Huawei Watch Fit 3 Review: The Apple Watch Killer?

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90%

90%

• Design & Comfort

  10
• Display

  9
• Features

  8.3
• Power

  8.5
• Value for Money

  9
• User Ratings (23 Votes)
  4

This is my first experience of the Huawei Watch Fit series, and it appears I’ve jumped in at just the right time.

The Watch Fit 3 is a significant departure from its predecessors. Now far more square-watch-like and, clearly, taking aim squarely (excuse the pun) at the Apple Watch, the Watch Fit 3 has abandoned the tall profile of the Watch Fit 2 for something far more recognisable.

Priced at just £139 in the UK and boasting ten days of battery life, this new wearable from Huawei demands plenty of attention. The big question is: can it really be a legitimate replacement for Apple’s smartwatch?

Price and specs

The Watch Fit 3 is available in one size – 43mm, and features a 1.8-inch AMOLED display with 1,500 nits of brightness, and a 60Hz refresh rate.

This is a slim smartwatch with a screen-to-body ratio of 77% (an increase of 10% over the previous version). It weighs just 26 grams and users can rely on 5ATM of water resistance.

Alongside the aluminium function button, Huawei has introduced a rotating crown for the first time on the Watch Fit series (the second generation had just one button), painted in a deep metallic red.

Keeping with Huawei’s ‘Fashion Forward’ strategy, the Watch Fit 3 is available in two colours and with a range of band options including fluoroelastomer, nylon, and leather. It’s compatible with both Android and iOS, and starts at just £139.99 with availability starting from 7th May in the UK and Europe. Wider availability will follow on 22nd May.

Huawei Watch Fit 3 Design and comfort

According to research carried out by Huawei, owners of previous generation Watch Fit devices thought they sat too tall on the wrist. This is principally why the Watch Fit 3 has adopted a new squared-off design.

It looks familiar, but it also feels satisfyingly lightweight on one’s wrist. This is an impressively thin, comfortable smartwatch and one which you genuinely forget is there half the time you’re wearing it.

The Watch Fit 3 display is bright, crisp, and responsive. The same goes for the user interface; I’ve noticed some occasional slow down when scrolling through screens during workouts, but, otherwise, it feels incredibly Apple Watch like (so many of Apple’s competitors appear to struggle with zippiness – not Huawei, it seems).

I’m a fan of the strap release mechanism, too. It’s super easy to remove and reattach straps, and there’s an option called Fit Link, which enables you to add standard watch straps if you wish, which is nice.

Overall, the Watch Fit 3 feels well made. I like how slim it is, and although I’d love to see a second, larger, size option at some stage, Huawei does seem to have picked a good middle ground for most people at 43mm. There’s some lovely watch faces to choose from, too – many with configurable complications – that finish off a smart looking digital timepiece.

Huawei Watch Fit 3 Features and Huawei Health

The Watch Fit 3 is clearly a very fitness-focused device. There’s the usual prompts throughout the day to get you moving and standing (all of which can be turned off if they get annoying).

There are over 100 sports supported for tracking on the Watch Fit 3, along with sleep tracking. The latter appears to be relatively accurate, although every fitness device I test seems to deliver different results on that front.

Perhaps most impressive is the sheer range of training plans in the Huawei Health app (you’ll need that to get the most out of the Watch Fit 3, but the good news is that it’s completely free). There are also running plans (of the AI variety, of course), guided workouts for strength training and stretching, and everything in between.

There’s loads of stuff on offer for runners, too, including guided warm-ups, pace setting, running ability index, predicted finishing times, and more. For someone who only runs as far as 5K (usually on a treadmill) I admittedly haven’t tested such functionality, but its presence and level of detail is super impressive.

For anyone looking to lose or maintain weight, there’s also Stay Fit, which is integrated tightly into both the watch and the app. A dedicated watch face will keep you abreast of progress, and meal information can be entered into Huawei Health, just like MyFitnessPal.

Overall, the Watch Fit 3 feels like a personal fitness coach, which, I think, is the aim. There’s also improved cycle management for women’s health (although, unlike Huawei’s GT watches, there’s no thermometer sensor, so predictive cycle tracking isn’t possible).

Beyond the fitness stuff, the Watch Fit 3 feels super competent and, as noted earlier, as speedy as any Apple Watch I’ve used. And those ten days of battery life result in a smartwatch which feels Garmin-like with its stamina. The fact that you can gain a full day of use from a quick ten-minute charge is the icing on the cake.

Is the Huawei Watch Fit 3 better than the Apple Watch?

The Huawei Watch Fit 3 looks and feels like an Apple Watch – there’s no getting away from that. Even some of the user interface elements (the app view and fill-your-rings fitness stuff in particular) will look very familiar to users of Apple’s wearable.

This begs the question: is the Huawei Watch Fit 3 better than the Apple Watch?

There’s a bunch of stuff missing if you’re an Apple Watch person. Huawei obviously doesn’t have the same access to the Apple ecosystem, so if you rely on your Apple watch for Apple Pay, unlocking your Mac, and any other deep system integration within your Apple garden, the Watch Fit 3 might feel like stretch too far.

Equally, there’s no cellular option, you can’t make or receive calls, and in the UK, Huawei Wallet isn’t yet available. As noted earlier, there’s only one size available, too.

However, the Watch Fit 3 is £139.99; at that price point, it has nothing to prove other than to assert its position in the low-to-mid range of smartwatches and it does so with aplomb. It sits at a price point that is considerably south of the Apple Watch SE and even more so from the Series 9.

Is Huawei’s effort better? It depends entirely on how wedded you are to Apple and how willing you are to look beyond that walled garden. As someone who swapped his Apple Watch Ultra for a Garmin MARQ Commander a couple of months ago, I can confirm that you really should take a peak over the fence – particularly when something like the Watch Fit 3 arrives.

Huawei Watch Fit 3 Conclusion

The Watch Fit 3 is a seriously impressive fitness watch which just so happens to be a brilliant smartwatch overall.

Beyond its fitness capabilities, the Watch Fit 3 has one killer feature: the battery life. This thing goes on, literally, for days, which raises the convenience stakes considerably, and makes it a joy to use and forget about when all it needs to do is tell you the time and keep you abreast of notifications.

The price will make the Watch Fit 3 a no-brainer for a lot of people, and the fact that it is compatible with both iOS and Android opens it up to a significant audience. This is a serious contender not just for the Apple Watch but for all smartwatches. Go check it out.

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