Honor Watch GS 3 review

Greatest Costs Immediately: Honor Watch GS 3

Honor’s newest smartwatch, the Watch GS 3, is a fitness-focused wearable that’s stuffed with gizmos to trace issues like your coronary heart charge and blood-oxygen ranges, all through a big AMOLED display screen that’s ideally suited for glancing down mid-workout whereas trying trendy.

Sadly, although, there are a couple of sizeable drawbacks. For one, Honor’s personal OS is missing with the third-party help provided by WearOS and even Fitbit’s trackers, that means it’s tough to make use of your well being information in something however Honor’s personal app.

It additionally received’t work with any iPhone, because it’s Android-only, which instantly guidelines out an enormous portion of potential consumers.

Designal & Construct

• Analogue-inspired design
• Two bodily buttons and touchscreen
• Select from a number of watch faces

It’s onerous to not begin this a part of the assessment with out saying what a handsome health tracker the Honor Watch GS 3 is. It seems nearer to an analogue watch than the rounded corners of a Fitbit Sense or an Apple Watch, with an enormous round AMOLED panel dominating the design, albeit with some bezel on present.

Extra on the show shortly, however regardless of the precise physique being pretty sizeable, it feels gentle at 44g (physique solely) and straightforward to put on for lengthy intervals. On one aspect, you’ll discover two buttons – one which acts as a customisable launcher (I set this to default to a exercise), whereas the opposite one brings up a menu in no matter a part of the as-yet-untitled OS.

In case you do use the look ahead to a exercise that requires, for example, a pushup, you’ll end up pushing each buttons with out that means to. With that in thoughts, we’d advise pointing them up your arm versus downward. 

Whereas there are many watch faces to select from, there’s no customization of any form – you merely set it and go.

Lloyd Coombes / Foundry

The straps are swappable, as you’d think about, with the Midnight Black model providing a fluoroelastomer development, whereas the Ocean Blue and Basic Gold variations have a leather-based strap.

Both means, you get a correct 5ATM waterproof score that means it’ll survive at as much as depths of 50m. Though, Honor says it’s appropriate for “swimming swimming pools, seaside swimming and different shallow-water actions” however not issues like “underwater diving, diving, scorching showers, saunas, scorching springs, and different wading or deep water actions”.

Display screen & Speaker

• 1.45in AMOLED show
• Simple to learn in daylight
• Spectacular speaker

The show on the Honor Watch GS 3 is an AMOLED panel, that means colors are vibrant towards the black background of the bottom OS. That makes it simple to learn, even in direct daylight, and it actually brings out the color of a few of the watch faces included.

It’s additionally suitably crisp with a decision of 466 x 466 pixels, leading to a pixel density that Apple would approve of – 326ppi.

Lloyd Coombes / Foundry

Maybe most surprisingly, although, the GS 3 has a very spectacular speaker that helps Bluetooth calls (there’s a microhphone too), in addition to enjoying music from it. It’ll by no means match your telephone or a devoted speaker for sound depth, however I’m impressed by how clear the audio is from it.

Specs & Efficiency

• Untitled OS is nice for well being monitoring
• Barebones for all the things else
• Onboard storage for music playback

Maybe the most important indication of the Honor Watch GS 3 being a “work in progress” of types is that its working system is untitled. Whereas it lacks a catchy moniker, although, it does provide fast entry to well being metrics – swiping on any given web page will take you to see issues like coronary heart charge, stress stage, or blood oxygen monitoring.

Lloyd Coombes / Foundry

All of those relay again to the Honor Well being app, though it’s price mentioning that the branding inside the Play Retailer stays just like the Huawei Well being app, one thing which might trigger a little bit of confusion. As I’ve talked about earlier than, there isn’t any iOS performance so you probably have an iPhone you’ll have to look elsewhere.

Nonetheless, when you’re in, you’ll be introduced with a helpful “dashboard” of types that showcases the Watch’s information. The SpO2 sensor will take common measurements when resting or asleep, whereas coronary heart charge is measured all through any given interval. The app additionally gives day by day, weekly, or month-to-month views.

Sleep monitoring can be included, with customers inspired to fill a purple ring by guaranteeing they get sufficient relaxation. There are additionally rings for steps, train, and standing, which will probably be acquainted to anybody that’s ever used an Apple Watch.

Efficiency is stable, with no discernible lag when flicking by means of screens with well being information or when figuring out. Honor doesn’t state what processor is inside however you get 4GB of storage to play with.

Sadly, although, the Honor Watch GS 3 is solely tied to its personal app, with no integrations for the likes of Strava, Fitbit, and even Google Match. This will probably be irritating for some customers and even perhaps make the watch a tough go.

Lloyd Coombes / Foundry

If that doesn’t put you off, there are many exercises represented right here, with no fewer than 13 working programs that target all the things from newcomer-centric applications to fat-burning, to long-distance targets. You’ll additionally discover swimming (the watch is 5ATM rated for waterproofing as talked about earlier), mountain climbing, snow sports activities and plenty extra.

It’s a stable checklist, and there’s each likelihood Honor provides to it going ahead, however the siloed nature of working all the things by means of one app means you received’t be capable to set up further capabilities your self. Whereas an Apple Watch, for instance, can set up further apps, you received’t have the choice right here.

That will disappoint people who prefer to stream music whereas figuring out, however there may be round 2GB of inside storage (after the OS), not like with the Fitbit Cost or Sense. With no Spotify or Apple Music help, although, you’ll have to manually switch songs or playlists to the watch from inside the Honor Well being app.

I took the Honor Watch GS 3 on some prolonged walks, however GPS monitoring was stable after preliminary use, as was step monitoring. Much less spectacular, although, are imprecise notifications which meant I didn’t know who was texting me with out pulling the telephone out.

Arguably the most important oversight, although, is the shortage of an NFC chip for cost utilizing the watch. With nearly each trendy telephone and the overwhelming majority of health trackers, even cheaper Fitbit fashions, providing the choice to pay on your procuring while not having to hold a pockets, it looks like an enormous miss right here – and means anybody figuring out might want to take their telephone, too, in the event that they’re heading to the store on the way in which dwelling.

Battery Life & Charging

• 451mAh battery
• Glorious battery life
• A number of the finest fast-charging we’ve seen

The Honor Watch GS 3 is a smartwatch that’s not simply worn out, that’s for certain. Typically use – paired to a smartphone, receiving notifications, and figuring out pretty often – I hit six days of cost with ease and that elements within the occasional Sp02 monitoring.

That dwarfs the 24 – 48 hour battery lifetime of an Apple Watch, and matches up fairly persistently with one thing just like the Fitbit Sense. Fewer exercises, although, and also you’ll simply hit seven days. 

Lloyd Coombes / Foundry

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Even higher, the wi-fi puck that you simply use for charging can provide round a day of use with simply 5 minutes of cost. It’s fairly magical to have the ability to drop the Watch GS 3 down for a matter of minutes and know that it’s going to be powered for the remainder of the day, particularly if you happen to’re heading on an impromptu run as a result of the rain has stopped.

The puck connects through USB-C, too, so that you’re more likely to have a cable round anyway – though Honor does embrace one within the field (with out an adapter).

Value & Availability

The Honor Watch GS 3 is available in Midnight Black for £189.99/€199,90, whereas the Ocean Blue and Basic Gold variants retail for £209.99/€199,90 (my assessment unit is the Basic Gold). I’d think about that is right down to the truth that, in addition to trying slightly classier, you get a leather-based strap.

At current, the GS 3 is obtainable within the UK, Europe, China, and Latin America, with no signal of when it might arrive within the US or different territories. You should purchase it from Honor in addition to retailers comparable to Amazon, Very and AliExpress.

By way of opponents, the Galaxy Watch 4, which gives wearOS and the extra performance that brings, is round £50 greater than the Honor Watch GS 3, whereas the Amazfit GTR 3, which is arguably lots nearer when it comes to performance, is round £30 much less.

Try our chart of the most effective smartwatches and finest health trackers to see extra choices.

Verdict

Whereas the Honor Watch GS 3 has aspirations of being the following nice Android smartwatch, its interface falls quick and pushes it into being a stable health tracker that lacks the flexibleness to supply extra.

You’ll be capable to monitor exercises, sleep, and important metrics, however you’ll invariably really feel considerably pissed off by not having the ability to use that information in different providers, or add further apps.

For not an excessive amount of extra, I’d argue the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is a extra fully-featured smartwatch, though it’s not fairly as good-looking.

Specs

• Honor Watch OS
• 1.43in AMOLED show, 326ppi
• 4GB inside storage
• Coronary heart charge monitor
• Sp02 monitor
• Bluetooth 5.0
• GPS
• 451mAh non-removable battery
• 5ATM waterproof score
• 45.9×45.9×10.5mm
• 44g with out strap
• Launch colors: Ocean Blue, Basic Gold, Midnight