examined the Realme Watch 3

 Introduction

Over the past two years, Realme has progressively expanded the selection of wearables it offers, starting with the aptly named Realme Watch. Its most recent offering, the Realme Watch 3, is meant to serve as a direct successor for the Realme Watch 2, which was made available last year and sold for INR 4,125 ($55/€45) and had a good feature set and a lengthy battery life.

The model for this year costs INR 3,500 ($44/€44), and in addition to the usual sports and activity tracking, it has an improved appearance with a larger screen, squared-off edges, and Bluetooth calling. How does the Realme Watch 3 stack up against its competitors, and are the added features sufficient to warrant an upgrade?

Specifications for the Realme Watch 3

Display: 1.8" colour touchscreen with 240 by 286 pixels, 323 ppi pixel density, 500 nits of maximum brightness, and 2.5D Gorilla Glass 3.

Straps: Detachable silicon straps, 22 mm wide, adjustable lengths of 130 to 220 mm

Features include IP68 certification, Bluetooth calling, speaker, Real-time heart rate monitoring, 24/7 SpO2 monitoring, Sleep tracking, Stress monitoring, Sports tracking, VO2 Max, Step Counter, Meditation, Smart Notifications, Idle Alert, Drink Reminder, Phone Finder, Weather Forecast, Music and Camera Control.

Sports modes include football, yoga, cricket, outdoor and indoor running, walking, cycling, and strength training (100 more in Realme Link app)

Sensors: 3-axis accelerometer, SpO2 sensor, PPG optical heart rate sensor, and rotor vibration motor

Bluetooth version 5.3, compatible with iOS 11 and Android 5.1 or later

Cell: 340 mAh

Colors: Grey and black

Weight: 40 grammes Dimensions: 45 x 37 x 11.5 mm

The Realme Watch 3 appears more premium than its predecessor, despite the fact that its body is still entirely comprised of plastic. Now that it is flat, the sides are polished brightly, giving the impression that it is an alloy of metals up close. We have the interesting gunmetal-looking black colour choice for this evaluation.

There is also a grey Realme model; this model features a lighter watch strap and case. Speaking of the watch strap, it is made of durable silicone and is 22mm, so you can use any other band you may have sitting around to swap it out.

The watch weighs 40 grammes, making it comfortable to wear all day. To wake up and go back, press the watch's single button on the right side. You get a microphone on the left, which is also where the speaker is.

The Realme Watch 3's 1.8-inch diagonal LCD panel is larger than the 1.4-inch panel from the Realme Watch 2, but the resolution has dropped from the watch's sharper 320 x 320 pixels output from the previous year to 240 x 286 pixels. Fair right, the difference isn't noticeable in everyday use, however it's odd that the newer model watch has a screen with a lower resolution.

Several competing smartwatches use OLED displays, which can support Always on Display (AoD), in contrast to the Watch 3's LCD display. Additionally, you will need to select the brightness individually because the screen doesn't adjust itself automatically. There are four brightness settings, from 20 to 40%, and I found the 40% setting to be quite usable in most circumstances, even outside in the intense August sun. The Watch 3's 500 nit maximum brightness is sufficient, while the Realme Watch 2 from the previous year has a 600 nit maximum brightness.

Even though the Realme Watch 3 is IP68 water and dust resistant, avoid taking showers and going swimming with it. The watch, a USB-A cable, and a unique two-pin magnetic charger are all included in the retail packaging.

Features

Like the majority of modern smartwatches, the Realme Watch 3 provides continuous SpO2 tracking, stress and sleep monitoring, as well as round-the-clock heart rate monitoring. The watch also keeps track of over 110 sports and activities. On the watch, 16 sports modes can be active at once. To switch between them, you must launch the Realme Link app on your phone.

Through the Link app, Realme additionally provides more than 100 watch faces that automatically sync to the watch. You must erase the existing watch faces in order to install additional because the watch can only store four watch faces at once. The watch also comes with a number of functionalities that are useful, such as an alarm, weather widget, reminders app, audio controls, and Bluetooth camera shutter functionality.

Examples of aerobic workouts that offer customised workout outcomes to help you reach new target goals and choose your level of exercise intensity include running and cycling. Watch 3 also recommends recuperation times depending on your most recent workout and VO2 max values to help you assess the efficacy of your workouts. Although the watch lacks a built-in GPS receiver, the antenna on your phone should still provide more accurate readings.

Examples of aerobic workouts that offer customised workout outcomes to help you reach new target goals and choose your level of exercise intensity include running and cycling. Watch 3 also recommends recuperation times depending on your most recent workout and VO2 max values to help you assess the efficacy of your workouts. Although the watch lacks a built-in GPS receiver, the antenna on your phone should still provide more accurate readings.

Bluetooth calling is one of the Watch 3's new features that wasn't available on earlier Realme Watch iterations. After the initial connection process via the Realme Link app on your phone, your favourite contacts may be linked with the watch right away, making it simpler to dial. Having user-accessible storage to store music or other files would have been a fantastic feature given the watch's built-in speaker.

The vibration motor works as intended, though the haptics aren't quite as convincing as some of the more costly watches we've examined. This device has a bigger 340 mAh battery than the Realme Watch 2's 315 mah cell. To view performance data, navigate to the battery section.

Performance

Navigating the interface is quick and lag-free, and the UI animations run without any pause. Like the rest of Realme's watch series, the Watch 3 runs a rudimentary proprietary operating system and comes with pre-installed apps. The watch is navigated by swipes, and the side key also serves as the back button. One feature that is missing is the ability to double-tap the screen to wake it up.

Continuous SpO2, stress, and heart rate monitoring are equally efficient to those found on more expensive timepieces. SpO2 and heart rate measurements can be made quickly and easily in real time. The presentation of exercise data is appealing and has large, scrollable indicators.

Exercises that use a heart rate monitor can provide helpful information like average pace, calories burned, average cadence (number of steps per minute), average stride, and total steps. During various training sessions, the watch did reset itself a few times, which cost me some workouts. Hopefully, future software updates will address this. Although the watch doesn't have a built-in GPS receiver, the GPS receiver on your connected phone should provide more precise data.

The sleep tracking data did provide precise sleep and wake times. The Realme Watch 3 offers a breakdown of sleep by category that includes rapid eye movement, similar to the majority of watches on the market (REM).

You cannot compare results over longer time periods because the watch has access to all health and activity information. The Realme Link phone app's Health tab offers comprehensive analysis of your health and activity indicators and lets you compare up to a month's worth of data. You can export the results of your workout as images to share with friends or to track your training routine.

The Bluetooth calling option on the Watch 3 is quite useful and worked well in my tests. The watch has a little keypad that you can use to quickly dial numbers and even store some of your favourite contacts. You can also begin a call on your phone and transfer it later to the watch. When you leave your phone in one area and move around the room while on a call, the dual-mode Bluetooth chip makes sure that the connection is strong enough to prevent call quality dropouts.

The speaker on the Watch 3 is loud enough to hear during calls even when you're outside, and the microphone pick-up is sufficient for the majority of usage scenarios, despite the peculiar feeling that you still need to elevate your wrist closer to your lips. My voice was heard clearly on the other end of calls, but wind and traffic would confuse the conversation. An additional microphone would be a better method to deal with distractions despite Realme boasting about its AI noise reduction algorithm.

Although I was only able to get 5 days out of a single charge, Battery Life Realme claims that you may use the Watch 3 for up to 7 days at a time. In our testing, we discovered that these values were accurate with light usage.

Three to four workouts per week, continuous heart rate, SpO2, sleep, and stress monitoring, a raise-to-wake screen brightness of 40%, and continuous alerts from all related phone apps made up my Watch 3 use case. The watch also features a power-saving mode where it only shows the time and date. Fully charging takes just over two hours.

Conclusion The Watch 2 from a year ago has been incrementally improved with the Realme Watch 3. The main new feature this year is Bluetooth calling, which works well despite normally not being assured for watches at this price point. Despite being made entirely of plastic, Watch 3 feels sufficiently light on the wrist and has a more premium design than its predecessor. The slightly larger 1.8-inch screen and lower bezels are a welcome upgrade, even though the reduced resolution and peak brightness levels are not ideal.

Health and fitness tracking is offered, just like other watches and smart bands in this price range. A dedicated GPS sensor and a better OLED screen are the only things this watch is missing, and it would be an easy recommendation. For INR 3,500 ($44/€44), the Realme Watch 3 is a respectable smartwatch that provides Bluetooth calling, which is unusual at this price point, as well as decent health and fitness tracking.

Pros

Calling using Bluetooth

Lightweight construction

IP68 rating and long battery life Drawbacks

incremental improvement over Realme Watch 2

display of a lower resolution (still LCD)

lack of auto brightness

not watertight