The Realme Watch 3 offers a lot for a price of Rs 3,499.
Highlights
Its battery life is up to 7 days
The watch and smartphone connect via the Realme Link app.
The Realme Watch 3 features a 1.8-inch TFT LCD display
The affordable smartwatch segment is rapidly gaining popularity, and some established market players have already established a strong foothold in it. Realme is one such brand that is working hard to build its own ecosystem. The company's products have a strong presence in various segments, including smartphones, audio products, and tablets. The company's latest addition to the smart wearable segment is the Realme Watch 3, which strives to strike a balance between fitness and health tracking, functional features, and affordability. The
Realme Watch 3 is priced at ₹3,499 in India. It is the company's latest affordable smartwatch, aiming to compete with products from Noise, Fire-Boltt, and Boat in the same price range. With a large display, Bluetooth calling, and fitness tracking features, is the Realme Watch 3 the best affordable smartwatch you can buy right now? Let's find out in this review.
Realme Watch 3 design and specifications
Priced at ₹3,499, the Realme Watch 3 competes directly with the recently launched Noise ColorFit Pro 4, which offers similar features and specifications. The Realme Watch 3 features a 1.8-inch TFT LCD display, which is slightly larger than Noise's smartwatch. However, it's not as sharp as the Noise's, offering a resolution of 240x286 pixels. It comes with a maximum brightness of 500 nits.
The Realme Watch 3 comes in two color options: black and gray. The company sent me the gray model. The strap is gray, but the sides of the smartwatch are quite glossy, and I think the shiny silver shade looks great. The front and back of the watch are black, and the 22mm strap can be replaced with aftermarket options. The
thick borders around the watch screen make it look a bit dated. You can mask this flaw by using a black background. There's a microphone on the right side, adjacent to the primary button. The primary button also has power controls and some navigation options. The left side houses a speaker for receiving calls. The bottom of the device features contact points for charging, along with optical sensors for heart rate and blood oxygen readings.
The 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 Realme Watch 3's user interface is quite simple, with a few fixed apps. You can't install or uninstall any other apps. It uses Bluetooth for smartphone connectivity, which syncs fitness data and displays notifications.
Swiping right or left reveals the main apps, including activity tracking, sleep tracking, heart rate tracking, weather, and music controls. Swiping from the bottom reveals notifications. Swiping from the top to the bottom reveals toggles for brightness, power saving mode, settings, and other options. Pressing the side button displays the full app menu in a grid or list format.
It comes with apps for the main functions you'd expect from a smartwatch, including a stopwatch, timer, alarm, camera shutter control, heart rate and blood oxygen tracking, workout and workout records, settings, and more. Access and use are quite easy.
The Realme Link app connects the watch and smartphone. This app is available for both Android and iOS. Fitness data can be viewed in a detailed and organized manner. It also allows you to customize settings and other functions on the watch.
You can choose a watchface from Realme's growing list of watchfaces and quickly change between the four watchfaces already saved on the watch. You can also choose which apps should or should not send you notifications. Pressing a button and raising your wrist puts the watch into active mode. Tapping the screen in standby mode has no effect.
If you have other Realme products like earphones or IoT devices, this app becomes quite convenient and acts as a common hub for all. The connection with the smartwatch remained stable and notification delivery was 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 common, especially in this price segment. However, when it comes to displaying the time and notifications, and changing watchfaces, this Realme Watch does a good job.
Bluetooth calling is useful, and I used it for short calls in quiet places like my home and office. Calls were easy to receive and worked without any issues. Regarding health and fitness tracking, I found it lacking. However, there aren't many options at this price point that offer such accurate tracking. This watch counted 1072 steps out of 1000 I counted. The Noise ColorFit Pro 4 also achieved the same result. For longer distances, the difference was 85 extra steps per 1000 steps.
Compared to the Apple Watch, it measured less distance but higher calorie counts. Heart rate readings were also inaccurate when recorded while walking, but were accurate when standing or sitting. Blood oxygen levels were accurate. Sleep tracking was also decent.
Its battery life matches the company's claims, lasting up to 7 days. I did a fair amount of activity on it, did health tracking, used it for occasional calls and also checked notifications.
Our decision
Priced at ₹3,499, the Realme Watch 3 offers a lot. It looks good, has reliable connectivity, good battery life, and comes with Bluetooth calling. Its fitness and activity tracking isn't impressive, but it's not lacking in features for its price. If you're on a tight budget, you might want to consider it.
The Noise ColorFit Pro 4 is also not to be overlooked, offering more watchfaces and a sharper display. This also comes down to brand and personal preference. But it's safe to say that the Realme Watch 3 offers more than what you're looking for.
