Today I want to review about one of the best Wear OS smartwatches from Mobvoi – TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS 2022. They are based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4100 processor, are protected according to the military standard MIL-STD-810G, have 2 screens, an NFC module and just look cool.
Buy TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS Wear OS Smartwatch Men on Aliexpress
Features
| Housing size | 47 mm |
| The weight | 41 years |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 4100 |
| Operating system | Wear OS 2.26 (The manufacturer promises to release an update to 3.0 in 2022) |
| Housing materials | Stainless steel, plastic |
| Screen | 1.4 inch, 454 * 454 326 PPI Amoled + FSTN display, Corning Gorilla Glass |
| Memory | 1 GB RAM / 8 GB ROM |
| Wireless support | Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n |
| Navigation systems support | GPS, Beidou, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, heart rate measurement, oxygen measurement, stress and fatigue measurement |
| autonomy | 577 mAh battery, 72 hours in normal mode / 45 days in power saving mode |
| Additional features | FSTN display, Google Pay payment, 20+ training modes, atrial fibrillation detection, built-in microphone and speaker |
Packing and scope of delivery
The watch comes in a nice little black cardboard box. The front side shows a watch and says that it runs Wear OS from Google. The main features of the model are written on the back, and the delivery set is listed below.
The package does not stand out for anything unusual: a watch, a charging cable and pieces of paper.
Design and constructive
The watch has a diameter of 47 mm, the case is made of stainless steel in black color, there are 2 buttons on the sides, made in the form of crowns. On the opposite side are the microphone and speaker. The frame around the screen is stylized as a chronograph, this is one of the details that attracted my attention to TicWatch. I’m tired of the same classic smart watch design, and this model looks more brutal, but not like a watch for outdoor activities like G-Shock, but more restrained.
The back side of the watch is made of durable plastic, although I would like ceramics or metal, but this is already nitpicking, the coating is very high quality and pleasant to the touch. Here are sensors for monitoring the state of the body, charging contacts and all kinds of markings.
The standard width strap is 22 mm, made of thick silicone, on the outside there is a textured pattern that matches the screen frame. Outwardly, it seemed to me quite rough, but in fact it turned out to be very soft and comfortable, while wearing it does not cause the slightest discomfort, the hand does not sweat from it either.
Screen
It’s worth starting with the main feature of the device – the second FSTN screen, which is an Always on Display with very low power consumption. It displays basic information: date, time to the nearest second, battery charge and the number of steps taken. It’s a pity that you can’t change the last item, I would rather put the pulse or the distance traveled here.
Turning your wrist turns on the backlight of the screen, the color of which can be changed.
Under the FSTN screen is a Super Amoled display with a resolution of 454*454 and a pixel density of 326 ppi. The screen is rich and very bright, everything is visible even under direct sunlight. Auto-brightness in the light works well, but at night it does not suit me – before going to bed, I turn the brightness down to a minimum myself. The oleophobic coating is good, if prints remain, they are easily erased.
The display is covered with protective glass Corning gorilla glass, but the manufacturer did not specify how. I had several moments when scratches could appear on the screen, but there are none, which means the glass copes with its tasks.
Wear OS, apps and performance
The watch runs Wear OS 2.0, but there are rumors online that it will receive updates to Wear OS 3.0 in 2022. The manufacturer does not say anything about this, but given the fact that the watch is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4100 processor, I believe that there will be a new version of the operating system.
The TicWatch menu differs from that in other watches, it is made in the form of two vertical columns, which is more convenient than the original.
Everything else is about the same as everyone else: the Google menu on the left, the status bar on top, notifications on the bottom, favorite windows on the right.
So, now about applications. In addition to Google services, Mobvoi apps are preinstalled on the watch. With Tic pulse, Tic oxygen and Tic sleep, everything is clear – the usual applications for tracking something. It is better to watch the statistics of them on the phone, on the clock it is displayed a little crookedly and not completely.
With Tic exercises, in principle, everything is also clear – 20+ training scenarios, each with its own characteristics. I am not the most active person, so I have nothing to tell about them.
Tic Zen is an app to track your stress and fatigue levels, it also integrates Tic Breathing, a breathing exercise app to relieve stress.
I don’t see much point in talking about all the other applications, there is nothing interesting there. Except maybe a rather funny hand-washing timer and pre-installed Spotify, which allows you to download music to your watch and listen to music through headphones without using your phone.
Another app that I can’t help but mention is Google Maps. Agree, it is very convenient to watch the route on the watch, each time without taking the phone out of your pocket. I thought the same, downloaded the maps and was disappointed. In map view mode, everything is still more or less, but getting directions is a whole test. You either need to drive it on the phone, then it will appear on the clock, or poke at a specific building on the map on the clock, there is no address search.
PS Already after writing the review, when I took photos, the watch refused to connect to GPS satellites, before that there were no such problems
The navigation itself is also very inconvenient, only the maneuver and the distance to it are shown, whether it is a turn or a U-turn, but either it is displayed incorrectly, or it writes crookedly, because it is impossible to use it. If you could swipe these arrows and see the route on the map, just to understand where to go, the more you can see HALF OF THE MAP. I got pissed off when I saw this. Why can’t I see the whole map, who came up with it, you already drew half of the map for me, it even moves with me … In general, Google maps is a pain, but I didn’t find any analogues, if someone knows, please write to comments, I will be very grateful.
Otherwise, everything is fine, the watch is very smooth, there were no lags or freezes for more than a month of use, except that after turning it on it takes a long time to load.
But what there are complaints about is management. What prevented you from assigning scrolling menus, lists, alarm time and other scrolling things to the side scrolls? Why do they spin but do nothing? Or make a rotating screen frame, as, for example, in Samsung’e. Yes, there are gestures that make it easier to control, especially in winter, when you don’t want to take off your gloves at all, but it’s still not very convenient.
The top button, by the way, is always responsible for calling the menu, and the bottom one can be assigned to open any application, I put Google Pay on it.
There is a lot of communication function here: you can answer notifications, you can call from the watch (Of course, if they are connected to the phone, there is no eSIM here). Previously, it was still possible to download Telegram, even on the official Mobvoi website it is depicted, but now it is not on Google Play. You can throw it directly into the clock, but I don’t know if it will work in this case.
In terms of dials, everything is ambiguous here. On the one hand, there are quite a few pre-installed options, most of them are even pretty. On the other hand, if you get bored with them, you can download applications with a huge number of watch faces, only most of them will not be installed, the other part will be paid, and what you can download may display information crookedly. On the other hand, there are many ready-made watch faces on the forums, but it will be a little more difficult to download them than just download from the application.
Connectivity and mobile apps
I have already talked about watch faces, so in this part I will not consider mobile applications for installing them. In general, I could briefly talk about applications in the previous chapter, but there is one but … Connecting to the phone. Oh, how I tormented myself.
Unfortunately, I did not make screenshots, and I do not want to go through these 7 laps again. I started connecting the watch to the phone, everything went well until I got to the last step where I need to add a Google account. He refused to be added, and without him, the watch becomes almost useless. I tried to connect them for 2 hours, reset to factory settings, rebooted, tried to add other accounts, tried another wifi, I already wanted to reset the phone to factory settings, but a stupid idea came to my mind – maybe they will work with an iPhone? And about a miracle! From the iPhone, the account was added the first time! How is it that an Android Wear watch can’t connect to an Android phone but is friendly with IOS? Moreover, judging by the reviews, this is not an isolated problem, many people face this, after many attempts everything works out for someone, and someone remains with a brick on his hand. The problem is Mobvoi or Google – it’s not clear, but the situation is very unpleasant.
To connect, by the way, the Wear OS application is used, all the basic settings are made in it, and all the statistics need to be viewed in the Mobvoi application.
Sensors, sensors and autonomy
The watch can measure blood pressure, oxygen levels in the blood, determine atrial fibrillation, and can measure the level of stress and fatigue. They do the last 2 things quite accurately, of course, it is impossible to objectively evaluate this, but the readings on the screen approximately corresponded to my condition.
With the measurement of the pulse, the situation is worse, it is either measured accurately, or it overestimates the readings. As I understand it, in the case of this watch, it depends only on the position on the hand, the sensor itself is quite accurate. When I placed the watch evenly on my wrist, it showed a realistic pulse, but during the day this will not always be the case.
I don’t have a pulse oximeter at home, so I can’t say about the accuracy of measuring SpO2, but judging by other reviews, they do a good job with this.
Sleep monitoring works well for me, although some reviews complained about it. The time of falling asleep and waking up displays accurately, the phases of sleep, unfortunately, I can’t check, but they look plausible. The smart alarm also works well.
Another interesting feature is the diagnosis of pulse arrhythmias. Fortunately, it was not possible to check how well this function works – during the time of use, the watch never signaled this, so it is difficult to talk about the accuracy of measurements. The manufacturer itself warns that this feature is not a medical examination.
The watch has an NFC module, Google Pay works out of the box, it works properly, but paying with a wrist accessory is, of course, inconvenient, but if the phone is dead or there is no NFC in it, it’s quite a good option. The only thing that confused me was the feedback on the past payment. Usually, devices vibrate / beep 1 time, and here vibrations 2 – the first notifies you of the start of use, the second.
Now about autonomy. In normal use, the watch can withstand about three days with round-the-clock monitoring of everything that is possible. If you turn on GPS or WiFi, it will be less, about two days. If you often unlock the watch and use the main Amoled display, you get a day and a half. Fitness trackers with GPS turned on drain the battery much faster, after a long morning run, the watch may not even survive until the night, but it will definitely be enough for a working day. Yes, and no one forbids putting them on charge after a workout, since they charge quickly enough.
Results
Despite all its shortcomings, which, by the way, are inherent in other watches on Android Wear, and someone else has more of them or they are more critical, the watch is excellent. Not even like that. This is one of the best watches on Wear OS. They cannot be called ideal, like any other device, they all have their drawbacks. Yes, Wear OS is still raw for many years, but it is still one of the best operating systems for wearable devices, and Mobvoi’s proprietary apps eliminate some of the shortcomings. Moreover, the watch should receive an update to the new version, and there many jambs have been removed
The cost of TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra is 320 dollars on the official Mobvoi website , their main competitor is Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, it costs about the same. Both models are excellent, each has its pros, cons and chips. There are other Wear OS watches, but most of them either have a strange design, or problems with battery life, or an outdated processor and no prospects for updating.
If you are looking for a smart watch, be sure to take a look at this model if you are satisfied with the size and design.
Thanks to everyone who read to the end, ask your questions in the comments, I will be happy to answer everything!
Good luck to all!
