TicWatch Pro 3 GPS Review: Slicker And Faster But Not Enough

While the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS from Google is the first Wear OS watch to have a newer and faster chip, it isn’t enough to perform the uphill task.

The smartwatch is a product of Mobvoi, a Chinese tech firm. The price of the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS is £289.99, putting it in direct competition against Samsung’s Galaxy watches running Android and Fossil’s Gen 5. It is a big watch but it doesn’t feel and look chunky. The smartwatch comes with a black plastic body and a silicone strap. Although it is quite light, it is more suitable for those with fairly large wrists.

The large 1.4-inch screen consists of two displays that are laid on top of each other. On top is a low-power basis LCD display to show the date, time, steps as well as battery level minus the notifications. Under the LCD display is a bright AMOLED screen. Whenever you use the watch, it will light up to show notifications, apps, and a smartwatch face.

It is a clever move to save battery life. However, it is annoying when you can’t see notifications at a glance. Switching between the two displays is quite unpleasant as they have totally different faces. You can set the main screen to stay on just like a regular smartwatch but it defeats the purpose of having two displays.

There are two buttons. One is for accessing apps. By default, the other button will open an exercise app. However, you can change it in the settings to launch another task. Unlike its competitors, neither button can rotate for scrolling.

One of the watch’s biggest disadvantages is its weak alert haptics. Even when you set it to the strongest settings, rather than feeling ít vibrations, you will hear the motor.

TicWatch Pro 3 GPS: Smoother Performance & Better Battery Life

There is no doubt that the newer and faster processor does benefit the TicWatch. The Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 makes everything works smoother and more responsive compared to other Wear OS watches like the Fossil Gen 5 with the previous Wear 3100 chip.

However, there is no way it can be as slick as the Apple Watch. It also lags slightly behind the Watch Active 2 and Galaxy Watch 3 from Samsung.

Depending on which features you enable, the battery life of the device varies greatly. In its default state, you have the basic display but not the tilt-to-wake gesture. With this, you can get almost three days of use. However, when you enable the always-on option on the main display, the battery life drops to two days. But when you turn on blood oxygen and heart rate monitoring, you will need to charge the device every day and a half.

A 25-minute run with GPS and heart rate monitoring turned on will take around 3% of the battery.

There is an “essential mode” that switches everything off and leaves nothing but the basic screen, sleep, and heart rate monitoring. With this, the device can last a maximum of 45 days between charges.

TicWatch Pro 3 GPS: Sustainability

According to Mobvoi, the battery of the device can last for a minimum of 500 full charge cycles while still maintaining 80% of its capacity. The problem is the battery can’t be replaced. Generally, the watch is repairable. However, the service isn’t available outside China. In the UK, the company offers an exchange program for out-of-warranty watches. The smartwatch is recyclable but it doesn’t have recycled materials. Comes inside the box with the smartwatch is a USB-A charging cable. There is no power adaptor provided.

TicWatch Pro 3 GPS:  Wear OS

The Wear OS of the smartwatch is improved but still lag behind other competitors regarding features and design. When pairing the smartwatch with an Android phone, you have solid notifications, access to widgets Google Assistant, and a number of third-party apps. Google Pay is available to make contactless payments.

When using the watch, it is easy to tap something accidentally when you just want to swipe through a list. The TicWatch Pro 3 GPS smartwatch doesn’t have the Wear OS’ latest H-MR2 version, announced in September 2020 by Google with significant improvements in terms of feature and speed. For two years after its release, Mobvoi will provide users with software updates.

Wear OS doesn’t support music storing for offline playback.

TicWatch Pro 3 GPS: Health and Apps

There are some health features that come with the Google Fit apps. However, Mobvoi has its own health and fitness apps called TicBreathe, TicHEaring, TicExercise, TicPulse, TicOxygen, TicZen, TicSleep, and the TicHealth app.

Most of them work well enough. It doesn’t have an ECG sensor to monitor arrhythmia. And some apps have issues in terms of accuracy.

The data is synced to the servers of Mobvoi instead of being kept on your phone. You can view it in the companion app.

TicWatch Pro 3 GPS: Price

The TicWatch Pro 3 GPS has a starting price of £289.99 for the base variant. The version with 4G is more expensive at £329.99 but it only works with Vodafone.

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