though disturbances such as wind and car traffic would have muffled the conversation. Realme boasts of its AI noise reduction algorithm although an additional microphone would be a more optimal solution to combat noise.

Battery life

Realme claims you can get up to 7 days of use from the Watch 3 and in our tests we found these values ​​to be accurate with lighter use even though I got 5 days on a single charge.

The My Watch 3 use case included constant notifications from all apps on my paired phone, 40% screen brightness with alarm function activated, 24/7 heart rate measurement, SpO2, sleep and stress, as well as three to four workouts per week. The watch also has a power saving mode which only shows the time and date. A full charge takes just over two hours

Verdict

Realme Watch 3 is an iterative update of Watch 2 from last year. The big news this year is the Bluetooth call which works well and is usually not promised for watches at this price. Watch 3 is made entirely of plastic even though it looks more premium than its predecessor and is still quite light on the wrist. The slightly larger 1.8-inch screen and thinner bezels are a welcome addition even if the lower resolution and peak brightness levels aren’t ideal.

Health and fitness tracking is on par with other smart watches and bands in this price range. A dedicated GPS sensor and better looking OLED screen are two of the missing pieces that would make this watch an easy recommendation. At INR 3,500 ($ 44 / € 44) the Realme Watch 3 is a good value smartwatch that offers capable health and fitness monitoring, as well as Bluetooth calling that aren’t always discounted at this price point.

Professionals

• Bluetooth calls
• Lightweight design
• Solid battery life
• Degree of protection IP68

versus

• Iterative update on Realme Watch 2
• Lower resolution display (always LCD)
• No automatic brightness
• Not swim proof