OnePlus Watch 3 review: The ultimate Wear OS smartwatch?

The OnePlus Watch 3 has a tricky act to comply with after the Watch 2 confirmed that OnePlus was critical about making a very good Put on OS smartwatch to rival the Google Pixel Watch 3 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7.

We obtained a smartwatch that has helped to redefine expectations of what battery life ought to and could be on a Google-based smartwatch, all whereas delivering that Put on software program in a largely pleasing trend.

For the OnePlus Watch 3, it’s about bringing the smartwatch extra according to Apple, Samsung and Google, including critical well being monitoring options because it pushes that battery life a bit additional. That’s precisely what it’s achieved, making the newest OnePlus Watch 3 an much more completed smartwatch.

Design & Construct

• Silver or a black titanium bezel
• New redesigned watch crown
• Provides ECG electrodes to bodily button

The design language and strategy typically to the look of the OnePlus Watch 3 is similar to the Watch 2.

There are two seems to be to select from, with each the obsidian titanium and emerald titanium Watch 3 matching up chrome steel circumstances with trim titanium bezels. You’ve nonetheless obtained that flatter edge on the suitable facet of the case to interrupt up a full round case design, and it now hosts a rotating crown that sits extra prominently on the watch.

Mike Sawh

The case measurement is roughly the identical as its predecessor, so in case you preferred the stature of its predecessor, you’ll additionally like this. Some should still lament that there nonetheless isn’t a smaller case choice to go for, however I discovered it a very good match for my skinny wrist. That case is matched up with a reasonably commonplace sporty 22mm strap that’s straightforward to take away and change, whereas further straps are priced at £34.99 (US pricing TBC).

Whereas it doesn’t scream rugged, OnePlus assures you’ll be able to go for adventures with the Watch 2. It’s been examined to army requirements for toughness, whereas the added IP68 and 5ATM (waterproof as much as 50 metres depth) rankings imply you’ll be able to simply take it for a swim as nicely.

Mike Sawh

On the caseback, there’s a reasonably similar-looking sensor setup that has been reworked to unlock the power to observe temperature, coronary heart price and blood oxygen ranges. The electrodes wanted to unlock its new ECG powers are constructed into the underside bodily button.

In case you have been hoping for one thing radically completely different from the Watch 2, that’s not the case right here. The Nordic Blue version of the OnePlus Watch 2 feels just like the route OnePlus wanted to take its subsequent watch in, however that hasn’t materialised.

The Watch 3 is undoubtedly nicely made, however it nonetheless lacks a little bit of wow issue for me.

Display & Audio

• Bigger AMOLED show
• Affords Bluetooth calling
• No LTE model

OnePlus goes larger with the display on the Watch 3.

It’s shifting from a 1.43-inch show to a 1.50-inch LTPO AMOLED display that sticks to the identical 466 x 466 decision and now spreads that throughout the bigger display property. The show is roofed in Sapphire crystal to offer it a few of the finest scratch safety you’ll discover on a smartwatch and maintaining a 2.5D show offers the display a pleasant sheen to it once you view it from all angles.

Mike Sawh

Whereas the display has grown, the final really feel of sporting it doesn’t really feel drastically completely different, which is partly all the way down to OnePlus maintaining to a similar-sized case. You’re nonetheless getting a pointy, vibrant and vibrant AMOLED display that, with a peak brightness of two,200 nits, is a large step up from the 600 nits supplied on its predecessor.

OnePlus features a speaker and microphone as soon as once more, which allows Bluetooth calling, however nonetheless no LTE connectivity on provide. It might’ve been good to have the choice to have a extra untethered expertise, however I do surprise if this can be a sacrifice made to guarantee that battery life stays robust.

Software program & Options

• Runs on Put on OS 5.0
• Provides video watch faces
• NFC for contactless funds

OnePlus continues its strategy of utilizing two chipsets on the Watch 3. It additionally continues to make it a tool that solely works with Android telephones, similar to different Put on OS smartwatches.

Mike Sawh

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5 processor stays, however it’s now matched to a brand new BES2800BP processor, shifting on from the BES2700 chip used on the Watch 2 and Watch 2R.

Utilizing a mixture of processors means turning to 1 for extra demanding smartwatch options like operating apps after which bringing the opposite processor into play for much less power-intensive options like displaying notifications. That’s backed up by 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage to assist hold issues operating easily.

Crucially, that’s now all powering Google’s Put on OS 5.0, giving the Watch 3 the newest out there model of Google’s smartwatch working system. That Put on OS improve brings efficiency and energy optimisation enhancements and there are additionally some extra tangible enhancements, primarily centered on Google’s personal apps.

In case you’re utilizing Google Maps, you’ll be able to sync navigation and site knowledge out of your cellphone. It’s also possible to view boarding passes and tickets for occasions by way of Google Pockets on the watch. It actually appears like an replace that sees Google play catchup with Apple and makes OnePlus’ already-slick strategy to Put on a fair richer one.

Mike Sawh

Options like notifications are nicely optimised to that bigger show together with pulling by way of photos. The watch faces could be data-rich or extra minimalist, whilst you do now even have the choice to use video watch faces, with a very good mixture of faces typically on provide.

Getting apps from the Play Retailer is simple, whereas the power to rapidly alter the view of the app tray was a pleasant contact. OnePlus has added a controller characteristic for letting you play movies on YouTube or TikTok or snap an image, however it’s solely out there to OnePlus cellphone house owners.

Health & Monitoring

• Improved dual-frequency GPS assist
• New ECG analyser 
• Provides temperature sensor

The OnePlus Watch 3’s well being and health monitoring is centred on enhancing options from the Watch 2 and including new ones that make it act extra like a whole well being monitor.

Mike Sawh

The headline addition is the ECG analyzer, which helps you to take a 30-second measurement when holding your finger down on the underside bodily button to take an ECG coronary heart price studying.

In that measurement, OnePlus says it will possibly detect situations like atrial fibrillation, sinus rhythm, when coronary heart price has spiked or dropped and if there are any excessive coronary heart price fluctuations. As with ECG options on different smartwatches, the supply of that characteristic will differ by area, as OnePlus must obtain the suitable regulatory clearance to verify for the center well being situations talked about.

I used to be in a position to get entry to the characteristic throughout testing, which doesn’t formally launch within the UK till later in 2025 (US availability TBC).

Setting it up jogs my memory of utilizing the ECG sensor on Samsung smartwatches. You’ll have to activate it first from the OHealth cellphone app and have a SIM inside your cellphone to verify that you simply’re in a rustic the place the ECG characteristic is supported and could be turned on. I in contrast a bunch of measurements to ones on the Apple Watch and it did current comparable knowledge and handles presenting that knowledge on the watch in a really comparable trend to the Samsung Galaxy Watch.

Mike Sawh

Past the ECG addition, you too can verify your vascular well being, which makes use of each the ECG and PPG sensors to verify and carry out a 60-second check-in to see a abstract of metrics like coronary heart price, stress and blood oxygen ranges all on one display. This isn’t new to smartwatches and easily means OnePlus can provide a few of these richer well being options for individuals who need it.

On the health and sports activities monitoring entrance, it’s all about enhancements. You’re getting the promise of a greater model of the dual-frequency GPS included on the Watch 2 that’s constructed with a brand new GPS chip and antenna design. The modifications don’t appear to have massively paid off, although, because it tended to overreport distance and misjudge pacing regardless of the tracked routes trying fairly much like a Garmin watch with comparable dual-band know-how. 

Mike Sawh

In typical smartwatch trend, there’s a bucketload of sports activities profiles on provide, plus computerized exercise recognition for operating, strolling, rowing (indoor), elliptical, biking and swimming. In case you’re huge into your tennis, that’s now included as one of many skilled sports activities modes, permitting it will possibly observe specifics in your recreation.

I’ve used it for indoor and out of doors runs, indoor rows, swims and common exercises and the monitoring efficiency on the entire has usually been advantageous. Nevertheless, it’s merely not going to provide the stage of sports activities monitoring you’ll get from a equally priced sports activities watch.

Mike Sawh

The PPG sensor chargeable for monitoring coronary heart price day and night time and through train consists of new glass and LED materials that, together with a curvier strap, OnePlus says ought to give coronary heart price monitoring a lift.

In testing, for train, it dealt with extra relaxed exercises advantageous however struggled much more at excessive depth. For an interval observe exercise, the common and most coronary heart charges have been nicely under what they need to’ve been for the depth of the session and when in comparison with a coronary heart price monitor.

I wasn’t massively satisfied over each day coronary heart price monitoring both, the place resting coronary heart price was usually within the ballpark of different units but nonetheless appeared to report wildly greater spikes in coronary heart price throughout the day.

There are additionally promised enhancements with sleep monitoring, so I’ve been sporting the Oura Ring 4 and Samsung Galaxy Ring together with a Garmin watch to measure up monitoring that slumber time.

The Watch 3 usually produced comparable sleep period knowledge and instructed close to an identical occasions it had taken me to go to sleep and get up within the morning. Sleep scores and sleep coronary heart price seemed good and there’s loads of that sleep knowledge out there to view on the watch if you wish to dig deeper into it.

Battery Life & Charging

• As much as 5 days of battery life
• As much as 3 days in heavy utilization mode
• 16 days in battery saver mode

OnePlus made huge strides with the battery on the OnePlus Watch 2 and it’s aiming to take action once more with the Watch 3.

Mike Sawh

It’s upped the capability of the battery from 500mAh to 613mAh, which might supposedly ship as much as 5 days of battery (120 hours) in what OnePlus calls its ‘good’ mode. That’s sooner or later greater than the Watch 2.

In case you’re utilizing it in ‘heavy’ mode, that drops to three days, although once more it’s up a day on the Watch 2. It makes use of its dual-chip setup to push issues additional and once you get low, there’s VOOC quick charging to offer you a day’s watch time from a 10-minute cost.

Normally, I discovered the battery life robust on the Watch 3, and a big step up in comparison with the Watch 2.

My time veered extra on the heavy utilization, utilizing a mixture of the elevate to wake and maintaining the display set to always-on mode. I managed to get 4 days however it positively has the capability to get to five days. Even once I needed to swap to the battery saver mode, which jumps from 12 days to 16 days, it isn’t as restrictive as mode as you’d count on, I used to be nonetheless in a position to get by way of a day and that included monitoring a exercise. Even an hour’s use of the GPS noticed battery drop 4-5%, which isn’t too dangerous going.

It’s the form of battery that does a very good job of actually clinging on to the tip till it’s lastly time to drop it on the same-look proprietary charging cradle used on the Watch 2.

Worth & Availability

The OnePlus Watch 3 was introduced and launched on 18 February 2025 with a £319 launch worth. It’s out there within the UK from the OnePlus web site, although US pricing and availability are but to be confirmed.

So, that’s a leap in worth on the OnePlus Watch 2, which launched at £299 and has since dropped to £239.

In case you examine that to different main Put on OS smartwatches, it’s barely cheaper than the Google Pixel Watch 3 (£349/$349), however pricier than the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 (£289/$299). It’s not fairly as low-cost because the Mobvoi TicWatch Professional 5 although – it began at £329.99/$349.99 however is now out there for a lot much less.

Must you purchase the OnePlus Watch 3?

The OnePlus Watch 3 stays one of the crucial likeable Put on OS smartwatches. It does sufficient within the seems to be division whereas providing robust software program and battery efficiency to make it a very good all-round bundle.

In case you’ve been holding out for a OnePlus Watch with critical well being options like ECG, then it’s disappointing these options received’t be prepared at launch. Particularly as you’ll be able to seize it on the Pixel Watch 3 for a bit more cash or much less on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7.

Placing the value up makes it a harder promote over the Galaxy Watch 7 in case you’re craving for these further well being options. It does offer you a extra refined look and higher battery life than Samsung’s smartwatch, although. The Pixel Watch 3 takes issues up a notch, however can’t match the Watch 3’s battery life.

The OnePlus Watch 3 is an effective showcase for Google’s Put on OS software program, however it’s not the standout choice within the class that OnePlus would possibly’ve been hoping for.

Specs:

• Put on OS 5.0
• Snapdragon  W5 + BES2800
• 2GB RAM and 32GB ROM
• 1.5-inch LTPO AMOLED
• ECG sensor 
• NFC with Google Pockets
• Waterproof as much as 50 metres 
• Constructed-in dual-frequency GPS
• PPG coronary heart price sensor
• Works with Android solely