OnePlus Watch 3 Review: Better Than the Apple Watch?

We may earn compensation from reviewed products. Learn about our editorial policies.

90%

90%

For £299 you get so much quality in terms of both design, functionality and battery life that I can't see many reasons why you wouldn't buy this smartwatch. Except, of course, if you own an iPhone.

The Good

1. Reliable 5 days of battery life
2. Comprehensive health tracking features
3. Beautifully designed

The Not So Good

1. Not compatible with iPhone or Appl devices
2. Display could be a touch brighter

• User Ratings (0 Votes)
  0

Need-To-Knows

• Brilliant five-day battery life
• Looks absolutely stunning
• Loads of health tracking functions and features
• Not compatible with iPhone or Apple devices

---

I’ve thought a lot about what matters to me regarding smartwatches, and it’s not that much. Certainly, I don’t think it’s as much as the brands who make these devices would like it to be.

The bigger question I have is: how typical is my use case? That’s why I decided to ask my YouTube audience how they use their smartwatches. 

This is the result of the poll so far:

You can get involved here.

As you can see, most people consider themselves to be moderate smartwatch users. I think that’s what I am; I’m impressed by the breadth of stuff you can do with a smartwatch, but I find little use for it in everyday life. I just want to check the time, keep an eye on notifications, and track my workouts.

Although I’ll be honest: I’m not even sure why I track my workouts – I never look back at the data.

Enter the OnePlus Watch 3. This is OnePlus’ self-proclaimed ‘best-value flagship smartwatch’. It promises incredible battery life and the bridging of mental and physical wellness.

And I just want to know if it’s better than the Apple Watch Series 10.

How I reviewed the OnePlus Watch 3

When reviewing a smartwatch, I wear it constantly for as long as possible (i.e. before the next review unit comes in, or when I feel like I have to switch back to the Apple Watch because I’m so helplessly stuck in Apple’s ecosystem).

My testing process for the OnePlus Watch 3 was no different. I paired it with the OnePlus 13 smartphone and wore it daily which involved charging when I needed to and using it to track workouts in the gym and while running outdoors. I also took it for a hike as part of the YouTube review.

My comparisons with the Apple Watch are based on many years of experience regularly wearing various versions of Apple’s smartwatch.

Specs and pricing – excellent value

The Watch 3 is a 46mm timepiece which, according to OnePlus, fits 140-210mm wrists, and weighs 81g with the strap attached.

It features a 1.5-inch LTPO AMOLED display that has a peak brightness of 2,200 nits. Under the hood, you’ll find two chips – the Snapdragon W5 and the BES2800 BP, which work in tandem to power Google’s Wear OS 5.

There are, as you’d guess, loads of sensors in the Watch 3. Here’s a list:

OnePlus has also included a wrist temperature sensor for the first time in its flagship watch and has uprated the GPS tracking system to support both L1 and L5 bands.

Water resistance is rated at IP68 and 5ATM, and the 631mAh battery is capable of up to 16 days in power-saving mode. I’ll get to the rest of the battery specs in a moment.

You’ll be able to order the Watch 3 from 25th February and it’ll cost £299 in the UK and €349 in Europe. I must also note that some of the health features mentioned in this review won’t be available immediately in certain regions due to pending certifications, but OnePlus tells us they should arrive in most regions during 2025.

Battery life – reliable for at least four days

For me, the battery life on my smartwatch really matters. I know the Apple Watch charges quickly, but the more competing smartwatches I use, the more I get fed up with how quickly Apple exhausts itself.

The battery performance on the OnePlus Watch 3 is absolutely stellar. At the time of writing, it is Thursday, and I last charged it on Monday. There’s currently 23% battery left, and I’m pretty sure it’ll last another day.

I’ve turned the always-on display on and tracked all of my workouts so far this week (which have apparently chewed up 20% of the battery life on their own). If you’re wondering, the always-on display has used 25% of the battery.

The claimed 5 days of battery life under normal usage appears to be bang-on. But we’re also promised up to 16 days in power-saving mode, and three days if you use the Watch 3 extremely heavily. Oh, and if you do run short on battery, VOOC charging ensures that a 10-minute charge can deliver a full day of use.

The battery performance of the OnePlus Watch 3 means you can wear it all week long without ever having to reach for the charging puck. A quick juice-up at weekends is all that’s needed to get you going again. And if you’re really cranking out whatever you crank out on your smartwatch during intense activity, three days is potentially Apple Watch Ultra-beating.

Whatever OnePlus is doing with its Silicon NanoStack battery technology – teamed with whatever Google is doing with Wear OS 5 – makes the battery performance the stand-out feature of the Watch 3. And, once again, it leads me to a very simple question: why on earth can’t Apple achieve similar feats with the Apple Watch?

Operation and performance – smooth and user friendly

Firstly, I can confirm that the crown on the OnePlus Watch 3 can actually be rotated and does stuff in Wear OS 5 when you do so. The Watch 2 didn’t, you see, which understandably miffed quite a few people.

More good news: the Watch 3 is an extremely smooth operator. It feels fluid, fast, and fun to dart around the various elements of the operating system. I’m yet to notice any slowdown or sluggishness; those two chips working in tandem appear to be doing a very good job indeed.

I like Wear OS 5, as well. Google’s wearable operating system feels just as good as watchOS now.

I feel like I’m saying that kind of thing a lot these days.

Looks – circular face is super stylish

The OnePlus Watch 3 comes in two different finishes – Obsidian and Emerald. Those colours relate primarily to the straps – the watches feature either black or silver stainless steel cases with a titanium bezel. The cover glass is sapphire crystal.

I’m a huge fan of circular watches – so, immediately, the Watch 3 is a step ahead of the Apple Watch in the design stakes.

At first glance, the Watch 3 doesn’t look particularly special. It’s nice, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t leap off your arm in the same way the Huawei Watch Ultimate does. But that’s its strength – it’s a bit of a sleeper, and the more you wear it, the more you appreciate its timeless (pun not excused) design and sophisticated looks.

The Watch 3 looks like a watch. It can also transition seamlessly from sports or casual wear to formal, which is something the Apple Watch has always struggled with – even taking into account the ludicrous history of the Apple Watch ‘Edition’.

The strap chosen by OnePlus for the Watch 3 is inspired – it’s one of the most comfortable watch straps I’ve ever worn and repels water brilliantly. The Watch 3 is also perfectly weighted and never feels a burden on your wrist, despite its size.

We’re told that the Watch 3 features ‘military grade’ toughness. I still don’t know what that means, and I doubt you’ll see many soldiers wearing one on the battlefield, but it’s nice to know it’s there.

Oh, and did I mention the display? It’s got 200 more nits than the Apple Watch Series 10, and, as a result, works perfectly in direct sunlight. It’s a lovely thing.

This is a lovely, lovely watch.

Fitness tracking – as good as any other top smartwatch

The OnePlus Watch 3 is capable of tracking over 100 sports and has 11 pro workout modes (think serious tennis players who need data about their swing – that kinda thing).

OnePlus has also included a new sensor which features a bunch of learnings from its health lab, which we were shown during the press briefing and which I can confirm looks very impressive indeed.

There is, basically, a lot of clever stuff built into the Watch 3 for fitness tracking which should result in very accurate results and data for those who want to view it. As noted earlier, I’m not one of those people; I record most of my runs and workouts, but I don’t do anything with the data thereafter.

What is nice about the Watch 3 is the presence of a new 60-second health check, which asks you to place a finger on the lower button so that a bunch of readings can be taken. These include an ECG, PPG (photoplethysmography – which measures variations in blood circulation), sinus rhythm, SpO2, and wrist temperature. Sleep is also taken into account, as is your heart rate.

The Watch 3 then produces a report which includes arterial stiffness, vascular age, wellness, and any signs of breathing problems.

It should of course be noted that the OnePlus Watch 3 is not a medical device, and the results of the health test are purely for observatory purposes. But it’s nice to have that feature present on your wrist. How often I’ll actually use it is anyone’s guess, though.

I quite like the presence of the wellness score, too, which uses a combination of HRV, activity intensity, and resting heart rate to build a personalised measurement of your overall health. It’s rather arbitrary, and may not jibe with how you’re actually feeling, but, again, it’s a nice feature.

It’s also nice to know that the new GPS in the OnePlus Watch 3 is, apparently, capable of beating ‘Ultra’ competitors (can you guess who they’re referring to?), although that’s a tricky one to test.

Oh, and the OHealth app is great. There’s loads of data and feedback in there, and it’s easy to navigate.

Conclusion: is the OnePlus Watch 3 better than the Apple Watch?

Time to answer the big question: is the OnePlus Watch 3 better than the Apple Watch?

Yes, it is. By quite a margin.

The battery performance is the biggest advantage for me – I just cannot look past it, I’m afraid, Tim. Combine the Watch 3’s stellar stamina with its looks and OS, and it’s the smartwatch to beat in 2025.

There’s just one problem: you can’t use it with an iPhone. But, hey, maybe that’s a reason to check out the brilliant OnePlus 13, too, eh?