Huawei Watch Fit 3: the perfect smartwatch for €159? Launch event 2024 in Dubai

I am in Dubai right now, where Huawei presented its new devices. I got to be there live at this launch event, and I thank Huawei for that. I was able to test the Watch Fit 3 beforehand. It is the successor to the Watch Fit 2 and has turned from a caterpillar into a butterfly with this evolutionary step.

Design

The display of the Watch Fit 2 was quite elongated and did not fit properly on slim wrists. The Watch Fit 3 comes in an aluminum case in a nearly square format. On the side there is a rotating crown that feels very high-end and a side button for shortcuts.

The Watch Fit 3 looks exactly like an Apple Watch. I do not know why Huawei does that; they do not need to copy the design one to one. The problem: it is not a cheap copy but, in my eyes, even a better version that costs only a fraction and works with Android and iPhone.

• Price: €159 RRP.
• Colors: Black, pink, green, gray and white. There is also a Pearl White version with a leather strap for €179 RRP.
• Favorite: I really like the pink variant that I have here. My favorite, though, is the white and silver one.

The watch weighs 26 g, is 9.9 mm flat and water resistant up to 50 m. You do not have to take it off when swimming in the sea.

Display

One highlight is the Super AMOLED display with up to 1,500 nits. You can easily read it in direct sunlight. For comparison: the Apple Watch SE only gets up to 1,000 nits bright.

Battery and operation

There are no Apple or Google services and no extensive app store. That hardly bothers me, because I never use my smartwatch as a smartphone replacement, but as a watch, for notifications for calls and above all as a health tracker for workouts, sleep, stress level and daily movement. Daily movement is even more important than the workouts.

The Apple Watch battery lasts a day, with luck a day and a half. That is down to the operating system and the many apps. I do not use any of that and care about not having to charge the watch every day. The Watch Fit 3 battery lasts 7 days with everything I track. Put on the charging cable, it is full again in an hour.

The long battery life already thrilled me with the Huawei Watch GT 4, which I have worn nonstop privately since its market launch last year. The GT 4 costs almost three times as much depending on the model. I was surprised that the Watch Fit 3 runs just as smoothly: touch operation works without lag, switching between widgets is smooth. You have to find that first in this price segment.

Messages and missing NFC

I can reply to messages like WhatsApp directly on the watch with preset, customizable messages. But that only works with an Android smartphone. With an iPhone you can only read received notifications.

I think it is a shame that the Watch Fit 3, like all Huawei watches, has no usable NFC. The function exists on the watch; you just cannot use it yet. I hope that comes soon, so that you can pay at the checkout with the Huawei smartwatches.

The Huawei Health app

The Watch Fit 3 is a smart health tracker. Some health information can be found directly in the widgets, and the actual insights are in the Huawei Health app. It works with every Huawei tracker or Huawei smartwatch. I have been using it for a long time with the Watch GT 4 and was positively surprised from the start.

• Overview: Sleep, heart rate, stress level and workouts. As a woman, together with the skin temperature measurement you get a good overview of your cycle.
• Linking the data: My sleep is analyzed every night, breathing and oxygen saturation are recorded together with the sleep phases. The app shows trends and makes suggestions for how I can turn negative developments around. Just knowing that stress has gone up is not enough. The key is knowing what you can do about it.
• Weight management: The food database is surprisingly extensive and accurate. Calorie intake and consumption can be logged quickly, and a widget on the watch shows them. Depending on your goal, the app recommends calories per meal and an optimal nutrient distribution.
• Plans and relaxation: A Stay Fit plan, workout and running plans, meditations and musical sleep aids.

Verdict

You can only manage what you can measure. With the Watch Fit 3 there is an affordable, stylish and very accurate way to measure exactly the things you want to manage. For anyone who does not need numerous apps from Google or iOS and values a very long battery life, I can only warmly recommend the Huawei Watch Fit 3.