This device is the living proof Wear OS deserves a chance

Jan 18, 2021 19:27 GMT  ·  By

For many people out there, the smartwatch market comes down to one big name: Apple Watch. For others, devices from renowned brands like Fitbit and Garmin also have a well-deserved place in the wearable market.

But there are few people out there who believe the Wear OS ecosystem deserves a chance.

And there’s a very good reason for this: despite shipping occasional updates, Google has never shown full commitment to making Wear OS a worthy alternative to Apple’s watchOS, with the company hoping its partners would help grow the hardware ecosystem with their very own models.

Things could change now that Google has completed the Fitbit acquisition, but until a Google-branded smartwatch sees the daylight to serve as a Wear OS pioneer, the search giant just has to rely on other companies in the market for the whole thing.

Mobvoi is one of the names that invested big in Wear OS, and the recently-released TicWatch Pro 3 is the flagship product showing it just didn’t rest on its laurels after taking the industry by surprise with a series of high-quality yet affordable smartwatches.

TicWatch Pro 3 is a surprising device right from the moment you open the box. I am one of those people who aren’t necessarily big fans of the Apple Watch and would rather stick with the traditional round shape of a classic watch, so the TicWatch Pro 3 certainly ticks all the boxes here.

TicWatch Pro 3

With a 1.4-inch OLED display, the new smartwatch isn’t necessarily the right choice for those with small hands, especially as it’s 48mm wide. On the other hand, it’s quite lightweight, as it tips the scales at just 42 grams.

But on the other hand, the large screen comes with the added benefit from vivid colors and impressive responsiveness – if you’ve read my previous TicWatch reviews, you probably know one of the things I complained about was the slow response to the touch, so hats off to Mobvoi for resolving this. Like any smartwatch, the TicWatch Pro 3 comes with a wide choice of faces, and you can find so many others in the store. The ones that come pre-loaded with the device, however, look fantastic and I actually decided to stick with the analog one despite being a big fan of digital faces.

Overall, the device looks a lot like the TicWatch Pro, and one of the improvements I like was the always-on monochromatic screen that helps push the battery to ridiculous levels.

With the default mode, I had to recharge the TicWatch Pro 3 every 2 to 3 days, but with the Essential mode, which displays only, uhm, essential data on the screen, you’re supposed to get up to 45 days per charge. This is thanks to a 577 mAh battery and heavy optimizations, though I was surprised to see the Essential mode showing more information than in the past, including the step count, sleep data, heart rate, and oxygen saturation information.

TicWatch Pro 3

TicWatch Pro 3 comes with the same set of fitness capabilities available on Mobvoi’s previous models and powered by the Tic-branded suite of tools. You can obviously choose from a wide array of pre-loaded workouts to keep an eye on the way you exercise, and there are several things that need to be highlighted here. First, it’s the built-in GPS sensor which means you can track your workouts without the need for a phone.

Then, it’s the SpO2 sensor on the device that can measure blood oxygen level, though worth knowing is that right now, the TicWatch Pro 3 can’t perform an ECG. I found the TicWatch Pro 3 to be on par or just slightly off my Garmin fenix 6s, though the biggest shortcoming was that it sometimes took up to 2 or 3 minutes to lock the GPS connection.

When it comes to performance, the TicWatch Pro 3 is ridiculously fast. In fact, I never had a performance issue with a TicWatch, but this new model is the first to come with the Snapdragon 4100 chip, this time paired with 1GB of RAM.

In practice, this means the TicWatch Pro 3 is as responsive as a smartwatch can get, and honestly, there’s nothing to complain about in this regard on Mobvoi’s flagship device. The combination of an OLED screen and a faster processor makes the TicWatch Pro 3 super-responsive all the time, even during a heavy workout – this is a big plus, as a sweaty finger might otherwise have a hard time to interact with certain apps.

TicWatch Pro 3

The new TicWatch comes with the standard smartwatch capabilities powered by Wear OS, so you’re getting notifications on your wrist as long as the device is paired with your smartphone. Needless to say, everything is working as straightforward as possible, despite the watch coming with a rounded screen (head that Apple?). I found the device quite comfortable to wear most of the time, though its big case could make it quite a challenge to keep on the wrist when going to bed, especially if you want to track your sleep. But other than that, the watch doesn’t feel as massive as it looks, and given a daily recharge isn’t needed, I found myself taking it off my wrist quite rarely.

All in all, the TicWatch Pro 3 is the living proof the smartwatch world doesn’t just have to come down to a single name. Mobvoi has once again proved a high-quality device also doesn’t have to cost a fortune, though, at the end of the day, all it lacks is Google’s commitment to making Wear OS the watchOS rival the world really deserves.

Photo Gallery (5 Images)

TicWatch Pro 3
TicWatch Pro 3TicWatch Pro 3
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