Huawei Watch Fit 3

I'm at Huawei's launch event in Dubai for the Huawei Watch Fit 3 right now, after having tried out the smart wearable as my daily smartwatch for the past two weeks. As the name 'Watch Fit' implies, this device is a true smartwatch on one hand, while also offering the low weight and functions of a fitness tracker on the other. Normally, I am someone who will slap on a smartwatch as a fashion accessory when I go out or head to work, but I'll mostly take it off as soon as I get home. Let alone keeping it on while sleeping. The Huawei Watch Fit 3 is the first wearable that I've been wearing pretty much non-stop, and I'll tell you why in this review.

Huawei has had a diverse lineup of smartwatches and fitness bands for years. On one hand there's the high-end and classically styled Huawei Watch series, while on the other there's a range of activity-focused smart bands. The new Watch Fit 3 sits in between, but with a new design that makes it stand out more as a unique product. The design is obviously similar to that of the Apple Watch series. According to Andreas Zimmer, Head of Product for Huawei Europe, at a short product presentation I attended, Huawei is aiming to provide a well-balanced alternative to both the Apple Watch SE and the Fitbit Versa 4. And looking at the specs alone, it does quite a lot of things better than either device.

The Watch Fit 3 features a square 1.82 inch AMOLED bezel-less screen with a resolution of 347 PPI and a 60 Hz refresh rate. Coupled with a peak brightness of 1500 nits, I've found the screen to be very crisp, sharp and clearly visible under all conditions, including direct sunlight. Controls are via touch screen, a new rotating crown, and a function button. With 9.9 mm thickness and a weight of only 26 grams, the device is both smaller, thinner and lighter than either the Apple Watch SE or Fitbit Versa 4 it competes with. At the same time, it sports the largest screen size, highest resolution and highest peak brightness. Coupled with a battery life of between 7 and 10 days and quick-charging capability, this impressive spec sheet made me look forward to receiving my review sample, and it didn't disappoint.

In my opinion, Huawei has made a good choice to change the design for the new Watch Fit. With the reduced height of 43 cm and larger width of 36 cm, the device sits comfortably on my wrist, without feeling cumbersome like some of the bigger smartwatches I'm used to wearing. The smaller size makes the Watch Fit less of a statement piece, but on the other hand, the Apple Watch form factor has proved popular and from a distance, the two wearables are hard to tell apart. I'm still appreciating the look of classic watches better, like the Huawei Watch GT I own, but the comfort of wearing the Watch Fit 3 has me convinced that a lighter, square smartwatch fits me just as well.

With its 26 grams, the Huawei Watch Fit 3 feels really light on your arm. On multiple occasions over the past two weeks, I completely forgot that I was wearing it. I think it's also because of the very soft but sturdy material of the strap. I received the Grey version with Nylon Strap for testing, and can highly recommend this version, based on its comfort alone. This includes the fact that it doesn't pull the hairs on my (relatively hairy) arm, which some polymer or metal straps are prone to do. The smaller size, the lightweight materials and the softness of the strap make the Huawei Watch Fit 3 a perfectly balanced device to wear. You simply don't notice wearing it, illustrated by the fact that at one point, I found myself trying to put on one of my other smartwatches while getting dressed, bumping into the Watch Fit 3 I was already wearing.

Some people might be hesitant to look into a Huawei product, due to fears of incompatibility with Android or iOS. However, I didn't notice any more difficulty than if I had tried a new Apple Watch as an Android user, for example. When setting up the Huawei Watch Fit 3, it's all pretty straightforward. It requires you to install the Huawei Health App from either Google Play Store, Apple's App Store or Huawei's App Gallery. Once you've done so, you simply follow the instructions for pairing and you're good to go. The Health App is where you'll be able to track your sports activities in detail, read up on your sleep monitoring results, look at blood oxygen levels and pick new watch faces.

Having the device on me day and night means I've been more aware of my sleep routine, using Huawei's TruSleep 4.0. I'm also taking the cues to get up and move a bit after sitting behind my work laptop for more than an hour. I've also started monitoring my stress levels over the past few days to see whether I could improve something in that regard. I really don't plan on becoming a health freak, but for someone who's usually busy with work, family life and trying to do some gaming in between, the Watch Fit 3 provides some welcome reminders to also take care of my mental and physical health. The only thing I found to be less accurate are the steps counted. They seem to be a bit on the optimistic side, counting several steps when I was taking just one, for example.

There are some smart features I've come to appreciate in the Watch Fit 3 as well. I haven't owned a watch that could take calls before, but I've become completely used to it now. The audio when taking a call is clear and people had no issue hearing me talk. I'm also using the Whatsapp message previews a lot. Replying to messages is possible by selecting a number of pre-written responses such as "OK", "Almost there" or by using an emoji. That's less than the possibility to actually type a response on the Apple Watch, for example, but I can't say I would prefer typing on such a tiny screen anyway. I can always grab my phone to do so. I haven't used all of the smart features yet, but I plan on doing so whenever the need arises.

There's also some fun to be had playing around with the Watch Fit 3. There are already a number of watch faces available before launch. I don't like most of them, but the ones I do like are really nice. The 'Time Illusion' watch face changes shape and colour when you turn the rotating crown, for example, which, by the way, is one of the few times I've used the rotating crown so far. The 'Style' watch face can be changed into different designs. And you can always add your own image as a background, such as a photograph or your own AI-generated image. Another nice feature is the ability to play music, either on the speaker or by connecting to Bluetooth headphones. I imagine it's also nice when working out, as you can leave your phone and play music you've uploaded to your Watch Fit 3.

A special mention for any review of this device has to be the battery life. It's great and allows for care-free use. In my experience, the Watch Fit 3 uses about 10% battery in a day on average. That's pretty much in line with what Huawei promises officially. The battery will last for at least a full week before requiring a recharge. Moreover, charging is very fast for a smart device. All this means that features such as health monitoring become actually viable as you can wear it continuously. I also think it's where the Watch Fit 3 has a strong selling point compared to the competition, especially in the Apple Watch camp, which seems to have trouble lasting for just one or two days.

So far, I've mostly focused on my experience of the Huawei Watch Fit 3 as a very comfortable smart wearable on any regular (working) day. But it has a lot of exercise monitoring features inside as well. I haven't touched on those, and that's because I have to admit there simply wasn't any sports activity to monitor over the past two weeks. How different people will use this device will vary per person, with people on one end using it as a daily smartwatch like I do, and others using it for exercise monitoring, such as monitoring their calorie burning, weight loss progress or increasing their fitness. For swimmers, it's nice to know the Watch Fit 3 is 5 ATM watertight for use when swimming. Whatever the use case, I think people will appreciate the same things that I like about it.

In conclusion, I really like the Huawei Watch Fit 3. I own other smart watches, including a Fitbit wearable and two versions of the Huawei Watch GT series, but because of their size and weight I don't like to wear them all day. The Watch Fit 3 has changed this for me. I enjoy wearing it all the time, because I don't even notice it's there when I don't need it, and it has all of the smart features I could want when I do need a smart wearable, on top of its great battery life, lasting for at least a full week. Offering great specs for a lower price upon launch compared to its competition, between €159 and €199, I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a comfortable smart wearable that offers good value for money.