Smartwatch Battery Life Doesn’t Have to Suck

The OnePlus Watch 3 has arrived, and as usual, the company made some bold claims. Promising a blend of style, performance, and incredible battery life, OnePlus is looking to carve out a bigger space in the Wear OS market.

But does it live up to the hype? Claims of multi-day battery life are far from new, but rarely do they pan out in real-world usage. However, OnePlus showed what it could do with the OnePlus Watch 2, and I’ve been very impressed with the OnePlus Watch 3.

OnePlus Watch 3

The OnePlus Watch 3 is a feature-rich smartwatch running on Wear OS 5 with a unique co-processor for extended battery life. It boasts a durable build with a stainless steel case, titanium alloy bezel, and sapphire crystal display.

Pros & Cons

• Incredible battery life that can last up to 5 days with normal usage
• Premium materials, well-made, and comfortable to wear
• Fast charging speed and great performance
• Beautiful display

• OnePlus? software and health features are just okay
• Only comes in one size

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Price and Availability

The OnePlus Watch 3 is available right now from OnePlus for $349.99. It comes in a dark metalic “Obsidian Titanium” with black silicone band, or silver “Emerald Titanium” with a green silicone band. Additional bands from OnePlus cost $29.99.

The Crown Button Is Real This Time

I’ve always said smartwatch design is much more subjective than smartphone design. Some people absolutely love the chunky, industrial look, and some people absolutely hate it. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say I “hate” it, I certainly prefer a more minimal, simple design for my watch. And that is not the OnePlus Watch 3.

However, personal preference aside, this is a well-designed smartwatch. The buttons are easy to press and feel good, including the rotating crown button. I appreciate how both buttons stick out from the body of the watch a bit, making them easier to use. I almost never use the secondary button on my Pixel Watch 3 for this reason–it’s too recessed.

Speaking of the crown button, that’s new this year. The OnePlus Watch 2 had what appeared to be a rotating crown, but it was actually just a normal button. It’s nice to see OnePlus fix that, and it’s a welcome feature to have. Scrolling on a smartwatch with a crown is much better than swiping.

The OnePlus Watch 3 is available in two colors, but only one size. Whether you opt for the silver–sorry, Emerald Titanium–or black (Obsidian Titanium), you have to live with a pretty large 47mm case size. As someone with thin wrists, I don’t love it when watches are only available in one big size. That alone might disqualify the OnePlus Watch 3 for you.

The OnePlus Watch 3 boasts a vibrant 1.5-inch AMOLED display. The 466 x 466 resolution is higher than the Pixel Watch 3 (320 x 320), and just a bit less than the Galaxy Watch 7 (480 x 480). The colors are rich and saturated, and I had no issues seeing everything clearly, even in direct sunlight.

Speaking of sunlight, the brightness of the display is impressive. Like I said, I had no trouble reading the screen while outdoors, which is a crucial feature for a smartwatch that’s designed to be worn all day. At 2,200 nits, it can get a smidge brighter than both the Pixel Watch 3 and Galaxy Watch 7.

Considering that this design style is not my personal cup of tea, I don’t mind it that much. The asymmetrical design is unique and interesting. Overall, it feels like a well-made piece of hardware, and OnePlus has carved out a visual identity that doesn’t blend with other smartwatches on the market.

Custom Software Touches, For Better or Worse

The OnePlus Watch 3 runs on Wear OS 5, but I can honestly say I wasn’t sure of that at first. OnePlus has tweaked just enough that it’s not clearly recognizable as Wear OS on first glance. Thankfully, it is Wear OS, so you have access to a wide range of apps from the Google Play Store.

The software experience on the OnePlus Watch 3 is generally smooth and responsive. The watch is powered by the Snapdragon W5 processor, which provides plenty of horsepower for everyday tasks. I didn’t experience any lag or stuttering, even using more demanding features.

Since the OnePlus Watch 3 is running the latest version of Wear OS, it has all the updated Google apps. Google Maps, Google Wallet, Google Calendar, Gmail, Keep, Google Assistant, and more. Google Assistant, especially, is always nice to have–while it lasts. OnePlus includes a bunch of its own apps and Tiles as well. Most of these fall into the large suite of health and fitness apps, which I’ll talk about later.

For the most part, Wear OS on the OnePlus Watch 3 works like Wear OS on a Pixel Watch. The one change I don’t like is the app drawer, though. OnePlus has opted for an Apple Watch-like cluster of app icons that you can zoom in and out of with the crown button. I find this to be the most inefficient way to launch apps.

The other thing I don’t love is OnePlus’ watch face collection. I honestly couldn’t find a watch face that I really liked–and there are a lot to choose from. Most of them are way too cluttered and just downright ugly, in my opinion. Good thing the Play Store exists.

Making changes from your phone happens through the “Device” tab in the OHealth app. There’s not much you can’t do from the app that you can do from the watch on your wrist, which I always appreciate. Especially when first setting up a new watch, it’s nice to be able to do most of it from your phone.

Just Enough Fitness and Health Tracking

The OnePlus Watch 3 is packed with sensors for tracking a variety of fitness and health metrics. It includes a heart rate sensor and a pulse oximeter sensor. The watch also has built-in GPS, which allows it to track your outdoor activities, such as walking, running, and biking. These are basics you would expect any smartwatch to have. However, there’s no LTE model if you’d like to leave your phone at home during workouts.

In terms of fitness tracking, the OnePlus Watch 3 can track over 100 sports, including outdoor run, track run, indoor run, jump rope, badminton, outdoor cycle, rowing machine, and many more. The watch provides detailed workout summaries, which include metrics like pace, heart rate zones, and elevation gain. The accuracy of the fitness tracking appears to be generally good, in my testing.

The sleep tracking feature on the OnePlus Watch 3 can provide insights into your sleep patterns, including how long you spend in different sleep stages (light, deep, REM). The watch also provides a sleep score, which gives you an overall assessment of the quality of your sleep.

In addition to fitness tracking, the OnePlus Watch 3 puts its sensors to use for a number of health monitoring features. It can measure your blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), which can be an indicator of your overall health. The watch also has a “60-Second Health Check-In,” which allows you to take an electrocardiogram directly from your wrist. This feature, however, won’t be available until Q2 of this year.

All in all, I can’t say there’s anything groundbreaking in OnePlus’ health and fitness suite, but that’s okay. It covers all the bases a smartwatch needs to cover. Compared to my Pixel Watch 3 or Galaxy Watch 7, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything.

Battery Life Is Insanely Good

Now, let’s get on to the main event. One of the standout features of the OnePlus Watch 3 is its battery life. OnePlus claims “up to 5-day battery life,” and you know what? The watch came close to meeting that claim. With moderate usage, including tracking a few workouts and receiving notifications throughout the day, I was usually able to get three to five days of usage between charges.

This is honestly incredibly impressive for a bona fide smartwatch. There’s no e-ink display or aggressive Power Saving Mode gimmicks here. It’s all thanks to a secondary BES 2800 chipset, which makes for excellent power efficiency, and a Silicon NanoStack Battery with 631mAh capacity. In the month that I’ve had the OnePlus Watch 3, I feel like I’ve charged it less than five times.

And when you do need a charge, it happens quickly. You can get around a full day of usage with just a 10-minute top-up. I also quite like OnePlus’ charger situation, too. The watch charger is a little square puck with pins and a USB-C port. So, for travel, rather than needing a watch charger that can only be used to charge your watch, and a separate cable for your phone, you can simply bring one USB-C cable and stick the puck on the end when you need to charge your watch.

Of course, battery life will vary depending on your usage patterns. Using features like the always-on display, GPS, and continuous heart rate monitoring will all drain the battery faster. However, even with heavy usage, the OnePlus Watch 3 should easily last for a few days, and potentially even longer.

Should You Buy the OnePlus Watch 3?

The OnePlus Watch 3 has a nice combination of style, performance, and features. Its standout feature, however, is undoubtedly its long battery life, which sets it apart from pretty much any other smartwatch I’ve tested. The vibrant display, smooth performance, and adequate fitness tracking capabilities round out the whole package.

However, the watch is not without its drawbacks. Its size and weight might not work for everyone, and OnePlus’ software isn’t the most attractive. The price point also puts it in direct competition with some well-established players. $349 is the same price as the base Pixel Watch 3 and $20 more than the base Galaxy Watch 7.

That being said, there is a person for whom the OnePlus Watch 3 is clearly perfect: someone who values battery life above all else. You’re simply not going to find a true smartwatch with a full-blown operating system that gets battery life this good. If that’s your top priority–you just want a watch that doesn’t need charging every night–the OnePlus Watch 3 is a great choice.

For everyone else, it essentially comes down to personal preference. Those who like the chunky, industrial design of the OnePlus Watch 3 shouldn’t hesitate to get it. However, if you prefer a more understated look and more polished software, a watch from Samsung or Google would be a better choice.

OnePlus Watch 3

The OnePlus Watch 3 is a feature-rich smartwatch running on Wear OS 5 with a unique co-processor for extended battery life. It boasts a durable build with a stainless steel case, titanium alloy bezel, and sapphire crystal display.