The Amazfit brand is becoming more and more heard every day among those who want to buy high-quality fitness bracelets or smart watches with a delicious price-performance ratio. Along with the success of its products, the company continues to improve the already successful GTS and GTR series. In order not to get confused in the notation, it is worth noting the main distinguishing features right away: GTS is an advanced fitness watch with a large number of activity tracking and health control functions in a square form factor, GTR is the same, only in a round case with a reference to classic design.
In my hands, literally and figuratively, I visited the Amazfit GTR 3. In this version of the watch, the developers presented their new Zepp OS shell, improved the sensors for even more accurate readings and, in general, brought the functionality of their product to an amazing level. The device turned out to be very interesting, which I will discuss in the review below.
Appearance
- Material: body – aluminum alloy; strap – silicone.
- Interface: two physical buttons.
- Protection: 5 ATM.
- Dimensions: 45.8 x 45.8 x 10.18 mm.
- Weight: 32 g.
I can assume that for many users switching from classic wristwatches to smart watches, the question of the appearance of the new gadget will be acute. In this regard, Amazfit GTR 3 not only pays tribute to the classics, having a round case, strict gray colors and minute risks at the edges of the dial, but also having two functional physical keys on board. The top one, by the way, has spiral serifs, allowing rotation to control the clock in places where vertical scrolling is present.
Scrolling the interface using the top key is accompanied by a pleasant tapping of the linear vibration motor. But I lacked the physical cutoffs in rotation for more predictable handling.
The silicone strap performed well during an active week of use. Being flexible enough and pleasant to the touch, it did not leave strong marks on the wrist at the end of the day and did not sweat much under it. Together with the low weight of 32 grams of the aluminum case, I can safely call the Amazfit GTR 3 one of the most comfortable and comfortable watches that I have ever reviewed.
To fix the strap, there are two straps, the last one with a stopper. However, it is not possible to fully tuck one end, and the tongue remains slightly protruding, which is rare, but led to it rubbing against the clothes. The standard fastening in the form of quick-release axles and a strap width of 22 millimeters provides a huge choice of alternatives, both from third-party manufacturers and branded products.
The watch has a microphone and built-in Alexa voice assistant, but the commands only work in English.
Screen and dials
- Display: 1.39 inches, 454 × 454 AMOLED, tempered glass.
The protective glass of the watch protrudes slightly above the surface of the display, from which there is no control effect at the fingertips. In addition, the risk of scratches on the tempered glass increases. However, thanks to this design solution, a feeling of seamlessness and overall solidity of the device is created.
The AMOLED screen has a high pixel density and wide viewing angles. The light sensors built under the display work correctly, and the maximum brightness is sufficient with a margin in sunny weather.
Like any self-respecting smartwatch, Amazfit GTR 3 has a wide variety of finely customized dials. There are variations of classic pointer, minimalistic digital and even dynamic with a variable picture to choose from. Moreover, in addition to changing the appearance of the arrows with the choice of displayed information, the style of the theme of the application icons in the main menu of the clock can also be changed from the three provided design options.
Permanent display in Amazfit GTR 3 is implemented in an interesting way. Depending on the digital or arrow time display, when Always ON is activated, all information from the dial will disappear, leaving only the type of time active that is currently set in the main dial. This point also applies to custom screens, for which I want to praise the developers. However, you can also choose one of the four preset permanent display screens, in the form of three arrow and one digital. Unlike the first option, these styles display slightly more information, such as the date or heartbeat.
Functional
- OS: Zepp OS 7.22.3.1.
- Communication: Bluetooth 5.1 BLE, Wi-Fi b / g / n, NFC, GPS / GLONASS / Galileo / BDS / QZSS.
The clock is controlled by swipes. Scrolling horizontally navigates through quick access widgets, with a maximum of 10. Swiping from top to bottom on the home screen opens a status bar where essential essentials such as a flashlight, Do Not Disturb mode, calendar, and brightness control are located. A swipe on the home screen from bottom to top opens a stack of notifications for the entire time, from where they can be deleted, after which they will also cease to be displayed on the smartphone.
On two buttons, you can assign a quick call to absolutely any application available in the watch. For example, I assigned a timer call to the upper one for a long press, and the start of a workout on the lower one.
A quick press on the top key calls up the main menu with a vertical list of cards. It has everything you need, from a detailed display of sleep quality or a calendar with synchronized events for the next two months, to a barometric altimeter and a calendar of sunset or moon phases.
All apps can run in the background, but there is no quick return to them from the home screen. It is necessary to go to the running program again from the menu list.
Everything for health control
- Sensors: acceleration sensor, gyroscope, geomagnetic sensor, barometric pressure sensor, ambient light sensor.
- Health monitoring: biometric PPG sensor BioTracker 3.0 (supports blood oxygen level measurement, 6 photodiodes + 2 LEDs).
You will not surprise anyone with the usual measurement of the pulse and, so important recently, oxygen in the blood. Therefore, in Amazfit GTR 3, the developers decided to do something outside the box. One-touch measurement in 45 seconds collects information about 4 important indicators at once: heart rate, stress, blood oxygen saturation and the number of breaths per minute. In practice, this allows you to get a quick overview of health statistics without having to open separate programs.
Sleep quality data is accumulated directly on the watch, showing in detail its beginning and end on a pie chart, highlighting different phases in different colors. There is also monitoring of daytime sleep, which can be viewed in the proprietary Zepp application.
In addition to the standard capabilities for collecting health data, the watch offers a smart alarm that works on the basis of sleep phases. The manufacturer claims that when this function is activated, it will wake up about half an hour before the set time more smoothly and comfortably. But for a week of testing, I didn’t have a chance to test the work of this technology on myself.
Branded application
The rethinking has affected not only the company logo, but also a proprietary application called Zepp. For those who have used Mi Fit for fitness trackers from Xiaomi, the program menu will seem familiar. There are only three main sections: the first one displays all the collected data from the watch, the second one starts the selected workout, and the third one configures the application and the bracelet.
And while most of the settings are on the watch, in Zepp you can set a reminder, download a custom watch face and install additional applications that extend the functionality of the watch. Moreover, this is the first time I have come across the opportunity to flip the image on a watch for alternative wear for those who have the buttons resting on the back of the hand.
Accurate assessment of activities
Amazfit GTR 3 offers tracking of over 150 different types of activities, which is really a lot. There is also automatic detection of activities, such as: walking outdoors, walking indoors, running outdoors, treadmill, cycling, swimming in the pool, elliptical trainer and rowing machine. Optionally, you can activate or deactivate any of the options, but it must be borne in mind that a large number of workouts will greatly reduce the battery life.
Out of the box, notifications about automatic workout detection were turned off, which suggested that the watch was not working correctly. However, a little later I found recorded activity data in a proprietary application.
The measurement results after the workouts are accumulated in the application and describe in detail each moment of the workout to the nearest minute. The data is shown in visual graphs as shown below.
Autonomy
- Battery: 450 mAh.
- Charge time: 1.5 hours.
The watch has a fairly capacious 450 mAh battery, which, even with the use of all sensors with the maximum frequency and measurement accuracy, is able to provide the Amazfit GTR 3 with seven days of battery life. With more moderate use, the manufacturer promises up to 21 days of battery life.
The hero of the review is equipped with a charging cradle in the form of an oval platform, which seemed very inconvenient to me. Two gold-plated contacts must be connected to the watch in a certain position. There is a slight alignment due to the magnets, but you can’t blindly put the watch on the cradle – you had to put the watch on charging while holding the magnetic pad with your other hand.
Note that the watch can be used even when it is charging.
Review
The Amazfit GTR 3 is, in my opinion, one of the best fitness watches at the moment. In addition to the rich functionality and high accuracy of the sensors, the watch has an excellent battery life and pleasant ergonomics. Additionally, I would like to note the rich selection of custom dials and not only their customization, but also the complete customization of the watch for yourself, including even rotating the display for an alternative wearing option. And although the gadget is more of a fitness tracker at maximum speed in the case of a smartwatch, I would venture to call it a smartwatch.
pros
- Light weight, pleasant ergonomics and minimalistic design.
- Protection against water when immersed up to 5 ATM and protection of the screen with tempered glass.
- Large screen with correct auto brightness and large viewing angles.
- Smooth Zepp OS interface and fast performance.
- Great functionality and rich customization.
- Precise sensors and a large number of built-in sports modes.
- Long battery life and fast charging.
Minuses
- No physical tactile feedback when rotating the top button.
- Not the most convenient charging cradle.
Controversial points
- Incorrect layout of localized text in a branded application.
- Voice assistant in English only.
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.
