Huawei Watch Fit 3 Review: Third Time's the Charm

The Huawei Watch Fit 3 comes in just one size, which is 43.2 × 36.3 × 9.9 mm. Thanks to the square-ish design, it looks good on most wrists, barring the most extreme cases.

The band situation at the moment is pretty vanilla. As we already discussed, there are four silicon (fluoroelastomer) straps—Green, White, Pink, and Black—for the regular models. The Leather model uses metal lugs and two different strap materials - leather and nylon.

If you opt for the Leather version, you will be able to fit standard 20mm straps, the ones with a pin and a quick-release mechanism, so I highly recommend that version if you like to change your style often.

Huawei promises to add multiple independent strap color options soon, such as Vibrant Black, Vibrant White, Vitality Activity Ring strap, and Starlight Color strap, so if you're patient, you'll get some strap options.

The Huawei Watch Fit 3 runs on Huawei's proprietary operating system, Harmony OS (version 4.2.0), and you pair it to your phone using the Huawei Health app. This app can be found on the App Store and Google Play Store as well, so the old software hurdles have been alleviated.

Swiping up from the home screen brings notifications up, swiping down takes you to a quick setting menu, left is a smart assistant, and swiping right goes through different tiles that you can customize, add, or remove (you can have a total of six active).

The rotating crown takes you to the main menu and back to the home screen if you're anywhere else inside the software, while the button below the crown can be mapped to pretty much anything you want (it takes you to workouts by default). Here are some of the new features on the Watch Fit 3.

Enhanced sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring, and fitness tracking

The Watch Fit 3 comes with Huawei's TruSeen, TruSport, and TruSleep technologies. TruSeen 5.5 brings more precise cardiovascular readings for analyzing workout performance and daily health, based on AI algorithms and work with various Chinese health organizations.

TruSleep 4.0 provides detailed sleep information, such as sleep structure, sleep quality, and sleep health, including newly displayed physiological indicators during sleep like heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, and breathing rate. It's an upgrade of the previous version found in all Huawei watches, and it works really well.

TruSport is Huawei's fitness tracking technology, and in the Watch Fit 3, it introduces four new modes: football, basketball, padel, and e-sports. There are over 100 sports modes, including indoor and outdoor activities, and you can also use personalized training plans based on the user’s Running Ability Index (RAI), which include pace, heart rate, running distance, and other key factors.

New Stay Fit App

There's a brand new Stay Fit app that helps you control your weight. If you've ever used such apps (LoseIt, MyFitnessPal, etc.), you will find yourselves in familiar territory. The app lets you set a goal weight, log your meals, and track your calories throughout the day. It automatically adds the burnt callories from exercises and shows everything in a nice and comprehensive way.

Activity Ring Tracker

Huawei previously used a system called Health Clovers to track your progress at various tasks throughout the day (hydration, exercises, step count, sleep, etc.), but the Watch Fit 3 introduces a new system called Activity Ring Tracker.

This sounds and looks familiar and also tracks the same metrics—move, exercise, and stand—as other smartwatch brands out there. Health Clovers are still present, but if you want to keep things simple, now you can close those rings. Enough said.

Huawei Watch Fit 3 Battery and Charging

Solid battery life, frustrating charging method

The Huawei Watch Fit 3 comes with a hefty 400mAh battery inside, which should translate to a long and healthy battery life. Huawei cites up to 10 days (7 days typical) on a single charge, and I was able to get out five days of heavy use out of the watch, including several hours of GPS tracked exercises every day, a couple of calls, sleep tracking, and continuous heart-rate monitoring.

The charging method is pretty frustrating, though. The magnetic pin connector has to be aligned properly to attach, and the hold is not very strong. The pull of the cable often detaches the connector; there's no cradle to support it or anything to make snapping it to the watch easier. The charging time is about an hour, from zero to full (I got 69 minutes, to be exact). No wireless charging.

Huawei Watch Fit 3 Summary and Final Verdict

There's a lot to like about this device, from the very bright and crisp AMOLED screen to the excellent build quality and the extensive health and fitness tracking capabilities. The battery life is also great; even if you push the watch to its absolute limits, you'll still get a couple of days on a single charge.

The Huawei Watch Fit 3 punches way above its weight, especially when it comes to design and feel. Ironically, this strong side is somewhat tarnished by its similarities with the Apple Watch SE. If you can live with that and the fact that people will constantly mistake the Fit 3 for an Apple Watch, this affordable smartwatch can give you a lot in return.