Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 Review
Pros: Easy to use, good display
Cons: Mediocre fitness tracking, so-so battery life
Manufacturer: Mobvoi
Our Verdict
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Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 | |||||
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Awards | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | |
Price | $300 List $299.99 at Amazon | $399 List $427.50 at Amazon | $280 List $229.99 at Amazon | $230 List $159.38 at Amazon | $250 List $299.00 at Amazon |
Overall Score ![]() |
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Star Rating | |||||
Pros | Easy to use, good display | Loaded with smart functions, beautiful display, intuitive | Loaded with smart functions, beautiful display, easy to use, great price | Good value, great fitness tracking ability, excellent battery life | Incredible battery life, great fitness tracking |
Cons | Mediocre fitness tracking, so-so battery life | Poor battery life, expensive | Subpar battery life, fitness impact tracking could be better | Could be more convenient to use, doesn't have the most smart functions | Lack of smart features, could be easier to use |
Bottom Line | We think this wearable is worth considering if you have an Android phone, though it is a bit limited in what it offers | If you are looking for the absolute best wearable to pair with your iPhone, then look no further | An incredible smartwatch for Samsung phone users but a little underwhelming when it comes to battery life | The fitness features packed into this wearable make it an excellent choice for the price | Incredible battery life and great fitness tracking abilities make this watch a notable fitness wearable |
Rating Categories | Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 | Apple Watch Series 7 | Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 | Fitbit Versa 3 | Huawei GT 2 Pro |
Ease of Use (30%) | |||||
Smart Functions (20%) | |||||
Display (20%) | |||||
Fitness Impact (15%) | |||||
Battery (15%) | |||||
Specs | Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 | Apple Watch Series 7 | Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 | Fitbit Versa 3 | Huawei GT 2 Pro |
Water Resistance | IP68 | 5 ATM | 5 ATM | 5 ATM | 5 ATM |
NFC (contactless payment) | Yes, Google Pay | Yes, Apple Pay | Yes, Samsung Pay | Yes, Fitbit Pay | Yes, Google Pay |
GPS? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
HR Monitor? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Built-in Microphone? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Built-in Speaker? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Display | 1.4 inch AMOLED with FSTN top screen | 41mm or 45mm Retina LTPO OLED | 40mm or 44mm AMOLED | 1.58 inch OLED | 1.39 inch AMOLED |
Resolution | 454 x 454 | 420 x 352 (41mm), 484 x 396 (45mm) |
396 x 396, 450 x 450 |
336 x 336 | 454 x 454 |
Other Sensors | Accelerometer Barometer Ambient light |
Accelerometer Gyro Barometer Altimeter Compass SpO2 VO2max |
Accelerometer Barometer Gyro Geomagnetic Light Electrical heart Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis |
Ambient light Altimeter 3-axis accelerometer |
Accelerometer Gyroscope Geomagnetic Air pressure |
Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor | Apple S7, Dual-core | Dual-core 1.18 GHz Cortex-A55 | N/A | Kirin A1 + STL4R9 |
Available Sizes | One size | 41mm, 45mm | 40mm, 42mm, 44mm, 46mm | One size | One size |
Size Tested | N/A | 41mm | 44mm | N/A | N/A |
Our Analysis and Test Results
This watch runs on Wear OS by Google and is one of our favored products that run on this operating system. This means that it has the Google Assistant built right in and offers an enormous number of options for customizing the watch face.
Performance Comparison
Ease of Use
We began testing the TicWatch Pro 3 by scoring the overall user-friendliness and ease of operation. We based scores on our assessment of the touchscreen and user interface, the ease of replacing the watch band, recharging, and water resistance.
This Pro 3 is water-resistant enough to meet the IP68 standard — making it swimming pool and shower suitable. This watch has a magnetic charging cable that firmly attaches to the back of the watch, holding on with enough force that you can lightly swing It by the charging cable without it falling off.
The touch screen is very responsive and makes up the bulk of the user interface, along with two buttons on the side. We like the screen quite a lot, finding it easy to use, and it hardly ever misread a swipe or tap. The screen also wakes up very quickly when you raise your wrist to look at it, with no noticeable delay at all.
We noticed that changing out the wristband on the Pro 3 can be a little more trying. The bands don't slide in quite as easily as some of the other wearables we tested, and the locking mechanism takes some dexterity to unlatch. All in all, we would recommend just picking a few wristbands and sticking with them, rather than changing them out to match every occasion as you might with some of the other watches.
Smart Functions
Our next set of tests focused on various features and capabilities. We looked at the library of compatible apps, if there's standalone GPS, if the watch can be used as a payment method, music control, and phone calls. The TicWatch Pro 3 has the complete app functionality of any other smartwatch that uses Google's Wear OS.
This watch has an integrated microphone and speaker for using Google Assistant, and you have the option to take voice calls within the settings page. The TicWatch Pro 3 also gives you basic control over your music when using Spotify or Pandora and is compatible with Google Pay, meaning you can use it to complete transactions at contactless payment terminals once you have saved a credit or debit card to it. It has an integrated GPS unit that can pick up signals from the standard GPS constellation of satellites and also the Beidou, GLONASS, Galileo, and QZSS clusters, giving you quite accurate and widespread location data.
Display
Next, we scored the screen and image quality of the TicWatch Pro 3 against the other smartwatches in the group. We looked at the display resolution and ease of reading for the bulk of the score, along with the different backlight settings. This product delivered a decent result, but it is definitely far from the spectacular screens present on the top watches.
The Pro 3 has a 1.4" AMOLED+FSTN display with a pixel density of 454x454. We found the screen easy enough to read in dark conditions, but it can be quite hard to read in bright light. The FSTN — shown when in low-power mode — is much easier to read in bright light but only shows the time and date. This watch does not give you the option to set the backlight to adjust automatically, but you can configure it to always be on.
Fitness Impact
Performance dropped a bit for the Pro 3 in this metric compared to the rest of the watches in our lineup. We based results for this category on the accuracy of the step counter and HR monitor, the different workout-tracking abilities, and if the watch could count the number of stairs climbed throughout a day.
To compare and score the step count accuracy of the TicWatch Pro 3, we took it on three separate one-mile walks where we counted our steps with a mechanical tally counter and then compared the results. This smartwatch was an average of 44 steps off of the true count after the three trials — considerably more than the top trackers, which managed to keep their average error in the single digits.
This watch did even worse when it came to measuring heart rate. We used a chest strap heart rate monitor as our baseline and compared its reading to the Pro 3 for both an elevated and resting heart rate. Both were very close for the resting heart rate, but the watch differed from the chest strap by around 30 bpm when measuring elevated heart rate during exercise.
This watch can track an array of different activities, such as an outdoor run, outdoor walk, indoor run, cycling, indoor cycling, freestyle, pool swimming, rowing machine, elliptical machine, body mechanics, trail running, mountaineering, or yoga. Data collected depends on the activity, but we noticed the data collected wasn't quite as comprehensive as what is collected by some top-tier products. We also didn't see that this watch will count the number of flights of stairs climbed in a day.
Battery
Our final set of tests for the TicWatch Pro 3 rated and ranked its battery life under normal use, recharging times and performance, and charging ease compared to other watches. This watch claims a battery life of up to three days, but we found it to be closer to two days with what we considered normal use. It charges fairly quickly, hitting a 50% battery level after only 45 minutes on the charger and 100% after 106 minutes.
Value
This watch is a decent value compared to more premium offerings. That said, there are less expensive options if you are shopping on a budget.
Conclusion
If you have an Android phone and are looking for a smartwatch that uses the Wear OS, then the TicWatch Pro 3 is a solid choice. It has all the standard features you could want at a reasonable price. While it doesn't have the most comprehensive fitness or health-tracking functions, it still performs well enough to track basic workouts adequately.
— Austin Palmer and Benjamin Hickok
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