Huawei Watch Match 3 evaluation

The Apple Watch is a superb sensible device, but it surely does not come low-cost. The difficulty with strapping an costly wearable to your wrist is that you just then grow to be paranoid that you’ll knock it in opposition to a desk or scratch it in opposition to a wall. It may make you would like there was a less expensive possibility accessible that may do a lot of the stuff you wished with out costing an arm and a leg.

Insert the Huawei Watch Match 3 into the equation. The third iteration of the Watch Fit unashamedly takes its cue from the Apple Watch and affords related appears to be like, performance, and options for a fraction of the worth. However, does it pull it off? As an Apple Watch proprietor of a few years, I put the Huawei Watch Match 3 by means of the paces to search out out.

Huawei Watch Match 3

Really useful

A smartwatch that unashamedly bases its design on that of the Apple Watch, and affords a number of the identical options, too. The Huawei Watch Match 3 has far superior battery life, nonetheless, and a a lot cheaper price tag.

Execs

• Nice worth
• Trendy (and acquainted) design
• Nice battery life

Cons

• No NFC payements
• Irritating charger
• Lack of apps

Value, availability, and specs

For those who’re within the US, there’s some excellent news and a few dangerous information. The excellent news is the worth of this watch could be very aggressive. It prices £140/€159, which is considerably lower than you’d pay for the equivalent-sized Apple Watch SE, which begins at £250/€309. The dangerous information is that, due to the ban on the sale of Huawei products within the US, they are not straight accessible on the market from US corporations.

Nevertheless, it’s doable to get your arms on a Watch Match 3 by means of non-US sources, though you may even see greater pricing and must pay extra customs charges. For those who’re outdoors the US, you should buy straight from the Huawei web site, or by means of websites like Amazon.

The Watch Match 3 is offered in six coloration choices: Black, Pink, Inexperienced, Moon White, Grey (with a nylon cloth strap), and Pearl White (with a leather-based strap). Let’s check out a number of the key specs.

What I appreciated in regards to the Huawei Watch Match 3

Loads of options at an excellent value

There’s so much to love in regards to the Huawei Watch Match 3. First off, aesthetically, it appears to be like nice. The overly tall design of the Watch Match 2 has gone, changed with a display screen that is just about sq., and appears, let’s face it, nearly precisely like an Apple Watch. The usual watch strap additionally features a conventional buckle, which I discovered to be a lot nicer than the pin-and-tuck fastener on the usual Apple Watch bands. It additionally has extra notches, so that you’re capable of alter the match extra simply.

It is not simply the appears to be like which are replicated right here. The Watch Match 3 contains most of the greatest options of an Apple Watch, together with well being and health rings to attempt to shut, a distant shutter to manage your telephone digital camera (supplied you are utilizing an iPhone or Huawei telephone), and a stupendous AMOLED display screen with responsive touchscreen controls. The display screen is admittedly vivid too, and straightforward to learn even in direct daylight.

Battery life is the place the Watch Match 3 stops making an attempt to repeat the Apple Watch. The Watch Match 3 blows the Apple Watch SE out of the water, being rated for as much as seven days of battery life in regular use, in comparison with simply 18 hours on the Apple Watch SE. I discovered that, if something, Huawei’s estimates appeared to underplay how lengthy the battery can final. You may simply go per week between expenses with out problem, and even with the always-on show turned on, the Watch Match 3 was simply capable of outlast my Apple Watch.

There are many exercise choices to select from, together with indoor and out of doors walks, runs, cycles, and swims, in addition to different actions resembling skipping, rowing, or utilizing a cross coach. I attempted an indoor cycle carrying each the Watch Match 3 and my Apple Watch, and the guts price monitoring was normally inside a beat or two throughout each gadgets. There are additionally warm-up and cool-down workouts steered for every sort of exercise, too.

There is a vary of watchfaces to select from, with some that look nice and a few which are much less interesting, however there are extra accessible to buy by means of the companion app. One of many inventory choices is a extremely intelligent watchface that exhibits a picture of a flower that slowly unfurls its petals as you’re employed in direction of a well being goal resembling your step rely. It is genuinely motivating, as it is easy to equate the poor state of the flower to your personal bodily well being, supplying you with a higher urge to stand up and take some steps. It is one thing I want I had on my Apple Watch as it is a fixed reminder of whenever you’re too sedentary.

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What I do not like in regards to the Huawei Watch Match 3

No NFC funds and a irritating charger

There are a couple of points I had when utilizing the Watch Match 3. Firstly, the bezels are narrower on the sides than on the high. It is not an enormous deal, however when you discover it you may’t actually ignore it. There’s additionally at the moment no possibility for NFC payments. Because it’s one thing I take advantage of my Apple Watch on a regular basis, I might positively miss it if I switched to the Watch Match 3.

One other annoyance is the charger. It is a two-pin charger that connects magnetically to the watch, however the magnet is not notably robust. I discovered that it could typically detach once I tried to place the watch right down to cost. For some purpose, it solely matches a technique round, too, which makes it much more janky.

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There are some nice well being options, together with Well being Clovers that you just fill by finishing duties resembling doing a breathing exercise or hitting your step rely. One of many choices is consuming water, and it is irritating that there is no option to rapidly log your water consumption on the watch; it’s a must to use the companion telephone app as a substitute. There’s additionally a restricted app retailer, and in case you’re paired with an iPhone, there is no option to set up extra apps in any respect. iPhone customers are additionally unable to add music to the look ahead to offline listening.

Sleep monitoring affords a number of element, however the outcomes have been wildly totally different from my Apple Watch, which tends to point out me not getting sufficient deep sleep. The Watch Match 3 confirmed me getting loads of deep sleep. It is laborious to say which gadget is extra correct, so I am taking each with a grain of salt.

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Must you purchase the Huawei Watch Match 3?

For those who’re outdoors the US, and you want the concept of proudly owning an Apple Watch however not the worth tag, then you may’t go flawed with the Huawei Watch Match 3. It appears to be like nice, has respectable efficiency, and contains a number of the options you discover in costlier wearables. The battery life can also be glorious, which means you may simply go per week between expenses.

For the worth, it is an excellent product. Even in case you’re within the US, with the customs charges and transport prices, you are still prone to see appreciable financial savings in comparison with an Apple Watch SE. There are a couple of gripes resembling the shortage of NFC funds and sub-par charger, but when these aren’t large points for you, then the Watch Match 3 is certainly value your consideration.

Huawei Watch Match 3

Really useful

An important worth Apple Watch various

A smartwatch that unashamedly bases its design on that of the Apple Watch, and affords a number of the identical options, too. The Huawei Watch Match 3 has far superior battery life, nonetheless, and a a lot cheaper price tag.