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Amazfit GTR 3 Smartwatch Review


Source: Pocketnow

Amazfit unveiled the latest Amazfit GTS 3, GTR 3, and GTR 3 Pro smartwatches on October 11. The Amazfit GTR 3 comes with new unique features, a beautiful and clean design, and great software features that make it a compelling device.

The new Amazfit GTR 3 comes with a brand new operating system called Zepp OS. It has a lot of functionality built-in, there are great customizability options, lots of pre-built watch faces, and excellent health activity monitoring features.

I have used the GTR 3 for over a month before writing this review, and I have even taken it on a recent road trip for a few days to see how it would handle a little bit of hiking. Some of the results will likely not surprise anyone, but it certainly left me impressed as this was the first Amazfit device that I used extensively for an extended period.

Amazfit GTR 3 Specifications

Smartwatch Amazfit GTR 3
Weight 1.13 oz (32 g)
Build Aircraft-grade aluminum alloy case, Silicone Strap
Compatibility Android, iOS
Display 1.39-inch AMOLED, 66% screen-to-body ratio (326 PPI), Tempered glass
Memory N/A
Storage N/A
Connectivity Bluetooth, GPS
Ports Magnetic charging port
Audio N/A
Battery 450 mAh, 100% = 2 hours (advertised), Typical use: 21 days, Heavy use: 10 days, Battery saver: 35 days
Water Resistance 5 ATM
Dimensions 1.80 x 1.80 x 0.42 inches (45.8 x 45.8x 10.8mm)
Operating System Zepp OS
Colors Thunder Black, Moonlight Grey
Release Date October 11, 2021
Price $179.99

What’s in the box?

Amazfit GTR 3 Smartwatch Box contents
Source: Pocketnow

The packaging was pretty standard. The watch came with the usual contents that you expect to see for similar devices. The box contained the watch itself, and the strap was already attached out of the box. Amazfit also includes a USB-A to a proprietary magnetic charging cable, which means that you’ll need an adapter if you only have a USB-C powered wall charger – although I doubt this will be an issue for most people.

Apart from that, the box only contained the usual paperwork, such as the manual on how to set up the watch and pair it with a phone, and the traditional warranty information.

Hardware and Design

The Amazfit GTR 3 is very lightweight, and it comes with minimal and modern looks. While you may think that being light comes with compromises to the build quality, I can assure you that it feels very premium, and it feels great to touch and wear. The chassis is made out of a durable aircraft-grade aluminum alloy, and it has two buttons on the right side. The top right button is also a rotatable crown, and it works perfectly while navigating the watch and most apps.

The provided strap also felt great, and I found it very comfortable, even when I was wearing the watch for many days in a row, without taking it off. For those of you looking at replacing the strap with something else, you’ll be glad to know that it has a quick-release mechanism, and you can pair it with any other strap you want.

Amazfit GTR 3 in direct sunlight
Amazfit GTR 3 in direct sunlight
Source: Pocketnow

The screen is a 1.39-inch AMOLED panel with a resolution of 454 x 454 (326 PPI), and it’s covered by tempered glass and an anti-fingerprint coating. I found the glass itself very durable, as I accidentally hit my wrist on the desk multiple times a day. The display never cracked or showed any signs of abuse. The panel was always large enough to read notifications, and bright enough to see it in direct sunlight or in a pitch-black room.

The Amazfit GTR 3 also has a 5 ATM certificate, which means that you can easily take it with you to the swimming pool, and it can also track your activity under the water. I had only managed to get it wet when I washed my hands and while I was in the bathroom. I’m happy to report that it survived everything, even a little bit of submersion, and I’m sure swimmers will be glad to use it to track their activity while working out.

The vibrator motor was also excellent. It wasn’t as firm as other smartwatches, but I think it provided a fantastic experience for the price tag, and I never missed a call or notification. The vibration sensitivity can be changed in settings, although I didn’t touch this as it worked perfectly right out of the box.

Software

Before I go in-depth about the software, I have to mention that the GTR 3 comes with a new operating system called Zepp OS. It has great overall built-in features, and it makes the watch feel like a proper smartwatch. I have never come across any lag or sluggish behavior, and it always worked as it was intended. The performance overall was excellent and very smooth. It’s also worth mentioning the watch works on iOS 12.0 and above and Android 7.0 and above – which is great to see. During my review period, I have used it on my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, and it never disconnected, and I never came across any issues.

The Zepp app also provided most of the functionality and settings, and it worked rather well, although this was familiar to me as I’ve used an Amazfit device in the past. The application displayed all of the information that I wanted to know when I first opened it, and offered everything I needed to configure the GTR 3.

The watch itself is fairly customizable, and you can change the menu items and their order to suit your needs. Unfortunately, the watch faces offer less customization options. Amazfit has a standalone store built-in to the Zepp app, and there are also 100 stylish pre-made watch faces to choose from, but I wanted a lot more than just adding a few quick complications to them and changing the wallpaper.

At the current state, the pre-built watch faces get the job done, and you also get some personalization options in settings, but it’s far from what a power user like myself would want on a regular basis. Fitness lovers and normal users will likely be satisfied with the settings, but if you’re a power user who wants a lot of customizability, this isn’t it.

While notifications synced up well with my Galaxy Z Fold 3, every once in a while, I would get emails or text messages that wouldn’t display correctly on the smartwatch, and at times, the entire email would show up on the watch in an unsupported format. Fortunately, the subject and title showed up well for emails, which meant that I could easily distinguish if it was an important email or junk. Still, it would’ve been great to get some options on how I want certain notifications to be presented on the watch, instead of getting a lot of unreadable mess. It’s worth noting that the rest of the alerts from other apps worked very well and everything was easily readable.

Fitness and Health

The Amazfit GTR 3 has over 150+ sports modes built-in, and it can track things such as running and walking, cycling, swimming, indoor and outdoor workouts, indoor sports such as stair-climbing, dance, combat sports, ball sports, water sports, winter sports, leisure sports such as hula hooping, board & card games – whatever that means, and a lot more.

These activities are tracked using the BioTracked 3.0 PPG Biometric sensor, which also supports blood oxygen monitoring, and there is also a heart rate sensor. I have compared the blood oxygen results with an Oximeter, and the results were identical. The heart rate sensor also seemed accurate most of the time, and there were only slight differences when compared to my Galaxy Watch, or an Apple Watch Series 6.

The software is usually great at identifying what you’re doing, but it can sometimes mix things up, and at times, it thought I was cycling, even though I only walked out to my car in a hurry. There are a few issues with identifying the right sports activities, but generally, it can identify these events without an issue. During my review period, I received at least two software updates that addressed some other problems, and I believe the accuracy will only improve in the coming months. Of course, you can also manually set up the workout that you’re doing to prevent this issue, and I would recommend taking the extra few steps to get more precise results at the end of the day or your workout.

The watch also has a built-in GPS that supports GLONASS, Galileo, BDS, and QZSS navigation systems, which means that no matter where you are, it will most likely be able to track your location and measure any activity that you may be doing. I have used the GPS a few times to track my activity, and I found it very precise and accurate.

Battery Life

Amazfit GTR 3 battery life
Amazfit GTR 3 battery life can easily last anywhere from 7-12 days on average, depending on use
Source: Pocketnow

Amazfit promises a “21-day battery life” on the GTR 3, and while that looks very promising on paper, I found that it lasts anywhere between 7-12 days on a single charge if you use most of the sensors to track your fitness activity, sleep, and also receive more than a hundred notifications a day.

When I first started using the watch, I had the All-Day Heart Rate Monitoring set to 1 minute, and the Active heart rate monitoring feature turned on, which resulted in about an 8-12% battery drain every day on average. When I set it to monitor every 5 minutes and turned off active heart rate monitoring, it would only drain anywhere between 5-10% every day, depending on how much I moved.

The battery life isn’t necessarily bad, but I expected it to last a solid two weeks on a single charge. The reality is that if you want it to last close to 2-3 weeks, you’ll have to turn off some of the tracking sleep tracking and heart rate functionality to get the most out of your device, and I would also consider turning off the vibration that can drain the battery even more. If you want to have a long battery life, you can turn on the battery saver that will provide 35 days of use out of the watch, but that will come at the cost of having barebones functionality.

Overall, the battery will last you at least one week or more, depending on how you use the smartwatch on a daily basis, and it will depend on what features you decide to turn on and use regularly. If you turn on the heart rate and sleep tracking feature to scan every 5 minutes – which was very important to me personally – you’ll get roughly 10-12 days of use out of it. The close to two weeks’ performance is impressive, to say the least, and I was overall happy with the performance, even if I would’ve loved it to last a comfortable 2-3 weeks on a single charge. It’s important to keep in mind that the device has Alexa built-in, a reasonably large display, and impressive features all around, so I think it’s a fair trade to compromise a little on the battery, which is still excellent.

Amazfit GTR 3 Smartwatch charging
Source: Pocketnow

As a side note, I have to mention that the charging animation looks really cool, and charging was always pretty fast. Using the magnetic charging cable was pleasant, and I didn’t think of it as a hassle. I usually took it off for a short hour or so, and it nearly charged up to max, giving me a comfortable week-long or more battery life.

Conclusion

Amazfit GTR 3 Smartwatch
Source: Pocketnow

When it comes to the conclusion, the main question that you should ask yourself is what kind of activity tracker you want to wear, and what smartwatch functionality is essential to you. If you fall into the category who wants most of the activity features and some customizability and great pre-made watch faces, Alexa support, and overall, a generally great smartwatch, then the Amazfit GTR 3 delivers on its promises.

If you are looking for a fitness tracker that only offers essential features, and none of the smartwatch functionalities, you may be better off with a traditional activity tracker. After all, they often cost about the same as the GTR 3, or sometimes less.

Overall, the Amazfit GTR 3 offers everything in a tiny, premium, and lightweight package that is also affordable and looks fantastic. I really enjoyed my time with it, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking for a smart fitness tracker with some smartwatch functionalities.

Amazfit GTR3

Amazfit GTR 3

An excellent all-rounder

The Amazfit GTR 3 is an excellent choice if you want a modern and minimal-looking smartwatch with a ton of great health and smart features built-in.

  • Great build quality
  • Clean design and light weight
  • Big and bright display
  • Good battery life
  • Great app integration & features
  • Excellent health tracking options
  • Affordable
  • Limited notifications
  • Needs more customizability options

The Amazfit GTR 3 was provided by Amazfit in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own, and Amazfit did not receive a copy of this review before publishing.

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