Realme Watch 3 Pro Review: A great combo of fitness and features on budget

Budget smartwatches are taking baby steps towards growing into fully fancy ones! And it works too! But sometimes in order to offer a plethora of features, it lacks a vital aspect - accuracy. Thankfully, the new Realme Watch 3 Pro jumps over this loophole. Priced at Rs. 4,499, this Realme Watch comes with a stack of customisation for watch face looks, smart features, health and fitness sensors as well as Bluetooth calling. Now, if you compare it with its non-Pro avatar, you will find umpteen similarities; that too, at a much cheaper price. Still, after wearing Realme Watch 3 Pro for around two weeks, I have found this watch to be a reliable one in its segment. Read on to find out why.

Design and Display

Realme has been stagnant with its design formula of smartwatches that we have seen in many previous iterations. Here too, Realme Watch 3 Pro brings a squarish design with slightly curved edges; and that metallic-look framing adds on the hint of classic style (just like Apple!) However, it has a plastic body with a silicon detachable strap, which is comfortable to wear. It also carries a multi-purpose button on the right side to enter the menu, go back to the main display, and much more. Overall, It looks simple and classic, but Realme could have experimented with something new to design.

But the display compensates for an outdated design. At this price, only a couple of smartwatches get an AMOLED display and the Realme Watch 3 Pro joins that rare group. It features a 1.78-inches AMOLED screen offering bright and rich colours; at 500 nits peak brightness, the display is glanceable under the sunlight. Plus, the slightly curved edges adorns the overall look of the display. Overall, it is a nice display, saddled by thick bezels on all sides, which could be avoided.

Smart Features

But while the design hasn't changed much, it is the smart features that make it an interesting watch. It is loaded with 110+ watch faces, which can be managed via its supported Realme Link app. And yes, the app! It is simple and nicely carries a detailed view of the daily activity, health, sleep monitoring, and everything else that your watch watches out for.

On top of that, the Realme Watch 3 Pro brings weather temperature updates of your area, music control, camera access, alarm set up and event reminders which requires the app to do the rest of the work. Plus, you can get the notifications too; pretty simple and sorted to read with its clean UI. And, it comes with an IP68 certification, so you can wear it without worries during your workout sessions.

Bluetooth Calling

There used to be a time when Bluetooth calling on a smartwatch was limited to the premium segment. Nowadays, it has become an USP for most of these budget smartwatches. Following the trend, the Realme Watch 3 Pro comes with a built-in microphone and speaker. With clear and loud sound, it offers a decent calling experience for indoor situations. To make the calling process more facile, it lets you add frequent contacts via the app, recent call history, and a mini dial-pad.

Health features

The Realme Watch 3 Pro serves almost the same health and fitness features that its non-Pro sibling gets, which means - step tracking, SpO2, sleep monitoring, constant heart-rate measurement, stress level and women’s health. This time, Realme managed to keep the accuracy intact with most of the health trackers, unlike its Realme Watch s100. The step tracker counts almost accurate steps (thanks to the built-in GPS support), and so does the SpO2 and heart-rate sensor with a trivial variation from the medical device readings. Still, it is suggested to take these figures for reference only and check with medical professionals in case of major drop in blood oxygen level.

Sleep monitoring works just fine – offering an estimated time for sleep. It will consider you sleeping even while resting, however, the app will suggest the details of deep and light sleep. Also, I am glad that Realme has added the menstrual cycle tracker to a budget smartwatch, offering a quick glance to all essential information.

For fitness freaks (definitely not talking about me!), Realme Watch 3 Pro is loaded with 110+ workout modes, but it allows you to add up to 15 modes at a time to watch. The best part is its workout recognition mode, which alerts in case the watch detects any outdoor activity.

Battery Life

While extracting most of the performance from the Realme Watch 3 Pro, it can last almost a week on a single full charge with its 345mAh battery. However, the company claims to offer up to 10 days of battery life, which can be almost achieved while disabling always-on-display, constant health tracking features, and other battery draining modes. Also, charging the Realme Watch 3 Pro from 0-100 needs around one and a half hours.

Verdict

What do we all need from a smartwatch under Rs. 5000? Smart features - Realme Watch 3 Pro is loaded with many; health sensors - oh yes! It gets almost all basic ones here; large and colour-rich display? Check. Bluetooth calling is also here on budget. And a week long battery life to support overall performance just makes it an easy option to choose over its rivals in sub-Rs. 5000 segment.

But not everything is perfect! Sleep tracking feature could be better and Realme could have experimented a bit with its design. Apart from that, it takes care of all the key necessities that you may ask for from a smartwatch at this price.

While keeping the competition in mind, if you are in search of a more sporty design, then Boat Watch Primia and Dizo Watch R Talk are some other options at this price.