T here is very little positive that anyone will remember 2020 for but it has been a decent year for Android-friendly smartwatches.
In recent months we’ve seen the Galaxy Watch3 continue Samsung’s impressive offerings and the Oppo Watch, which is as fine a rendition of the Wear OS experience as any other.
Both have their odd niggles and now they face serious competition for the title of best Android smartwatch of 2020: The new TicWatch Pro 3 GPS.
The design maybe a little restrained but with the TicWatch Pro 3 Mobvoi has improved on its past efforts and counters the limitations of Samsung and Oppo’s efforts, especially in the battery department.
TicWatch Pro 3: Design, look and comfort
Like conventional watches, tastes around the look of a smartwatch will vary from person to person and, indeed, mood.
The TicWatch Pro 3 is a sleek all-black stainless steel unit that lends itself far more to a sporty look than fashion one.
While its 47mm diameter will dominate most wrists, Mobvoi has made the Pro 3 almost a quarter lighter than its previous models and so hitting a sweet spot of comfort while retaining a premium feel.
It comes with a silicone band that looks like leather but owners can swap out for any 22mm option to fit with their style.
TicWatch Pro 3: Tech and performance
The stand-out feature, along with the battery, is the new Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 chip – the first Wear OS smartwatch to have it onboard.
With 1GB of RAM as well, it means that the TicWatch Pro 3 has none of the lagging problems that sabotaged other Wear OS smartwatches.
It is buttery smooth, much like the excellent Oppo Watch, gliding through navigation and apps.
However, where it really scores big is in the 577mAh battery. Mobvoi have retained the dual screen system where when the Pro 3 is awake you have a conventional smartwatch touchscreen and a low-power digital screen when it is not.
The claim is that will give you three days between charges and up to 45 days if you just stick with the Essential mode.
Now I make pretty hard demands on a smartwatch battery and even keeping the TicWatch Pro 3 with the proper screen always on I was getting two days, which is phenomenal.
The TicWatch Pro 3 does have one element lacking though that would make it perfect – a rotating bezel or button as an alternate scrolling and navigation method.
Its touchscreen is great, but the Galaxy Watches and 3rd Gen Motorola are a joy to use with these methods.
TicWatch Pro 3: Fitness and health features
The TicWatch Pro 3 looks sporty and fittingly it is packed to the gunnels with health monitoring fitness features plus a slew of native apps.
There is blood oxygen tracking onboard along with the now customary heart rate monitoring that will cover the vast majority of information you’ll want.
Like the Galaxy watches, the TicMotion app will detect movement and identify the type of activity you are doing, and records it in TicExercise. And in addition you have the Google suite of fitness apps, including Fit Workout, which I have yet to see bettered as a way to record a session in the gym.
The sleep tracking seems consistent with other wearables and the Mobvoi health app groups it all together in a easily digestible way on your phone.
Wear OS
Google’s platform gets a really hard time and understandably because it does seem the tech giant hasn’t developed it as much as it could.
One of the main gripes is the apparent drain it puts on batteries, yet Mobvoi have certainly been able to address that. And the RAM and the 4100 also have eliminated the lag that was a real bugbear on Wear.
Samsung’s operating system Tizen is just as smooth as Wear but the number of apps is a serious disadvantage, as is the lack of tie-in with the Google apps most Android users favour.
The Pro 3 has one distinct difference on most Wear offerings with its app drawer displaying as rows of two icons rather than the circular scrolling menu.
TicWatch Pro 3: The verdict
Quite simply few people are going to be disappointed if they plump for the TicWatch. At £289 it is in the premium price bracket but it is a premium smart watch in every facet, apart from its understated design.
And most people will just keep coming back to that battery, which eliminates the need to plan every evening around charging your watch.
Tech is supposed to simplify life rather than complicate it and the TicWatch Pro 3 achieves that by doing what it should when it should.
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